Implementation of LibAnswers to manage and resolve electronic resources issues

An Exploratory study on the use of LibAnswers to Resolve, Track and
Monitor Electronic Resources Issues: The KAUST Library experience
by Rindra M Ramli, E-Resources Specialist, KAUST
(Project Lead for LibAnswers Implementation Project)
Introduction
KAUST Library implemented LibAnswers in June 2015 to assist staff in managing
and tracking electronic resources issues among others. LibAnswers, a product by
Springshare (Springshare, 2007-2017), is a cloud service that enables library staff to
respond, track and monitor questions from community. Other features of
LibAnswers include:
 Statistics provision
 Integration with Social Media
 Real-time chat
 Customizable Widgets
Project Aims:
 To discover the patterns of electronic resources questions received by the
library
 To suggest future plans for improvement in reference services in resolving
electronic resources issues
Project Objectives:
 To sanitize and delete all spam / irrelevant emails received in LibAnswers
 To collect data and analyze the e-resources questions
 To tag the questions according to their respective headings
 To make recommendations for improvement
Methodology:
 Examine the questions received in LibAnswers and categorizing them
according to the relevant headings
 Provide recommendations to improve the ERM troubleshooting service(s) to
our users

Background
Troubleshooting electronic resources is one of the major activities of the ERM
(Electronic Resources Management) Team of King Abdullah University of Science
and Technology (KAUST) Library. Presently, there are 4 team members that handle
electronic resources inquiries. Inquiries received by the library range from simple
ones such as locating an electronic resource title to complex ones such as broken
links and access issues.
Before the implementation of LibAnswers, all such inquiries were received via a
common library email account in Microsoft Outlook. A dedicated team of library
staff was entrusted to monitor and respond to the emails received in the library
account. This team comprised of several library staff from different sections such
Collection and Information Services, Electronic Resources Team, Systems Team and
Administration.
Some of the major drawbacks of the common library email account system were:
 Monitoring and Tracking issues: Ensuring the questions received were
answered.
 Categorizing the questions received. Unable to attach any metadata
information to the emails.
 Statistics management: No proper system of downloading statistics such as
the total number of completed questions arranged by day, time or month.
 No feature of real-time chat service/ social media integration
With the increasing number of electronic resources inquiries, it was evident that a
new and dynamic system was needed to handle these inquiries. Several alternatives
were considered and evaluated by the project team. In the end, Springshare’s
LibAnswers was chosen as it met most of our selection criteria.
Implementation
The project lead (E-Resources Specialist) liaised with Springshare and University IT
department in the implementation phase of LibAnswers. Some of the major tasks of
the implementation phase were:
 Setting Configurations
 Access rules setting for main responders (Library Staff)
 Customization
Library staff was selected to form the first responders in LibAnswers. They made up
of staff from the various sections in the library namely: Administration, Archives,
Collection and Information Services and Systems and Digital Services. At the same
time, the project lead drafted (which was later agreed upon) a document to list the
areas of responsibilities. Some of these areas of responsibilities cover:

 Research Help
 Electronic resources
 Document Delivery / Interlibrary loan
 Circulation/Access
 Trainings
 Plagiarism
 Repository / Theses
 Archives
 Textbooks / Course Reserves
At the time of writing, the library selected 2 methods of submitting questions:
 Via Email (library@kaust.edu.sa)
 Via Online Question form
Access Points
Online form link and widget were embedded at several ‘access’ points. In addition
to that, email from library@kaust.edu.sa was re-routed into LibAnswers. Here are
the several access points to submit an inquiry:
 Library website (https://library.kaust.edu.sa/) :
 Library FAQ webpage (http://asklib.kaust.edu.sa/):

 Library LibGuides (http://libguides.kaust.edu.sa/):
 Koral (http://koral.summon.serialssolutions.com/):
 AZ Portal
(http://sb2xn3yj2c.search.serialssolutions.com/ejp/?libHash=SB2XN3YJ2C#
/?language=en-US&titleType=ALL):

