This presentation was given at Internet Librarian 2009 in London. It focuses on Question Manager, a new collaboration tool for handling customer enquiries in libraries.

1. Question Manager: the power of collectiveintelligence and collaboration Internet Librarian 2009 Karolien Selhorst Digital Library & Knowledge Manager Public LibraryVlissingen

2. “Libraries excel in managing information and knowledge captured in books and documents, but they fail in locating and managing the knowledge potential in the heads of their own people.”

3. The Public Library of Vlissingen: mission The customer-focused physical and digital library: Customer-focused: we want to provide a tailor-made service to our customers The digital library: we aim to be where our users are (library2.0) Strong focus on the informationfunction

4. From mission to ambition: KM2.0 Focus on: Knowledge management: creating value for customers based on the collective intelligence of knowledge workers Facilitated by the use of social tools (‘Library2.0’) = Library Knowledge Management 2.0

5. Knowledgesharing & collaboration Library (reference) services are highly personal; the quality depends on the interaction between individual library staff members and customers. The Public Library of Vlissingen aims to improve customer service by making it less dependent on an individual’s expertise and knowledge. Customer service needs to be based on teamwork and shared knowledge.

6. Knowledgesharing in the library: BiebWiki Official launch in March 2009 Replaced the static intranet Goals: to facilitate knowledge processes in the library, to support collaboration and to make hidden knowledge visible. First phase in improving customer service Second phase: integration of the wiki with ‘Question Manager’

7. BiebWiki: the librarywiki

8. Knowledgesharingwithothers: QM Question Manager: a new software that supports and makes transparent the way customer enquiries/reference questions are handled. Integrated in the wiki Customer enquiries are allocated to the librarian/expert (s) with the knowledge profile that matches the topic of the question. QM enables librarians to work together on a ‘richer’ answer for the customer. Improving customer service based on collective intelligence of librarians and collaboration.

9. Question Manager

10. Question Manager

11. Collectiveintelligence @t work A referencequestion enters the system. The question is registered and encoded. The question is allocatedto library staff members whose knowledge profiles match the subject code. The group of experts workstogetheron a ‘rich’ answer to the enquiry. The front office employee sends the answer to the customer. The database withanswers is indexedby Google, whichmakes the library more visible in Google search results.

12. Question Manager workflow

13. Organisationworkflow

14. Future and potential of QM: project ‘kennisdelen’ Question manager offers the possibility to libraries and other knowledge-intensive organisations to work together on a rich answer to customer enquiries and to make use of the collective intelligence of the network. Project ‘kennisdelen’ with several partners (public libraries of Middelburg, Rotterdam, Haarlem and TuDelft and the Naturalis Museum in Leiden Goal: to provide a higher level of customer service by working together on customer enquiries. The public library becomes an important node in the knowledge economy.

15. Future and potential of QM: beingwhere the user is Development of a customer portal with a web assistent and chat function. Development of a widget to put onintranets and websitesof otherorganisations (hospitals etc.) => beingwhereusers are

16. Questions? Karolien Selhorst karosel64@gmail.com www.karolienselhorst.be http://www.slideshare.net/KarolienSelhorst www.neerlandica.com