By Pauline Bickford Cline Doug Kiker, Christy Shorey and I presented this year at the Charleston Library Conference. We are all members of the Assessment Advisory Committee, and our presentation was on our work with a subcommittee of the AAC, the Ask-A-Librarian Transcript Analysis Subcommittee. Our presentation was during the virtual conference week with a live Q&A component over Zoom. In the presentation, we discussed our analysis of an academic yearâs worth of Ask-A-Librarian chat transcripts. Beginning in September 2021, our subcommittee analyzed about 100 anonymized Ask-A transcripts per month, collected and de-identified by David Carnell. In some months, we analyzed more â for example, in January 2022 when the UFDC platform was updated. This project took place during a year of change at the Libraries, which included the library website migration, the ILS migration to Alma Primo VE, and the UFDC platform migration, as well as multiple other simultaneous web page redesign projects based on usability testing. We developed a list of common chat topics and barriers faced by patrons, which we used to code each response. We then rated each interaction using predetermined criteria and provided recommendations for improvement based on how the patronâs needs were met. Using this data, we developed large-scale recommendations to share with Assessment Librarian Laura Spears, Dean of Assessment Val Minson, Ask-A-Librarian coordinator Robin Fowler, and Library Technology Services. Based on our recommendations, changes are in the process of being made to the Ask-A-Librarian training program and resources as well as to the library website. Some of our recommendations included the reorganization of the study room web page and increased Ask-A staff training ahead of the fall semester on topics such as the VPN and best practices for a reference interview. The data we analyzed contained valuable information that helped improve library services and resources. The dataset and the Charleston presentation recording is available in UFâs institutional repository here. |