In a recent post, we shared some statistics on how the library has been used in the first seven months of this academic year. One item we mentioned was a year long tallying of questions you asked us at our InfoDesk. During 2009, we did our best to keep track of the questions asked at the desk. Here's what we learned from that tallying:
- You asked us 5245 questions during the year.
- That averages out to 19.5 questions per day. This is in addition to more routine, but essential, activities that we didn't count, like checking books out and back in.
- 19% of those questions came by phone, and 2% through instant-messaging, with the rest in-person (we also get a lot of questions in email, but we did not track those).
- The topics of those questions were fairly evenly divided, with nearly 20% in each of the categories of research (where to look for articles on X, etc.), technology (how to double space in Word, etc.), circulation (when will the book I requested arrive, etc.), and the ever-popular "other" category.
- 90% of the questions came between 8:00am and 5:00pm.
So, we know a bit more about what you need to know from us and when you need to know it. We're still analyzing the data and seeking to find applications to staffing our InfoDesk and training ourselves. We are also planning a new way to gather stats on questions and also get down some details on the content of each question that might guide us further.
All we can say to you is thanks for seeking assistance and keep those questions coming. As it says at our doorways, "how can the library help you today?"
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