LibAnswers DashBoard
Below is the screen grab of the LibAnswers Admin Dashboard Module. This is the
welcome screen that greets the staff when they open the URL:
A quick overview of LibAnswers:
 Questions submitted in LibAnswers are known as ‘tickets’. These tickets can
be responded by a library staff or forwarded to another staff (known as
‘Assign/Transfer’).
 Tickets will be funneled into ‘queues’ set-up by the library staff. A queue is
the “pipeline for managing questions”
(http://support.springshare.com/libanswers/queues) from our users.
 Initially, there was only 1 main queue (default) called “Uni Library” to receive
all questions. However, we noted that a number of questions received were
related to electronic resources issues. It was then decided to add another
queue to better manage these type of questions (e-resources issues). This
queue was called “Electronic Resources Issues”.
 All responses are saved in LibAnswers. Entire email thread between library
staff and inquirers are stored. They can be retrieved at a later time for
reference purposes or regurgitated into a Frequently Asked Question on the
public interface.
 File(s) can be attached to each tickets (Maximum size: 20 MB)
 Metadata information can be assigned to these tickets

 Most importantly, library staff can submit and label the tickets according to
their status such as awaiting further reply from the inquirer, keeping it open
while more investigation can be conducted and so forth
Flow of the Electronic Resources Tickets (in the nutshell)
1. Library user submits ticket(s) (questions) via email / online form. The
question is routed into LibAnswers.
2. One of the ERM Team members responds to the ticket.
3. If the ticket requires more time to resolve, staff would ask for more
information such as:
a. Brief description of the issue
b. URL / Link of the affected site
c. Time and Date of access
d. Internet Browser used
e. Version of Internet Browser
f. Location Access
g. Screen capture / grab
4. At times, staff will need to liaise with the electronic resources publisher(s)
and University IT to resolve the matter.
5. ERM Team would utilize the following troubleshooting tools to resolve the
issues:
a. Proquest / Ex Libris Knowledge center
b. LibAnswers: To check on similar question(s) that have been
answered. Previous replies can be re-used to answer the question
c. Local Documentation: Technical information stored in MS Sharepoint
d. LibGuide on Troubleshooting E-Resources Issues
e. Proxy Guide
f. ListServ on E-Resources
g. Screen Grab tools, for example Techsmith SnagIT
6. Once resolved, library staff will close the ticket. At all times, the staff will
keep tabs with the inquirer on the progress status of the issue(s).
7. The closed (completed) ticket will be stored in LibAnswers for reference
purposes.
Data Analysis on electronic resources tickets received
Data was obtained from LibAnswers Statistics feature. During the analysis process,
the researcher deleted all irrelevant tickets received in LibAnswers. On top of that,
all tickets were ‘assigned’ tags as a form of categorization. The first level tag is “e-

resources”. This is followed by the second tier level tags such as:
 Access issues
For example: Unable to access e-resource despite entering the correct URL
 Off-campus/Proxy
For example: Unable to access e-resources from off-campus location
 Link issues
For example: Faulty links to ejournal articles / titles as well as ebook titles /
chapters
Statistics by Date and Time
Data gathered showed that from June 2015 (LibAnswers rollout) till April 2017, the
library received a total of 1,265 tickets (questions). Out of these tickets, 410 of them
were tagged as ‘E-Resources’ issues. Looking at the Monthly Distribution
(e-resources questions), the peak period would be August – October as well as
January – March. This showed that the library received a number of inquiries
during the academic months. The figure dwindled down during the break/vacation
months: June and July.

Taking a look at the daily statistics for e-resources questions, Sundays and
Wednesdays are the busiest time when most questions are received in LibAnswers.
Note that our business days starts on Sundays and end on Thursdays. Fridays and
Saturdays are weekend in Saudi Arabia.
Another finding of this study showed that most of the questions were received
between 10am to 12pm as well as between 2pm to 4pm.

Source of the Question:
Our users tend to email questions rather than using the online forms. The study
revealed that for e-resources issues questions, 326 emails were submitted
compared to 45 online forms received. On top of that, 39 entries (questions) were
entered by library staff on behalf of the inquirers.
E-Resources Questions by Type:
The study showed that the main issues related to electronic resources were:
 Access (17%)
 Link Issues (4%)
 Recommendation to titles due to no subscription (3%)
Drilling deeper in the Access issues (17%), below are the main issues on electronic
resources issues. They are namely:
 Denied access to e-resource
 Setting up / Registration issues
 Downloading e-journal articles / ebook chapters
 Excessive Downloading
 Broken Links
Response Time:
The average response time for the electronic resources questions was 11 hours and 57
mins. (Approximately 12 hours, half a day).

