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Helping Users Help Themselves: Unmediated Reference at the National Library

Throughout 2006, the National Library of Australia has made a number of improvements to its online reference services to promote simpler, more streamlined access to its collections and services. These changes make it easier for users to find information using the Library’s website without the help of a librarian. They have also improved the time taken to respond to enquiries from readers seeking help through the Library’s email reference service.

Perhaps the most visible of these changes has been the introduction of a new resource discovery tool, E-Resources, and the accompanying review of subject-based guides to the Library’s printed collections and free websites. These can be found on the Library’s website.

There have been many other changes, both on the website and behind the scenes, which have included the development of a Frequently Asked Questions database, and the extension of the Library’s Reference Enquiry Manager (REM) to track interactions with clients across the range of services offered by the Library.

The provision of online reference services to our clients is a long tradition for the National Library. The major review and redevelopment of these services during the past eighteen months has resulted in an integrated suite of resources and services that allow users to find information about the Library’s services and collections, and resources held elsewhere, often without seeking direct assistance from a librarian.

The effectiveness of these changes is reflected in the positive feedback which has been received from our users and the usage statistics for these improved services. For example, since its inception in March this year, hits on our Frequently Asked Questions page has increased to more than 140 000.

Two of these initiatives are discussed in more detail in this issue of Gateways:

Cummary of usage chart
Usage of Frequently Asked Questions website pages for 2006

The use of the Library’s guides has also increased since the review which resulted in fewer, but more accessible and higher quality, subject guides to the Library’s collections and to free websites. For the period July 2005 to February 2006, there was a 50.5% increase in hits on guides compared to the same period in 2004–05.

The Library will continue to improve its online reference services and empower users to discover information for themselves. The number of answers to Frequently Asked Questions continues to increase, guides to genealogy resources are being reviewed to make the Library’s wealth of material in this area more easily available, and the Library is currently investigating ways to expand access to the subscription databases and e-journals to offsite users.

The Library is making this shift towards an unmediated reference model in order to provide streamlined pathways to the Library’s resources and services which benefit both users and staff. Two of these recent initiatives—the redeveloped guides and the implementation of REM for the Manuscripts reference service—are the focus of articles in this edition of Gateways. These case studies illustrate two examples of how these changes have made it easier for our users to access information and obtain help, while creating greater efficiencies for library staff.

Belinda Tiffen, Information Services