Purpose -This paper seeks to create an empirical framework for SMS reference services so that libraries may develop a greater understanding of how this service operates and how it may be improved. Design/methodology/approach -The paper conducted a quantitative analysis of 577 SMS transactions, representing 628 reference questions, received during the 2008-2009 academic year. Each transaction was coded by type of question, transaction length in messages or "events," and transaction duration in time. Findings -SMS transactions exhibit a higher than expected degree of variability in total number of events, duration and content. Overall, duration of transaction averaged 4.34 hours, and number of events per transaction averaged 3.79. Calculating separately for those transactions that contained a reference query -which comprises 40 percent of the total questions received -noticeably altered the results. The duration of reference queries averaged 4.85 hours, while the number of events averaged 4.65. Where reference queries occurred there was a high incidence of user expressions of gratitude, regardless of duration or number of events exchanged. These results support the conclusion that users do not expect a purely synchronous service, though faster response time and thoroughness of answer do show a relationship with higher user satisfaction. Originality/value -Many of the findings of the study challenge currently held assumptions and impressions regarding the nature and potential of SMS reference services in academic libraries.

Personas, stemming from the field of user-centered design (UCD), are hypothetical users that represent the behaviors, goals, and values of actual users. This study describes the creation of personas in an academic library. With the goal of leveraging service-generated data, the authors coded a sample of chat reference transcripts, producing two numeric values for each. The transcripts were plotted on an X/Y graph where X represented the nature of the user's information need and Y represented the nature of the user's motivation. A k-means cluster analysis of the plotted points produced four clusters, which served as the personas' basis.ser personas are increasingly recognized by libraries as a useful and meaningful way to learn about and design services for their user communities. While libraries have made significant progress in adopting a serviceoriented and user-centered focus, they remain challenged by the realities of knowing and meeting the needs of diverse and varied clientele. For many academic libraries with service offerings across multiple physical and virtual locations, efforts to serve a generic "user" are insufficient for effective design of services and interfaces. Personas, which come from the field of user-centered design (UCD) and function as archetypes or composites based on real user goals and behaviors, are a tool holding great potential for libraries in understanding and meeting the needs of complex and evolving communities.The gradual shift in academic libraries' service offerings from a focus primarily on collections to a focus on user-oriented services has received attention throughout all areas of library activities and operations. Walter has argued, " [I]n an era when everything we know about how content is created, acquired, accessed, evaluated, disseminated, employed, and preserved for the future is in flux, the research library must be distinguished by the scope and quality of its service programs in the same way it has long been by the breadth and depth of its locally-held collections." 1 This shift emphasizes the need for libraries to gain a better understanding of their users. Leanne Bowler et al. have asserted that "(c)onsidering the needs of the user is a core competency of librarianship," adding that we should "review user-centered design in a critical, reflective, and multilayered manner that reveals the rich array of experiences doi:10.5860/crl.75.5.616crl13-470Invoking the User from Data to Design 617 in LIS." 2 Such a critical review entails research into the development of UCD methods that guide the design and development of interfaces and services.For many libraries, an enhanced focus on service design and development has necessitated new and data-driven methods of assessment. Accordingly, we identified personas as a tool to both help us know and design for our users by synthesizing our growing body of service-generated data into meaningful archetypes. To test this supposition, we coded Ask a Librarian (AAL) chat transcripts for criteria that typically make up personas (n...

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