Yale University Library

Service Quality Improvement Council

SQIC
Minutes
Meeting of 24 July 2002

Present: M. Gentry, H. Grossetta-Nardini, C. Jones, F. Martz, D. Nitecki, S. Peterson,
A. Solomon


A. Solomon reminded the membership that their terms ended on 1 July 2002 and thanked them for their participation during the past fiscal year.

Those present reviewed the FY01/02 accomplishments of the Council and the SQI working groups. It was noted that the SQI Document Delivery Group's accomplishments were not included. They will be added in the revised version of the list. It was suggested that accomplishments for BorrowDirect and the intra-campus shipping group also be included.

D. Nitecki announced that she can award one free seat for the Online Lyceum's course on assessing service quality.

Members offered ideas for improving the future iteration of SQIC. Suggestions included:

- SQIC needs to be a more productive body in order to better engage the membership. There is little sense that the Council actually produces a product or service.
- SQIC should continue to focus on the larger issue of building a culture of service quality, relevant to our jobs. There must be a greater emphasis on publicizing the work of the Council.
- Because of the nature of public service, the Council will (and should) be different from CDC.
- SQIC should aim for success in just a few areas and avoid trying to engineer a 'global solution.
- There should be a clearer relationship with the working groups. Their chairs should be members of SQIC.
- There should be more timely posting of SQIC minutes.
- The University Librarian should issue a clear directive regarding service quality to underscore her strong support.
- The Council should have its own listserve.
- The future Council could be composed of a smaller number of members, all whom are committed to service quality and to some degree of cultural change within the library.

Service Quality Improvement Council/Working Groups
Summary of Accomplishments
FY01/02

The Council:

  • Devoted several meetings to discussions of articles about service quality principles and practices as a means for educating the SQIC membership.
  • Oversaw a successful second SQI awards program thanks to the excellent work of K. Pacelli (chair), H. Darico, S. Peterson, and C. Greenberg.
  • Changed the charges of some working groups and created a new one, the SQI Bibliographic Access Group.
  • Contributed to the development of the second SERVQUAL instrument for assessing YUL user expectations.
  • Developed draft of measurable success factors for key service areas including circulation services, document delivery, instruction, reference, and stack maintenance.


SQI Assessment Group:

  • Refined group charge, did background readings on assessment, and made services available to other SQI groups.
  • Conducted usability testing of Orbis2 OPAC interface in conjunction with
    the Orbis2 OPAC Implementation Group.
  • Created draft of Assessment Toolkit, a web-based resource for assessment that gathers assessment information, examples of instruments, bibliographies, and links to additional resources.
  • Worked with SQI Reference Group to develop an instrument to evaluate questions being asked at library service points.
  • Served as sounding board for preparation and presentation of 2001 reader survey.
  • Began an investigation of the University's requirements regarding approvals for surveys and the use of human subjects.


SQI Bibliographic Access Group

  • Shaped the group's charge and its relationship with related committees, i.e. SQIC and the Orbis2 OPAC Implementation Group.
  • Produced a substantive report to SQIC recommending adoption of the proposed Policy on Lost and Missing Materials. [SQIC subsequently approved the Policy.]
  • Worked with ITS and the Library Systems Office to define a new, secure
    form of telnet access for important bibliographic databases, which will take effect this summer.
  • Assisted the OPAC Implementation Group with the design and definition of specifications for the WebVoyage OPAC; worked on issues ranging from specifications for field hyperlinking, to specifications for short and long record displays, OPAC indexing, and overall OPAC page design.


SQI Document Delivery Coordinating Group

  • Compiled and reviewed benchmark information on the success factors identified for improved document delivery services-turnaround time; fill rate; user satisfaction; and cost per transaction.
    -Calculated turnaround time and fill rate from a sampling of ILL requests during Spring 2001 under the aegis of our predecessor, the Document Delivery Process Improvement Group (DDG)
    -Reviewed responses to a users' survey taken during that same period, with assistance from Holly Grossetta Nardini and George Ouellette.
    -Updated information on YUL interlibrary loan costs and performance measures with assistance from Matthew Beacom and other members of DDG. This work was based on the 1995/1996 ARL study, but expanded to include data from all YUL ILL units.
  • Expanded the availability of electronic document delivery (eDD) to all YUL document delivery units, providing automatic notification and 24/7 access to photocopied materials for readers with a computer and Internet browser.
  • Selected and installed OCLC ILLiad software to provide improved ILL services
    -Workflow efficiency and enhanced productivity
    -Automatic statistics and expanded reporting capabilities
    -Patron empowerment including automatic notification, 24/7 access, and real-time tracking of requests


SQI Instruction Group:

  • Convened an instruction forum which brought together YUL instruction librarians for the first time in a year and a half. The forum helped shape the group's agenda.
  • Organized two train-the-trainer presentations. The first was with Gloria Hardman of ITS who spoke about the classes server. The second included presentations on course management systems including Blackboard, WebCT, and an authoring tool, Asymetrix ToolBook. This session led to the licensing of ToolBook for one year.
  • Started work with OPAC Implementation Group on a tutorial using ToolBook, to be completed in August.

SQI Reference Group

  • Rewrote parts of the reference web site, including sections on service standards; feedback, monitoring, and assessment; and how reference interactions address the development of the information seeking skills of readers.
  • Conducted two analyses of library-wide email service:
    -The percentage of all reference service now provided by email.
    -An analysis of the time of initiation and source of e-mail inquiries.
  • With the assistance of the SQI Assessment Group, developed a survey instrument to gather data on the number and type of reference questions asked at public service points when no reference staff are on duty. After pre-testing the instrument, further development was deferred until FY03.
  • Virtual reference:
    º Participated in tesing of Convey On Demand software with Nelinet
    º Identified, investigated, held system demos, and selected software for a virtual reference pilot project in FY03.
    º Sponsored a SCOPA forum on virtual reference.


 
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