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- Is that title too formal? - I think you could go simpler: Reference Statistics Policy, or something like that, with a date DONE
- Link off of RISG page, where? - We could link off RISG page, but I think we should somehow highlight it from the staff web pages. Right now, there is this: http://libstaff.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/statistics/.
- Send link with email to all-lib
* Include attached .pdf of ref statistics sheet. - What is going to go here? Same wording as email? - Perhaps use the current page on the staff web as an example?
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- Short-term user studies?
- How to coordinate these studies among committees and divisional libraries.
- Possibly use this wiki space to link to information about other studies: https://wikis-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/confluence/x/jgYZAg
6. DONE! Decide which definition of reference to use. - I'm thinking we probably want to know this (or have a good sense of where we are,) by the meeting with Steve, May 4.
Definition of Reference for the purpose of the MIT Libraries
I. Reference and User Services Association (RUSA)
Approved by RUSA Board of Directors, January 14, 2008
Submitted by subgroup of RSS Executive Committee
Revised per RISG 4-15-09
Reference Transactions are information consultations interactions in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs.
Each time a library staff member encounters and helps an individual, regardless of number of questions answered within that transaction, counts as a transaction (a tick mark) for statistics-taking purposes.
Reference transactions do not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements.
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- Creation and management of information resources includes the development and maintenance of research collections, research guides, catalogs, databases, web sites, search engines, etc., that patrons can use independently, in-house or remotely, to satisfy their information needs.
- Assessment activities include the measurement and evaluation of reference work, resources, and services.
Definition that we are not using:
II. Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
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It is based on the ANSI/NISO Z39.7-2004: Information Services and Use: Metrics & statistics for libraries and information providers — Data Dictionary, 7.3, http://www.niso.org/dictionary/section7/. The one online is listed from 2004.
Other Materials
Reference Statistics Review - This links to citations & notes from the literature review we did as background, notes from earlier meetings, also notes related to different reference statistics-taking options including the READ scale, subscription services (such as AltaRama and DeskTracker) and macros in Excel that we tried out. A tool of interest may be Zoho Creator, which allows users to create on the fly databases with some decent options.