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“Warner Model” of Reference Question Classification to Streamline Research Services

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“Warner Model” of Reference Question Classification to Streamline Research Services Feature developing a Model for reference research Statistics Applying the “Warner Model” of Reference Question Classification to Streamline Research Services The merger of an academic library with the library as place and consider the harry C. Meserve, Sandra E. the main branch of a large city’s public implications of how different work and Belanger, Joan Bowlby, and library in 2003 required a new method service cultures are brought together in Lisa rosenblum for determining customer–patron trans- a new institution.2 actions. The Warner model, previously There are merged and unmerged Harry C. Meserve is Associate Librar- reported in RUSQ in 2001, was adopted units in the new library. The four ian, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, and used to investigate the possibilities merged units in the new library are Ac- San Jose State University. Sandra for developing tiered reference, adjusting cess Services (including Circulation), E. Belanger is Librarian, Dr. Martin staffing levels, and improving service in a Information Technology, Technical Ser- Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose State merged reference unit. The adopted model vices, and Reference. Data is gathered University (retired). Joan Bowlby is is recommended to other libraries that in the same way by all public service Senior Librarian, Dr. Martin Luther want to develop effective tools for analyz- points, including those that remained King Jr. Library, San Jose Public Library. ing reference services. unmerged: the public library’s Youth Lisa Rosenblum is Director, Hayward Services, General Collections, and the (Calif.) Public Library. Submitted for he new Dr. Martin Luther California Room and the SJSU Special review September 18, 2006; revised King Jr. (MLK) Library, which Collections unit. and accepted for publication October opened in August 2003, was A key element of the planning pro- 15, 2007. a collaborative project of the cess dealt with the kind of statistics to tCity of San Jose and San Jose State be collected to evaluate the library. A University (SJSU). Two libraries, the comprehensive program of data collec- University Library of SJSU and the MLK tion commenced with the opening of Library—the main branch of the San the MLK Library in September 2003. Jose Public Library (SJPL) system— The plan involved a number of library merged to create a new entity. The six- services and units, including circula- year planning process has been docu- tion, collections, computer and study mented on the library’s website and room booking, database usage, dona- in a number of articles, covering the tions, financial reports, gate counts, in- vision of one reference department, the terlibrary services, library services and principle of “economies of scale” as they instruction, website usage, and focus apply to merged units, and creating a group reports. A consultant, Thomas Reference & User Services Quarterly, collaborative library from two differ- Childers, was engaged in 2003 to un- vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 247–258 1 © 2009 American Library Association. ent institutions. In a broader context, dertake a user and cost analysis aimed All rights reserved. other articles discuss the library as an at developing benchmarks and to ad- Permission granted to reproduce for example in the general discussion of minister two surveys over four years, nonprofit, educational use. volume 48, issue 3 | 247 Feature one on library facilities and one on library services. port the joint tiered reference service, which was A four-person assessment team under the direction planned to use support staff and student assistants of Jo Bell Whitlatch, associate dean of the Univer- working in partnership with librarians. Courtois’s sity Library of SJSU, undertook the evaluation of descriptive survey on the use of nonprofessionals service delivery, initiated or coordinated a number in academic libraries is relevant here. Courtois of service metric studies, and began a workload found that 51 percent of responding libraries were activity study in 2004. Only results from the as- using nonprofessionals more, identified four cat- sessment of reference and instructional services egories of reference queries, and ascertained that have been published to date.3 37 percent limited nonprofessionals to answering questions in the first two categories (directional LitErAturE ReviEw and instructional). The 63 percent of libraries that indicated that nonprofessionals answered ques- Many articles report the evaluation of reference tions in all categories also reported that nonprofes- services through studies of patron satisfaction, sionals worked alone during evenings, weekends, patron queuing, reference accuracy, information- and early mornings, when “there is little attempt to seeking behavior, and patron perceptions of refer- formally define the types of questions they should ence service.4 Methods ranging from observation, or should not answer.”10 unobtrusive testing, time considerations, transac- Murfin and