introDucinG ZoomiFY imaGE | smitH 25 Column Title Editor Author ID box for 3 column layout Communications “Just in casE” answErs: tHE twEntY-First-cEnturY vErtical FilE | DalrYmPlE 25 Tam Dalrymple “Just-in-Case” Answers: The Twenty-First- Century Vertical File This article discusses the use of OCLC’s QuestionPoint service for managing electronic publications and other items that fall outside the scope of OCLC Library’s OPAC and Web resources pages, yet need to be “put somewhere.” The local knowledge base serves as both a col- lection development tool and as a virtual vertical file, with records that are easy to enter, search, update, or delete. We do not deliberately collect for the Vertical File, but add to it day by day the useful thing which turns up. These include clip- pings from newspapers, excerpts from periodicals . . . broadsides that are not injured by folding . . . anything that we know will be used if available. —Wilson Bulletin, 1919 I nformation that “will be used if available” sounds like the contents of the Internet.1 As with libraries everywhere, the OCLC Library has come to depend on the Internet as an almost limitless resource. And like libraries everywhere, it has con- fronted the advantages and disad- vantages of that scope. This means that in addition to using the OPAC and OCLC library’s webpages, OCLC library staff have used a mix of bookmarks, del.icio.us tags, and Post-it® notes to keep track of rel- evant, authoritative, substantive, and potentially reusable information. Much has been written about the use of QuestionPoint’s transaction management capabilities and of the important role of knowledge bases in providing closure to an inquiry. In contrast, this article will look at QuestionPoint’s use as a manage- ment tool for future questions, for items that fall outside the scope of OCLC library’s OPAC and Web resources pages yet need to be “put somewhere.” The QuestionPoint local knowledge base is just the spot for these new vertical file items. About OCLC Library OCLC is the world’s largest nonprofit membership computer library ser- vice and research organization. More than 69,000 libraries in 112 coun- tries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, and preserve library materials. OCLC Library was estab- lished in 1977 to provide support for OCLC’s mission. The collection con- centrates on library, information and computer sciences, business manage- ment, and has special collections that include the papers of Frederick G. Kilgour and archives of the Dewey Decimal Classification™. OCLC Library has a distinct cli- entele to which it offers a complete range of services—print and elec- tronic collections, reference, interli- brary loan—within its subject areas. Because of the nature of the orga- nization, the library supports long- term and collaborative research, such as that done by OCLC Programs and Research staff, as well as the immediate information needs of product management and marketing staff. OCLC Library also provides information to OCLC’s other service areas, such as finance and human resources. While most OCLC Library acqui- sitions are done on demand, OCLC Library selects and maintains an extensive collection of periodicals, journals, and reference resources, most of them online and accessi- ble—along with the OPAC—to OCLC employees worldwide from the library’s webpages (See figure 1). Often, however, OCLC staff, like those of many organizations, are too busy to consult these resources themselves and thus depend on the library. OCLC Library staff pursue the answers to such research questions through its collections and look to enhance the collections with “any- thing that we know will be” of use. One of the challenges is keeping track of the “anything” that falls out- side the library’s primary collections scope; QuestionPoint helps with that task. Traditional uses of QuestionPoint QuestionPoint is a service that pro- vides question management tools aimed at increasing the visibility of reference services and making them more efficient. OCLC Library uses many of those tools, but there are significant ones it does not use (for example, Chat). And although the library’s QuestionPoint-based AskA link is visible by default on the front page of the corporate intranet as well as on OCLC Library–specific pages, less than than 8 percent of ques- tions over the last year were received through that link. One reason for this low use may be that for most of OCLC Library’s history, e-mail has been the primary contact method, and so it remains. Even when the staff need clarifica- tion of a question, they automatically opt for telephone or e-mail messag- ing. Working with a Web form and question-and-answer software has not caught on as a replacement for these more established methods. However, QuestionPoint remains tam Dalrymple (dalrympt@oclc.org) is