FLA User Forum Notes

 

The meeting started with the presention of the Exemplary Reference Award Winners,  which is detailed in an earlier post (http://www.tblc.org/askalibrarianblog/?p=123)

Summary of the past year:

If you’re feeling busy at the Ask a Librarian desk, it’s because you are! As of April 13, Live Chat stats were up 15% over March 2007; In March, we had a 9% increase over Feb 2007 and a 148% increase over March 2006.

Marketing:
In the past year, Ask a Librarian has:

• Created newspaper ads for 16 community college and university newspapers
• Distributed new posters (another mass mailing was also sent out this week
• Distributed several press releases and will create custom releases for libraries on demand for regional distribution.
• Customizable bookmarks, we created the art- you just need to add your URL. JPL saw an immediate increase in use from JPL users when they distributed the bookmarks through their library.
• Created a MySpace presence. http://www.myspace.com/askalibrarianfl
  Working to communicate with those in the project through email, our blog and RSS Feeds.
• Created a commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYf6em86MP0

Coming Soon:

• A Back-to-School Marketing Campaign with new posters, bookmarks, etc
• Customize chat and email end pages for participating libraries – leading the user back to your page at the end of a session
• An ‘Ask a Librarian Day’ in the Fall

New Libraries since last FLA:
Bartow Public Library, Jacksonville Public Library, Lee County, University of Florida, Florida International University, Clearwater Public Library, and as an associate partner – Ringling Museum of Art.

Training:

Since January, there have been 8 training sessions in various parts of the state and 2 more planned. A total of 85 new librarians have taken the training and joined their collegues staffing the desk. Please let us know your training needs.

Scheduling:
More patrons = more hours needed for staffing.
Schedule is now produced quarterly for your library’s convenience.
Service is open from 10 AM-midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 am-5 pm on Friday and Saturday.

Academic Task Force:
The Academic Task Force has made its recommendations! They recommend a pilot project starting in the Fall of this year to assess an Academic Desk. The full report is available in an earlier blog post http://www.tblc.org/askalibrarianblog/?p=121

Associate Partnerships
The Ask a Librarian Advisory Committee has backed a second pilot project this year, to create an Associate Partnership for Public School Districts interested in working with Ask a Librarian. These members will not staff the collaborative desk, but will answer email questions and follow-up on chat sessions with their students. The advantage for Ask a Librarian is it provides Ask a Librarian with a local contact who can promote and educate teachers about the service (as well as its limitations). The Advisory Committee recommended a small pilot with one or two school districts. (If you have any recommendations, please let us know).

Panel Discussion:
Ask a Librarian had a panel to discuss current issues facing Ask a Librarian. The panel was made up of:
Sue Cvejanovich, Miami Dade Public Library
Chad Mairn, St Petersburg College
Jana Ronan, University of Florida

Each panelist explained their library’s current involvement with Ask a Librarian as an introduction to the panel.

The hot topic was UF which staffs IM 56 hours/week (9-9 Monday-Thursday, 9-5 Friday) in addition to Ask a Librarian. Their IM information is integrated on the front page of their Ask a Librarian page http://www.askalibrarian.org/uf .  Jana notes that you can handle multiple patrons simultaneously with IM. One noted restriction, was she wishes IM had push page. An enhancement, Jana would like – is the idea of starting patron’s session on IM and moving to AaL when warranted.
Sue mentioned that they have a dedicated computer in a space away from the public and other distractions for AaL staffers.
The group and the attendees were asked four questions, the panel first discussed the question then the attendees provided input. Below is a summary of the responses with each question.

Ask a Librarian’s use is rising, but we still need to increase use and awareness of the service. What can we do to increase use?

• Continual marketing
• Market at UF considering doing virtual reference shifts in college residence halls to raise awareness of the service
• Get Facebook presence
• Distribute AaL bookmarks at computer monitors
• Market to businesses especially through the Better Business bureau & alumni = we can help with statistics, trend data
• Promote the databases available for free via FEL
• Order free stuff from the AaL site
• Market to people not going to our websites
• Talk about AaL in every BI class library staff teaches (SPC)

Use of library web pages, is tied very closely to use of Ask a Librarian. Several reports discuss use of library electronic resources as low. There is also a view that because users find electronic resources using links from other sources, that efforts to draw users to library web sites benefit all library electronic services. How can libraries better promote electronic resources and their web pages, can Ask a Librarian help?

• Users have to jump through hoops to use our resources. We need to fix this.
• Utilize or create a Google toolbar- bringing our resources together
• JStor with Google scholar
• Best promotion is still One-on-One showing someone a database for a specific need the moment they need it.
• Make sure Ask a Librarian knowledge base is up-to-date so librarians can access the user’s resources. Stressed: the importance of giving librarians access to the databases.
• Use AaL to create database awareness
• On metasearch interface search results on FEL, have an Ask a Librarian link

Does Ask a Librarian participation help your library fulfill its mission, if so how?

• Help students no matter where they are
• Levels the field with reference services
• Adds a dimension to reference services and we’re there
• Adds to the hours available
• AaL – there even if I’m not
• Supplement when librarian is not available
• Even for in-house users who don’t want to go to the reference desk for various reasons (Fear, convenience). Should it matter if users are doing this?
• Some foreign language students might find Chat easier than talking face to face
• AaL is an additional means for students to get assistance despite no growth in staff.
• Ask a Lib as a resource for back-up for face to face reference?

What changes would you and/or your institution like to see in the service or software?

• The knowledge base is really important. Need to keep it up-to-date. Perhaps nudge emails or a schedule.
• New field in KB- How do I login? Describing what default pin numbers are and how users can get them.
• Docutek is “…so responsive…”
• Better categorize transcripts at the end of each session. Allow for tagging
• Create a database of FAQs 

Other topic: User privacy and the current retention of transcripts. This will be reviewed by the Advisory Committee this Summer and we will implement their recommendations.