Use unanswered staff questions to improve your knowledge base

What this means for your practice

Capture the missing task or question through an agreed feedback process. Use that evidence to improve the knowledge base rather than adding documents without a known use.

What to ask before you choose

Search with a phrase a new receptionist would use. If the answer exists under a different title, improve how it is found. If it does not exist, give the gap to the appropriate owner. Adding documents without understanding the question can increase size without improving usefulness.

Distinguish a missing answer from a hard-to-find one

When a search fails, record the question in the words the staff member used. Ask whether the answer already exists under an unfamiliar title or whether nobody has written it. Those problems need different responses: improve finding and labelling for the first, and assign a content task for the second.

Try a question from a new receptionist and one from a colleague covering another location. They may not know the internal abbreviations that experienced staff use. If several results appear, check whether the current answer is easy to recognise. Keep unnecessary personal information out of feedback about the search. Give repeated gaps an owner and a review point, then ask someone to try the question again after the change. Adding more documents without resolving the wording or the missing decision can make the library harder to navigate. Use the unanswered questions to guide a small, practical improvement list, and check whether staff need fewer private messages to complete the task.

How to check the result

Count repeated unanswered questions and time to resolve a confirmed gap.