Responses of the breakout groups were cumulated according to the assigned breakout questions:
·
New resources needed
·
Shift staff from
reference desk to virtual desk
·
Students may use
service who are in the library already
·
Helpful for timid
students
·
Training necessary
for librarians
·
Working at home may
not be that efficient (i.e. one question in two hours, if no other library work
is done – is this an equitable arrangement?)
·
Sharing environment
is important
·
LSSI – job security?
·
Who is providing the
service – LA’s, students, or librarians?
This has to be worked out from the beginning
·
Can enhance library
instruction for distance learners
·
Transcripts –
concerns for both librarian and patron
·
Start at individual
campuses first and then go systemwide
·
Create assessment
tools to evaluate this service
·
Changing librarian role
·
Hours of operation;
working from home
·
Levels of staffing –
LA’s, library interns
·
In lieu of…who’s at
the desk?
·
Telecommuting /
working at home
·
Workload perception
issues (i.e. in public services will digital reference done at home be seen as
equivalent to sitting at the desk?)
·
Down time (which also
exists at the “real” desk)
·
Workloads overall
increasing
·
Scheduling –
mandatory or optional? (late comers / resisters will have easier software)
·
Important – start
with interested people who will WANT to work out the kinks
·
Teaching reference at
library school – reason to get involved
·
Get librarians
involved in distance education – VERY important
·
Some have seen a
decrease in “traditional” staffing
·
Others see targeted
high times/peaks
·
Do NOT see 24/7 as a
goal at this time in the CSU
·
Use of library school
students – will require a skill set for the reference interview
·
Varied skill level
among patrons will require skills on our part
·
Finally, not sure
what traditional reference is – phone / e-lab / roving at terminals / office
hours / e-mail
·
Use transcripts for
assessment – crafting a policy (BTW, the traditional reference interview is not
transcribed and available to administration)
·
Chaotic at first,
with staff resistance and lots of training, but it’s inevitable and will work
well eventually
·
This is another service
point and will require devoting staff and even substituting this for some desk
hours (couldn’t do it while at the desk)
·
Most desks are
currently maxed out already
·
Quality issues if in
a consortium that does not share all the databases (limited to only free
available WWW sites)
·
24/7 is not the
issue. Couldn’t do it just within
California (why not answer over time?)
·
There may be some
professional concerns, if the goal is quick turnaround
·
Distance education is
an ideal setting for this and probably where it should start (also this
software is ideal for BI)
·
Is this an issue of a software license or a consortium?
·
No one knows the
volume after mandated and fully running – initial workload balance may need to
be revisited
·
May help reverse
decrease in library usage and reference statistics and use our time more
effectively
·
Time spent on
teaching
·
Lots of work on prep
and training (time consuming)
·
Online – not much
different
·
Perhaps staff the
desk less (single staff)
·
Volunteers to try at
the beginning but will all really join and how does this impact training time
·
Is there a minimum
time to keep up skills and expertise – one/two hours / week
·
Collaboration would
require administrator for system as a whole and to get system going – perhaps
our role as librarians would be advisory
·
Positive – increased
chance for collaboration with librarians and libraries
·
Good options for
outreach and building better relations with campus and faculty
·
Increase our
statistics
·
Increase appearance
on campus (going with technology; current trend; sexy)
·
Make us feel more
willing to cut desk hours (or not – serve virtual hours while on desk – built
in advertisement for assistance later)
·
Could increase /
decrease BI sessions and time; could decrease in-person tutorials; all
questions are answered at once; or increase as you don’t do second sessions
·
Some may prefer to
work nights rather than days (flexibility)
·
Often a feeling that
using new technologies will save resources (time, money) but frequently lead to
increased time especially if doing better service on alternative methods (ie
active learning takes longer than traditional BI sessions)
·
Will additional
training be required, if people are not
already working at single desks?
Perhaps these groups should remain in the secondary level of questions
·
Majority of group is
favorable; some said no, some said maybe
·
Favorable because of
bottom-up nature of the symposium
·
Favorable because CSU
missions and goals are similar, similar students, shared databases thru EAR committee
·
Go back and impart
data to our campuses
·
Use E-book project as
a model by identifying pilot project campuses
·
Contingent upon
funding from COLD; work out administration aspects, scheduling
·
Need to educate our
colleagues and garner their support
·
Formalized training
plan set up
·
Discuss proprietary
database issues
·
Central task force
needs to be established
·
Do we look at partnerships as a second stage
·
Should be pursued /
investigated
·
By a committee
(possibly appointed by COLD?) Committee should include administrators, ref
librarians, staff, others interested
·
Functions of
committee could be
o Available software options or our own?
o Funding strategies
o Service levels and functions (meetings Yes/ready reference
No /instruction No)
o Survey student groups for their interest/willingness to use
service (distance students would use this anyway/others would use if
comfortable; even if very comfortable with computers, may not know about
research strategies)
·
Might need to break
into smaller groups based on regional needs, service goals, and especially
authentication methods