Main Library Reference
Annual Report July 1998-June 1999
Introduction
This was an unusual year for reference services, because it included planning and initial steps to combine SSHR and Science Reference into a new Main Library Reference unit. The paper process was marked by the appointment of a Head of Main Library Reference, effective November 1, 1998, but the actual merger was gradual. The old service points remained in place until early May 1999; personnel and supervisory structures remained in force as well, so that 1998-99 evaluations reflected the old unit identities. In May ’99, changes in personnel reporting became official. At the same time, the Science Reference collection moved to temporary quarters in Basement-West, and the two ‘desks’ began to function side-by-side in shared quarters there while networking, PCs, carpet and shelving were installed on 1-East for a final move that took place in July 1999. This year’s report is an attempt to summarize activities involving both SSHR and Science Reference (for which see also the appended report by Julia Perez), and the joint service point run in collaboration with Government Documents.
Unit Personnel
Members of the Main Library Reference unit in the Main Library during 1998-99 consisted of personnel from the two previously existing reference units:
Several appointments, resignations or changes in assignment affected reference during the year. Diane Donham joined the MSU Libraries on 10 August 1998, Terry Link became Social Sciences Collection Coordinator on 21 September 1998 (while continuing to work on the desk), and Diane Fisher resigned from the MSU Libraries on 10 October 1998 to take a position at Calvin College. Steven Sowards was appointed as Head of Main Library Reference effective November 1, 1998. He continued day-to-day oversight of SSHR, and Julia Perez continued oversight of Science Reference at his request. In addition to desk hours, most reference librarians had Collection Management assignments.
A dozen student workers were on payroll during the year, shelving, shifting, processing, inputting statistics and foundation grants data, and generally keeping up the collection and public areas as in the past.
Reference Desk Staffing, Planning and Training
As in past years, personnel from other units in the library played a major role in staffing the reference desks in the Main Library. The desk remained a service point shared with the Government Documents unit: Becky Fox, Shawn Nicholson, Debbi Schaubman, Cynthia Teague. Library Instruction staff had regular desk assignments: Michael Lorenzen, Courtney Young. Collections Management and other library staff with desk responsibilities in ‘98-99 were: Jane Arnold, Talbott Huey, Mary Murphy, Barb Stephon, Mike Unsworth, Mary Jo Zeter.
Reference staff meetings dealt with desk scheduling, procedures, plans for the reorganization, and training. Science Reference met monthly. The weekly joint Government Documents/SSHR Desk staff meeting, formerly on Friday mornings, moved to Thursdays in January 1999 to create a meeting-less day that could be taken as a day off to burn up accumulated comp and flex time. Minutes were distributed by e-mail and posted to the "Library Staff Information Bulletin Board" on the Web. Prominent topics during the year included:
Our program of weekly Second Hour training sessions continued: most of them yielded pathfinder-style Web pages suitable for use by staff or library users.
Reference Resources and Collections
The trend continued toward access to reference materials on the Web, including full text sources. The largest single change – involving staff adjustments and user re-education – was the shift from a character-based Notis OPAC to the III system, which included both telnet and HTML versions. This shift meant dropping the popular ACAD database, so the library promoted ProQuest as a replacement: patrons didn’t like having to learn a new system, but did like the full text content that was available. Continued state support of FirstSearch was a boon. Other additions to our Web-based repertoire included Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, our home-grown index to the State News, BGMI, Historical Abstracts/America: History and Life, Historical Index to the New York Times, and ERIC’s E-subscribe full text service. The shift to Web-based tools meant that Web-based problems could interfere with service. For example, release of the Starr Report on the Web in September ’98 temporarily slowed Internet traffic to a crawl due to demand, and in October Demetrios Ioannides and Systems had to help us survive the crash of the ERL server.
According to the final 1998-99 Subject Accounting Report by fund, the reference units spent or encumbered the following for New Publications and Reserves:
1998-99 |
Science Reference |
SSHR |
||
Budgeted |
Spent ‘98-99 |
Budgeted |
Spent ‘98-99 |
|
| Monographs | $33,327.00 |
$28,936.23 |
$57,768.00 |
$66,819.09 |
| New Serials | 5,509.39 |
5,627.50 |
1,229.71 |
2,943.13 |
| Blanket Orders | 0.00 |
83.96 |
2,500.00 |
2,372.57 |
| TOTAL for New Publications | 38,836.39 |
34,647.69 |
61,497.71 |
72,134.79 |
| TOTAL for Reserves | 89,951.56 |
90,202.71 |
272,391.19 |
248,019.57 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 128,787.95 |
124,850.40 |
333,888.90 |
320,154.36 |
Figures shown as "spent" are actually "spent plus encumbered." The reorganization of reference will not lead to a merger of these funds in 1999-2000.
