Revamping the IPL for Reference Administrators

Opportunites

• Training documents on the IPL are kept in a static "backroom"--basically, a huge webpage. 
• New Reference Administrators (Ref Admins) are trained during an hour-long phone call. 
• After initial training, a Ref Admin may email a Senior Ref Admin questions.
• Ref Admins e-mail shift reports at the end of every shift to Senior Ref Admin on duty that day.
• Schedules are circulated by email, with a link to a Google document containing the schedule.
• Shift trade requests are circulated by email. 

Ideas

• Change the training page to a wiki (like this one!) where Ref Admins can share ideas and best practices, as well as find the training materials they need.
• Ref Admins could post questions and  Senior Ref Admins and oher IPL gurus can answer questions right on the wiki--this way, everyone can see them, and eventually the wiki could have a FAQ section. 
• If editing training materials is a concern, those pages can be locked. 
• Instead of training over the phone, provide screencasts on how to accomplish various tasks on the IPL (logging in, moving a question from Incoming, answering a question with a Pathfinder, rejecting questions, etc.)
• Use a wiki for shift reports.  This way, everyone can review shift reports and see what problems or questions each Ref Admin encountered.  Sharing this information means people can learn from one another, and Ref Admins can offer suggestions to one another. 
• The schedule can be stored on the wiki as well.  Ref Admins can post requested shift trades on the wiki, and when the trade is arranged, the calendar can be edited right then.