Reference Services: What Counts

Why Collect Refernce Data?
What Data to Collect?
Clean Data
Bonus Info: What Else Do You Want to Learn
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
What Counts and How to Count It
Remaining Questions
Document History

Why Collect Reference Data?

The information collected should help tell your story in order to:

  • Demonstrate your value to your communities.
  • Learn how to enhance your services.

What Data to Collect? 

Determine what information is required by professional associations and your institution. 

For the purposes of data reporting, there is a clear distinction between reference & other transactions. 

Reference transactions follow the definition for information requests set by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)  ANSI/NISO Z39.7, Information Services and Use: Metrics and Statistics for Libraries and Information Providers (2013):

“An information contact that involves the knowledge, use, recommendations, interpretation, or instruction in the use of one or more information sources by a member of the library staff. The term includes information and referral service…

Note: It is essential that libraries do not include directional transactions in the report of reference transactions. A directional transaction is an information contact that does not involve knowledge, use, recommendation, interpretation, or instruction in the use of any information sources other than those that describe the library, such as schedules, floor plans, handbooks, and policy statements. Examples of directional transactions include giving instruction for locating, within the library, staff, library users, or physical features, and giving assistance of a non-bibliographical nature with machines."

RUSA’s Definition of Reference follows NISO’s guidelines. 

Clean Data

Good, clean data is imperative for both external and internal reporting. All branches, desks, and individuals should define interactions consistently. Some libraries add qualitative overlays to reference questions, subdividing them into categories such as quick questions or extended reference. This is unnecessary and means that post-sorting of data is necessary. Keep data collection as simple as possible. Note that the duration of time spent on a question does not matter to reporting agencies. The amount of time dedicated to an exchange is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the interaction. If your library chooses to distinguish among different types of reference transactions (e.g. ready reference, in-depth, or response time), this should be a separate response category, in addition to reference or non-reference, to help ensure clean data.

Bonus Info: What Else Do You Want to Learn?

Anything gathered beyond basic information adds work for those entering the data and for those analyzing it. Before adding to what you gather, think carefully about whether you will use that information.

  • Start with the end in mind. What do you need to learn to demonstrate value?  What do you need to learn to determine staffing? What do you need to learn in order to enhance your services?
  • With less additional information required, staff is more likely to gather it correctly.

Consider using sample periods, especially for supplementary data, rather than collecting all the info all the time.

Quantitative and Qualitative Data

  • What data best captures your story?
  • It’s easy to count transactions, but how much impact do those metrics actually have? Should those metrics be accompanied by commentary or qualitative data?
  • Consider how to optimize forms. Is user experience data most relevant?? Consider using the Question/Task area (or equivalent) for sample periods.

What Counts and How to Count It

Every interaction matters. Each opportunity to help someone is worthwhile. All interactions contribute to demonstrating value by telling the story of how library services aid communities, regardless of how they are labeled. Therefore, it is important that transactions are categorized objectively, according to consistent definitions, and not according to the personal value one may assign to labels. All of the following methods of assistance are valid, and none are more valuable than the others.

Reference work includes a wide range of activities that involve the creation, management, promotion, and evaluation of research resources. An example of reference work is developing research guides for finding information that may be used independently by patrons or in concert with library staff to satisfy their information needs. Reference work requires training to do it well. However, reference work does not count as a reference interaction.

Reference interactions provide assistance by using expertise in response to an information need. Encounters may take place face-to-face or virtually, as an impromptu encounter or a scheduled consultation, verbally or via email, for an individual or a small group working together. They should, ideally, include a reference interview.

These include, but are not limited to:

  • Finding specific books, articles, or other materials within the library's collection
  • Providing research assistance, including guidance on formulating research strategies, locating relevant sources, and citing them properly
  • Assisting with searching library databases or other research tools

Directional or facilitative encounters help people without consulting published information sources. These are valuable to our library users, but are not reference assistance.

These include, but are not limited to:

  • Answering questions about library policies, hours of operation, borrowing privileges, services, or programming
  • Referring the library user to an expert   
  • Directing someone to another part of the building
  • Help with technology and equipment available in the library, such as computers, printers, or audiovisual equipment

Remaining Questions

These are questions of known dispute. Further clarification is needed. In the meantime, you are advised to make decisions for handling these types of questions consistently at your library.

What kind of question was that?

The current definition of reference tends to take a book-centered perspective. If you are helping a patron search Microsoft Excel’s “help files” to learn how to format a specific formula in their Excel document, is it a directional or reference question?

How many questions was that?

  • If there is an ongoing series of questions about the same general topic, do we count these as one question or do we count these as several questions?
  • If there is an ongoing series of questions about more than one topic from the same person, do we count these as one question or do we count these as several questions?

For known items, when is it a reference question?

  • Are they having trouble finding it in the discovery system?
  • Do we even own the item?
  • Are they having trouble finding it on the shelf?
  • Can we request (purchase or interlibrary loan) that item?

Document History

This is a recommendation developed by the RUSA, Reference Services Section, Managing, Marketing, and Measuring Reference Services committee in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Members include:

  • Emily Adhikari
  • Linda Andrews
  • Mary Buelow
  • Rebecca Eve Graff
  • Inge Kokidko
  • Julia Martin
  • Joan Petit
  • Mandy Rizki
  • David Ward
  • William Weare
  • Wanda Whitney