InfoEyes Usage Report

June 2004

Compiled by Tom Peters (tpeters@tapinformation.com)

Note:  The InfoEyes service had a soft launch on March 1, but activity did not really pick up until March 17, and the enhanced communication software was not utilized until March 22.  On April 29 public access to the QuestionPoint Enhanced mode was discontinued.  It was replaced on June 7, 2004 with iVocalize.  Thus during the month of May 2004 patrons had no access to an enhanced mode of communication, only email and basic text chat. 


Definitions

  • Total Sessions:  The sum of all the discrete sessions recorded in the set of closed interactions for the month being reported. 

  • Countable Sessions:  Two situations caused some sessions to be discounted:

    1)  If two or more sessions in close temporal proximity to each other were clearly from the same patron with the same information need, the cluster of sessions was counted as only one session. 

    2)  If a session clearly displayed a failure to communicate (e.g., because of basic system problems, or the patron never responded and expressed the need), it was not counted as a session. 

  • Real Sessions:  Sessions that appeared to involve patrons with real information needs.

  • Interest Sessions:  Sessions that appeared to be from non-InfoEyes team members who were more interested in just seeing or testing the software or service than in satisfying a real information need.  Often these visitors were professional colleagues from other libraries.

  • Practice Sessions:  Sessions that appeared to be test and practice sessions between two or more InfoEyes team members.

  • Timestamping:  Sessions are timestamped when they commence.  In the case of email questions, that means the time they are submitted, not when they are answered by an InfoEyes reference provider.  The timestamp is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) minus six hours.  Evidently, no adjustments are made to the timestamp when daylight savings time commences in April and concludes in October.      

Findings

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days in month

31

30

31

30

122

 

Days with activity

14

24

15

19

72

 

Total sessions

100

101

25

31

257

 

Countable sessions

72

73

23

27

195

 

Countable as % of Total

72.00%

72.28%

92.00%

87.10%

75.88%

 

Avg Total Sessions per Active Day

7.14

4.21

1.67

1.63

3.57

 

Avg Countable Sess. per Active Day

5.14

3.04

1.53

1.42

2.71

 

Total Real Sessions

46

75

21

28

170

66.15%

Total Interest Sessions

9

7

3

2

21

8.17%

Total Practice Sessions

32

18

1

1

52

20.23%

Total Unknown Sessions

13

1

0

0

14

5.45%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(total sessions)

100

101

25

31

257

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Countable Real Sessions

39

51

19

24

133

68.21%

Countable Interest Sessions

9

6

3

2

20

10.26%

Countable Practice Sessions

19

15

1

1

36

18.46%

Countable Unknown Sessions

5

1

0

0

6

3.08%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(countable sessions)

72

73

23

27

195

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Countable Sessions

3

1

1

1

6

3.57%

Monday Countable Sessions

5

15

3

6

29

17.26%

Tuesday Countable Sessions

10

6

1

5

22

13.10%

Wednesday Countable Sessions

16

8

8

7

39

23.21%

Thursday Countable Sessions

24

22

4

4

54

32.14%

Friday Countable Sessions

8

11

2

2

23

13.69%

Saturday Countable Sessions

6

10

4

2

22

13.10%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(days of week countable sessions)

