Meg and I ran one trial of Library on Location (taking library books and DVDs etc and reference services out to student areas) in term 4 last year, and another one in term 2 this year.
For the second trial we compared our statistics with EL and PSL statistics at the same time – the branches did much better on circulation, unsurprisingly, but during term time our On Location service did better for reference statistics, and we met a number of people who for various reasons hadn’t been aware of library services or hadn’t been aware they were entitled to access them for free. It was a great experience getting to chat with people informally and let them know about what we have to offer.
Our reports are available on K:drive:
We’re presenting on our findings at the Lianza conference in November, and afterwards we’ll be looking at setting up Library on Location here on a more regular basis, giving more librarians the chance to be involved. If you’re interested in knowing more, please email me or Meg, or post a comment here.
Deborah