EMAIL REFERENCE POLICY

PIERCE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

CONTACT INFORMATION

·        Email Form or Email Address: emailref@piercelib.edu

·        Phone Main Reference Desk  ---   206-522-2222   ---   Hours   ---    Other Phone Numbers

·        Phone for Remote Students/Faculty with No Campus Access (University ID number required)

1-800-PHONREF  (1-800-746-6733)

·        Chat Reference Service   ---     Hours of Service   ---   Chat Access Page

·        Subject Specialists for In-depth Research Assistance   ---   Emails and Phone Numbers

·        Location Main Reference Desk   ---   Mezzanine of Pierce Library    ---     Map/Directions

·        Address   ---   602 University Drive, Lakeview WA  98999   ---   Driving Directions

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHO CAN ASK A QUESTION

Basically, anyone. However, the Library must necessarily give priority to the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Pierce University.  Therefore, members of the University community are encouraged to use the optional portion of the email form to indicate their affiliation and University ID number.  Questions submitted without this information will be assumed to originate from outside the primary constituency and will receive a slower response. 

TWO WAYS TO ASK A QUESTION BY EMAIL

The Pierce Library has developed an email form to help questioners tell our librarians the kind of things they need to know to provide the best and most useful answer.  Although only a question and a valid return email are required, questioners are encouraged to fill out the form as completely as possible. 

For those whose resources do not enable them to use electronic forms, or for others who just prefer it, questions can also be composed within the user’s email account and sent to emailref@lib.pierce.edu.  Users need to provide University affiliation and ID number to receive priority.  It is suggested that if the email form can be viewed, it be used as a model for information to include.

AOL users!  If you have mail or parental controls turned on, you need to add emailref@lib.pierce.edu

to your allowed mail list in order for our answer to reach you.

KINDS OF QUESTIONS ACCEPTED

In recognition of the fact that many of our students now attend classes from remote locations, and many of the faculty have duties that take them away from the campus for extended periods as well, the Library does not place any complexity restrictions on email exchanges from questioners who supply University ID numbers.  (Member of the University community with restricted campus access may also call 1-800-PHONREF, 1-800-746-6733 during hours when the Library is open.  University ID number must be provided.)  With either mode of access, remote users must realize that there may be licensing restrictions governing remote access. All Pierce Library Reference Services are set up to answer questions in the following broad categories. 

·        Answers to specific factual questions (e.g. a date, an address, a phone number, a quotation, an award winner, brief biographical information, etc.)

·        Information about Pierce Library Collections and Services (although some of those kinds of questions can be answered more quickly by examining information posted on the website like: collections or services or locations and hours)

·        Citation verifications, and help with locating items within our collections, or in other collections if Pierce Library does not own them or if you are in a remote location.

·        Help with accessing Library resources (Immediate answers may be within the online help database)

·        Instruction in the use of library resources, both print and electronic. (Questions about electronic resources may be best answered in-person, if possible, or through our chat services, when available, where we can assist by co-browsing a resource.)

·        Help deciding which resources to use for a particular topic. Email questions of this type may be forwarded to a subject specialist. Students may also email these subject specialists directly. In-depth research needs are best handled through an in-person or telephone appointment arranged in advance.

NOTE: Librarians can only assist in finding information, not complete student work, or provide comprehensive evaluation or interpretation.  This must be left to the user.  Complete citations will always be provided with answers so that the user can verify and cite information. Although users may ask questions that involve finding legal or health information, in these particularly sensitive areas, absolutely no interpretations of the located information will be provided.

TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN QUESTION AND RESPONSE

The time interval between questions and answers depends on the complexity of the questions and when the Library receives them.  During the hours when the Library is open, the reference email account is checked hourly.  Following times when the library is closed, it will be checked by the first staff member to arrive. Questions will be answered as quickly as possible.  Brief well-defined questions will often receive an answer within two hours.  More complex questions will receive at least an initial answer or request for clarification within 24 hours of the time the question is first reviewed, although this would not necessarily be true if the library was closed the next day.  In the event the question does need to be clarified, users are advised to check their email accounts as often as possible.

Although questions from outside the University community can only be answered as time permits, most will receive some kind of response within 3 working days.  It may be an initial answer or request for clarification.  It may be an estimate of the time it will take to formulate a response, and a request for verification that that will meet the users timetable and the reference staff should proceed.  In this case, or should the Library be unable to help with the question, every effort will be made to direct the user to other institutions that might help them.

PRIORITIZATION OF QUESTIONS

Prioritization by affiliation will proceed in the following order:

·        Current University students and faculty

·        University staff

·        University alumni and past faculty members

·        Others outside the University community

Again, note that University community members will only receive priority if they identify themselves as such and supply their ID number on the email form or within the question.

Email questions will be reviewed in the order in which they are received.  University community members identifying themselves as such will immediately be sent a request for clarification if it is apparent that one is needed. The variations in complexity of questions received means that Email Reference can not adhere to a simple first-come-first-served policy in formulating answers.  If a librarian feels an initial response to a complex question will help the user, one will be supplied before proceeding to the next question.  However, in formulating the complete answer for a complex question, a librarian will interrupt the work to answer simpler questions as they arrive.  Every effort will be made to honor the time interval expectations outlined in the section above, or any promises made to users within back and forth exchanges.

