Information Services Management Committee

Minutes of the Meeting of March 4, 2003
1:30 - 3:30 pm
Porter Conference Room

Present for CNAC: Jane Britton, Anne Fullerton, Wish Leonard, Shabiran Rahman (Chair), Jamie Russell

Guest: Susan Bellingham

Regrets:  Helena Calogeridis, Mary Stanley

1. Assessment of User Needs
   Susan welcomed the members of the Community Needs Assessment Committee (CNAC), and provided some context for today’s joint meeting.  ISMC is initiating a comprehensive review of reference service. As set out under the Scope Includes section of the Project Charter for the Review of Reference Service at the University of Waterloo Library, the review will include an assessment of user needs.  At its last meeting, ISMC considered the things that it would want to learn through an assessment of user needs. Susan R. prepared a document as a result of that meeting to guide today’s discussion. In reviewing this document, the committees considered what user groups should be included in the assessment, what methods could be used, and what role CNAC might play in the assessment.

   The following comments were made:

   • CNAC would like the opportunity to meet as a committee to review the questions that a user needs assessment should answer and to consider what role it might play in the assessment.

   • It was agreed that although we provide reference service to the wider community, the assessment should focus on UW faculty and students only.  It was suggested that we earmark groups not included at this time for possible future consideration.  Also noted are the user groups the Library is obligated to serve, even though they may not be from the UW community. These include clientele from the wider community who utilize special collections and government publications.

   • Several assessment methods were noted as possibilities:  focus groups, spot comment cards, questionnaires, surveys, structured interviews, asking Library staff what users want.  Questions raised during this exploratory discussion include: Do we assess both users and non-users of the library?  Do we want to get a general sense of users’ perceptions of the library initially, and then move toward a more specific assessment? Such questions will be answered in the context of more detailed discussion about the assessment.

   CNAC will discuss its level of involvement in the user needs assessment at its next meeting.  It will also develop some recommendations with respect to assessment methods and will plan to respond to ISMC by March 18.

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
   The minutes of February 25, 2003 were approved as written.

3. Work Breakdown Structure
   The Committee reviewed the task list Linda prepared for the work breakdown structure ISMC has developed so far:
   • Clarify & redefine reference service philosophy & goals.
   • Document components of current service.
    ISMC identified the work associated for the following tasks:
   • Conduct an environmental scan.
   • Assess user needs.
   • Identify gaps between client needs and current service. (NOTE:  It will be important to understand the context in which someone wasn’t satisfied with the service, in order to close the gap.)
   • Determine what should be and can be done to close gaps.
   Linda will add these tasks to the chart that she is developing.