G ATHERING M EANINGFUL S TATISTICS Laura Connaughton Assistant Librarian Library Information Services Using KnowAll Enquire at John Paul II Library NUI Maynooth ARLG Conference June 24 th 2014

N ATIONAL U NIVERSITY OF I RELAND, M AYNOOTH While formally established as an autonomous university in 1997, NUI Maynooth traces its origins to the foundation of the Royal College of St. Patrick in 1795, drawing inspiration from a heritage that includes over 200 years of education and scholarship The University community comprises over 9,000 students and 800 staff from more than 20 countries Two Libraries Russell Library, Special Collections and pre-1850 material John Paul II Library

South Campus St. Patrick’s College South Campus New Library

T ODAY ’ S P RESENTATION Discuss the shift in JPII Library from paper based enquiries to online based enquiries What KnowAll Enquire is and how it was adapted for practical use in JPII Library How KnowAll Enquire can improve the user experience through the process of tracking the enquiry from origin through each stage of the enquiry handling process Challenges and opportunities presented by an online enquiry management package Advice for others considering a similar model

E NQUIRY M NUI M AYNOOTH L IBRARY Metrics are becoming more and more important in terms of demonstrating library work and value NUI Maynooth Library – new building, new facilities, new resources – we want to be able to demonstrate our value and commitment to teaching, learning and research at NUI Maynooth First academic library in Ireland to purchase KnowAll Enquire KnowAll Enquire helps us monitor enquiries and generate meaningful statistics which means we can monitor and improve our service and prove our value

W HY INTRODUCE A ENQUIRY MANAGEMENT PACKAGE ? Opportunity to streamline all our enquiries into one central point Ability to measure customer enquiries, for example, amount of enquiries, time taken, busy/quiet times etc. Opportunity to improve the customer experience by having a bank of knowledge/FAQs Provide clarity for library staff – ability to see if enquiries are answered/resolved, what the answer is for future reference With our new library, we expected library usage to increase and were being proactive in terms of gathering metrics

N EW L IBRARY N EW S ERVICES AT NUI MAYNOOTH N EW OPPORTUNITIES !

W HERE OUR L IBRARY E NQUIRIES COME FROM Enquiries by Type June 2014

Pre-2014 Paper Based Information Desk Statistics Sheet

Pre-2014 Paper Based Admission Desk Statistics Sheet Where did these statistics go?...

E XCEL Cons: Data Entry Laborious Time Consuming Requires knowledge & ability to manipulate figures How do we collate these figures in one go?

KnowAll Enquire

KnowAll Enquire

K NOWALL E NQUIRE KnowAll Enquire is an enquiry tracking software package which tracks all types of enquiries right through from initial enquiry to meaningful statistics and reports with a view to improving the customer experience and track the enquiry from origin through each stage of the enquiry handling process. How does it work? It captures initial enquiries made at the Information Desk, via walk-ins, online form, or library chat We can assign queries to people i.e. share the workload according to location, specialist subjects and availability By monitoring the enquiries we can ensure that questions are answered We can search answers thus sharing knowledge and see how similar enquiries were answered previously The software is capable of providing very accurate statistics and reports which means we will be able to improve our service We can publish FAQ’s meaning enquirers can help themselves with straightforward queries

T IMELINE Autumn Enquire purchased Autumn/Winter New library move Spring 2013 Visit to University of Warwick, UK Beginning initial design of NUIM Library prototype Working closely with Bailey Solutions in setting up the technical spec of Enquire Summer 2013 Dedicated staff member - Edel Cosgrove, Library Assistant Software design & testing Autumn/Winter 2013 Staff training and launch Spring & Summer 2014 Continuing roll-out to all library staff Software changes and updates

L IBRARY D EPARTMENTS 1. Information Desk (11 staff) 2. Admission Desk (11 staff) 3. General Collections & Finance (12 staff) 4. Special Collections & Russell Library (7 staff) 5. Digital & Electronic Collections (3 staff) 6. Information Literacy (3 staff) 7. Subject Librarians (7 staff) 8. Library IT Development (3 staff)

L ET ’ S TAKE A LOOK Admission Desk Information Desk Subject Librarian

I NTERFACE – I NFORMATION D ESK

I NTERFACE – A DMISSION D ESK

I NTERFACE – S UBJECT L IBRARIAN

S AMPLE FORM FOR AN E NGLISH E NQUIRY

Reporting

C USTOM R EPORTS

R EPORTING – S OME E XAMPLES NUIM I NFORMATION D ESK (B Y H OUR ) S HOWS E NQUIRIES B Y H OUR O F T HE D AY A ND G IVES P ERCENTAGE

NUIM I NFORMATION D ESK (B Y C ONTACT M ETHOD ) S HOWS E NQUIRIES B Y C ONTACT M ETHOD A ND G IVES P ERCENTAGE

NUIM A DMISSION D ESK S HOWS E NQUIRY C OUNT FOR A DMISSION D ESK

NUIM S UBJECT L IBRARIANS (W ORK IN P ROGRESS ) S HOWS C OUNT B Y T IME AND S UBJECT

How we share information with our library users We let people know what we do and how busy we are year round Libraries need to proactively show our value and KnowAll is key to us demonstrating this in a variety of ways Library Infograph

Challenges Benefits Advice

C HALLENGES B ENEFITS Cost Time Set Up Testing Rollout and Training Change Time Easy to access and see previously answered queries Demonstration of value and time Clarity of workflows

B ENEFITS FOR S TUDENTS Self-Directed Learning When KnowAll Enquire is 100% customised, students and library users will be able to search FAQs for self-service answering of queries with instant answers Students can be assured that enquires will not be ‘lost’ in the process of referrals from desk to department Online Form – students don’t need to know exactly who should get their query, less time consuming

B ENEFITS FOR S TAFF One dedicated system for receiving, tracking and answering enquiries Do away with paper-based enquiries, all in a central location Potential to enhance our customer service through consistent answering and knowledge bank Each library team can monitor their own enquiries

B ENEFITS FOR M ANAGEMENT Reporting of metrics and statistics an excellent feature The level of detail in the reports has the ability to dig down to both quantitative and qualitative information Ability to improve customer service, e.g., what is the most asked question re. databases, do we need to do more training/advertising? Gives an overview of busy/quiet time data to inform of changes to opening hours etc.

A DVICE Having a dedicated person to work on the software set-up side is not necessary but definitely an advantage You need the time to learn the product and how you want to use it. The capability is huge, you need to be able to harness it Emerging body of literature about development of statistical packages – we made our decision informed by practice and met Bailey Solutions at LILAC 2012 Visited site before purchase (A&L Goodbody) and after purchase (University of Warwick) Remember it’s not an ‘overnight’ product. We still have lots of work to do on it including student import, diversion of s into Enquire, more training and rollout. Be patient!

T HANK Y OU Laura Connaughton John Paul II Library, NUI Maynooth (0)

C ONTACT KnowAll Enquiry Management from Bailey Solutions

C REDITS NUI Maynooth KnowAll Enquire J. Gabe Gossett, Elizabeth Stephan, Rebecca Marrall, (2012) "Implementing reference statistics collection software at multiple library service points", New Library World, Vol. 113 Iss: 5/6, pp All photos by kind permission of Alan Monahan, NUI Maynooth Library