Management Issues in Digital Reference

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Management Issues in Digital Reference

• Alice K. Kawakami
• Program Director for Digital Reference
• University of California, Los Angeles

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Policies and guidelines

• Who will be the clientele?
• What level of service to provide?
• Give answers or teach strategies?
• Document delivery?
• What resources are to be used?
• Electronic sources only?

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Other considerations

• Where should this service be staffed?
• When should the service be open?
• Who should staff the service?
• Who is the service geared towards?

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Staffing issues

• Shift length
• Split shifts
• Working from home
• Technical needs computer, internet access (DSL
  or cable modem)

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Selecting hours

• Hours the in-person desk is most busy
• Hours users say they would use it
• Based on times questions are received
• Based on when users are trying to access help

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Training staff

• Vendor sessions, online training
• Training within libraries
• Weekly/monthly meetings
• Listserv for reporting and discussion
• Special sessions to highlight resources
• Digital reference resources web page

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http//www.library.ucla.edu/digref
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Publicity and visibility

• Public relations vs marketing
• Promoting a new service
• Logo, tag line, icon
• Icon placement

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Assessment and evaluation

• User surveys
• Transcripts
• Competencies
• Listserv and weekly discussion
• Sampling, focus groups

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Statistics
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Role of Project Coordinator

• Liaison between librarians and developers
• Create training materials
• Convene meetings
• Analyze data for scheduling and consistency of
  service
• Identify training issues
• Shape the overall program

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Challenges

• Librarian fears
• Isolating librarian-error, user-error, software
  problems, network problems
• Equipment considerations
• Publicizing the service
• Coordinating coverage

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Solutions

• Emphasize similarities to traditional reference
• Value known skills and experience
• Work with
• local webmaster
• technical staff
• public relations department

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Discussion Session 2

• Representative Groups
• Hospital Libraries
• Medical School Libraries
• Pharmaceutical or Biotech Libraries
• Consumer Health Organizations
• Regional Center for Rural Libraries

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Discussion Topics

• Who will you serve?
• What level of service will you provide?
• What hours will you be open?
• How will you staff the service?
• Will you join a cooperative? Who will be the
  ideal partners? What will be your role?
• What issues do you have to work out?

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Resources

• Alice Kawakami
• University of California, Los Angeles
• akawakam_at_library.ucla.edu
• Shirley David
• Sacramento County Public Law Library
• SDavid_at_saclaw.lib.ca.us
• Kay Deeney
• NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region
• kdeeney_at_library.ucla.edu

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Questions

• Comments, responses, etc.
• Evaluation forms
• Certificates