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askON Breaks Traffic Records
Fall traffic trends indicate a 61% increase in 2015 over 2014. 2016 saw a remarkable 77% increase and a new record of reaching over 1000 chats per month for the first time ever (in September, October, and November). The service has tripled traffic since 2014!
September 2015 had a significant bump with the transition to the LibraryH3lp platform, a trend that continued throughout the 2015/16 academic year (67.2% overall increase). This traffic increase may be attributed to the ability of students to submit questions directly to the new platform without a need to submit a question with a pre-chat survey. Proactive chat has also contributed to the increase in traffic experienced since the launch of the pilot in May 2016.
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askON's Excellent Evaluation
askON staff provided a high quality of service to askON visitors overall in 2015, and results indicate that the upgrade training in preparation for the LibraryH3lp platform transition resulted in improved quality of service across all RUSA behaviours.
Analysis of visitor surveys show that askON visitors are satisfied with the service they received from askON (95%), with 64% of visitors reporting that they have received better information than they could have found on their own.
In 51% of all questions submitted to askON in 2015, the primary information need was reference-related; when considering additional questions that emerged during chats, a total of 54% of all questions submitted contained a reference question. Library questions were the second most commonly asked question (19%) and requests for help with remote access third (14%).
The majority of reference questions asked by askON visitors (including both primary and additional information needs) were Research questions (57.2%), including Simple Search (34.6%) or Advanced Search (22.6%) questions, followed by Known Item searches (28.3%). A further 18.2% asked for assistance with citation, and fewer than 2% of questions involved a Ready Reference request. Note that the chart to the right is based on primary information need and does not include additional information needs.
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Proactive Pilot Uncovers Student Reference Needs
When askON experienced record-breaking traffic during Phase 2 of the Proactive Chat Pilot, askON staff adapted remarkably to higher traffic levels while continuing to provide an excellent level of service. A total of 4859 chat questions were submitted to askON during Phase 2, a 70% increase over fall 2015 chat questions. Of these, 1359 questions (28%) were submitted via proactive chat.
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Click-to-Chat Questions |
Transcript analysis showed that visitors
ask different questions depending on how they contact the service.
Visitors who respond to the invitation to chat are more
likely to ask a reference question than those who look for the click-to-chat button (72.5% vs 52.2%), and are less likely to ask for library information or ask non-library questions (18.8% vs 39%).
Proactive chat allows askON to virtually tap library website visitors on the shoulder while they are researching, increasing both the total number of questions to the service and the percentage of reference questions from visitors.
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| Proactive Questions |
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Phase 2 results suggest that proactive chat is an effective tool to increase traffic and raise the profile of the service at both new and established askON libraries. All Phase 2 pilot site libraries saw increased traffic this fall, with Lambton College, askON's newest partner library, continuing to see the highest increases in questions (486%) as awareness of the service continues to increase at the college.
askON visitors reported a high level of satisfaction of the service, with visitors reporting that they receive good or excellent service 92.9% of the time, and an additional 4.6% of visitors reporting that the service they received was fair. These results are in line with the results of the 2015 Evaluation, demonstrating that despite record-breaking traffic, askON staff continued to provide a very high level of service during Phase 2.
Phase 3 of the proactive chat pilot will run through the Winter 2017 Semester. As always, the success of the service is dependent on the placement of buttons and invitations, and the Proactive Task Force continues to recommend the strategic placement of proactive invitations within the research environment to reach visitors with research questions while managing traffic to the service overall. Any libraries interested in joining the pilot should contact Siobán.
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Learning Portal to Pilot Virtual Help in 2017
In a Town Hall meeting on December 14, 2016, askON member library Site Coordinators and Directors met to discuss the Learning Portal Steering Committee request to the askON Steering Committee for participation of the askON service in the upcoming Learning Portal Virtual Help Pilot.
The Learning Portal / Le Portail d'Apprentissage is a collaboration between the Ontario college libraries (HLLR), several Ontario college learning centres, and the Ontario College Library Service (OCLS). The project aims to provide easy and equitable access to open learning resources and services to Ontario's online college students and to provide a consistent, province-wide academic support platform for faculty to use for course and assignment design.
Following a request by the Learning Portal Steering Committee, askON member libraries agreed to act as the service provider for the Learning Portal Virtual Help Pilot Project. As the provider of the successful provincial collaborative virtual reference service currently operating within the college library system, askON is well suited to provide the infrastructure and service that the project requires. Consequently, askON will provide virtual reference within the Learning Portal during the 2017-18 academic year. A plan is being prepared to ensure that the Learning Portal pilot can benefit from the same high level of service that askON member libraries provide without impacting the experience of askON visitors or askON staff.
The askON team will keep you updated with pilot progress from the Virtual Help Pilot Committee as the pilot plan unfolds this Winter and Spring.
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askON, a service of Ontario Colleges and Ontario Colleges Library Service (OCLS)
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