Systematic Quantitative and Qualitative Reference Transaction Assessment: An Approach for Service Improvements

This paper presents the first-year results of a reference transaction tracking system implemented at Cornell University Library (CUL). We describe how reference transaction data are collected, analyzed, and used to improve services. Prior to 2006, the CUL Public Services Executive Committee faced two major challenges in relation to reference statistics: ensuring consistency across the decentralized library system and more accurately reflecting reference work. In response, CUL staff collaborated with Computer Science students and developed a Web-based Reference Statistics Reporting System (RSRS). Following its inaugural year of use in July 2007, the Director of the Collections, Reference, Instruction, and Outreach Department (CRIO) initiated a project to analyze RSRS data collected at two service points in order to understand better the traffic patterns and the nature of the questions asked at the reference desks. The goals of this analysis were to inform decisions for reference desk staffing and training, assess the performance of RSRS, and identify potential service issues. The two-phase project was conducted by the Research and Assessment Unit (RAU), with close collaboration with the CRIO Director and staff.