Feature

Assessing User Interactions at the Desk Nearest the Front Door

Of the 3.8 percent of the questions that were answered wrong, more than two-thirds represented a pass-the-buck perspective: if in doubt, send the user to the nearest reference desk. While it is probable that the misdirected library user was given more correct information by the senior staff and librarians at the humanities and social sciences reference desk, the person was inconvenienced by having to make an intermediate stop between the point of first engaging a library staff member and getting to the correct service point with their information needs. With time a valuable commodity in today’s society, the patience for this sort of detour is considerably lower than in previous years. Some library users undoubtedly felt even more frustrated because they had to retrace their steps back to the front of the building to talk to interlibrary services or circulation staff to get the assistance they needed. Another area of confusion for the LPS staff related to their inability to understand the distinctions between science and engineering areas and humanities and social sciences areas, current issues versus backfiles of journals, and the way a textbook might be a part of different library collections.

Another area of concern was lack of follow-up on broad initial questions to make sure the user was being sent to the correct desk or portion of the collection. Many users with the general question of “Where do I go to do a search for a book?” “How do I look up a call number?” or “Does the library have [this] book?” were routed to the humanities and social science reference desk without any follow-up by the LPS staff to determine if they were looking for material in a particular topical area, such as engineering or education, or querying by the LPS staff as to whether the user was familiar with online catalogs. Similarly, those seeking magazines or journals were sent in an inconsistent manner to either the current periodicals desk or the humanities and social science reference desk. As with books, these questions were broadly phrased, such as “Where are the newspapers and magazines?” “I need some journal articles,” and “How do I find periodicals?” Those with such questions were sent directly to the current periodicals desk with little engagement to determine if the user already had a journal title and whether current or older issues were needed. One curious observation from the data was that library users that started their request with the word “where” were sent more frequently to the specific area or service desk associated with the resource. In directing the user in this manner, the staff member was making an implied assumption that the user did not need the additional guidance or instruction offered by reference services. Asking “Where are the newspapers and magazines?” and “Where are the books?” caused one user to be sent to the current periodicals department and another into the stacks with a call number guide. The students who phrased their question beginning with the words “How do I …” or “I need to find …” were usually sent to the humanities and social sciences reference desk with the implicit assumption that the user required more personalized, in-depth assistance. The humanities and social sciences reference also was the frequent referral destination for those students that inserted extra words and qualifiers, such as “Where are the architecture books?” or “I need articles on test tube babies.” Another example of this was when the person combined a subject area with a genre or format qualifier, such as “Where do I find my anthropology syllabus?” “I need a physics textbook,” or “Where are the animal research archives?” It was fairly obvious that the LPS staff were not able to differentiate well between the two subject-based reference services or address complex questions at anything more than a broad level. If someone specifically used the word engineering or a simple common science term, such as biology, they would be referred correctly. But those that actually tried to explain their topic in detail or referenced potentially interdisciplinary areas, such as genetics, the environment, or architecture, were referred to the humanities and social sciences reference by default. Unfortunately, this lack of follow up was also the case for the twenty users that asked explicitly for “the reference desk.”

Embracing Technology

The last significant group of problematic questions were the 10.7 percent that related to technology. These questions came from computer-literate users who entered the library with expectations of finding computer resources and support. The two most frequently asked questions from this group were “Where is a computer I can use?” and “Does the library have a wireless Internet connection?” In their basic form, these were fairly straightforward questions to answer by directing the user to one of several computer pods in the complex or saying “Yes, the building does have a wireless network.” However, the difficulties came with the next stage of questions that came after these responses. The user often would follow up by then asking for clarification on what to use as a login and password to access the library computers, and how to then get to specific named electronic resources. The users seeking a wireless connection often asked for technical details on what was required to connect their personal laptop to the wireless network, or sought troubleshooting assistance if something was not working correctly. The latter two areas were ones that had never been incorporated into the training for any of the library service points, much less the one intended to provide basic directional assistance. Another large group of technology questions, more than fifty, were centered around printing, which required users to purchase a copy card, go to the appropriate networked printer station based on where the computer they had been working on was located, and follow directions on selecting and printing their particular document. This was not a trivial process to try and explain on the fly, and many of the library users were sent to the default humanities and social sciences reference desk for assistance. One curious phrasing of a type of question stood out from the others and caused significant confusion. The user would ask for the location of a virtual electronic service, such as “Where are e-reserves?” “Where are digital dissertations?” or “Where is DeliverEdocs?” (the library’s to-the-desktop ILS service). Often the LPS staff member would refer the person to what sounded like the closest service desk match, such as the course reserves desk for the e-reserves service, not realizing the student was asking not “Where?” but “How do I access … ?” A preliminary review of the data at the end of the third week pointed out the confusion associated with these questions. To address them, a one-page handout was prepared to help the LPS staff answer them more effectively. General feedback from staff at multiple service points indicated that this resource was helpful, and many copies of the handout have been distributed to users at the point of need, giving them links to detailed technical information and providing instructions users can take with them to the networked printing stations.

