Main Library Reference / 1-East Reference Desk
Annual Report July 2001-June 2002

Introduction

The Main Library Reference service point assists patrons with Government Documents, research assignments in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and the techniques of library research (including use of Web tools). Many of the personnel responsible for 1-East Desk operations also are involved in virtual reference.

Main Library Reference Unit Staff

There is an "official" Main Library Reference reporting unit, distinct from the Main Library Reference Desk service point (which is a joint service point for Government Documents as well). During 2001-2002, that unit consisted of: Leslie Behm, Kate Corby, Joycelan Dick, Anita Ezzo, Quintella Jackson, Steven Sowards (head) and Amy Tracy Wells.

1-East Reference Desk Staffing and Training

A variety of staff from other parts of the MSU Libraries worked on the 1-E desk, in addition to members of the Main Library Reference unit.

Staff from the Government Documents unit regularly working on the desk were Laura Dickson, Becky Fox, Shawn Nicholson, Debbi Schaubman, and Kathleen Weessies.

Personnel from other units and divisions regularly providing Reference Desk service included Michael Lorenzen and Courtney Young from Library Instruction; Arlene Weismantel and Sheila Bryant from the Health Sciences Group; Lisa Robinson from DMC; Jane Arnold, Jon Harrison, Talbott Huey, Sharon Ladenson, Judy Matthews, Terri Tickle Miller, and Terrie Wilson from Collections and the branches; and Heidi Frank and Barb Stephon from Technical Services.

Several appointments, resignations and changes in assignment affected the desk staff roster. Jon Harrison spent most of the Fall and Spring terms on the reference desk at Business due to short-staffing there. Sharon Ladenson joined the MSU Libraries on July 9, 2001 and began desk work in September. Amy Tracy Wells resigned from the MSU Libraries effective October 6, 2001. Michael Rodriguez joined the MSU Libraries on October 15, 2001 and began desk work in January. Susan Kendall joined the MSU Libraries on January 14, 2002 and began desk work in late February. In February 2002, Judy Matthews was assigned to full-time duties at the new Biomedical and Physical Sciences Library.

Members of the desk staff worked on "e-ref" (virtual reference) planning and operations during most of the year:

• Participants in the E-mail Reference Sub-Committee were Tom Volkening (Engineering) and Becky Fox (co-chairs), Sheila Bryant, Paul Cooper (Systems), Michael Lorenzen, Amy Tracy Wells and Terrie Wilson.
• After we adopted new e-mail procedures, daily shifts were handled by Leslie Behm, Kate Corby, Becky Fox, Susan Kendall, Sharon Ladenson, Michael Lorenzen, Terri Miller, Shawn Nicholson, Michael Rodriguez, Debbi Schaubman, Steve Sowards, Arlene Weismantel, Terrie Wilson and Courtney Young.
• Participants in the Real-Time Reference Sub-Committee were Jan Figa (Math) and Laura Dickson (co-chairs), Ranti Junus (Systems), Lisa Robinson, Kate Corby, Arlene Weismantel, Courtney Young, Paul Cooper (Systems), Leslie Behm, Heidi Frank, and Sharon Ladenson.
• Terrie Wilson participated in the Library of Congress-led Collaborative Digital Reference Service to gauge its usefulness.

Reference staff meetings took place weekly during the school year and in alternate weeks during the summer. Agendas and draft minutes were distributed by e-mail, and final minutes were posted to a Public Folder. These meetings included "First Hour" training sessions: during the year, thirty-three library staff members (not all from reference) conducted long or short sessions on fifty-six different topics, including some branch tours. Leslie Behm and Michael Lorenzen remained in charge of developing the training schedule. Jon Harrison continued to prepare monthly desk schedules.

Prominent issues and problems discussed this year by the reference desk staff included:

• virtual reference service (improved e-mail and use of chat or real-time software)
• the use of signs, maps and referral forms in the building
• implementation of AVS (advanced keyword searching) in the OPAC
• design improvements for the Electronic Resources page (Erasmus)
• procedures to update Web page-based research guides
• provision of print and online telephone directories
• development of an online procedures manual on the Intranet site
• closed reference procedures, forms and policies
• printing issues (including duplex printing, e-token, color and repair support)
• changes in the SilverPlatter interface (the end of WinSPIRS)
• assistance for readers of NetLibrary texts
• assistance to users who have PC-related problems
• the transfer of K (law) materials to Business (except those in Reference)
• reductions in Reference standing orders to offset budget costs
• the impact of MCHEL and MDCH records in the OPAC
• reference sources for post-9/11 topics
• the impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on library service
• online information from the 2000 Census, in growing amounts
• training on core resources (OPAC, SilverPlatter, FirstSearch, ProQuest, Lexis-Nexis, ERASMUS)
• the impact of lighting project construction, beginning in Spring '02

