The Journal of Access Services is currently seeking manuscripts for an upcoming special issue. The purpose of this special issue is to explore and describe assessment and evaluation activities employed by Access Services departments to measure productivity; improve services, spaces, staff training, or technologies; develop benchmarks for meeting mission statements or goals; or apply findings towards planning initiatives. Case studies at multiple libraries at different types of institutions will comprise the bulk of the issue’s content and will represent diverse functions of Access Services.
Case studies may focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Customer Service Assessments (circulation, ILL, reserves, media services, etc.)
- Evaluating Data to modify policies or procedures (assessments of loan periods, renewals, proportions of items not returned, opening and closing times, etc.)
- Shelving and stacks maintenance (re-shelving turnaround time, shelving accuracy, etc.)
- Ethnographic studies of students’ use of library spaces
- Collection maintenance studies (sampling for missing books, incorrect catalog information, etc.)
- Evaluation of technologies, such as self-check kiosks, and technology lending programs, such as iPad and mobile device lending
- Assessment of interlibrary loan services, such as studies on fill rates, costs, turn-around times, legibility of documents, usability of patron interfaces, etc.
Manuscripts are due by December 1, 2013 and should be sent electronically to the journal's editor at: sharpep@umsl.edu
For more information, please visit: www.tandfonline.com/WJAS
