Building a New Model for Staffing Chat Reinvented Reference: The Integration of Digital and...

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Building a New Model for Staffing Chat Reinvented Reference: The Integration of Digital and Traditional Reference Services (RUSA Preconference) Fig. 1 – a) HawkHelp web page showing Fig. 1 – a) HawkHelp web page showing options. options. Building a New Model for Staffing Chat: HawkHelp Live Frances A. Devlin, University of Kansas Libraries 2005 ALA RUSA Pre-Conference, Chicago HawkHelp LIVE Poster Abstract Poster Abstract In 2003, the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries designed and implemented a chat reference service (HawkHelp LIVE) to offer research assistance in real time to students and faculty. As the chat service gained popularity at our institution, we found its usage was limited by restricted hours of availability. To overcome this problem, we decided to extend the hours of the service in two ways. First, we established partnerships with other academic institutions in Kansas (Kansas State, Emporia State and Wichita State universities) to form a Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service. This enabled us to extend the hours that chat was offered with additional librarians. We also adopted a novel approach to further extend the service hours (8 a.m.-noon, 9 p.m.- midnight and on weekends) by using peer reference student assistants who staffed our information desk during those times. The peer students were already proficient with instant messaging and only needed training to handle general reference questions. Analysis of the usage statistics indicates that a significant percentage of calls came into the service during the extended hours, indicating the evening and weekend time-slots may be important for maximum utilization of the service. This project could serve as a model for other institutions wanting to expand their chat service hours in a viable and cost- effective manner. HawkHelp LIVE is a program that connects students to the library using an instant messaging service. Students can ask their questions online and co-browse web pages with library staff. With librarians’ help, students can find information, receive guidance on researching topics and learn about the library services and collections. Kansas State University joined the University of Kansas’ program in Spring 2004 to form an academic cooperative chat reference service. Emporia State and Wichita State universities joined in Spring 2005. Fig. 2 - The spreadsheet to Fig. 2 - The spreadsheet to the left shows the the left shows the breakdown of staff breakdown of staff coverage with librarians coverage with librarians from KU & K-State and from KU & K-State and Peer Student Assistants Peer Student Assistants for the 2004 fall semester. for the 2004 fall semester. We faced challenges expanding hours further, as staff already had full work schedules and participation in chat was voluntary. So, we looked to other ways to increase the hours of our chat service and established a partnership with Kansas State University for the summer and fall of 2004. Based on the success of that trial collaboration, invitations to join the service were extended to other State academic institutions in Kansas. Emporia State and Wichita State universities recently joined the Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service in spring of 2005. At the same time as we were beginning our trial with Kansas State University, KU Libraries’ public services units began moving to a new service model with trained peer student assistants acting as the initial contact at the information and reference desks in Watson and Anschutz Libraries. With the addition of the student assistants to the chat service, we were able to expand our scheduled hours considerably. By fall 2004, we offered 100 hours/week of chat, with librarians staffing the service in the afternoons and evenings till 9 p.m. and the peer student assistants staffing the mornings, late evenings and weekends Staffing the Service: History Staffing the Service: History HawkHelp LIVE was launched on the KU campus, March 31, 2003, toward the end of the spring semester and was initially staffed 16 hours/per week, Mon-Thurs. from 12:30–4:30 p.m. Early statistics generated from this time frame were mostly practice sessions among staff in preparation for the fall semester and there were few “real” calls from patrons. However, based on the number of hits to the HawkHelp LIVE web page when the service was closed, we adjusted the schedule for the fall to Sun. 6-9 p.m. and Mon-Wed. 3-9 p.m. – 20 hours/week. We continued to expand service hours for the spring semester 2004 and offered 32 hours/week . R 2 = 0.6252 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 50 100 150 H ours Scheduled No. ofCalls 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 2003 2004 2005 Year No. ofCalls Spring Sum m er Fall 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 2003 2004 2005 Year HoursScheduled Spring Sum m er Fall Fig. 3 – Statistics above indicate that a significant number Fig. 3 – Statistics above indicate that a significant number of calls came in during the 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 9 p.m.- of calls came in during the 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 9 p.m.- midnight time periods (yellow bars) which were staffed midnight time periods (yellow bars) which were staffed by peer student assistants. by peer student assistants. Fig. 4 - Peer student assistants also staffed the Fig. 4 - Peer student assistants also staffed the service on Fridays and weekends (yellow bars). A service on Fridays and weekends (yellow bars). A significant usage of the service during these times significant usage of the service during these times occurred on Sundays. occurred on Sundays. M on Tues W ed Thurs Fri Sat Sun 8AM -9AM 9AM -10AM 10A M -11A M 11A M -12PM 12PM -1PM 1PM -2PM 2PM -3PM 3PM -4PM 4PM -5PM 5PM -6PM 6PM -7PM 7PM -8PM 8PM -9PM 9PM -10PM 10PM -11 PM 11PM -12A M S taff Hrs/W k P eerS tudents 64 Librarians 36 Total: 100 Conclusions Conclusions •Increased service hours result in increased service to users. •Increased usage is partially due to more hours of operation and partially due to awareness of service. •Important contributions to increased hours and service came from cooperative academic partnerships. •Using peer reference student assistants enabled service to function during expanded hours. Approx. 15-20% of calls Fig. 6 – This graph shows the changes in hours of Fig. 6 – This graph shows the changes in hours of service each semester. We were able to offer 100 service each semester. We were able to offer 100 hours/week in the 2004 fall semester by using hours/week in the 2004 fall semester by using peer students to staff the extended hours. peer students to staff the extended hours. Fig. 5 – Usage and awareness of the chat service Fig. 5 – Usage and awareness of the chat service has increased every semester since its inception in has increased every semester since its inception in 2003. 2003. Fig. 7 – The data show a strong correlation between Fig. 7 – The data show a strong correlation between hours of service and number of calls taken (service to hours of service and number of calls taken (service to clients). This correlation indicates the importance of clients). This correlation indicates the importance of maximizing the hours of availability maximizing the hours of availability . . Analysis of Analysis of Data Data b) HawkHelp LIVE web page user entry b) HawkHelp LIVE web page user entry screen screen 0 50 100 150 200 250 Num berofCalls Time Frequency ofC alls by Tim e 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 N um berofcalls Sun M on Tues W ed Thurs Fri Sat D ay C allFrequency by D ays ofthe W eek Watson Library on the KU campus
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Page 1: Building a New Model for Staffing Chat Reinvented Reference: The Integration of Digital and Traditional Reference Services (RUSA Preconference) Fig. 1.

