6 Client Services

• 6.1 Lending Services
• 6.2 Document Delivery Services
• 6.3 Reference and Information Services
• 6.4 User Education
• 6.5 MONINFO
• 6.6 Publications and Publicity Unit

6.1 Lending Services

Loans figures were 3.22% fewer than in 1996 when personal loans are considered, but renewals via the WWW, which could be on or off campus, brought the number of loans to 3.36% higher overall than in 1996, from about 1.6 million in 1996 to over 1.7 million in 1997.

6.2 Document Delivery Services

The unit maintained the level of service as provided in 1996 by means of the newly established quota system for which monthly reports of costs were provided. The introduction of the quota system helped to dampen the explosive growth experienced in 1996.

6.3 Reference and Information Services

As shown in Table 5 below, the number of reference and directional enquiries increased considerably in 1997 when compared with 1996. Reference enquiries which normally take up much more staff time increased by 12.5% while directional enquiries recorded an increase of 10.2%. MULTELS centralised telephone inquiries service responded to 26,328 calls of which 17,867 were completed at the time of the call (67.86%), the other 8,461 calls being referred to other telephone numbers.

6.4 User Education

There was a reduction of 7.3% in the number of user education sessions conducted in 1997. The number of contact hours was also reduced from 1491.7 hours to 1443.5 hours, a reduction of 3.3%. A combination of factors was responsible for the overall reduction, including a stricter definition of what constitutes a user education class, staff losses, and an increase in the number of classes that made use of hands on training facilities, which because of their limited availability reduced the number of possible training sessions.

6.5 MONINFO

MONINFO had a busy year with a steady growth in document supply. Early in 1997, a consultant was appointed to assist in marketing and promotion strategies. Clients surveyed by the consultant rated MONINFO services highly - 8.5 out of 10. Margaret Pratt managed the Unit admirably as the Acting MONINFO Manager when Leigh Oldmeadow resigned in May, to take up appointment in the public library sector.

6.6 Publications and Publicity Unit

Appointment of the Information Literacy/Publications Librarian was made late in 1997 to coordinate both these library programs. During 1997 the Library Web site was redeveloped as a sophisticated comprehensive site which linked to many library online services and products. Four issues of The Information were published. Stephanie Foott should be commended for activating the Web Developers Group and assuming a leading role in Web site development and electronic publication.