Senior Information Specialist at OCLC, Dublin, Ohio. 26 inFormation tEcHnoloGY anD liBrariEs | DEcEmBEr 200826 inFormation tEcHnoloGY anD liBrariEs | DEcEmBEr 2008 the reference “workspace.” When questions come in through e-mail or phone, librarians enter them into QuestionPoint, using it to add notes and keep track of sources checked. Completed transactions are added to the local knowledge base. (Because their questions involve proprietary matters, many special libraries do not add their answers to the global knowledge base, and OCLC Library is no exception. The local knowl- edge base is accessible only by OCLC Library staff.) Not surprisingly, most of the questions received are about librar- ies, museums, and other cultural institutions, their collections, users, and staff. This means that the likeli- hood of reuse of the information in the OCLC Library knowledge base is relatively high, and makes the local knowledge base an early stop in the reference process. Though statistics vary widely by individual institutions and type of library—and though some libraries have opted not to use the knowledge base—the average ratio for all QuestionPoint libraries is about one knowledge base search for every three ques- tions received. In contrast, in the past year OCLC Library staff averaged 4.2 local knowledge base searches for every three questions received. The view of the QuestionPoint knowledge base as a repository of answers to questions that have been asked is a traditional one. OCLC Library’s use of the QuestionPoint knowledge base in anticipation of information needs of its clients—as a way of collection development—is distinctive. In many respects this use creates an updated version of the old- fashioned vertical file. Nontraditional uses of QuestionPoint Just-in-case The vertical file has a quirky place in the annals of librarianship. It has been the repository for facts and information too good to throw away but not quite good enough to catalog. H. W. Wilson still offers its Vertical File Index, a specialized subject index to pamphlets issued on topics often unavailable in book form, which began in 1932. By now, except for special collections, the Internet has practically relegated the vertical file to the backroom with the card plat- ens and electric erasers. OCLC Library now uses its QuestionPoint knowledge base to manage information that once might have gone into a vertical file: the authoritative reports, studies, .org sites, and other resources that are often not substantive enough to cata- log, but too good to hide away in a single staff member’s bookmarks. The QuestionPoint knowledge base provides a place for these resources; more importantly, QuestionPoint provides fast, efficient ways to col- lect, tag, manage, and use them. QuestionPoint allows development of such collections with powerful capabilities that allow for future retrieval and use of the information, and it does so without the incred- ibly time-consuming processes of the past. A 1909 description of such processes describes in detail the inef- ficiency of yore: In the Public library [sic] of Newark, N.J., material is filed in folders made of No. 1 tag manila paper, cut into pieces about 11x18 inches in size. One end is so turned up against the others as to make a receptacle 11x19 1/2 inches. The front fold is a half inch shorter than the back one, and this leaves a margin exposed on the back one, whereon the subject of that folder is written.2 Thus a major benefit of using QuestionPoint to manage these resources is saving time. Because QuestionPoint is a routine part of OCLC Library’s workflow, it allows the addition of items directly to the Figure 1. OCLC Library intranet homepage introDucinG ZoomiFY imaGE | smitH 27“Just in casE” answErs: tHE twEntY-First-cEnturY vErtical FilE | DalrYmPlE 27 knowledge base quickly and with a minimum of fuss. There is initially no need to make the entry “pretty,” but only to describe the resource briefly, add the URL, and tag it (see figure 2). Unlike a physical vertical file, tagging items in the knowledge base allows items to be “put” in multiple places. Staff can also add comments that characterize the authoritative- ness of a resource. Occasionally librarians come across articles or resources that might address multiple questions. Instead of burying the data in one overarch- ing knowledge base record, staff can make an entry for each aspect of the resource. An example of this is www .galbithink.org/libraries/analysis. htm, a page created by Douglas Galbi, Senior Economist with the Federal Communications Commission (see figure 3). The site provides statistics, including historical statistics, on U.S. public libraries. Rather than describe these generically with a tag like “library statistics”—not very useful in any case—each source can be added sep- arately to the QuestionPoint