Building a New Model

for Staffing Chat

Reinvented Reference: The Integration of Digital and Traditional Reference Services (RUSA Preconference)

Fig. 1 – a) HawkHelp web page showing options.Fig. 1 – a) HawkHelp web page showing options.

Building a New Model for Staffing Chat: HawkHelp Live

Frances A. Devlin, University of Kansas Libraries

2005 ALA RUSA Pre-Conference, Chicago

Building a New Model for Staffing Chat: HawkHelp Live

Frances A. Devlin, University of Kansas Libraries

2005 ALA RUSA Pre-Conference, Chicago

HawkHelp LIVE

Poster AbstractPoster Abstract

In 2003, the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries designed and implemented a chat reference service (HawkHelp LIVE) to offer research assistance in real time to students and faculty. As the chat service gained popularity at our institution, we found its usage was limited by restricted hours of availability. To overcome this problem, we decided to extend the hours of the service in two ways. First, we established partnerships with other academic institutions in Kansas (Kansas State, Emporia State and Wichita State universities) to form a Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service. This enabled us to extend the hours that chat was offered with additional librarians. We also adopted a novel approach to further extend the service hours (8 a.m.-noon, 9 p.m.-midnight and on weekends) by using peer reference student assistants who staffed our information desk during those times. The peer students were already proficient with instant messaging and only needed training to handle general reference questions.

 Analysis of the usage statistics indicates that a significant percentage of calls came into the service during the extended hours, indicating the evening and weekend time-slots may be important for maximum utilization of the service. This project could serve as a model for other institutions wanting to expand their chat service hours in a viable and cost-effective manner.

HawkHelp LIVE is a program that connects students to the library using an instant messaging service. Students can ask their questions online and co-browse web pages with library staff. With librarians’ help, students can find information, receive guidance on researching topics and learn about the library services and collections. Kansas State University joined the University of Kansas’ program in Spring 2004 to form an academic cooperative chat reference service. Emporia State and Wichita State universities joined in Spring 2005.