Discussions:
Consistent / Controlled Vocabulary
Based on suggestions from the recent research studies conducted by (Goldfinger &
Hemhauser, 2016) and (Samples & Healy, 2015), there is a growing need to have a
consistent and controlled vocabulary to describe the types of problems within the
electronic resources field. One of the initial phase of this project was to ‘tag’ the
tickets to “E-Resources” to indicate that it is part of the electronic resources issues
group. In addition to that, tickets belonging to the “E-Resources” group were further
broken down into several tags such as:
 Access issues
 Ebook
 Ejournal
 Link Issues
 Off-campus access
 Recommendation for new titles
However, the tagging terms were used without any consultation to any form of
controlled vocabulary source. They were derived based on the ERM teams
perceived understanding of the e-resources issue. Without a consistent vocabulary
source, it is difficult to conduct an in-depth comparison with other libraries on the
use of such terms.
Empowerment of our users to resolve electronic resources
The team noted that some of the questions received in LibAnswers were similar in
nature. Some were straightforward and can be resolved on the user’s end. Based on
this, the team decided to develop a LibGuide on Troubleshooting E-Resources that
would address some of these issues. This would assist our users to resolve the
issues themselves. Some of these issues that can fixed by our users are:
 Internet browser configuration settings
 Testing the affected URLs on different browsers and in some cases on
different operating systems
 Ensuring the VPN settings are correct
Sharing sessions with Library Staff
Given that KAUST is a digitally-born library with approximately more than 80% of
the library’s collection are in electronic format, more time should be devoted in
‘upgrading’ the knowledge of its staff in handling electronic resources. Staff
especially those at the Information Desks or Reference Points must be equipped
with sufficient knowledge on how to resolve these issues. Some of these include:
 Main contact staff for electronic resources issues
 ‘Repository’ for additional information on electronic resources
One of the recent initiative that the ERM Team had undertaken was to create an
internal library guide for staff. This guide was created to assist library staff on
handling e-resources questions at the Information Desk.

It would be interesting to see whether with the empowerment and knowledge
sharing sessions would decrease the time taken to resolve electronic resources
issues as well as improve the quality of answers to the questions. This could be a
separate research study altogether.
On top of that, an in-depth study of library staff reference skills would also be
beneficial. This would help the library management in identifying the knowledge
gap of the staff. In addition to sending library staff for trainings, a mentorship
program for junior staff could also be introduced internally.
Social Media Integration
Presently, the library has not activated the social media features available in
LibAnswers. Examples of social media available in LibAnswers are:
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Live chat
 Pinterest
We are looking into the feasibility of implementing one of these features and
monitor the usage level of such service. At the top of this list would be ‘live chat’
feature. This would provide an alternative avenue for our library users to submit
their question(s) and not limited to just email and online forms.
Ref Analytics
Presently, we are planning to implement Ref Analytics feature in LibAnswer. This
feature allows library staff to record all the questions that they received at various
locations such as Information Desk, Workstation or other location on campus. By
capturing this information, it would help us build our knowledgebase as well as
sharing this information with other staff.

Staff can input the question received together with the answer provided to the user.
Additional metadata details can be entered as well such as
 Designation of the inquirer
 Academic/Research Center information
 Location where transaction occurred
 Type of question
 Time to answer the question
 Difficulty level
Summary:
Technological advances are happening at a fast pace which has an effect on the
electronic resources management field. As such, it is imperative for our ERM Team
to keep abreast of such changes. In addition to that, mergers and acquisitions of
electronic resources publishers and vendors have also created ripples in the
industry. By taking a proactive stance to these surroundings as well as increasing
our e-resources troubleshooting knowledge, our library hopes to be able to provide
a high quality of reference service especially with regards to resolving electronic
resources issues.

References:
Goldfinger, R. K., & Hemhauser, M. (2016). Looking for Trouble (Tickets): A Content
Analysis of University of Maryland, College Park E-Resource Access Problem
Reports. Serials Review, 00-00. doi:10.1080/00987913.2016.1179706
Samples, J., & Healy, C. (2015). Making it Look Easy: Maintaining the magic of access.
Serials Review.
Springshare. (2007-2017). LibAnswers - Communication and Social Media
Management for Libraries. Retrieved from
https://www.springshare.com/libanswers/

Implementation of LibAnswers to manage and resolve electronic resources issues

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