Improving GIS Consultations: A Case Study at Yale University Library

Abstract

For the last decade and a half, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services in academic libraries have been developing, and GIS librarians have been experimenting with different ways to provide these services. However, there has been virtually nothing in the literature with respect to GIS consultation statistics. One goal of this article is to discuss a four-year case study on the use of GIS consultation statistics to give a better understanding of what GIS librarians might typically expect as far as number of patrons, their characteristics, amount of time spent with them, and the amount of data distributed to them while running a GIS service at an academic library. Techniques for reducing the amount of time spent with patrons while developing a higher degree of efficiency and effectiveness in conducting GIS consultations will also be explored. Finally, a juxtaposition of GIS consultations with other types of library reference services will reveal significant differences between them.