What Does This Mean?

There are several key things this data tell us about defining, designing, and staffing service points in a library as well as what to provide in the nature of training and resource support. Even as the bulk of questions faced by staff at the desk nearest an entrance are still directional in nature, a significant percentage have become more sophisticated and require a basic understanding of the reference interview and details of library information services and resources provided to the user population. Depending on the nature of the library, answering these questions might require local community knowledge, an academic background, or significantly more expert training to answer correctly. As technological resources continue to grow and the library is seen as the gateway to this knowledge for increasingly diverse user populations, it is likely that the quantity of more complex questions will also grow, especially as related to technology and computer troubleshooting. In a perfect world, budgets are no object, and every desk can be staffed with senior staff and librarians trained to answer all questions. Reality is much different and requires establishing reasonable expectations, developing targeted training and support tools, and working to make the library, as a whole, less jargon-laden and confusing to users. Even as a library may have a goal of every question answered on the first interaction or with only one referral, the broad range of topics and the specificity of some questions represented in this data tell us that the scope of knowledge and services contained in contemporary libraries, combined with the tendency of users to communicate their needs in natural language, make it an ideal that will never be fully achieved.

In light of this, library management has several options for improving the service quality to users in their initial contact. One possibility might be to maintain a desk that incorporates minimally trained staff but then modify user expectations through desk configuration or signage so that users recognize that the service point is designed only for directional assistance and referral. Another option for an administration that wanted to make partial improvements in service while maintaining the current staffing model would be to provide additional training and targeted, point-of-need handout resources to supplement staff member knowledge and effectiveness. However, within an institution that has a career ladder structure, union, or civil service, additional training and increased scope can still equate to reclassifying the position and having to raise the pay scale. Also, if the library user knowledge expectations outpace the base knowledge of the staff member, such as occurred on the wireless Internet connection and follow-up specific resource access questions, training alone will not resolve underlying issues of trying to turn a high school graduate into a research scholar or computer technician. Another solution is to redefine the staffing altogether and, rather than use volunteers or minimally trained, high-turnover staff at the desk nearest the entrance, go with a more expert, permanent, budgeted staff. The biggest drawback of this option is that based on the data from the study, for each sophisticated question that actually uses their expertise, the staff member will be answering three other boring, basic directional questions that any volunteer or student worker with basic training can do. A final option is to rethink the entire library layout and resource organization so that similar groups of resources and services sought by users are near each other–thereby minimizing the inconvenience of the referral process. This is not something that can usually be accomplished overnight and requires planning with an eye to the institution’s change leadership, facilities, and financial base. In truth, none of these options are perfect, and the decision of which is most appropriate for a particular library will vary depending on the complexity of services being provided, available resources, and the user community’s expectations. In many cases, blending these options with elements from each may be the best solution for a complex library environment, such as that found in a major metropolitan area or large academic institution.

For the library where the study was conducted, several changes have been implemented based on the data, with varying degrees of success, and the environment continues to evolve to address these issues. A new training program on conducting an information interview that incorporates basic elements of the reference interview is being developed. There is managerial recognition that some individuals among the loss prevention specialists will be able to incorporate the training easier than others. An LPS vacancy offered the opportunity to explore alternative staffing models, and the position was refilled with bright student workers in disciplines with strong academic research experience. Unfortunately, the student workers subsequently expressed significant frustration with the overall tedium, sporadic pace of questions, and lack of mental challenge associated with sitting at the LPS desk. This model also did not meet the needed scheduling flexibility to provide coverage for the extended final exam building hours. The latest model, which seems to be successful, provides daytime LPS coverage by circulation student employees rotated on an hourly basis to minimize the tedium. It maintains a dedicated staff coverage model still in place for nights and weekends. A reclassification process that shifted all of the night and weekend LPS positions to the entry level of the library staff career ladder was implemented September 2006, with follow-up training to broaden their desk service skills. The reclassification defines the customer service emphasis of these positions and allows for future personal growth opportunities. The various textbook and journals and newspapers services have been relocated from four separate spaces into one space that combines course reserves, the library’s university textbook collection, current journals and newspapers, microform backfiles, and a dedicated service desk where staff can further assist users with guidance to the general collection, which includes some textbook material and integrated bound journals, and electronic journal resources. Most significantly, a reorganization of the science and engineering and humanities and social sciences units was implemented. The reorganization maintained some of the expert librarian elements of the previous subject-based structure, but placed both reference service operations in the same physical space with a single main reference desk and shared staffing. Within the next couple of years, the author anticipates doing a follow-up assessment to determine the true impact of such significant changes on service quality at the desk nearest the door and the critical first impression interaction.

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