knowl- edge base. For example, the item “Audiovisual Materials in U.S. Public Libraries” can be assigned specific tags—audiovisual, AV, videos—that will make the data more accessible in the future. In other words, librar- ians use the FAQ model of asking and answering just one question at a time. An important element in adding “answers” to OCLC Library’s knowl- edge base is the ability to provide context. With QuestionPoint, librar- ians can not only describe what the resource is, but why it may be of future use. And just the act of adding information to the knowledge base serves as a valuable mnemonic— “I’ve seen that somewhere.” Records added to the knowledge base in this way can be easily updated with information about newer editions or better sources. Equally valuable is the ability to edit and add keywords when the resource becomes useful for unforeseen questions. sharing information with staff The knowledge base also serves as a more formal collection develop- ment tool. When librarians run across potentially valuable resources, they can send a description and a link to a product manager who may find it of use. Library staff use QuestionPoint’s keyword capability to add tags of people’s names and job titles to facilitate ongoing current awareness. Employees may provide feedback suggesting an item be added to the Figure 3. A page with diverse facts and figures: www.galbithink.org/libraries/analysis.htm Figure 2. A sample QuestionPoint entry, this for a report by the National Endowment for the Arts 28 inFormation tEcHnoloGY anD liBrariEs | DEcEmBEr 200828 inFormation tEcHnoloGY anD liBrariEs | DEcEmBEr 2008 permanent print collection, or linked to from the library website. OCLC Library strives to inform users without subjecting them to information overload. When a 2007 survey of OCLC staff found the library’s RSS feeds seldom used, librarians began to send e-mails directly to individuals and teams. The reaction of OCLC staff indicates that such personal messages, with con- tent summaries that allow recipients to quickly evaluate the contents, are more often read than OCLC Library RSS feeds—especially if items sent continue to be valuable. Requirements that enable this kind of sharing include knowledge of company goals, staff needs, and product initiatives. To keep up-to- date, librarians meet regularly with other OCLC staff, and monitor orga- nizational changes. Attendance at OCLC’s Members Council meetings provides information on hot top- ics that help identify resources for future use. While OCLC’s growth as a global organization has brought challenges in maintaining aware- ness of the full range of organization needs, the QuestionPoint knowledge base offers a practical way to manage increased volume. Maintaining resources of potential interest to staff with QuestionPoint has another benefit: it helps keep librarians aware of internal experts who can help the library with ques- tions, and in many cases allows the library to connect staff with mutual interests to one another. This has become especially important as OCLC has grown and its services continue to integrate with one another. Conclusions Beyond its usefulness as a system to receive, manage, and answer inqui- ries, QuestionPoint is providing a way to facilitate access to online resources that addresses the particu- lar needs of OCLC Library’s con- stituency. It is fast and easy to use: a standard part of the daily workflow. It enables direct links to sources and accommodates tagging those sources with the names of people and proj- ects, as well as subjects. It serves as part of the library’s collection man- agement and selection system. Using QuestionPoint in this way has some potential drawbacks. “Just in case” acquisition of virtual resources entails some of the risks of traditional acquisitions: acquiring resources that are seldom used, cre- ating a database of resources that are difficult to retrieve, and perhaps the necessity of “weeding” or updat- ing obsolete items. With company growth comes the issue of scalability, as well. But for now, the benefits have far outweighed the risks. Most of the items added have been identified for and shared with at least one staff member, so the effort has provided immediate payoff. n The knowledge base serves as a collection development tool, helping to identify items that can be cataloged and added to the permanent collection. n The record in the knowledge base can serve as a reminder to check for later editions. n The knowledge base records are easy to update or even delete. The QuestionPoint virtual verti- cal file helps OCLC Library manage and share those useful things that “just turn up.” References 1. “The Vertical File for Pamphlets and Miscellany,” Wilson Bulletin 1, no. 16 (June 1919): 351. 2. Kate Louise Roberts, “Vertical File,” Public Libraries 12 (Oct. 1907): 316–17.