As noted, when staff first arrives, a librarian is assigned to review and answer email questions that have arrived overnight and work on others that are still pending.  Then, until chat reference service opens, and after it closes, there are times when email questions are reviewed and answered or forwarded by librarians who are assigned to the reference desk.  During those times, patrons who are in the library or call on the telephone receive priority.  During chat reference hours, librarians are dedicated to the chat and email systems.  During those times, email questions do not have to compete with walk-up and telephone questions.  However, to some extent, chat users do receive priority, although simpler questions received in either medium are given priority as discussed earlier.  Also, if there is a backup of email questions, the on-duty librarians have the option to forward chat questions to an outside agency in order to concentrate on email only.

The number for remote University users with no campus access (ID number required), 1-800-PHONREF, 1-800-746-7433, is answered by a staff member that is not on desk or chat duty. Therefore it may be the best method for users with those circumstances to enter the query into the system.  If possible, it will be answered immediately, but more complex questions will be handled as described earlier.

WHO ANSWERS THE QUESTIONS

Email questions will be reviewed by Pierce Library Reference staff members with Library Science and/or Information Technology advanced degrees.  These staffers have extensive training and experience in the location of information.  If appropriate, complex questions may be forwarded to Subject Specialists who have advanced degrees in other fields.  Simpler questions may be forwarded to graduate student Library Information staff.

NATURE OF THE ANSWERS

Answers vary greatly with the type of question asked.  Complete citation information will always be included for information given or sources suggested.  URLs will be provided when appropriate. Librarians may only be able to provide you with a partial answer to a question through email and find it necessary to suggest that another mode of Reference access, if you have it available to you, will be more appropriate for a more complete response.  If the Library is unable to answer your question, it may provide a referral to another individual or institution.  The user is always invited to ask another question if the answer given is confusing or insufficient for their need.  However, the Library does reserve the right to limit the number of email questions allowed from the same individual within the same day.

REFERRALS

When the nature of the answer given includes a referral to another individual or institution, librarians are directed to contact the source and determine that the user can actually be assisted before making the referral.  Referrals are only made to sources thought to be extremely reliable.

PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED

The privacy of individual users and the confidentiality of their questions will always be respected.  Email addresses, name if given, and any other information that would connect a particular user to a question are always deleted as soon as the question is answered to the users satisfaction.  Sometimes librarians may ask for information about your grade level or the class you are in that you haven’t already provided.  It is never required in order to get an answer, but it certainly may help the librarian to find the information best suited to your need.  This information too will always be deleted.   However, the Library does keep statistics about the kinds of questions, time received, time spent answering, and the age, grade level, University affiliation, discipline, and location of the user if it is provided.  This helps the Library provide appropriate staffing and acquire the resources that are most helpful to its users.

Also, your question, rewritten to remove any personal information, and our answer may appear in our frequently asked questions if we feel that it would be helpful to a number of users.

PUBLICITY

The prominent ASK A QUESTION button on the Library website homepage will access links to all modes of reference service along with the policies affecting them.  This webpage will in turn will be advertised by a prominent PIERCE LIBRARY button on the Pierce University homepage and in the student services area of the University website.  Instructors will be encouraged to place a PIERCE LIBRARY link in any web-based courseware.  Reference services, including Email will also be publicized in the campus newspaper and in a library brochure that is sent to all new students.  Flyers with the significant information will be permanently posted on all library access doors, and at all circulation, information, and reference desks.  Residence halls and Student Service buildings will be asked to cooperate by placing flyers in prominent locations, particularly those associated with studying.  Where possible, one entitled “FRUSTRATED? ASK US” will be posted at library computer workstations or in the area of workstation groupings.  The services will be promoted and flyers or brochures distributed in all library orientation and research classes

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Email questions and answers will be evaluated for their probable helpfulness to other Library website users.  Ones deemed helpful will be added to the Frequently Asked Questions database.  Subject categories and a keyword search box will front the database.  New entries will be placed within one or more subject categories.  An evaluation system will be part of this database.  Users will be asked to evaluate, on a simply checked and submitted form presented with the FAQ answer, to what extent it answered their question, whether the subject category was appropriate, and how easy it was to find within the database.  The answer will also suggest additional links for expansion of information in the subject area of the question.  The gathered information will be continually reviewed to make the database as helpful as possible.

EVALUATION

Capability within the Email software to survey user satisfaction will be used consistently.  Each emailed answer will have attached an easily checked and submitted survey for the user to indicate their view on the quality of the answer, the helpfulness of the service, the politeness of the staff, the promptness of response, etc.  Email Reference staff will also enter each email question into subject categories as designated by the Head of Reference, and will record time information and user statistics available, before removing any personal information and sending the question to the FAQ database queue.  The Head of Reference will review all data gathered and create meaningful reports that can be used to provide appropriate staffing and adjust Email service to better meet the needs of users.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN EMAIL REFERENCE!

PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SERVICES WE OFFER!

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