72

73

23

27

168

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

midnight to 1:00 Countable Sessions

1

0

0

0

1

0.51%

1:00 to 2:00 Countable Sessions

0

0

3

0

3

1.54%

2:00 to 3:00 Countable Sessions

0

0

0

0

0

0.00%

3:00 to 4:00 Countable Sessions

0

0

0

1

1

0.51%

4:00 to 5:00 Countable Sessions

0

0

2

0

2

1.03%

5:00 to 6:00 Countable Sessions

0

0

0

0

0

0.00%

6:00 to 7:00 Countable Sessions

2

1

0

1

4

2.05%

7:00 to 8:00 Countable Sessions

2

0

0

0

2

1.03%

8:00 to 9:00 Countable Sessions

6

4

1

0

11

5.64%

9:00 to 10:00 Countable Sessions

9

7

1

1

18

9.23%

10:00 to 11:00 Countable Sessions

7

9

3

5

24

12.31%

11:00 to noon Countable Sessions

6

7

2

1

16

8.21%

noon to 13:00 Countable Sessions

7

9

0

3

19

9.74%

13:00 to 14:00 Countable Sessions

8

8

2

0

18

9.23%

14:00 to 15:00 Countable Sessions

0

5

1

1

7

3.59%

15:00 to 16:00 Countable Sessions

9

12

1

6

28

14.36%

16:00 to 17:00 Countable Sessions

3

4

2

0

9

4.62%

17:00 to 18:00 Countable Sessions

1

5

1

0

7

3.59%

18:00 to 19:00 Countable Sessions

2

1

2

1

6

3.08%

19:00 to 20:00 Countable Sessions

1

0

0

2

3

1.54%

20:00 to 21:00 Countable Sessions

3

0

0

2

5

2.56%

21:00 to 22:00 Countable Sessions

4

1

0

0

5

2.56%

22:00 to 23:00 Countable Sessions

1

0

2

1

4

2.05%

23:00 to midnight Countable Sessions

0

0

0

0

0

0.00%

unknown

 

 

 

2

2

1.03%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(hours of day countable sessions)

72

73

23

27

195

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total email sessions

27

14

19

24

84

32.68%

Total text chat sessions

29

24

6

4

63

24.51%

Total enhanced sessions

44

63

0

3

110

42.80%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(total sessions by mode)

100

101

25

31

257

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

 

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Average

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avg response time: all email sessions (hrs)

NA

15.261

14.390

12.490

 

 

Avg session length: all chat sessions (hrs)

NA

0.105

0.165

0.120

 

 

Avg session length: all enhanced (hrs)

NA

0.066

NA

0.350

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Countable email sessions

26

14

18

21

79

40.51%

Countable text chat sessions

21

17

5

3

46

23.59%

Countable enhanced sessions

25

42

0

3

70

35.90%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(countable sessions by mode)

72

73

23

27

195

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

 

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FirstSearch Sessions

55

22

41

79

197

 

Average no. of searches per session

5.27

5.50

1.85

3.33

2.47

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

April

May

June

YTD

YTD

 

2004

2004

2004

2004

Totals

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FirstSearch Searches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABI Inform

0

0

0

4

4

0.82%

ArticleFirst

91

58

12

23

184

37.78%

Book Review Digest

2

0

0

2

4

0.82%

Eric

30

8

4

11

53

10.88%

FactSearch

24

5

0

3

32

6.57%

General Science Abstracts

20

3

2

14

39

8.01%

MEDLINE

19

0

6

22

47

9.65%

Periodical Abstracts

0

0

0

101

101

20.74%

Readers Guide Abstracts

20

0

10

26

56

11.50%

SIRS

0

0

0

11

11

2.26%

World Almanac

13

7

0

1

21

4.31%

WorldCat

71

40

42

45

198

40.66%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(total FirstSearch searches)

290

121

76

263

487

 

 
Very Tentative Conclusions

  • InfoEyes appears to be meeting the anticipated need. 

  • We appear to be getting questions from both print-impaired and sighted individuals.
     
  • The information needs expressed are a good mix of topics related to print-impairments and general topics.

  • Several repeat customers of InfoEyes already have emerged, which indicates that they are finding the service useful.   

  • Activity measured in terms of countable questions by the day of the week seems to exhibit the typical bell-shaped curve, with the peak on Thursday. 

  • Activity measured in terms of countable questions by hour of the day is beginning to indicate the usual peaks in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon hours, but it is too soon to tell.  Because InfoEyes is a multi-state service across four time zones, and because all activity is recorded as Greenwich Mean Time minus six hours, this measure of activity by hour of the day is an approximation.