What is RefTracker?
Staff functions
The RefTracker staff interface allows staff registered as users in RefTracker, to use its functions for recording and answering requests that come into your request answering service, and for managing the internal tasks that information service staff do in support of that service. RefTracker has been specifically designed for delivery of information in response to requests submitted to information delivery organisations like libraries, museums, galleries and archives, and for managing their internal tasks.
RefTracker’s major features:
In a totally web based interface RefTracker provides tools to better manage the response process for requests, feedback and offers, and the performance of information delivery related tasks:
- a comprehensive ask-a-librarian interface for clients (sometimes called patrons, customers or members but generally referred to as clients in RefTracker) so they can submit requests 24/7;
- accepts a wide range of types of requests (such as reference, local history, and complaints) no matter how they arrive in your organisation – clients can enter them using forms, emails sent by clients can be imported, requests can be entered by staff as a result of contact by clients such as by phone or in person, and questions can be received directly from other RefTracker systems;
- manages all aspects of the response process, such as assignment of work and categorization of questions;
- provides ways to manage tasks and projects, ensuring they are completed on time;
- provides productivity tools that help reference staff answer questions and perform tasks with less effort and more job satisfaction;
- maintains a knowledge database of re-usable answers for use by both staff and clients;
- and gathers rich statistics about all of the library’s task and request handling operations, including one-click recording of on-the-spot requests, so that funding of staff and resources can be justified.
Your organisation is using RefTracker with the objective of:
- providing tools that make answering requests and managing tasks easier and more satisfying for the staff involved no matter how the requester needs to be contacted;
- reducing duplicated work by facilitating the reuse of answers and search strategies stored in the knowledge base, and the transfer of requests between staff with all facts and correspondence about the question easily accessible;
- having all staff work on requests and tasks more effectively, as one team, so that specialist skills and time availability can be best utilised;
- providing better service to clients who visit your library/information service via its web pages, or via branches that do not have reference staff, and ensure that those services are delivered according to your service level standards;
- obtaining better reports about your request service operations with less effort expended collecting the data and collating the results.