Ask-WA Statistics – September, 2009

Ask-WA maintained a busy service during the month of September, and chat picked up slightly over August as schools came back into session. In numbers:

• Email questions received: 3707
• Chat sessions requested: 3457
• Chat sessions accepted: 2993
• Qwidget requests (% of total): 848 (24.5%)

As a cooperative we maintained an answering percentage of 86.6% for the month, which is a good 2% over last month, and remains well over the goal rate of 75%. Keep up the good work! The email aspect of the service remains robust, and continues to outpace chat ever-so-slightly. Qwidget traffic remains around 1/4th of the total chat traffic.

The word cloud highlights some of the most-used words left in survey comments throughout September.

Kudos – Academic Cooperative

There were some excellent chat sessions to look through for September, and it was nice to see students using the chat service as they began the new school year. Top kudos this month goes to Quill West of Walla Walla Community College for her excellent work helping a student from Mesa Community College in Arizona with a citation question. Questions about citing sources may be common and, generally, not difficult to answer, but Quill stood out not only by being helpful, but also being friendly and patient with the student. As a result, she received this lovely comment:

“Despite the uncertainty of my question (I wasn’t sure how to even phrase it initially) Quill from Walla Walla CC not only understood, she was able to get me exactly the information I needed to finish a paper which really made me glad that this resource is available – I’m not sure I’d have been able to find the information I needed without her help. I’ll definitely be urging other non-traditional / mature students to take advantage of such a wonderful service whenever technology is part of the ‘issue’ we’re having. :)”

Great job, Quill!

Some of my other favorite comments in the academic cooperative include (parentheses include name and location of librarian):

• This is a fantastic service. The librarian was extremely helpful and knew exactly what he was doing. I am very pleased with the information I was given and will definitely be using this feature in the future. (Dale @ Edmonds CC)
• Great, very helpful–retrieved info that I didn’t even know I needed! (Dottie @ UW)
• Was fast and very easy to communicate with librarian. Will definitely be back. (Dottie @ UW)

Kudos – Public Cooperative

As usual, there were a lot of great sessions and glowing comments in the public cooperative for September. Picking one out was tough, but I want to point out a session by Tom Brown at Stevens County Rural Library District that I feel was exemplary. Tom helped a Seattle Public Library patron who initially started out with two questions about historical figures and events, and who ended up asking four separate questions by the end of the session. Tom was generous and patient, and came up with numerous good resources for the patron for each question that was asked. He was rewarded with a brief but very glowing comment:

“Wow this librarian was SUPERB to say the least….”

Well done, Tom!

Some of my other favorite comments in the public cooperative include (parentheses include name and location of librarian):

• I spent a good hour or so looking for the article I needed. I got on this chat site and my question was answered quickly and I got what I needed in a short amount of time. What a great service, thank you! I had no idea I could do this. (Michael P @ Timberland Regional)
• Great Service. Glad I found it and I will certainly use it again. (Amy S @ FVRL)
• Heather was very thorough and very fast. I’m so glad this service exist as I was on here at least 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get the information I needed. I commend your service and again very excited to know of its availability 24/7. (Heather @ SPL)
• This service is wonderful! Love it when I’m working on a paper for school late at night and I need info right away. (Katy M @ YVL)
• Ms. Cynthia, the librarian went out of her way to help provided me the answer to my question. She’s extremely helpful. (Cynthia G @ YVL)
• Laura was so helpful. Cant believe how easy this was. I will definitely use this again, wish everything could be this easy! (Laura M @ SPL)
• The researchers went above and beyond–great! (Kathryn D @ WSL)
• A great idea to have this service available, thank you so very much! I appreciate the kindness. (Cindy B @ NCRL)
• That was awesome! 🙂 I couldn’t find the request item page on the website, but Lin knew exactly where to find it. (Linda R @ SPL)
• the help i got was awesome (Michael S @ SCLD)
• This is a very nice way to get answers when you are always pressed for time – thank you! (John S @ SPL)
• You guys RULE. Not only did I get the info like asap, I got all the advise and suggestions to help my little “family project” to boot, as well as possible cost and advice times. A Big High Five to YOU! And that’s why we have the best library system around, YOU! (Mary Kay F @ KCLS)
• Lyra is the best librarian ever! Lyra is the best librarian ever! Lyra is the best librarian ever! [Repeated about 50 times] (“Lyra” @ KCLS)

Kudos – Back-up Librarians

We like to help our own patrons, but we can’t always be there for them. In the past we’ve given thanks to the QuestionPoint 24/7 back-up staff (who do a great job), but this month we got a lot of great service from librarians providing chat through other libraries participating in the 24/7 national cooperative, and I’d like to thank them and highlight some of the great comments they received from our students and patrons:

• Great experience, very knowledgeable librarian on the “other side”….I think I will recommend this service to all my classmates, esp great to use when the library is closed (of course!!)…wonderful!! (Darryl S @ CA AskALibrarian)
• The librarian helping me was able to find me very specific information that I had previously been unable to find on my own. She continued to search for me even after coming across the first source that answered my query. I am going away from this with all of my information needs answered. (Becky T @ Aurora Public Library, IL)
• The Librarian was very courteous and helpful! I most definitely found this program obliging and useful. I will continue to use this program when ever I have the need. Thank you for helping me with my research paper and answering my questions! I am very non-computer oriented, so when I did not have much luck with books I turned to this program. I rather enjoyed the librarian in my pocket effect. (Chris F @ Peoria Public Library, IL)
• Quick and efficient and interesting that my librarian was Sue in New Jersey and I’m in Seattle. (Sue T @ Cherry Hill Public Library, NJ)
• This is actually the second time I’ve used the service, the first being last night. Since my local library has cut back their telephone reference service, the chat service comes in handy. (Matt L @ AskMN)
• The librarian was incredibly informative and helpful! I really, REALLY appreciate this resource as it helped me find the answers that I was having a hard time finding on my own. I would definitely recommend this invaluable resource to other people! (jhennig @ MassAnswers)
• This is a very cool service. I heard it advertised on 94.9 FM this morning on the way to work. Thanks! (Stefanie G @ QandANJ)
• What a great service! Our tax dollars well spent. (Michele R @ WNYLRC)

Great job, everyone, and thanks for making Ask-WA such a valuable service to library users in Washington State. Keep up the good work!