OUTPUT 1.2—INFORMATION SERVICES
Output Description
Information services, providing access to the Library’s collections
and other documentary resources, are delivered nationally and internationally.
Performance—Outputs
Effectiveness
Comments on Performance—Effectiveness
The overall target of 85 per cent was exceeded for provision of collection
items.
Quality
Comments on Performance—Quality
A major survey of users was undertaken in May, with 96 per cent of
users expressing satisfaction with the information services provided;
67
per cent of users reported they were very satisfied with reference
services and facilities. This represents a significant improvement
from 41 per cent in 2000 and 53 per cent in 2001. The survey included
in-depth interviews, which elicited detailed comment on user experiences.
Recent initiatives such as automated call slips and the significant
growth in availability of electronic information services have been
well received by those using the Library.
Quantity

Comments on Performance—Quantity
The number of information services transactions exceeded the target.
Recognising that key electronic resources offered by the Library were
excluded from the figure last year, the target for this year was increased
to include all electronic information resources accessible through
the Library’s catalogue and indexes and database service.
Price
KEY ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENTS
New services
- The Library is undertaking a wide range of initiatives to achieve its
key strategic objective of enabling the Australian people to have direct
access to information resources. This year several new services were
implemented:
- Launched in August 2002, Ask Now! Online Answers Australia-Wide
is an interactive
digital reference service that enables users to ‘chat’ in real-time
with a reference librarian, and allows both parties to view and navigate websites
simultaneously. AskNow! is available 9 am to 7 pm AEST Monday to Friday, and
is operated collaboratively in association with the state and territory libraries.
More than 22 000 enquiries have been answered by the participating libraries
and the service has been rated highly by users.
- Teach Yourself Online is a self-paced tutorial available from the
Library’s
website. It assists readers to navigate the website, search the catalogue,
find journal articles, use the Internet, and generally improve their
information literacy
skills.
- A new electronic journal service, Academic Search Premier provides
the full text of articles in nearly 4000 journals, and indexes a
further 4000 journals.
Articles
may be printed, saved to disk, or emailed, and a tailored email service
alerts users to new issues of a journal or new articles of interest.
Copies may
also be provided via the Library’s Interlibrary Loan and Copies
Direct services. The service has proved very popular, with 6729 searches
being recorded.
- Copies Direct is a fee-based service introduced in November 2002
to enable individuals to obtain copies of material from the collection
by
using a single
online order
form. Copies of articles, chapters from books, pictures, maps, manuscripts,
music and oral history tapes and transcripts can be supplied electronically
through
the Internet or in print form. Most of the requests are delivered electronically.
- The AustraliaDancing portal provides users with current and historical
information about dance in Australia. AustraliaDancing describes
research materials held
by the Library and ScreenSound Australia, and provides immediate
access to digitised dance-related materials. The service also provides
links
to other
relevant sites
and current dance industry information from AusDance.
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