Service Responses in North Carolina


GENERAL INFORMATION

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County
Robert Cannon, Director - July 1998


Needs Addressed by this Service Response

A library that offers General Information helps meet the need for information and answers to questions on a broad array of topics related to work, school, and personal life.

What the Library Does and Provides

The library will offer print, non-print, and electronic reference resources that cover a broad variety of topics. The library will provide staff skillful in determining users’ needs and in locating relevant information that satisfies those needs. Internet access will be provided for staff and public use. Alternative off-site means of accessing information resources such as dial-in service and computer kiosks in public places may be provided. The library will provide telephone information service and should consider accepting and answering questions via fax and e-mail. The library may locate, organize, and provide access to general information resources on a web page.

Brief Description of the Library and Service Population

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County serves 612,000 citizens in the county from the Main Library, 21 branches, and adult and children's outreach departments. A core of standard services is offered in every location (including, for example, collections focused on the community served, basic reference service, readers' advisory service, and children's programming ). Additional specialized services are offered at larger regional libraries, the Law and Government Library, and the Main Library. The Library serves a diverse population with varied informational needs.

Community Needs Addressed by Best Practices

At each location, staff provides GENERAL INFORMATION. This core service is provided to all ages to help meet their needs for information and supply answers to questions on a broad array of topics related to work, school and personal life. General Information is a long offered and well used service. The Library is working hard to ensure the service remains relevant and effective as more and more general information is directly available to citizens through new formats and electronic access.

Target Audience

All the residents of Mecklenburg County may use this service. Our audience may reach this service by coming in person to a convenient library location, or by telephone, fax, or electronic mail.

Service Objectives

It is our goal to meet the informational needs of all residents, efficiently, promptly, accurately, and in a customer friendly way with the result that the public sees The Library as the principal provider of information in the community. Two key factors in meeting this goal and providing quality service are good collections and a well trained staff.

Description of Services & Activities

The Library staff (both professional and paraprofessional) receives regular training to insure they are skillful in determining a user's needs and in locating relevant information that satisfies those needs. An Orientation and Training Team works with the Library's System Resources Trainer so staff have training opportunities to develop skills, behaviors, and learn about print and electronic resources. PLCMC offers print, non-print, and electronic resources - both circulating and reference - that covers a broad variety of topics. Internet access is provided for both the staff and public at all locations. There is a published phone number for general information that is staffed 71 hours per week. This Telephone Reference Service is housed behind the scenes at the Main Library.

The Library offers access to its catalog and some databases 24 hours a day for remote users. A patron may dial into the Library's computer catalog from a home computer, search for items, check their lending record, and place a hold on an item. The Library's provides both a general WWW home page <http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us> as well as one focused on the business community <http://www.bizlink.org>. A local information and history page will be available in the summer of 1998. The general home page provides access to the Library's electronic catalog, a full text periodical database, information about the Library and its services and locations and carefully reviewed and selected links to web sties grouped by topics frequently requested by patrons. A patron may submit a question to library staff by e-mail.

Fax machines in every location allow staff to fax short simple answers to a patron's home or office.

Staff offer instructional classes to the public introducing PC's, the Internet and specific electronic resources.

Resources Allocated to Service

Staffing: Each location has staff trained to understand a user's question, retrieve and provide accurate General Information. There are currently about 300 staff providing direct public services across the county, ranging from 2 staff at the smallest location to over 70 at Main Staff. Cross training efforts among departments and locations continues with assistance from Support Resources.

Funding: The funding for General Information service comes primarily from Mecklenburg County. A portion of Library revenue form fines and fees, photocopier receipts, etc. is directed to the Materials or Electronic Resources budgets to ensure access to current information. Gifts and grants are sought and often utilized to enhance collections and staff training opportunities.

Service Measures and Recent Outcomes

The Library uses traditional measures, such as collecting the number of reference and directional queries answered . Statistics are now kept on in house computer use as well remote users of the home pages and database remote use. The Library conducts an annual patron satisfaction survey. This year the Library is concentrating on assessing and improving its Information Services. As part of that work, an unobtrusive survey was done of the quality of information provided by staff.