Librarians are very good at finding information through their arsenal of research tips, online resources and physical resources. As we look towards opportunities to improve and build success; has libraries considered creating knowledge base of their findings? Through building a strong knowledge management system, librarians can share knowledge in quicker and more exciting ways. The session will cover meta data, how to tag and organize your system, and various software options available to people. Brian will also dive into the world of start-ups and support centers how they use these systems and make them the bread and butter of their success; through proper usage, implementation, and monitoring of frequently accessed articles.

1. The Evolution of Searching
to Archiving
Brian Pichman | Evolve Project
Leading Edge Libraries Conference 2018

2. Welcome
Librarians are very good at finding information through their arsenal of research tips, online resources and physical resources. As we look towards
opportunities to improve and build success; has libraries considered creating knowledge base of their findings? Through building a strong
knowledge management system, librarians can share knowledge in quicker and more exciting ways. The session will cover meta data, how to tag
and organize your system, and various software options available to people. Brian will also dive into the world of start-ups and support centers
how they use these systems and make them the bread and butter of their success; through proper usage, implementation, and monitoring of
frequently accessed articles.

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Entrepreneur, Librarian, Innovator
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About Me
• 16 – First job was within a library as a page.
• 18 – Director of IT for the Library.
• 21 – Build an interactive library space
• 22 – Explore the impact of start-ups to libraries.
Now I get to help libraries around the world with leadership
strategies, funding and partnership initiatives, makerspaces and
solve spaces, and IT tech trends/security.
I also manage a 24/7 365 Call Center that supports over 50
Universities around the world. We heavily rely on our ability to
archive information
Nice to meet you

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• How do we onboard or train a new hire?
• How often are you asked to find the same thing (again), or
how frequently do you get the same type of question?
• Do you log your questions received – and how do you ensure
consistency between responses?
• Do you have multiple locations where data is saved?
What do we currently do in our Leading Edge Library?
Why are we here?
Purpose of Today

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Through the lens of a call center
Agent will transcribe the issue or
question into a ticket that’s
linked to their record and
classified
Recording Questions
Document
Taking the innovators and
designers and blending them
with the hackers to create new
things
Response Provided Via Email
Share back
A question is asked and the agent
is able to determine if the caller
asked before (looking at existing
tickets) or can check if similar
issues have come up
Questions
Inbound Call
Agent answers the questions and
fills out a resolution section.
They can also share the solution
to the knowledge base
Question Answered
Solve

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Meta Data in Tickets:

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Logging Information Allows…
• Tracking of who and when questions are asked
• See how long it takes for a solution to be
provided
• Run reports on trends (from types of questions ,
to how questions are resolved, etc)
• Start building towards a knowledge base,
self-help, and more.

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Pulling Data Together
Category Total
Account 457
Password Reset 81
Application Problem /
Issue 68
Email 60
Credential
Question 98
Enrollment
Missing/Incorrect 28
No Account 6

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Have You Considered…
• Providing guides (that work) to users to allow
them to solve their own questions? This can
include how to use the online databases.
• Training users on how to use the card
catalog, providing resources in case they
forget?
• Where do users get “help” currently?

10. What’s a Knowledge Base
A store of information or data that is available to draw on.

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It is always being refined and updated
Continuous Development
Ŵ
Consistency
Articles must have the same layout, information, and similar
look and feel as the other articles. All the articles should look
like they came from the same person.
Survey
Allow for feedback on
relevancy, accuracy, and
ease of use.
Continually Perfected
A knowledge base article is
rarely perfect right away. It is
perfected over time based on
feedback from users.
Reviewed Regularly
Content should regularly be reviewed and retired
if no longer relevant. Never delete, only archived

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A Good Article Should Contain This
Components of an Article
Dream
Article
Step By Step Procedure
Best to try to share the procedure with
someone who is unfamiliar and include all
their questions, concerns, mistakes, and
misunderstandings.
Accessible for Different Learners
People learn in different ways – videos
and detailed instructions. If too detailed
video may be a better choice.
Written for Average User
Write for the average. Newbies will need
more explanation and power users would
want more insightful information.
Promotion/Shareable
Get people to reference the articles. Less
memorization as processes can change
and the article would be the most “Up-To-
Date”

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While Writing The Article
• Talk like your users (use their terms)
• Straight forward, clear and concise
• Feature focused, less on benefits
• Again – consistent formats, look, and feel
• Start with requirements/prerequisites
• Don’t assume things are obvious

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A good article should
Moving Forward
The ”SOP”
Good articles can also be used
as Standard Operating
Procedures, ensuring that
everyone is doing a task the
exact same way.
Reduce Questions
Articles should reduce
common questions and be
frequently referenced to be
relevant. Data is important -
review this to make decisions.
Team Work
You’ll notice there is a more
team-centric approach when
people work through articles
Link Similar Articles
Link articles that are similar or
potential “additional questions”

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Slight similarities
Wikis and Knowledge Bases
Knowledge Articles
Access to edit Knowledge Articles are
not typically given to everyone.
Wiki Page/ Post
Usually allow for multiple
people to edit and update.
Information
Both store some level of information and knowledge.

16. Types of Solutions
You will need a place to store all the articles

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Open Source through Drupal

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Impacts On Knowledge Management
• Distribution of knowledge across departments quickly
• Helps protect against the impact of turn-over
• Reduce resources required for training
• Self-Service options are available to users
• You can assess people’s knowledge by quizzing them based
on the content in the articles.
• à which is great for disaster preparedness, handling
outages, or other critical events.
• By displaying “top used” or “brand new” articles will help
drive awareness to key issues or “hot” topics.

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Making Better Decisions Based On Historical Data
Archiving All Data
Document everything and be
detailed in approach. Time
Spent, resources used, owners
of original data.
Document All Things
Depending on the system you choose, you
will want to create accurate classifications
that accurately describe the type of
recorded data and purpose (to inform or
instruct)
Tags/Classify/Keywords
Everyone needs to contribute the
need for sharing data, passing over
“this is how I did X” or even
highlighting knowledge gaps.
Team Effort
Leveraging all archived data
and information, you can make
better informed decisions.
Whether viability of a project,
time it takes to complete a
project, and so forth.
Accurate Decisions

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Do you have a training program that you can tie this
into?
Is it worthwhile archiving all information on a single
system?
Staffing and management challenges?
How do you see using information differently?
Open Discussion

27. THANK YOU FOR COMING
ANY QUESTIONS?

28. CONTACT ME
Brian Pichman
bpichman@evolveproject.org
@BPichman