[Web4lib] ...Tracking... reference desk enquiries/transactions

[Browne,Ginny]

And of course there is QuestionPoint which is designed for tracking reference questions. 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of David Whelan
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:24 AM
To: web4lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] ...Tracking... reference desk enquiries/transactions

Craighton offers a lot of good suggestions.  I've only ever seen reference tracking done from the perspective of either internal tracking or for the purposes of creating a FAQ resource based on the questions/answers, but not linked to an individual account.

Another solution which comes to mind would be to use something like a help desk ticket tracking system, where reference requests are treated like help desk requests.  Many of those have a remote component, enabling an IT customer to see when their ticket is closed.  There seems to have been a lot of Web4lib discussion a few years back on help desk systems.  Has anyone used a system like that for reference?

David.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David P. Whelan, J.D., M.L.S.
Manager, Legal Information
Law Society of Upper Canada
130 Queen Street West,
Toronto, Ontario  M5H 2N6
tel: 416.947.3438    fax:  416.367.2635
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"Craighton Hippenhammer" <CHHammer at olivet.edu> Sent by: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
2008-08-19 06:11 PM

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<don.saklad at gmail.com>, <web4lib at webjunction.org> cc

Subject
Re: [Web4lib] ...Tracking...  reference desk    enquiries/transactions




Normally, tracking reference queries and circulation and reserve transactions are librarian functions, not library patron activities. 
Integrated Library Systems usually take care of the last two and reference queries can be tracked in commonly available databases like Microsoft Access.  I'm not aware of software that would track library visits and reference desk transactions as such -- I'd recommend MS Access for that. 
Reference IM communications could be saved, I suppose, but would have to saved into some organizing software or card system.  Home book cataloging/library management software like collectorz.com, Readerware ( http://www.sorice.com/rwbooks.html), Book Librarian Plus ( http://turbosystems.com/blw31.htm), and librarything.com could take care of part of what is being asked but would have problems with tracking reference interviews and what wasn't found. 

Social Web 2.0 book sharing web sites like www.shelfari.com, http://reader2.com/, and http://www.gurulib.com/ are not probably what is wanted either as they are likely to be too public and too limited. 
Bibliographic software like http://www.biblioscape.com/ and http://www.endnote.com/ can help with tracking research citations, whether the actual materials have been found or not, but are not likely to help much in situations where no response has been returned and/or citations have not been found.  Perhaps PIM or PDA software that has tickler functionality would be more helpful for those purposes.

Craighton Hippenhammer
Information Technology Librarian
Olivet Nazarene University
Bourbonnais, IL 60914
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