On October 28, 2009, HSLS staff tallied the number of people they served, questions they answered, items circulated and Web site hits, along with programs and classes taught. The project, SnapShot PA, was held in conjunction with libraries across Pennsylvania, coordinated by The Pennsylvania Library Association and Commonwealth Libraries. Its purpose is to assess the impact libraries have on their respective communities on any given day.
HSLS libraries joined the count. Preliminary results showed that during this one day:
- Over 4,040 visitors accessed our Web site
- 128 people attended classes or outreach sessions
- 375 items were borrowed from HSLS libraries
- 1,485 patrons came to the libraries and used the onsite collections and facilities
- Staff answered 157 reference questions in person or electronically
HSLS librarians consulted at resident morning report, taught a Microarray Data Analysis class, and lectured to student nurses. One challenging reference question was, “I am working with the Toxic Release Inventory data set for chemical manufacturing plants … I am struggling to find underlying studies which provide evidence that measured or modeled air toxic levels are higher around stationary industrial sources. I am looking for evidence for any of the 187 air toxins of interest to the EPA. Can you suggest potential sources?”
Over 6,185 faculty, staff, student, patient and visitor requests were served by HSLS libraries and its resources and staff on SnapShot PA day. A comment from the chief resident in General Internal Medicine to the HSLS librarian sums it up, “Everyone should have their own librarian. What would we do without you?”
HSLS libraries matter to the users they serve. Now we can see how much.
~ Michele Klein Fedyshin