Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Week 7: Muddiest point

I'm curious about how popular virtual reference services are here at Pitt. Do the University librarians keep track of the numbers of reference questions that are addressed via IM/email? If so, is there a way we can see that data?

1 comment:

elaina v. said...

Hi Valerie,

The ULS uses a program Refstat to count reference queries. It sits on all browsers of service devices. Librarians, staff and student workers keep track of: directional questions, ready reference, in-depth, gov. docs ready reference, gov. docs in-depth reference, electronic sessions, and im sessions. Employees can look at these statistics online, but I don't really know if they're readily shared with the public, although I'm sure they would be if you asked a librarian.