Making sense of user surveys

One thing that occupies an awful lot of time here is creating surveys, collating results, using those results to inform decision making and giving feedback to our customers on those results. A colleague of mine came up with a really great idea for providing a quick, visual feedback method. Customers were asked what they would like to see less of, and what they would like to see more of, and this is how she displayed the results:

Interesting to see the overlap between the two - zoning is the issue that really divides people!

We're also able to combine the Welsh and English feedback in one document, and hopefully portray some of the complexities of trying to provide a service to people with very diverse needs and expectations.

Twittering away

I have had a Twitter account since 3rd Feb 2009 but never used it much. However, 19 out of my 122 tweets have been sent since I signed up for 23 things on 10th May, so already having a positive effect on my tweeting. I can see this becoming addictive. I’ve looked over all my old tweets, and while at the time I agonised over sending them, I can see know that they're fine, so maybe I don't need to be so worried about it.

I've also been checking up on Twitter a lot more often which means that I can follow conversations rather than just dip into random tweets. I've also edited the people I'm following and need to remember to do this regularly. I've found some more people to follow, and have come across some interesting tweets and links to blogs and other websites.

My main issue with Twitter is information overload and  the more you follow the worse it gets. It's a bit like walking past the tv and hearing a random quote (this morning it was "Charlene - the last surviving woman ...."), only with Twitter, you have around 30 channels going at once and it can be very difficult at times to make sense of it.

When I tweeted a request for information, I got no replies at all. I suspect that this is the problem with Twitter – people don't, in fact can't, follow all the tweets, so much of what is on there goes unnoticed. When I put a request for information on the lis-link mailing list, I got around 6 responses so if I compare the 2, the mailing list wins hands-down for gathering information. However Twitter is better for following trends and keeping up-to-date with conversations.

One thing I want to do is find out how to manage Twitter better. I have used TweetDeck in the past but need to go back and explore this and other tools.

I've been using RSS feeds in Google Reader for some time, and am pretty happy with how this works. I've updated the feeds and like another participant, would like to explore other RSS feed handlers apart from Google Reader. This is probably the most valuable way, for me, of keeping up-to-date. I keep intending to set up feeds from various journals, but haven't been able to do thiss yet.

Storify – this wascompletely new to me. I didn't get on at all well with it to begin with, and at the moment can't see when I would use it.

So, a big thumbs up to Twitter and RSS feeds, and I'll keep subscribing to mailing lists as well.

Day-to-day stuff

I’ve always intended that this blog would reflect my working life as well as my progress in 23 Things, so while I’m sorting out my week to come, I thought I’d share my plans for the week.

We’re holding a Customer Services Team meeting Wednesday morning so I need to prepare for that. The content of the session is already decided – feedback on survey data; sharing on upcoming projects including proximity cards (replacing all staff and student cards this year), possible refurbishment and upgrading of library on another campus, ILL changes, printer changes; and latest on project to investigate procurement or development of new service desk software across support departments. We’ll also be looking at developments in creating a new Strategic Plan for Information Services and how this will affect the development of our operational plans.

The problem will be fitting everything in, and getting survey data in a meaningful state before the meeting.

I’m working on the new service desk software project across support departments in the whole university so I need to put in some work on this including going over information sent to me by colleagues in other universities, and sending information to one of the vendors. Also need to decide how much resources we’re going to be deploying on this project in the next few weeks as it’s a busy period for all staff with lots going on.

I also have various catch-up meetings with individual staff and a Customer Services Manager meeting which is held fortnightly and is extremely useful to keep everyone informed of what’s happening.

Hopefully by the end of the week, we’ll be further forward with operational and strategic plans, and everyone in the team will have a clear idea of what our priorities are going to be over the next few months.

Now just need to go through emails and notes of meetings last week to list other things that have cropped up and need to be done and I can get going.

Branding myself

Been musing over this personal brand issue for days now. At first I did think it was a bit self-indulgent, and a bit too managed. I was under the illusion that surely I didn’t need to plan my web presence, it would just evolves naturally. However then a colleague remarked that my description on Twitter is “pretty sad” and I had to agree, though I still haven’t got round to changing it. I also read some blogs about how I already have an online brand whether I like it or not, and therefore ensuring that I’m aware of this and managing it for my own purposes is pretty important.

I’ve no intention at all of blathering on about my home life – even I don’t find it interesting – and all though some unimportant details may slip by my internal censor, I’m positive that my online presence, on this blog at least, will be purely professional. I want to be able to engage with other people who deal with the same issues as myself (and can I just thank all those who’ve left comments on this blog – it’s so encouraging), and for this to happen I need to be able to project who I am and what I do in order for others to be able to find me. That also is why I use my own name and own photo on all my social networking sites. I WANT people to be able to recognise me and know who I am. Using my own name and the same picture keeps consistency across different social networks as well so people will know that I am the same person as Nia08 on Twitter. I’m also thinking about changing my photo as the one currently on my blog was taken at a Christmas party and I’m not sure whether that’s the impression that I want to give although I do look very happy!

I also want this blog to reflect my views, and not those of the organisation for which I work, so I had better make that clear as well right at the start.  I’ve also taken to heart the comments on http://davefleet.com/2010/05/ruin-build-personal-brand/ on the importance of not being negative, so no posts on how unbelievably busy I am, or how colleagues are annoying, or why I’m not being paid enough, for example. I’m hoping to write more about my day-to-day job so I’ve kept the title as general as possible and not restrict it to just 23 Things.

And that’s it really. If I have time enough, I’d like to put an unique background on this blog and on my Twitter page. Also I really need to change my descriptions to something a bit more meaningful, but that will have to wait.

A grand tour of blogs

I've been reading more blogs this week than I've ever done before. I'm so impressed with the titles that some people have given their blog. I’ve been wracking my brain for something witty and descriptive but to no avail. However since Phil Bradley calls his blog “Phil Bradley’s weblog”, and that doesn’t do too badly for followers, then “Nia’s blog” will have to do for now. If inspiration strikes, I’ll change it.

Just had a quick skim through and so far lots of people have got about as far as I have, which is putting up their first post. I suspect that a lot of us share the same fear about putting our thoughts up in public. It’s reassuring to read a post by A Delve in the Shelves about the fears about blogging publicly and how it gets easier after time. I’ve even left a comment on the blog which is a first for me, as I’m more of a lurker usually.

I follow Christine Sexton’s blog, From a Distance, regularly as I worked in a converged service and she always has interesting and timely entries that help me keep up with issues and developments on the IT side of things.

I also dip into Meredith Farkas’ blog when I have time as she’s such an interesting writer, and writes about a range of things.

I’ve been looking for a blog written by senior managers in academic libraries in order to find out what activities they’re involved in, and what issues are concerning them both short and long term. I can’t find anything that meets my needs, so if anyone can recommend something, please let me know ….

Just realised that in Delicious, I'm listed as being in UK: England! For a proud Welsh woman based in Abersytwyth, this is disastrous. I can't find a way to change it in Blogger can anyone help?

I've created this post for the "23 Things for Professional Development" programme which I'm hoping to follow over the next few months. I'm also hoping I'll use to describe some of my activity as a Customer Services manager, and to reflect on any issues that I'll be working on.

At the end of this, I'm hoping not only to have updated my knowledge about web2.0 technologies, but also to have had the opportunity to think about and engage more in discussion about what's happening in libraries and HE.