Fig. 2 - The spreadsheet to the Fig. 2 - The spreadsheet to the left shows the breakdown of left shows the breakdown of staff coverage with librarians staff coverage with librarians from KU & K-State and Peer from KU & K-State and Peer Student Assistants for the Student Assistants for the 2004 fall semester.2004 fall semester.

We faced challenges expanding hours further, as staff already had full work schedules and participation in chat was voluntary. So, we looked to other ways to increase the hours of our chat service and established a partnership with Kansas State University for the summer and fall of 2004. Based on the success of that trial collaboration, invitations to join the service were extended to other State academic institutions in Kansas. Emporia State and Wichita State universities recently joined the Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service in spring of 2005.

At the same time as we were beginning our trial with Kansas State University, KU Libraries’ public services units began moving to a new service model with trained peer student assistants acting as the initial contact at the information and reference desks in Watson and Anschutz Libraries. With the addition of the student assistants to the chat service, we were able to expand our scheduled hours considerably. By fall 2004, we offered 100 hours/week of chat, with librarians staffing the service in the afternoons and evenings till 9 p.m. and the peer student assistants staffing the mornings, late evenings and weekends (Figure 2).

Staffing the Service: HistoryStaffing the Service: History

HawkHelp LIVE was launched on the KU campus, March 31, 2003, toward the end of the spring semester and was initially staffed 16 hours/per week, Mon-Thurs. from 12:30–4:30 p.m. Early statistics generated from this time frame were mostly practice sessions among staff in preparation for the fall semester and there were few “real” calls from patrons. However, based on the number of hits to the HawkHelp LIVE web page when the service was closed, we adjusted the schedule for the fall to Sun. 6-9 p.m. and Mon-Wed. 3-9 p.m. – 20 hours/week. We continued to expand service hours for the spring semester 2004 and offered 32 hours/week .

R2 = 0.6252

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2003 2004 2005

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Fig. 3 – Statistics above indicate that a significant number of calls Fig. 3 – Statistics above indicate that a significant number of calls came in during the 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 9 p.m.-midnight time came in during the 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 9 p.m.-midnight time periods (yellow bars) which were staffed by peer student assistants.periods (yellow bars) which were staffed by peer student assistants.

Fig. 4 - Peer student assistants also staffed the service on Fig. 4 - Peer student assistants also staffed the service on Fridays and weekends (yellow bars). A significant usage Fridays and weekends (yellow bars). A significant usage of the service during these times occurred on Sundays.of the service during these times occurred on Sundays.

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun

8AM-9AM

9AM-10AM

10AM-11AM

11AM-12PM

12PM-1PM

1PM-2PM

2PM-3PM

3PM-4PM

4PM-5PM

5PM-6PM

6PM-7PM

7PM-8PM

8PM-9PM

9PM-10PM

10PM-11 PM

11PM-12AM

Staff Hrs/Wk

Peer Students 64

Librarians 36

Total: 100

ConclusionsConclusions

•Increased service hours result in increased service to users.

•Increased usage is partially due to more hours of operation and partially due to awareness of service.

•Important contributions to increased hours and service came from cooperative academic partnerships.

•Using peer reference student assistants enabled service to function during expanded hours. Approx. 15-20% of calls to service came during expanded hours.

Fig. 6 – This graph shows the changes in hours of Fig. 6 – This graph shows the changes in hours of service each semester. We were able to offer 100 service each semester. We were able to offer 100 hours/week in the 2004 fall semester by using peer hours/week in the 2004 fall semester by using peer students to staff the extended hours. students to staff the extended hours.

Fig. 5 – Usage and awareness of the chat service has Fig. 5 – Usage and awareness of the chat service has increased every semester since its inception in 2003.increased every semester since its inception in 2003.

Fig. 7 – The data show a strong correlation between hours of Fig. 7 – The data show a strong correlation between hours of service and number of calls taken (service to clients). This service and number of calls taken (service to clients). This correlation indicates the importance of maximizing the hours correlation indicates the importance of maximizing the hours of availabilityof availability..

Analysis of DataAnalysis of Data

b) HawkHelp LIVE web page user entry screenb) HawkHelp LIVE web page user entry screen

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Call Frequency by Days of the Week

Watson Library on the KU campusWatson Library on the KU campus