Library Quarterly Report FY23 Q3: January-March 2023

Research Services

In FY16 Q4 the library transitioned to Springshare’s Reference Analytics, part of the LibAnswers module, which includes a ticketing/dashboard for tracking inquires and a live chat function. The new system allows the library to track the back-and-forth nuances of customer service questions with greater precision and provides data on who is asking questions, when (time of day, day of week), where they are located, what type of question they ask, and how long it took us to respond. This quarter there were 314 total transactions, 163 of which were "reference" transactions. Of those, 38 were from VTRC personnel, 875 from VDOT employees in other parts of the agency, and 50 were from non-affiliated customers. Reference transactions and literature search requests were below average this quarter.

Literature Search & Synthesis

The library provides a literature search and synthesis for patrons. The service is quick but thorough and each search is delivered to meet the requestor's specific needs. This quarter we received and completed one request: Best Practices Related to High-Voltage Electrical Utility ‘Accommodations’ On State DOT Bridges (Compiled for Soundar Balakumaran, Ph.D., P.E., and Stephen R. Sharp, Ph.D, P.E., 35 pages)

In the past four quarters patrons have requested 1.25 searches/quarter, down from an average of 6/quarter in the past 10 years.