I first got hooked on watching birds when living on Peaks Island, Maine. Sitting at my kitchen table one morning and gazing out a window to the back yard, a flock of cedar waxwings settled onto a tree. I never saw those birds again, but I was captivated by the moment and its natural beauty.
My back yard in Syracuse butted up against a waterway too – the Erie Canal. We installed multiple bird feeders, allowing me to participate in my first “citizen science” project out of Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology. For an hour or so a week, volunteers count every bird that visits the feeders, submitting the identification and numbers to the project. The instructions are easy to follow but are strict. “Report the highest number of birds seen at a single time. Don’t count a bird twice.” Contributors submit data from all over the country. Not only is this vast corpus of sighting data a treasure for ornithologists, but it is also a great way to engage many people in science, in thinking differently about climate, and paying attention to the natural world.
Bird watching in the city is quite different. Here in the city, I’ve started up again with bird watching and signed up to participate in Cornell’s eBird project. Again, the instructions for submitting checklists (birding experiences) are quite strict, with detailed instructions on how to report bird sightings. And all data submitted is subject to review for accuracy, checked to make sure that the identifications, time of year, and location make sense.
What is the connection with library assessment? We collect data too – the more the better. But it needs to be thorough and accurate.
Last week Olivia Given Castello and I provided training to staff in the Blockson Collection and the Special Collections Research Center on the use of the data entry form for tracking reference transactions. As part of the training, we reviewed the definitions for “reference”, “consultation” and “referral.” Josue Hurtado and I will monitor the data entry for the first month or so, ensuring that we have a common understanding of the definitions and documentation process.
A big thank you to all the staff at Blockson and SCRC for contributing to this work. We are THRILLED to have their data standardized and available as part of the larger LibInsight dataset. Like the eBird and Feeder Watch projects, having reliable data from a broad set of contributors improves the opportunity for analysis of trends in reference. The data will be put to good use by Temple libraries as well as other libraries and organizations (ARL and ACRL) to better understand patterns and changes in reference – a core library service.
