FAQs: The Continuing Story …
The National Library’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) service (available from the NLA home page) continues to be an effective way of sharing information gathered by our reference librarians.
Subjects covered include information about the Library and its services and collections, as well as responses to more general interest queries received by the National Library (for example, ‘Why is the sky blue?’). Since the Gateways article on the FAQs in August 2006, the number of FAQs has steadily grown from 120 to around 200 questions and answers.
Some of the more popular questions include:
- Where can I find information on the Commonwealth Budget?
- How many convicts were deported to Australia?
- What is Libraries Australia and how can I use it?
- What are the oldest things in the National Library?
- How can I get an interlibrary loan?
- When was the last Census?
Users are able to search the FAQs by keyword, and popular searches include ‘map’, ‘postcode’, ‘books’, ‘government’ and ‘Australia’. The FAQs ‘How can I get an up-to-date map showing my house?’ and ‘Where can I get a postcode map of Australia?’ both receive substantial views.
Use of the FAQs continues to grow. Recently, the statistic-counting process for the service has been refined in an attempt to only count ‘human traffic’ (i.e. not indexing by search engines). During April 2007, 14 358 page views were recorded. This indicates that there are many people gaining real benefit from the information offered.
The ‘Spotlight’ section that appears on the front page highlights five topical questions, which are changed every fortnight. At the time of writing the featured questions are:
- Where can I find Australian company information?
- Where can I find statistical information about Australia?
- How can I get an Australian birth, death, or marriage certificate?
- Where can I find free web-based finding tools to journal articles?
- What is Libraries Australia and how can I use it?
Interestingly, the most popular day for viewing FAQs has consistently been Saturday. Other popular days for April were Tuesday and Wednesday. Busy times of day tend to vary from month to month, but the general pattern shows that 10 am to midday, 4 pm to 6 pm, and 9 pm to 11 pm are high usage periods.
The librarians at the NLA add around three to five new questions a month, derived from topical or otherwise interesting and quirky questions asked by Library users. We would be interested in hearing your comments on the usefulness of the FAQs. Alternatively, if you would like to suggest a question to be answered, please use the form found at http://www.nla.gov.au/infoserv/rf_form.html.
Rachel Pryor
Information Services



