Cornell University Library Instruction, Research, and Information Services

Convenient Business Hours Study

September 10, 2002

Charge
In July 2002, Sarah Thomas charged the Public Services Executive Committee (PSEC) with developing a plan for addressing the following issues:
1) what constitutes "more convenient business hours" for faculty, students and staff across the University, e.g., earlier openings, later closings, more weekend hours?
2) in which units additional hours would be most beneficial?
3) what services the Library should provide during extended hours
4) how to allocate resources to provide extended hours where they are needed
The plan should be ready for implementation by no later than April1, 2003.

In response, Anne Kenney asked the IRIS Research Department to draft a proposal for consideration by PSEC.

Activities and timeframe
1) By September 15: Establish a team for the study, appointed by PSEC
2) September - December: Data collection
3) October: User survey
4) December - January: Data analysis and recommendations
5) By January 31: proposed action plan to LMT
6) April 1: begin implementation of first round recommendations

Proposed study components
1) Document user suggestions/complaints
2) Data collection
a. Service point statistics
b. Head counts
c. Computer traffic logs (in use/not in use, not what use)
d. User survey (options for dissemination)
3) CU-wide service review
4) External review

Working Group members
PSEC approved the proposal for the study at their meeting on August 29, and Anne Kenney has appointed the following members to the working group:
Nancy McGovern (chair)
Carmen Blankinship
Meryl Brodsky
Marty Crowe
Susan Currie
Nan Hyland
Boodie McGinnis
Steve Rockey