Bunge also studied the use of tion logs, survey cards, and forms have been used paraprofessionals in academic libraries using the to investigate reference interactions and staffing.5 Wisconsin–Ohio Reference Evaluation Program, During the planning phase for the MLK Library, which employs a two-part form completed by the SJSU and SJPL administrations and the Refer- librarians and patrons. Their results show that 20 ence and User Services planning committee sup- percent of libraries used paraprofessionals effec- ported finding a method for evaluating service tively but that 80 percent of libraries found that point activity to facilitate planning, determine lev- their use may lower patron success and satisfac- els of business, promote tiered reference models, tion. Effectiveness can be improved when parapro- and address staffing needs.6 fessionals are encouraged to consult others and are Whitlatch uses state of the art reference ques- freed from time pressures.11 tion classification to analyze reference service de- spite the method’s limitations and the need for its thE Warner Model categories to be mutually exclusive.7 A later survey of methods and forms conducted under the aus- In the context of the MLK Library, Debra Warner’s pices of the Association of Research Libraries sug- new method for classifying reference questions gested that libraries could not agree on methods, looked like a promising option. Based on the expe- models, frequency, or forms; however, the most rience of librarians at the East Carolina University important data elements were identified as date, Health Sciences Library, Warner’s schema catego- type of question, time of day, and location in which rized patron reference questions into four levels of the question was asked.8 increasing complexity, each level designating the Prior to the library merger, both the university kind of activities necessary to answer the question. and city libraries had been gathering the statistics The four levels were Level I (non-resource based), required for the SJPL and the California State Level II (skill-based), Level III (strategy-based), University systems. For the university library this and Level IV (consultation). For each level of meant sampling the number of reference transac- question, a definition and series of questions was tions only one week out of each semester (in Oc- provided to help reference librarians and parapro- tober and March). Initially, every question asked fessionals recognize the level to which a particular by a patron was simply noted by a slash. Later, question belonged.12 academic reference staff and librarians moved to The Warner model showed the greatest prom- using the letter R for reference questions and the ise for collecting useful data that could be used in letter D for directional questions. Ciucki’s survey of the assignment of the appropriate mix of librarians libraries (fifty-seven academic and thirty-two pub- and staff to in-person, telephone, e-mail, and live lic) on the types of data collected found that while online reference services. Our article reports on academic libraries kept records by type of ques- the application of the Warner model in the MLK tion, public libraries gathered written responses.9 Library Reference unit and how activity count re- The task for the combined library was to identify sults were used to adjust staffing levels, change the a method acceptable to both institutions. service point configuration, and improve the tiered The question assessment method selected for reference model. The Warner model was adopted the MLK Library needed the capacity to sup- as the most potentially useful method to count in 248 | Reference & User Services Quarterly Developing a Model for Reference Research Statistics a more sophisticated way all the questions asked data during survey weeks using the Service Point in the building. Activity Count forms (see appendix). The two forms, one for in-person and one for remote (e.g., RefErence SErvices telephone and e-mail), were used at all six public service points in the nine-floor facility: the infor- The impetus behind the merger of reference in- mation desk and the circulation desk (first floor), cludes both a desire to achieve staff economies the reference desk (second floor), the general col- and a commitment to strengthen the mission to lections desk (third floor), the periodicals desk provide opportunities for lifelong learning. Plan- (fourth floor), and the Cultural Heritage Center ning for the merger of SJSU’s and the SJPL’s separate desk (fifth floor). For one week in each month, reference departments began in fall 2002 with the hourly data was gathered. During the initial year creation of planning teams charged with develop- of operation from September 2003 through June ing policies and procedures in specific function 2004, only the Reference unit distinguished the or service areas, including assessment, reference levels of questions as Levels I–IV. collection development, electronic resources, e- Beginning in July 2004, all public service mail reference, information literacy, reference, points began to categorize and record questions information desk, telephone reference, training, using the Warner model. The 45 percent varia- and virtual reference.
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