Transaction log data for total, author, title, and subject searches were collected for three semesters at Southeast Missouri State University to ascertain whether total searches, subject searches, and subject percentage of total searches have any predictive value for marshaling personnel resources for reference desk service. In addition, the average of subject searches by day was computed and evaluated. Some patterns did emerge, e. g., (a) the number of searches showed a "m-shape" dependence on the week of semester, (b) subject searches were much higher on Monday through Thursday than the rest of the week, (c) the least number of searching activity occurred on Saturdays, and (d) subject searching activity decreased as the day of the week increased. However, once standard deviations were calculated, two groups emerged. These findings and a comparison of this information with that from another academic library, previously reported in the literature, raises concern over the validity of using transaction logs for reference desk scheduling.
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