Timing of Recap Request: Usage Patterns

Timing of ReCAP Request: Usage Patterns Updated July 2014

Findings:  In FY14 50.8% of all ReCAP requests are delivered within one business day  Request patterns and next-day fulfillment rates are different for patrons compared to staff o Patron next-day deliveries : 39.2% (up from 36.9% in FY13) o Staff next-day deliveries : 71.9%  65.7% of all requests are placed 6:00am-5:00pm, Monday to Friday  Request volume dips during weekday lunch hours 12:00-2:00pm.  Highest request volume falls on weekdays, significantly lower volume on the weekends  Tuesday has the highest request volume, triple that of the lowest (Saturday)  29.2% of all deliveries arrived on Tuesdays  Request trend divides year into trimesters: Fall, Summer and Spring  Fall and Spring have 35% greater request volume than Summer  Requests decline dramatically on major holidays and in mid-December  Undergraduates request more in the morning; Graduates in the afternoon and evening

Purpose: The purpose is to better understand when patrons access Columbia University Libraries’ Offsite collections. Usage trends at ReCAP may mimic usage of other library resources. Patron usage influences staffing models and resource allocation.

Background: CUL patrons and staff can submit requests for ReCAP collections at any time of day, 365 days a year via CLIO.

CUL collects these requests locally and transfers them to ReCAP every business day. LITO (CUL Systems) sends request files to the ReCAP server three times a day: 7:15am, 11:30am and 2:45pm.

All requests submitted before 2:45pm will be delivered within one business day. On June 1, 2009 the final transfer time changed from 3:45pm to 2:45pm.

In FY13 data was added to the data set to distinguish between staff and patron requests. To encourage patrons to submit requests in time for next-day delivery, informational text was added at several points during the standard CLIO request circuit. For more information see ReCAP Alert for 8/21/2013.

Validity: Data comes from LITO’s request log. The log tracks every request placed through the normal request mechanisms in CLIO. Some CUL staff requests circumvent the log. Typically this involves large scale requests for processing, e.g. Google Project. The data set includes all patron requests, most staff requests and a small number of failed requests. It does not include requests for Columbia Law Library’s collections.

Definition of Business Day: Next business day delivery implies any request placed during the current business day will arrive on the following.

The ReCAP business day is defined according to usage pattern and file transfer time, 6:00am-2:45pm, Monday to Friday. It begins during first morning hour of increasing request volume, 6:00am The day ends at 2:45pm when the last request file transfer occurs. Visualizations

Three viewpoints are provided for each section of analysis. Looking at the charts clockwise starting in the upper left-hand corner they are: a) system-wide over the lifespan of ReCAP, b) current fiscal year only, and c) current fiscal year only distinguishing between patrons and staff.

The color green represents the combination of both patrons (yellow) and staff (blue) requests.

Requests by Weekday

The count of weekday requests is based on regular hours of the day, not file transfer time or patterns patron usage. Each day begins at 12:00am and ends at midnight. Each weekday will then be divided into hours and quarter hours.

Observations:  Weekdays have the highest volume of requests; weekends have the lowest  Monday through Thursday is the busiest section of the week  Busiest day is Tuesday which has almost triple the request volume of the lowest, Saturday  Request volume drops 25% between Tuesday and Friday.  Staff request volume is low on the weekends when library staffing is minimal Requests by Weekday Hour

In this chart, each weekday has been assigned a numerical value. Monday to Sunday are represented by numerals 1 to 7. Hours of the day have values 0 to 23 as on a 24-hour clock. E.g. 4:00pm Thursday is equivalent to 4.16. This visualization allows us to see how timing of requests breaks down for each day of the week.

Observations:  Request volume dips during weekday lunch hours 12:00-2:00pm  There is no lunchtime dip during the weekend  Evening request volume is curtailed on Friday and Saturday Requests by Weekly Quarter Hour In this chart quarter hour data has been added to that for weekday hours. File transfer times are on quarter hours. It is necessary to take this into account to calculate next day delivery volume. It does not add significantly to the visualization of daily usage.

