Using Stats & Reports In Springy Tools Can Help You Go With The Know.
Knowledge is power, right? Springshare designs solutions with statistics and reporting built into them because we know how important it is to have actionable data. It's about more than just tallying the numbers these days. Your data has to mean something. It has to communicate to you in sharable charts and graphs that make immediate sense to everyone. Your data should support your claims or provide the evidence you need to help you pivot when necessary. Being an agile library means not being afraid to try something -- but it helps when the data suggests it's what your patrons want.
LibGuides - ACRL 2019
LibGuides - ACRL 2019 We were so fortunate to have as a Guest Presenter at ACRL this year, Bernadette Mirro from Marymount University Library. She gave a great presentation with vivid slides of data, data, data and how their stats reflect the impact of the LTI integration project they launched. It's a must-see!
LibInsight - Cross Dataset
We used to look at our individual data, sigh, and dream about the ability to easily compare them to each other. With LibInsight, they’re no longer stuck in their silos! Examine Book Circulation vs. the Number of Items Borrowed via ILL. Or, look at Questions Asked at the Reference Desk vs. Circulation Desk. Go to Cross Dataset in the Command Bar to start your hunt for actionable data.
LibCRM - Identifying The Gaps.
LibCRM is the perfect tool to help you become a more responsive library because one of the critical things it can do is help you to identify gaps in your outreach. That feeling when you realized you missed something, but you’ve got the data to help you fix it? Now you know. That's a powerful moment. When you see a report that shows lackluster numbers for interactions with faculty or donors or graduate students, you can take proactive steps to increase those figures before they begin to make a negative impact on your larger library results.
In the near future, Springshare is bringing LibCRM clients the ability to have mass emails sent from within the system. This will have a significant effect on your ability to boost your engagement. Increased interactions leads to relationship building. The data will get you there!
Yours Truly - A Client Column by Jennifer Harris at Southern New Hampshire University
Last year, when we were featured in a Springshare Client Story, I was proud to say that our record number of monthly FAQ views was 67,419 in April 2018. Little did I know that April 2019 would blow that record out of the water with 231,666 views!
So how did we get here?
First, a little background. Over the last five years we’ve slowly added FAQs based on feedback, questions from students, query spy, etc., and now have over 900 published answers. During that period SNHU’s student body increased (currently 93,000+), and serving more students has its own impact on data regardless of internal initiatives.
We haven’t done a proper use study yet, so these are just my theories, but something is working. There are three factors I believe play a significant role increasing FAQ views:
- Our staff work tirelessly to promote library resources across the University and build strong relationships with other departments. This results in awareness, embedded library content in courses, and more that increase student interaction with library services.
- We partner with SNHU’s Online Writing Center to cross-reference services. Research and writing/citation tend to go together, and not wanting to “recreate the wheel”, we steer students to each other’s resources when applicable. This has been enormously successful and even led to the OWC joining us in chat to offer students a smooth transition for support between our departments.
- In place of text-heavy content, we refer users to FAQs for more detailed, targeted information. For example, on a page in our Evaluating Sources guide, a brief explanation of peer reviewed journals is followed by three related FAQs, so students can choose what’s most relevant to their needs. In this case, FAQs about where to find a peer reviewed journals, the difference between scholarly and peer reviewed, and how to identify peer reviewed journals.
FAQs offer a scalable, targeted solution to help our students. They require a lot of time and effort, but I like to think that a 217% increase in views from one year to the next means they’re doing their job.
Yours Truly,
Jennifer Harris
Associate Dean for Library Systems & Emerging Technology -- Southern New Hampshire University
