1. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Tracking and Measuring Performance of Reference Services at the National Library Board, Singapore Jane Wee National Library Board, Singapore

2. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Questions for Managers How many enquiries did our Librarians and Para- professional staff handled last year? How many of these are enquires were answered within the time frame we promised our customer that we would deliver by? Which of our collection were used or recommended when we answered our customers’ enquiries? 2

3. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Measuring Performance and Decision Making “We can't manage what we don't measure”, a maxim in management theory, is also applicable to the provision of Reference Services in libraries. If we do not measure and monitor something, we would not know if it is getting better or worse. If we do not measure to see what is getting better and what is not, how do we improve? 3

4. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore 4 National Library Board Singapore NLB oversees National Library Singapore 3 Regional Libraries 21 community libraries 17 government, schools and private institutional libraries A total of 42 libraries in Singapore National Library Singapore building

5. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore About the System National Library of Singapore implemented a system to record and track enquiries received as early as 1 st Dec 2009. Roll out to all service points on 1 st Feb 2010. Web-based system based on cloud computing. Through this system, the Library is able to track every enquiry from receipt to closure, through all supported channels (walk-in, email, SMS, telephone). Measure the turnaround of the responses to customers and their feedback. Known as the Enquiry Management System, provides a seamless system that handles and manages enquiries from customers via all contact points within an organization with many service points. 5

6. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore About the Process 6

7. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Start - Receipt of an enquiry at Service Point 7

8. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Creation of a case 8

9. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Preparing Responses 9

10. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Reply to customers 10

11. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore SMS Replies with links to full answers 11 Dear Patron, thank you for using Reference Point. Please click on the link to retrieve your answer http://rds.nlb.gov.sg/DisplayCompleted.aspx?PRE... EMS

12. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Receipt of customers feedback 12

13. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Follow Up/Acknowledgement Request for more information? Suggestion to improve our services/collection? Is customer not satisfied with the answer? Has it got to do with the competency of staff? Acknowledging a compliment. Related enquiry or new enquiry? 13

14. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Case Closure Closed by staff handling the enquiry: capturing of statistics such as total number of enquiries handled as a group, total number handled by individual staff, turnaround time, types of enquiries, collection recommended/used, etc. Parent/Child Cases Alerts to staff handling the enquiry and/or supervisors if cases are not closed. Email exchanges are still tracked even after a case is closed. 14

15. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore About the Features 1.Accessibility 2.Increased Productivity 3.Increased Accountability 4.Customers Relationship Management 5.Staff Performance Measurement 6.Enquiry Training Database 7.Tracking and Statistical Report 15

16. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Accessibility Web-based; Integrated with staff emails. 16

17. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Increased productivity No need to check multiple mailboxes; Auto-population of criteria data fields; All correspondences with customers on the same enquiries are linked and all past enquiries with customers are searchable; Copying and pasting standard replies; Save searches and findings as drafts; Collaboration among colleagues with better knowledge to provide better responses to customers; Transferring/Re-assigning enquiries among colleagues. 17

18. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Increased Accountability Tracking capability from receipt to closure; Service standards alerts (automatic reminders); Enquiries are tracked to the individual owners. 18

19. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Customers Relationship Management Each reply is linked to a feedback form, enabling our customers to provide feedback on the services provided; Customers can also provide suggestions, an implementation date is also captured should a suggestion has been evaluated as good for implementation; Stored correspondences between customers and staff for future reference. 19

20. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Staff Performance Measurement Number of enquiries handled by staff; Number of enquiries escalated by junior staff or colleagues; Number of customers compliments received; Meeting the turnaround time; Number of research questions handled; Service standards alerts (automatic reminders) to Supervisors for cases not closed. 20

21. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Enquiry Training Database Questions and Answers databank for new staff or staff not familiar with certain subject areas; Similar questions being handled before. 21

22. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Tracking and Statistical Report How many enquiries did our staff handled? How many of these are enquires were answered within the time frame? Which of our collection were used or recommended when we answered our customers’ enquiries? 22

23. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Conclusion Tapping on technology to track the number and types of reference enquiries received by staff; Improved Accessibility, Increased Productivity and Accountability; Better Customers Relationship Management; Informed decision-making processes for Management of Reference Services. 23

24. All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore Thank You. Jane Wee National Library Board, Singapore jane_wee@nlb.gov.sg 24