Restructuring a Service Desk to Refocus Reference Services Outside the Library: One Library’s Experience Irene M. Lubker, MPH, MLS, Barbara A. Wright, MLS, AHIP, Margaret E. Henderson, BSc, MLIS, Mary Jane Green, BS Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, Richmond, Virginia Context With increasing availability of online resources, our library has seen the number of people coming into the building decreasing. Few were visiting the building to access traditional library services such as reference and bibliographic instruction. Also, to be part of VCU’s research initiative, the librarians of Tompkins-McCaw Library needed to be more accessible to researchers, faculty, and staff. This meant taking reference assistance and instructional support outside of the library without additional staffing or funding. Key to freeing librarians to work at external service locations was restructuring our existing single-point Service Desk to staffing solely by paraprofessionals. Previous transaction analysis revealed most questions at the Service Desk were directional or related to resource access did not require librarian assistance, and could be answered by paraprofessionals. Objective Meet the evolving needs of our community by restructuring our Service Desk to a paraprofessional staffing model allowing librarians to take on expanding roles in and out of the library building. Methods Plan for staffing gaps created by restructuring Identify skills needed Assess existing skill levels Target training to these areas Use technology to facilitate communication and supplement traditional training techniques Reassign and cross-train paraprofessionals Eliminate librarian Service Desk coverage Librarians provide on-call reference services and individual consultation appointments Designate paraprofessional service desk coordinator, an experienced reference specialist, to: triage reference questions answer or refer questions to a librarian Implement paraprofessional staffing of desk Solicit feedback to evaluate and modify new Service Desk model Conduct survey nine months after staffing model change Challenges Librarian and paraprofessional difficulties in taking a holistic view of library Getting training needs input from staff Extensive investment needed in staff training on use of tools and resources Reduction in staffing due to unanticipated staff turnover and inability to replace staff Inability to reward staff for taking on new roles Communication issues Resistance to change Survey Results Approximately 50% of librarians and paraprofessionals completed surveys. Recurring responses: Need to reinstate scheduled librarian back-up Communication problems Need librarians to work on Service Desk Good for librarians to be off Service Desk regularly Paraprofessionals need more training Reinstate User Services Department Respect scheduling Lessons Learned Importance of communication Necessity for clear explanation and reiteration of the reasons for restructuring Difficult for staff to see changes from a library-wide versus a departmental perspective Acknowledge paraprofessional and librarian concerns Develop contingency staffing plans Need strong ongoing staff training program Need morale boosting incentives for staff Conclusions Adequate training is just as important as possessing the right tools for training Power of communication cannot be overemphasized Acknowledge deficiencies/challenges in the restructuring and be ready to adapt the plan Embrace lessons learned from the experience as a positive outcome Initial numbers indicate that professional activities, e.g. reference consultations, departmental training sessions, have increased Average Rating of Desk Restructuring Rating scale: 1= 'strongly do not like it' to 4 ='I really like it'