In the 2014 Academic Year, Zahnow Library answered 2,161 chats from undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, faculty, and community members. It took librarians on average 25.1 seconds to respond to chats as they came in. On average, chats lasted 8.74 minutes. During this time period, Zahnow Library had 7 librarians answering chat on a regular basis. The majority of patrons using chat came from the Chat Help LibGuide, followed by the databases guide.
This survey went out to patrons that wanted to use chat when it was unavailable and instead of sending a chat to the librarian they were prompted to send an email response.
When chat is unavailable, patrons are prompted to send an email to a librarian with their question. Members of the Research Team at Zahnow Library emailed the survey to patrons who used the Ask a Librarian service when the chat service was turned off. Scott Mellendorf, Head of Research Services, emailed the respondents to participate in the survey. There was no compensation involved as an incentive for people to participate. Librarians sent the link to the survey to 202 patrons that utilized the Ask a Librarian service. 27 participants responded for a 13% return rate.
The Ask-a-Librarian Service Assessment survey was conducted during the 2014 Academic Year. 27 responses were received from unique students, faculty, staff, and community users for a 13% return rate. This survey was conducted to rate user experience with the Ask-a-Librarian service. The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate the satisfaction of patrons using the ask a librarian email service that Melvin J. Zahnow Library uses when chat is unavailable and make improvements based on patron responses. This report aims to illuminate patron responses to the service as well as improve assessment methods for the service.
