2. Library Act 1939 No 40 Section 10 e
Free basic reference services to members
Any person who is a member of the library is
entitled to be provided free of charge with basic
reference services (being any service classified by
guidelines issued by the Council as a basic
reference service), including assistance in locating
information and sources of information.
6. Information requests
• General subject
• Author/title
• Readers’ advisory
• Local studies (LS)
• Genealogy or Family History
• Community Information (CI)
• Literacy / ESL
• Community Languages (CALD)
• Technology instruction (TI)
• Other requests
8. Tally Sheet Totals
Information Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch Delivery Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
General Subject 77 0 7 1
Author/Title 99 22 17 11
Readers' Advisory 17 0 0 0
Local studies (LS) 1 0 0 0
Genealogy or Family History 0 0 0 0
Community Information (CI) 17 0 0 0
Literacy / ESL 1 0 0 0
Community Languages (CALD) 2 0 0 0
Technology instruction (TI) 43 0 1 0
Other requests 8 0 0 0
Information Requests Subtotals 265 22 25 12
Customer Service Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch Delivery Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
Technology Assistance 134 0 2
Administrative 253 0 2
Directional 34 0 0
Other requests 8 1 0
Customer Service Requests Subtotals 429 1 4
Mon 4-02-19 TOTALS 694 22 26 16
Monday 4-Feb-19Location01
9. Location01 SUMMARY
Information Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch
Delivery
Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
General Subject 401 36 25 9
Author/Title 541 89 46 39
Readers' Advisory 126 2 1 0
Local studies (LS) 8 0 0 1
Genealogy or Family History 4 0 0 1
Community Information (CI) 37 0 0 1
Literacy / ESL 3 0 0 0
Community Languages (CALD) 7 0 1 0
Technology instruction (TI) 241 0 1 0
Other requests 55 0 1 0
Information Requests Subtotals 1423 127 75 51
Customer Service Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch
Delivery
Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
Technology Assistance 1052 4 5
Administrative 1468 5 4
Directional 284 0 0
Other requests 94 1 0
Customer Service Requests
Subtotals 2898 10 9
SUMMARY TOTALS 4321 127 85 60
10. Administrative requests
• Circulation duties other than loaning or
returning (for example following up
reservations, new/replacement library card,
changing patron membership details, renewals)
• Event or activity bookings
11. Location01 SUMMARY
Information Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch
Delivery
Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
General Subject 401 36 25 9
Author/Title 541 89 46 39
Readers' Advisory 126 2 1 0
Local studies (LS) 8 0 0 1
Genealogy or Family History 4 0 0 1
Community Information (CI) 37 0 0 1
Literacy / ESL 3 0 0 0
Community Languages (CALD) 7 0 1 0
Technology instruction (TI) 241 0 1 0
Other requests 55 0 1 0
Information Requests Subtotals 1423 127 75 51
Customer Service Requests
Completed on
same day
Branch
Delivery
Referred (RSV,
ILL, etc)
Other
Technology Assistance 1052 4 5
Administrative 1468 5 4
Directional 284 0 0
Other requests 94 1 0
Customer Service Requests
Subtotals 2898 10 9
SUMMARY TOTALS 4321 127 85 60
12.
13. 2016/2017 enquiry completion rate data
• 76 library services provided data
• Information requests
• 2,887,244
• Customer service requests
• 3,891,352
Hands up who helps collect enquiry complete rate data at their libraries? If you are not sure, hopefully the next few minutes will help you decide
The statistics should be being recorded in your library this week.
A free basic reference service is part of what public libraries are required to provide as part of their compliance with the Library Act this includes things covered in the enquiry completion rate
So, going back to the past…
Describe this slide – this is the most recent data which we have, and covers the 76 library services which collected and provided this data. There are 89 library services in NSW.
Note prior to the last couple of year we did not collect the customer service requests
This is the current collecting sheet, and as you can see there is a lot of information which is not recorded state wide but which is useful locally, and which I would like to do a one of collection of
As this is hard to read on this screen
I have the information broken down on the next two slides
There are definitions – on a page on the website – have a look at this – even if you think you are familiar with it
This shows the information requests – and you can change these to track local information as well
The reasons this detail is here is to help you better understand how your library is being used to provide reference and information services.
These are the customer service requests, again broken down by category.
So – thanks to Sutherland, Richmond Upper Clarence and Coffs Harbour for providing data for this test. Thanks to Bruce Morgan at Parramatta who is working on these spread sheets which will be available for the August collecting
This shows one day of data from three libraries – for local planning it is helpful to be able to see the data – location by location, so you know the different kind of enquiries at different branches or different service points, and the spreadsheet also tallies it up for a system wide total
This shows the total for one week.
I know this is hard to read – I have made the text bigger and made it bold, but please persist with me on this, please feel free to stand up and walk closer so you can read this
Any comments – from this data – about one third of service assistance is information requests and two thirds are customer service requests, however about one third of the total is administrative – which is slightly higher than the state wide data I showed you earlier
This summary is for a weeks worth of data – from three libraries – so what questions are raised?
Can we shift the administrative requests by improving some processes.
In case you are wondering what administrative requests are
So…they are crucial
So maybe the administrative is a lot of membership – with this number being so high, I would be investigating this further to find out exactly what makes up the administrative requests
So what else comes up as questions? Keep it in mind tis shows data for one week
???????
I think the number of local studies and family history assistance is low – so did people miss counting this? Does local studies need a promotion? – or is it all really easy to find online
What questions do you have from this data?
??????? Pause - ask
Possible esl/literacy/cald also low – so do staff need training so that they are more aware of this, does there need to be better signs so people know they can ask – and note I say better not more signs – maybe there are so many signs people are overwhelmed? Maybe there really aren’t many enquiries in these communities.
????
What other questions do you have from this data?
??????? Pause - ask
These more detailed spread sheets will be available from the August collection so that it is easier for you to do this analysis locally. As a one off, in August, I would you like you to send me your completed spreadsheets with one week of data entered in them, as I would like to look at a state wide snapshot of this data, to see the information and customer service totals but also how these are broken down for one week. For August I would like a copy of the spread sheets, once you have entered all your local data, so that I can see the state wide picture, for one week so that state wide we can see how many local studies enquiries there were, how many community information and so on.
I don’t expect you to be able to read this sheet. This is kind of what the completed sheets should look like when you send them in - and the blank versions of these will be online in August, thanks to Bruce at Parramatta, and I will be sending a reminder about this. As this will be the first time these sheets are available, me doing a state wide collection of this data will be a way to encourage all of you to use these sheets locally.
Back to this total – what will the next total look like, and how are these numbers distributed by different kinds of questions?