Legislative Library of British Columbia

BC Legislative Library

Selecting Question Tracking Software

Peter Gourlay

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Why a question tracker?• Staff turnover• Information sharing• Drawing upon previous answers• Even distribution of questions• Statistics

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Preparation (Jan 2012)• Staff working group created• Literature review• Other libraries

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Initial Conclusions• Knowledgebase vs Question Tracker• In house vs off the shelf• Changing focus – knowledge transfer to reference

service improvement

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Brainstorming (May 2012)• Brainstorming session• List of essential features• Strong searching / minimum workflow disruption• Client portals• Automated emails• Privacy

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Short List• Bailey Enquire• Illumin• Isupport• Final recommendation (Nov 2012)

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Desk Trial (Jan 2013)• Configuration and training• Client records• Question records• Project does not proceed

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Lessons Learned• Library products not the best• Build it vs buy it• Privacy• User buy-in key to success• Staff knowledge building

Legislative Library of British Columbia

Questions?