The Library sought to assess this performance indicator:

"When the Library is open, reference librarians will respond to email questions within two hours."

Methodology

From September 2, 2005 through October 16, 2005, the Library Director sent 26 emails on different times and on different days to the reference email account, noting the time and asking the reference librarian to respond.

Findings

• 100% of the responses were within two hours.
• Response times ranged from 1 minute to 81 minutes. The mean response time was 31 minutes, and the median response time was 27 minutes.

Measures to Take

None. The reference librarians met the goal described in the performance indicator.