Information Services Management Committee

Project Charter for the Review of Reference Service at the University of Waterloo Library

Timeframe:  To be determined following discussion about processes and time frames involved in carrying out activities listed under Scope Includes. Project Purpose:  To undertake a comprehensive review of the University of Waterloo Library’s reference service * to:

• determine how well it is meeting current and anticipated user needs
• identify gaps between user needs and services offered
• recommend ways of meeting user needs as effectively and efficiently as possible with the resources available (staff, furniture, equipment, and software but not collections).

The results of the review will set a direction for the next five years.

* Reference service is the service provided in direct response to individual requests for help in locating resources to meet information needs.  The review will include all ways in which the service is requested and  delivered, i.e. at information service  desks, through email and paper mail, on-line chat, telephone, and individual consultations.

Context: At the University of Waterloo Library, reference is a long-standing, highly visible, and resource intensive service.  In recent years, a number of ad hoc changes have been made to the service, usually in response to changes in the larger environment.  The 1999 Information Services Review Report highlighted the need to "connect library users to information services and resources in ways that are meaningful and effective to them" and included some broad recommendations for ways of achieving this goal.  However, until now there has been no focused and comprehensive review of reference service to determine how well it is meeting user needs and to identify areas for improvement. 

Project Scope: The review will include reference services offered at the University Map and Design Library, the Optometry Learning Resources Centre, the Davis Centre Library, and the Dana Porter Library.

Includes:

• Clarifying, and redefining if necessary, our reference service philosophy and goals
• Undertaking an assessment of user needs
• Conducting an environmental scan to identify current and anticipated conditions and constraints
• Documenting the components of our current service:  hours, service locations, staffing, methods of delivery, skills, training, statistics, promotion, infrastructure support (e.g., hardware, software, furniture)
• Identifying gaps between client needs and currently offered service
• Determining what should be done, ideally, to close the gaps and what can be done, realistically
• Preparing a report with an outline of the findings of the review and associated recommendations

Does Not Include:

• Review of public workstations
• Evaluation of our instructional programs; e.g., classroom-type sessions and publications, both print and web
• Evaluation of the quality of the content of responses to reference questions
• Comprehensive review of information resources (collections) that support the delivery of reference service

While the last two items are important elements of reference service they can be reviewed as distinct projects later.  Including them in this project would broaden the scope significantly and make the project difficult to manage in a reasonable period of time.

Scope Management Plan

If changes that would broaden the scope of the plan are proposed, the Committee will consider the changes and determine whether they should be included.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are those whose “interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion”.  Project Management:  Applied Tools and Techniques, Paul Bergman, p. 17

User Community

• Current UW students, faculty and staff (includes distance education and continuing education students, and students on co-op workterms)
• UW alumni
• Current students, faculty and staff from the University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University
• High school students and teachers
• Students, faculty and staff from any university with which the University of Waterloo has some form of reciprocal borrowing agreement
• Members of the local community

  Library Staff

• Reference service providers
• User Services staff (especially those who work nights and weekends)
• UMD circulation staff
• Systems staff
• Library Budgets and Planning Committee

Communications/Reporting Plan

We will communicate with various groups as follows:

Library staff who provide reference service:  Invite all service providers to a meeting about the Charter to ensure that they understand it and to ask if anything seems to be missing from the Charter before it is finalized.  Seek input and provide updates, at meetings and in other ways that seem appropriate, as the review progresses.  Share the final report with this group.

Library Managers:  Discuss the Charter at a regularly scheduled meeting to ensure that managers understand it and to ask if anything seems to be missing from the Charter before it is finalized.  Seek input and provide updates, at meetings and in other ways that seem appropriate, as the review progresses. Share the final report with this group.

Other Library Staff:  Once the Charter is complete and available on the ISMC web site, invite all staff to read it.  Ask managers to discuss the Charter with their departments or units as they think appropriate.  Communicate with this group if and as needed as the review progresses. Share the final report with this group.

Librarians at the Federated and Affiliated Colleges and Universities and at the University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University: Identify a key contact person at each of these libraries and let them know about the review; provide them with the URL for the Charter.  Share the final report with this group.

Community Needs Assessment Committee:  Confer with this group on matters related to assessment of user needs.

User Community:  Publicize the review shortly before any surveys are conducted.  Publicize the results of the review.