Reference Services
Reference desk service was available 79 hours per week in the Main Library during the regular semester: Mon.-Thu. 8 am-10 pm, Fri. 8 am-5 pm, Sat. 12-5 pm, Sun. 12-9 pm.
The two reference service points recorded these levels of desk traffic.
1998-99 |
Science Reference |
Gov Docs/SSHR |
Total |
| July/August | 1,786 |
2,495 |
4,281 |
| Fall term (Sept-Dec) | 7,477 |
11,055 |
18,532 |
| Spring term (Jan-April) | 6,423 |
9,179 |
15,602 |
| May/June* | (est.) 1,935 |
(est.) 2,762 |
4,697 |
| TOTAL | 17,621 |
25,491 |
43,112 |
*May and June figures, at the joint desk site, were collected as a combined total.
Carrying forward a trend seen in recent years, the number of questions answered at the desks declined, by about seven percent. However, these desk tally figures cannot reflect the complexity of questions – many of which now involve elaborate use of databases or Web sites – or how long it takes to answer a question. I suspect that two things are happening here. First, more users are succeeding (at least as measured by their own expectations) without seeking desk help, thanks to end-user tools. Second, more transactions take place away from the desks as end-users in dorms, labs and offices conduct research without visiting the library in person. It will be interesting to see how the move to 1-East affects total traffic for 1999-2000.
To measure some reference help no longer captured by these traditional desk tally systems, we kept "performance measure" statistics for reference interactions that took place away from the Reference Desks, for a second year. These figures do not record every encounter of this kind, due to staff turnover and the challenge of remembering to record every unscheduled interaction with users; they do provide enough detail to show the proportion of off-the-desk contact that takes place through various media. This table – based on a sample of records for six staff members who regularly submitted monthly reports over the entire two years – shows apparent trends in face-to-face help to users, help by phone/fax, and help via e-mail.
1997-98 |
1998-99 |
|||
| Contacts | Count |
Per cent |
Count |
Per cent |
| In-person (not including BI, groups or tours) | 316 |
22.9% |
371 |
21.3% |
| Telephone or fax | 244 |
17.7% |
134 |
7.7% |
818 |
59.4% |
1,233 |
71.0% |
|
| TOTAL | 1,378 |
100.0% |
1,738 |
100.0% |
Given limitations in regarding the data as a sample, it’s a little early to point out much beyond this tendency (which most of us would have guessed without seeing any data): the use of e-mail to interact with librarians is increasing, possibly at the expense of telephone contact.
We continued experiments with e-mail as a reference medium. In November 1998, PSDC approved ‘canned’ form-letter responses to save time. We also decided to stop answering most questions from non-MSU affiliates (except in cases where MSU was the sole logical source for information). Based on a sample (transactions recorded on the Gov Docs/SSHR desk PC, and not including Science Reference or IRC records), the use of email increased by a large margin. Traffic amounted to 33 messages in 1997-98; in 1998-99 it reached 167 messages, more than 500% of the previous figure. Of those 167 questions, reference desk staff responded to 134 (which includes telling users that their question could not be answered using e-mail alone), referred 21 to bibliographers, and declined 12 from non-MSU affiliates. The level of e-mail traffic tended to rise and fall during the semester, much like desk traffic: users seem to resort to e-mail for the same reasons (such as help with term papers) and at the same times of the year.
Library Instruction
Reference staff participated in bibliographic instruction duties; for figures, see Michael Lorenzen’s reports. Individual unit members also taught LCTTP classes about online access to library tools.
Reference Desk and Facilities
The number of networked PCs at the Science Reference Desk remained at two (plus one used for mediated online searches). There were four PCs at Gov Docs/SSHR: three in counter positions plus a PC to drive the laser printer, process e-mail traffic, and act as a backup. Discussions and plans for an ergonomically correct desk focused on the new service point on 1-East, scheduled to open in July 1999.
Miscellaneous Figures
Student-labor costs were as follows for the two units this year.
1998-99 |
Budgeted |
Spent |
| Science Reference | $2,000.00 |
$2,005.38 |
| SSHR | 30,090.00 |
29,449.71 |
| TOTAL | 32,090.00 |
31,455.09 |
In ‘99-00 those separate funds will be combined.
For binding, Science Reference had $1,200 and SSHR had $2,300 – another pair of funds that will be combined in future.
Respectfully submitted by Steven Sowards
Head of Main Library Reference
14 Dec. 1999; revised 10 Mar. 2000
URL=http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/mlr/annrep99.html
Page editor: Steven Sowards
Page created 15 March 2000; modified 19 February 2003.
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