Quarter hours are given decimal values. E.g. 4:30pm Thursday is equivalent to 4.16.50.

Observations:  There is little different between this chart and the previous one, Weekly Hours  General trends are still clear despite minor variation Requests by Hour The count of hourly requests is cumulative, summing all requests on weekdays across fiscal years. Hours are noted on a 24-hour clock. The 12:00am hour is represented by 0, the 11:00pm hour by 23.

Observations:  65.7% of all requests are placed 6:00am- 5:00pm, Monday to Friday  Hours of highest request volume are 2:00- 5:00pm (28.2%); lowest usage is 4:00-7:00am (0.9%)  Request volume dips during weekday lunch hours 12:00-2:00pm Deliveries by Weekday Based on file transfer times, it is possible to estimate on which weekday a request will be delivered. For example all requests placed between 2:46pm Thursday and 2:45pm Friday will be delivered on Monday.

Tuesday has the highest delivery volume because it involves all requests placed over both the weekend and Monday. It incorporates all requests placed between 2:46pm Friday and 2:45pm Monday.

Large-volume delivery on Tuesday had been perceived but unverified for several years. Both the ReCAP Courier and CUL Shipping & Receiving staff brought it to the ReCAP Coordinator’s attention. It is pertinent in the context of other, special deliveries. If possible, Tuesday should be avoided as a delivery day for large or special requests.

Observations:  Tuesday has the highest delivery volume  29.2% of all deliveries arrive on Tuesday  Delivery volume for all other weekdays is relatively balanced Requests by Calendar Month Months of highest usage are October/November in the Fall and March/April in Spring.

Based on these data, patterns of ReCAP requests may be divided into three “trimesters”: Fall, Summer and Spring. Spring and Fall are the trimesters of highest usage, 38.1% and 34.8% respectively. Summer has a smaller but still significant proportion, 27.0%.

Observations:  Periodicity of request volume is in phase with academic calendar  Fiscal year may be divided into trimesters  Spring and Fall trimesters have 35% more requests than Summer Requests by Calendar Day In this chart request volume is summarized by calendar day. Two periodicities are visible within this chart: weekly and monthly. The slow curve over the year is attributable to monthly patterns; the rapid rise and fall along the curve matches weekday patterns.

Notable days of low usage: January 1st (New Years Day), February 29th (Leap Day), July 4th (Independence Day), November 24-27th (Thanksgiving), December 25th (Christmas Day) and December 31st (New Years’ Eve).

Observations:  Federal holidays show low usage  Decline around Thanksgiving is attributable to it being a movable feast  Usage declines steeply in early December, rising again in early January with the beginning of Spring semester

Next Day Fill Rate On August 21, 2013 language was added to public displays that are visible in the course of a ReCAP request. To increase the proportion of next-day deliveries for patron-driven ReCAP requests it was decided to include explicit information about request timing.

New text was added at three junctures during the course of a standard CLIO request a) request webform, b) submission acknowledgment webpage, and c) acknowledgment email.

"Requests submitted before 2:30pm Mon-Fri will be filled in one business day; all requests filled in two business days."

This change is documented on the ReCAP Alerts website.

Observations:  Since implementation the proportion of patron requests fill in one business day increased to 39.2% from 36.9%  In FY06/07 the position of ReCAP Coordinator was created – detailed information about timing was shared with staff and the next-day fulfillment rate has increased to 71.9%

FY13/14 : 39.2% FY12/13 : 36.9% FY11/12 : 37.1% FY10/11 : 36.8% FY09/10 : 36.9%

Patron BGroup Trends Granular data about user groups is available for request data. Patron Group codes are generalized as follows: GRD : Graduate students OFF : Faculy (and grads with term-length teaching assignments) REG : Undergraduate students VIS : Visitors AFLF : MaRLI & 2CUL

Observations:  Proportion of requets by Faculty curtail in the evening while students are increasing  Faculty and grads account for a larger share of requests during summer months  Lunch breaks are more visible for undergraduates and faculty