New Roles Bring New Value: A Case Study in Listening to Customers and Creating Solutions
3:05 PM - 3:25 PM
Objective: To listen to customer needs and design products and services that are vital to customer base. This brought the library from the brink of closure in 2007 to being awarded the 2009 Federal Library of the Year Award in the Small Library Category in October 2010.
Methods: Library staff established listening posts to hear customer needs, then introduced a citation database, citation management system, and customized products that included developing and submitting metrics for the organization’s balanced scorecard, providing research impact analyses to help program leaders objectively demonstrate the value of their science programs, and creating publication strategies to aid scientists in finding the best places to publish and bring recognition to the work of the institute. Innovative reference services were introduced that support legally required animal protocol searches and include current awareness systems that keep scientists abreast of new developments based on reference staff’s in-depth understanding of their proposed protocols. Customers began expecting real solutions to a variety of issues or needs from the library, viewing the librarian as a colleague with collaboration potential.
Results: These new products and services made the library invaluable. Customers soon desired library assistance for other questions beyond traditional library information. Customers now consult the library for objective data regarding their programs for oversight or annual reviews, and individual scientists began requesting genetic information services. The library director was appointed to the institute’s infectious disease task force to envision the future infectious disease center of excellence. To help the organization realize its strategic goal of increasing mission awareness and collaboration in the scientific community, the library took on a project developing profiles for scientists to include in their publications. Links to these profiles will reside in a major commercial database with each publication record, increasing collaboration potential.
Conclusions: Creating products or services because other libraries are doing so may not be the best answer. Find out what your customers need, and rethink or develop products and services they will value.
Author: Terrie R. Wheeler, Chief, Information and Education Services Branch, NIH Library, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
The Health Sciences Executive Research Service: Demonstrating Value to Nontraditional Clients
3:25 PM - 3:45 PM
Objective: To forge strong relationships and build valuable partnerships by providing information services to executive officers and administrators in the health sciences at an academic institution.
Methods: Our health sciences library launched its Health Sciences Executive Research Service (HS-ERS) in May 2009 to provide information services to a targeted group of executive officers in the university health system; the medical school; the schools of nursing, public health, and dentistry; and the college of pharmacy. This paper will detail the process of creating the HS-ERS, present the current marketing strategy, provide an analysis of information requests, and discuss the immediate and future outcomes of providing information services to a targeted, specialized group of clients. A special emphasis will be placed on the new and emerging partnerships and projects that originated from HS-ERS requests and activities.
Results: A tiered list of executive officers to be targeted as potential clients for the HS-ERS was finalized, and marketing materials were distributed. Requests came in to the service primarily through individual contact from the clients or their administrative assistants. Requests ranged from simple article requests to complex information needs that required interdisciplinary collaboration with colleagues from the engineering and business administration libraries.
Conclusions: Overall, HS-ERS requests were filled quickly and to a high level of client satisfaction. Our services have been recommended to other key contacts in the health system. The collaborations that resulted from many of the requests led to opportunities for cross-training among library staff, connections with nontraditional partners in campus business and enterprise endeavors, and development of a resource clearinghouse for HS-ERS clients and partners.
Authors: Whitney A. Townsend, Liaison Services Librarian; Judith Smith, Liaison Services Librarian; Taubman Health Sciences Library; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Rethinking Services: A Tailored Response to Copyright Highlights Library Value
3:45 PM - 4:05 PM
Objective: The library responded to the university mandate regarding copyright concerns, especially using permissible images in course materials. The solution includes creating specialized reference and permissions services, determining and documenting best processes, and educating faculty and administrative staff through presentations and the library website. Faculty and educational support personnel are enthusiastic about the solution that highlights librarians’ unique skills.
Methods: The library approached this need systematically. Prior to this service, faculty and administrative staff spent considerable time looking for images and image citations and were often not successful. The specialized reference service relieves faculty and staff of this burden and means that students can view the images at their point of need. The library staff also requests permissions for images and has become expert in managing this service. Information made available through presentations and the library website may also save faculty and staff time. A survey will determine the percentage of faculty impacted by this program, what aspects of the program they use, and their perceived value of the service.
Results: A formal survey will assess the effectiveness of information on the website, evaluate the usefulness and value of the service, and provide data to shape further initiatives.
Conclusions: The image/copyright service is a specialized service that allows faculty and staff to focus on teaching and research and provides needed instructional support. Initially, the need for this service was uncovered during discussions with key faculty. Early on, the assessment of the service consisted of activity counts. The formal survey will better document perceived value and provide data for improving services.
Authors: Beth Layton, AHIP, Director; Amber Repp, Reference Image Assistant; Rienne Johnson, Reference Librarian; Library; Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rootstown, OH
Library Roles in Creating Scholarly Metrics for Researchers and Research Funding Organizations
4:05 PM - 4:25 PM
Objective: Libraries are in a time of tremendous change, but if we are brave enough, we can step into the gap and apply our librarian and information professional skills in new ways to meet changing needs. One growing need for research-focused organizations is to critically analyze and measure the quality of research being performed.
Methods: This presentation will explore various ways that the impact of research can be measured and provide some practical examples of how it is currently being done.
Results: Though the review has not been completed, existing information has examples from a medical research granting agency and two military research organizations, one medical focused and one physics focused.
Conclusions: The authors already feel that there is a clear role for libraries in being an objective source for evaluative information on researchers, work groups, and the research organization as a whole. This can take the form of a balanced scorecard response or an internal publications database, utilizing self-service tools from Elsevier and/or Thomson-Reuters or creating custom evaluative databases combining internal grant information with publication lists from PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus.
Authors: James King, Information Architect, NIH Library, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; Terrie Wheeler, Chief, Gorgas Memorial Library, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research/Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD
