Monthly Archives: July 2009

Main Circ Task List Review 7/27

Lots of great ideas – thanks!
Morgan will post meeting notes soon. Stay tuned for another meeting invite – but let’s keep the conversation going on the blog.

Here is a summary of some proposed changes.
Checklist updates to follow.
Eliminate date due slips (including thesis slips and the sweep of reserved carrels)
Automate morning paging slip notices
Switch some daily/morning tasks to evening
Switch some daily tasks to weekly
Shift some ILL/NExpress incoming and outgoing cart workflow to ILL staff
Eliminate or reduce paging of local Midd requests (students, staff, faculty on campus retrieve their own open stack materials – a much appreciated service but one we may not be able to provide with current staffing reductions)
Eliminate physical new books display; shift new books “presence” to web; streamline processing for carts from CM and P&P; investigate automated status changes
Opening priority: computers, paging slips, equipment bookings, film screening media

Daily tasks to review next…
Hold shelf/pick-up
Returns processing/hold areas/carts
Equipment – bookings and follow-up; overdues, check-in, re-imaging
Courier bins etc.
Student employee management – hiring, training, scheduling etc.
Info desk support – reserve rooms; guest pw, quick ref, ref referrals. misc facility issues, troubleshooting copy/print, Public Safety
Collections – shelf reading, shelving browsing collections
Circ supplies, forms etc.
Other checklists and routine tasks – weekly, monthly, annually etc.
Cash/credit processing
Schedule opening shifts and Main Circ coverage for fall semester
Review Arm and Mus checklists – what can be adjusted to alleviate the load at Main?

Main Hold Shelf – Check Daily

Please check daily at the beginning of each shift for:
ILL to Davison
NExpress to Davison
Pick up location of Armstrong, Music or Davison
Alphabetical order by borrower’s last name
Alphabetical order within each letter of the alphabet
Small items safely shelved in orange files
1 hold slip per item
Item info on hold slip matches item title/call #/barcode
Thanks! 🙂

Midd ID’s – Double Check Name and Photo

Please note!
We just experienced another incident of the wrong ID number being embedded in a summer ID.
Which means that when you scan an ID, the wrong account will display on the screen and you may inadvertently check things out to the wrong person.
Help solve this problem by verifying that the name on the ID and the name on the screen always match.
Scan ID
Look at photo and name on ID
Look at name on borrower account on screen
Do they match?
If yes – proceed with check-out
If no – alert a supervisor immediately – do not check out
This person needs to get a new ID at Public Safety before borrowing
If necessary, ask for another photo ID and type in their name to bring up the correct borrowing account.
Please extend our apologies for the inconvenience.
Thanks! 🙂

White Whale Unveils New Midd Site TODAY

On Thursday, July 23rd, at 1pm (10am PST), White Whale will be presenting a new design for the Middlebury website. People can participate in the unveiling in two ways.
McCullough Social Space
OR
Log into the Elluminate session using the instructions here:
Web Access for Design Unveiling
Check out the first Middlebury design in the Web makeover process!

New student laptops and updated workflow: coming soon!

I’m excited to report that the student iBook laptops will soon be replaced with shiny new MacBooks. Yay! And there was much rejoicing. The Dells are still fairly new, so those will remain, but the Dells will be re-imaged. This will all happen sometime in the coming week — stay tuned.

The most important thing to note is that once the new student MacBooks and re-imaged Dells are in place, our borrowers will need to connect with an ethernet cable and log on with their Midd username/password in order to use the laptop. We already provide an ethernet cable at the far end of the Circ Desk for faculty and staff to use, so the student laptops will just be part of that routine now. There is also space for a second ethernet cable at the end of the Circ Desk, and we may want to have that available during busy times of the year.

Having users log in is critical for a couple reasons: printing (since Print Management is in place, and everyone has to log in to send print jobs); connecting to file servers; and security.

So at check out, we will send borrowers to the end of the counter to plug in an ethernet cable and log in, then go on their merry way. At check in we just need to make sure the laptop is shut down (and not just “asleep”). We don’t have to do anything else beyond that, which is wonderful.

I’m glad that we can test out the workflow during the summer, since it’s a slower time for student laptop borrowing. Again, I’ll be sure to alert everyone when these changes are in place — the Helpdesk thinks it could happen in about a week. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Clipboard for Main Circ Gate Alarms

Saints be praised, the missing clipboard containing the gate alarm spreadsheet has been found!

Please mark down each instance of the gate alarm going off on the neon green clipboard on the side of the Circ Desk (next to the gate). There’s a space for the date and time, your initials, and why the gate alarm went off. There’s even a handy shorthand to denote the more common reasons! Thanks.