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

[KLINGLER, THOMAS]

Shameless plug for a friend in whose rock-solid stuff I have no material interest:

http://sitescripter.com/



Tom Klingler
Assistant Dean for Systems & Technical Services
Libraries & Media Services
Library Room 383
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio 44242-0001


> -----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 at webjunction.org
> 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
>
> To
> <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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