Question Manager: the power of collective intelligence and collaboration

Internet Librarian 2009 Karolien Selhorst

Digital Library & Knowledge Manager Public Library Vlissingen

“Libraries excel in managing information and knowledge captured

in books and documents, but they fail

in locating and

managing the knowledge potential in

the heads of their own people.”

The Public Library of Vlissingen: mission

• The customer-focused physical and digital library:– Customer-focused: we

want to provide a tailor-made service to our customers

– The digital library: we aim to be where our users are (library2.0)

• Strong focus on the information function

From mission to ambition: KM2.0

• Focus on:

– Knowledge management: creating value for customers based on the collective intelligence of knowledge workers

– Facilitated by the use of social tools (‘Library2.0’)

• = Library Knowledge Management 2.0

Knowledge sharing & collaboration

• Library (reference) services are highly personal; the quality depends on the interaction between individual library staff members and customers.

• The Public Library of Vlissingen aims to improve customer service by making it less dependent on an individual’s expertise and knowledge.

• Customer service needs to be based on teamwork and shared knowledge.

Knowledge sharing in the library: BiebWiki

• Official launch in March 2009• Replaced the static intranet• Goals: to facilitate knowledge processes in the

library, to support collaboration and to make hidden knowledge visible.

• First phase in improving customer service • Second phase: integration of the wiki with

‘Question Manager’

BiebWiki: the library wiki

Knowledge sharing with others: QM

• Question Manager: a new software that supports and makes transparent the way customer enquiries/reference questions are handled.

• Integrated in the wiki• Customer enquiries are allocated to the

librarian/expert (s) with the knowledge profile that matches the topic of the question.

• QM enables librarians to work together on a ‘richer’ answer for the customer.

• Improving customer service based on collective intelligence of librarians and collaboration.

Question Manager

Question Manager

Collective intelligence @t work

• A reference question enters the system.• The question is registered and encoded.• The question is allocated to library staff members

whose knowledge profiles match the subject code.

• The group of experts works together on a ‘rich’ answer to the enquiry.

• The front office employee sends the answer to the customer.

• The database with answers is indexed by Google, which makes the library more visible in Google search results.

Question Manager workflow

Organisation workflow

Future and potential of QM: project ‘kennis delen’

• Question manager offers the possibility to libraries and other knowledge-intensive organisations to work together on a rich answer to customer enquiries and to make use of the collective intelligence of the network.

• Project ‘kennis delen’ with several partners (public libraries of Middelburg, Rotterdam, Haarlem and TuDelft and the Naturalis Museum in Leiden

• Goal: to provide a higher level of customer service by working together on customer enquiries.

• The public library becomes an important node in the knowledge economy.

Future and potential of QM: being where the user is

• Development of a customer portal with a web assistent and chat function.

• Development of a widget to put on intranets and websites of other organisations (hospitals etc.) => being where users are

Questions?

Karolien Selhorstkarosel64@gmail.com

www.karolienselhorst.be

http://www.slideshare.net/KarolienSelhorst

www.neerlandica.com