Solving the information workflow tracking dilemma: putting in place an automated system for tracking various service processes in information work can assist tremendously in evaluating the types of content purchased and being able to adequately report activities to management when making funding requests. But the key question is: how do you do it?

Information Outlook, Nov, 2008 by Ann Cullen, Tomalee Doan, Toby Pearlstein

Beyond reporting out for these national association surveys, the need to make sound organizational decisions, based on actual data rather than through observation, was important for moving forward with MEL's transformation. In particular, the need to rewrite the job duties of faculty librarians and evaluate the staffing of public service points was necessary to allow the creation of new services. Today's library users contact the library for help in many different ways. Librarians are doing a significant amount of reference work in their offices and through e-mail. Tracking that activity reaps significant value for a library's total output. MEL wanted to create a faculty research service, so tracking the activity of librarians away from the reference desk was helpful in determining how much support in hours the library provided per faculty request. Footprints accommodates multi-channel communication, allowing users to contact MEL through IM, e-mail, phone, and in person. All of these channels are captured by date and time of day. The reports generated by Footprints proved to be very useful in determining the peak times to staff the information service desk with librarians.

During the first year of using the Footprints tracking software, the staffing of librarians changed between the fall semester and the winter semester because of the difference in the course offerings. This was determined by tracking the patron type and number of reference transactions by the time they occurred, which was later in the afternoon during the winter semester. MEL was able to respond accordingly to provide the best possible service based on actual data. Not only was Footprints useful in determining appropriate staffing levels but it also became a valuable training tool for new staff when using the Footprints knowledge database, which searches the full text of each ticket.

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The Footprints tracking software provided information data that helped manage MEL. It quickly became clear by tracking other library unit processes by creating new "projects" in Footprints that MEL could increase internal library efficiencies, resulting in better response time to user needs. A technical services project was created to track acquisition of new materials and catalog maintenance issues. A Web development project was created to track vendor database issues so all staff had accurate up-to-date information about our electronic resources to better serve users.

Incorporating workflow tracking software in MEL's environment was a success, but it may not be as successful in all academic libraries. Gaining staff buy-in to enter the data accurately and in a timely manner for all staff to see is essential for success. In MEL's setting, all staff was assured that the data would not be used as a performance measure but would be used to support decisions to enhance organizational effectiveness. Staff must trust that management will use the tracking software to benefit the overall user library experience, by demonstrating value and by increasing response time to service demands.