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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 55 | February 2002
Changing Expectations
An abridged version of a paper presented at the RAISS Conference 'Revelling in Reference' in Melbourne, October 2001 by Fran Wilson and Ann Triffett.
With the advent of the digital library and a shifting information landscape, traditional library activities are undergoing challenge and change and none more so than the management and delivery of reference services. Today libraries provide access to a vast array of information resources some of which they own, their physical collection, but much of it licensed access to remote electronic collections-either databases, electronic journals or e-books-digital images and a wide variety of links to free web sites. In many libraries not all resources are accessible through the catalogue and users must often navigate various parts of a library's web site in a quest for resources to effectively meet their information needs. Many users may never fully explore the vast range of resources available to them due to the challenges posed by resource discovery.
When users approach a reference 'desk' either in person or remotely, they come with a set of expectations and assumptions about the service. The ultimate goal of libraries is to successfully meet the information needs of users while managing and meeting, perhaps even exceeding, their expectations of the service.
The Library offers a wide range of services to individuals and libraries. Clients accessing these services have high expectations and inform us when the service falls short of their expectations. Trends at the Library indicate that demand for print materials from the stacks is decreasing, use of electronic resources is increasing, traditional face to face reference is declining, use of the telephone service is changing and demand is dropping. Conversely, demand for electronic reference services is increasing with the numbers of faxes and letters declining and web site use is increasing.
The Library undertakes regular surveys of its readers to determine user satisfaction with the quality and effectiveness of its services. Survey findings, in part, inform Library management of user perceptions and expectations of reference services. While readers have consistently recorded a high level of satisfaction with the services provided by the Library, they have also requested improvements to services including increased Internet access, improvements in web navigation, faster and more reliable computers and access to training in new technologies and in use of the computers for novices.
In 2001, three focus groups were conducted by Information Services Staff at the Library to give us a better understanding of user needs in relation to reference services in Library reading rooms and to assist us in implementing strategies to meet these needs. A number of points were raised by participants in all three focus groups including access to more electronic material in addition to print and offsite access to electronic resources, particularly full text resources currently only available to onsite users. Participants also requested access to training in the use of electronic resources available in the Library's reading rooms including Kinetica and the Internet, access to an after-hours reference service via email and more promotion and marketing of the Library's information services.They were also keen for the catalogue to include all resources available in the Library including electronic resources-'the one stop shop'.
The Library has responded to user needs identified through surveys of both onsite and offsite users, focus groups, complaint and suggestion forms and continues to seek out new and innovative means for delivering quality library and information services to the Australian community. The Library has increased the number of electronic resources available to users, many with full text, including databases, indexes and abstracting services. More recently the Library has been examining the possibility of providing access to its overseas journals in electronic format making them accessible through the Library's catalogue.
Digitisation is continuing across a range of formats including print, pictorial, map, manuscript, sheet music and sound recording. Within the next 12 months users will have access to 60 000 pictorial images, 3500 pieces of Australian sheet music up to 1929, in excess of 1000 rare maps and three manuscript collections including the Edmund Barton papers.
In 2001 a marketing program was started for our electronic resources. Each month a 'Featured e-Resource' is advertised through the Library's web site and on an Infosheet. Linked to this marketing and promotion of electronic resources, the Library offers regular user education and training sessions in a further attempt to raise awareness of the resources. See Jacki Keys' article on e-resource tutorials in this issue of Gateways.
Statistics point to a substantial increase in web use with many users exploring access to information via the web where they can 'help themselves'. Several participants in focus groups spoke of their desire to be more self-sufficient in information seeking and in the 2001 onsite survey we received comments such as 'material on the Internet is a plus, should be expanded'. The Library continues to provide content via the web through its digitisation initiatives, indexes, guides and gateways to further assist remote users in discovering and accessing the Library's collections.
In order to ensure users' needs and expectations are effectively met, ongoing staff training and development have taken on even greater significance in this new digital library environment. One of the initiatives developed to increase staff skills and knowledge is a monthly reference Q & A session. Staff who work in public reference areas are encouraged to submit questions which they have had some difficulty in answering and brainstorm possible information sources, both print and electronic, where answers might be found. It has proved to be a particularly useful way of sharing information with the emphasis on informality, collegiality and joint learning and development. In addition to the Reference Q & A sessions, other regular reference awareness sessions focus on updates to various parts of the Library's Collection, newly acquired electronic resources, Kinetica searching and IT troubleshooting. The outcome is more knowledgeable, skilled and confident staff delivering a more efficient reference service to the Library's diverse users.
The formation of strategic partnerships between agencies and the collaborative approach to service delivery is becoming increasingly important in meeting user needs and expectations. Since early 2000, the Library has been participating in a global digital reference project initiated and coordinated by the Library of Congress. The Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) aims to operate 24 hours per day, 7 days a week to provide quality reference services to users all round the world by experienced reference librarians.
The Council of Australian State Libraries' Reference Issues Working Group (RIWG), of which the Library is a member, will, in 2002, explore the feasibility of a collaborative reference service among libraries in Australia and the surrounding region. Libraries today face huge challenges in the marrying of the traditional service delivery modes with the new mode of online service delivery-meeting the delivery expectations of remote library users as well as those who come to the reference desk and providing an equitable and quality service to all. For any reference and information service to remain viable and worthwhile, it must be continually developed and modified to meet the dynamic needs and expectations of clients in an increasingly sophisticated information world.
People want what they want when they want it. They don't want
something else, they don't want less than they want, and they certainly
don't want it at some other time. (Harry I. Forsha, The Pursuit of
Quality Through Personal Change Milwaukee: ASQC Quality Press, 1992,
p.3)
Fran Wilson
Above left: The old and the new. Changing technology and the internet have changed reference services and increased user expectations
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au