Library consultations and a global pandemic: An analysis of consultation difficulty during COVID-19 across multiple factors

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between librarians' perception of the difficulty of patron consultations and a variety of factors that characterize these interactions in the context of an academic library at a large public university. The study also provides insight into how changes in library service operations due to the global COVID-19 pandemic have affected the perceived difficulty of library consultations. Data samples were drawn from a LibInsight dataset and limited to consultations from Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 (N = 3331). Statistical analysis was conducted using ordinal logistic regression to quantify the relationship between perceptions of difficulty and factors indicating pre/post-COVID-19 modifications, patron type, scheduling, question format, library department, consultation duration, semester, and campus. Most notably, results indicate a statistically significant (p < 0.001) increase in the perceived difficulty of consultations that followed the closure of the library's physical spaces due to COVID-19, even when controlling for other factors in multiple model formulations. These results, as well as insights pertaining to other factors associated with library consultations and perceptions of difficulty, have implications for how librarians frame, understand, and manage their workloads. Additionally, findings may provide library service managers with the evidence needed to better coordinate and evaluate library services.