Reference Resources and Collections

Notable changes in reference resources included:

• acquisition of the E-Subscribe database
• acquisition of the ComAbstracts database
• acquisition of Gale Literature Research Center database
• changes in SilverPlatter interfaces and the end of the WinSPIRS interface
• announced changes in the FirstSearch databases available in AccessMichigan (effective Oct. '02)
• cancellation of several dozen standing orders in reference (including law) to generate approximately $40,000 to offset inflation and the loss of grant-supported access to key AccessMichigan databases (especially EconLit, Dissertation Abstracts, Books in Print and Geobase)

Sharon Ladenson assumed selection oversight for the Travel guides in October '01 (from Denise Forro). Michael Lorenzen assumed oversight for Careers and Testing in November '01 (from Anita Ezzo). Jon Harrison continued to select for Law and Funding Center titles. Steve Sowards coordinated selection of social science, humanities, and general reference titles (refmo account); Judy M coordinated selection in the sciences (scrmo account).

Materials funds

Funds expended on reference materials rose this year compared to last. Separate Science (scrmo) and Social Science/Humanities (refmo) funds continued to exist. The 'refmo' account served as a coordinator reserve, as well as paying for law, travel, college guide, funding center and career materials, along with general reference titles. Note that in the following tables, "Spent" and "Encumbered" dollars are combined.
 

Science reference	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered
Monographs	$12,681.00	$7,736.26	$10,550.00	$10,501.37
New Serials	2,891.25	7,790.25	2,310.43	75.00
Blanket Orders	0.00	0.00	0.00	42.00
Total: New publications	15,572.25	15,526.51	12,860.43	10,618.37
Total: Reserves	105,304.70	98,675.49	108,953.52	111,262.04
Grand TOTAL	$120,876.95	$114,202.00	$121,813.95	$121,880.41

 

Social Science/Humanities reference	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered
Monographs	$51,440.00	$37,118.38	$44,216.00	$41,202.23
New Serials	4,572.00	19,677.91	13,180.24	9,144.89
Blanket Orders	2,500.00	1,587.32	2,500.00	1,650.89
Total: New publications	58,512.00	58,383.62	59,896.24	51,998.01
Total: Reserves	239,948.95	262,069.81	273,053.01	300,575.43
Grand TOTAL	$298,460.95	$320,453.43	$332,949.25	$352,573.44

The following combined total for both accounts gives a better sense of the total materials funds assigned to Reference. In the end, we spent about $40,000 more through the two Main Library Reference accounts this year than the year before.
 

Combined	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered
Sciences	$120,876.95	$114,202,00	$121,813.95	$121,880.41
Soc Sci/Hum	298,460.95	320,453.43	332,949.25	352,573.44
TOTAL	$419,337.90	$434,655.43	$454,763.20	$474,453.85

Electronic Resources Funds

In addition, Main Library Reference benefits from many of the resources purchased on the separate line for Electronic Resources, since many expensive databases are charged to this fund. Although this year's original budgeted figure was smaller than the year before, actual expenditures went up by more than $50,000.
 

Electronic Resources	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent	Budgeted	Spent
	$924,196.97	$873,374.13	$905,181.59	$925,705.29

Binding

Binding funds for reference were budgeted and spent/encumbered as follows:
 

	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered	Budgeted	Spent/Encumbered
Binding funds	$2,000.00	$1,812.40	$2,000.00	$1,235.70

Reference Desk Services

Reference desk service was available 80 hours per week in the Main Library during the fall and spring semesters: Monday-Thursday 8:00 am-10:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am-5:00 pm, Saturday 12:00 noon-5:00 pm, and Sunday 12:00 noon-10:00 pm. In the less busy summer months, the desk closed an hour early on Sunday-Thursday evenings, at 9:00 pm. The desk was normally double-staffed. Staff time no longer assigned to triple-staffing was devoted to "virtual reference" service: handling e-mail questions and planning for real-time (chat) operations.

The number of questions tallied at the main library reference desk continues to decline, extending a trend observed here since we began keeping a tally a few years ago, and reported widely from other U.S. libraries.
 

1-East Desk walkup traffic: Qs	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002
July/August	4,318	2,714	2,248
Fall term (Sept.-Dec.)	18,270	14,948	12,700
Spring term (Jan.-April)	14,101	11,826	10,271
May/June	2,753	2,269	2,447
TOTAL	39,442	31,757	27,666

The ability of researchers to work with reference databases remotely reduces walkup traffic. Recognizing the impact of end-user access and users' preference for databases over paper, we have tracked or estimated reference transactions that are not counted at the 1-East desk. We have records of "off-the-desk" contacts from a number of library staff extending over five years, and are making an effort to include these and other relevant figures in our annual reports to the Association of Research Libraries.

For 2001-2002, the Main Library reported 68,805 total reference transactions to ARL, and included:

• 27,666 questions answered at the 1-East desk (Reference)
• 30,290 questions answered at the Electronic Resources Help Room (Instruction)
• 1,549 reference questions answered by Library Distance Learning Services (LDLS)
• 300 questions submitted by e-mail to the desk account (estimated)
• 9,000 questions submitted by e-mail directly by staff (estimated)

Our ARL report did not include reference transactions in the branch libraries, or any chat service questions (chat did not come online until July 1 2002). As in recent years, our estimate of 9,000 "off the desk" e-mail reference transactions is based on a sample of traffic tallies kept by ten staff members in their offices, and extrapolated across the wider MSU Libraries staff. Detailed figures are omitted this year, because the trends are not very different than in the past: e-mail accounts for the vast majority of new contacts by remote users. We estimated this traffic at 7,600 questions in 2000-2001 and at 7,200 questions in 1999-2000.

Library Instruction

For figures about participation in bibliographic instruction by members of the reference staff, see Michael Lorenzen's reports. Some staff also taught LCTTP classes about online access to library tools.

Reference Desk and Facilities

Public PC resources on 1-East (not including the Electronic Resources Help Room/Commons) were:

• 27 Selected Resources PCs (no login, access to library files and U.S. government sites only)
• 24 Full Web access PCs (email and Web browser, requiring authenticated login)
• 16 PCs with the Full Suite of Computer Laboratory applications in the southwest corner
• 25 PCs with the Full Suite of Computer Laboratory applications in the Reference Instruction Room
• Preparations were made to add 7 "Full Suite" Macintosh computers in the south end of 1-East
• 54 laptop-ready DHCP ports in carrels

The "Selected Resources" PCs allowed open access to specific Web sites, including library-licensed databases and Web sites related to our federal depository status (identifed and enable on the basis of .gov and .mil domains). While conforming to MSU network security policy, this allowed us to provide library-related online materials for visitors in line with the university's land grant mission and our depository obligations.

For staff use at the 1-East desk, there were four PCs: two on the front counter where most patrons find us, one on a consulting height table (used for stand-alone CD-ROMs that run poorly on the Selected Resources PCs, and other special situations), and one to drive a laser printer and process our e-mail reference traffic.

Printing options for the public included e-token laser printing and laser printing through jobs directed to the main Copy Center on 2-West. The library underwrote the cost of approximately 642,000 no-fee laser printed copies from the Selected Resources PCs on 1-East during 2001-2002 (577,000 on the two 'reference' laser printers and another 65,000 in the Electronic Resources Help Room). This service was appreciated by graduate students and other researchers, especially for all-electronic sources like the JSTOR serials. No-fee printing also had the effect of bringing students into the Reference area, where the desk staff could offer assistance.

Student Labor

Student workers on the unit payroll handled reshelving, cleaning and tidying the public area on 1-East, shifting, processing books in and out of the collection, inputting statistics about desk traffic, and generally keeping up the reference collection and public areas. Student labor costs as budgeted and spent were:
 

Student labor	2000-2001		2001-2002
	Budgeted	Spent	Budgeted	Spent
Regular account (54-55)	$36,281.00	$36,444.17	$37,150.00	$36,709.42
Late night account (52-53)	1,219.00	1,189.84	1,250.00	1,111.36
TOTAL	$37,500.00	$37,634.01	$38,400.00	$37,820.78

Respectfully submitted,
Steven Sowards
Head, Main Library Reference
9 December 2002

URL=http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/mlr/annrep02.html
Page editor: Steven Sowards
Written 12 December 2002; last modified 19 February 2003.

MSU is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Institution