User Services Weekly Report
Date: 9 Dec 2009
Workgroups(s); Circulation Services – Circulation, Reserves and Stacks
Highlights:
• Last week of classes and exams – all desks, computers in use at Main and Armstrong; Music quieter
• General end-of-term craziness – but all staff doing a great job
• Thanks-for-a-great-semester-merry-happy-holidays-new-year-have-a-great-break-yay-exams-are-(almost)-over goody bags for the student employees
• 24/7 hours – busy; overnight students doing a great job; stats: early 24/7 numbers show slow first 3 day – upswing in activity since, quieter after 3 am, trending to numbers on par with Spring 08/Fall 08; listserv discussion on 24/7 at Oberlin schools
• Stacks: Big peak – re-shelving areas filling up fast; balancing fewer sweeps during this busy time with need to have items with available status back on shelf
• Setting goals: User Services, Teams and Circ
• Student staffing and schedules: Students working well on their shifts–no mix ups over weekend after initial confusion; everyone contributing; initiated student-of the week program; good effort to keep up with peak in returns; keeping up with scheduling at Main; incentive pay time cards filled out for 24/7; some confusion over shifts, but gaps are being filled
• Staff schedules: Still flexing/stretching to ensure Circ and Reserve coverage/services
• Borrowing web page: Work on Borrowing/contact us pages continues; staff profiles; web forms; attended Drupal worksession; Drupal workshops
• Web Team: site build-out activity
• Curricular Technology Team: Assessment
• Digital Archives Team: Assessment and goals; web build-out
• Connected with Ref re training modules for Circ staff
• Main: Extremely busy evenings as expected, many book and ILL/NExpress returns, many room reservations, equipment in heavy use, smattering of reference questions, Circ students doing a good job keeping up with the activity
• Armstrong: Armstrong locker key inventory, maintenance and repair/replacement; busy ILL/NExpress activity continues; overall steady and busy at the circulation desk and on computers
• Self-booking – developing options/finctionality with Systems staff
• Mill Circ: Innovative installed a small upgrade to Millennium – from version 2009A 1.0 to 2009A 1.1
• Loaner equipment: streamlined at Main with supervisor check-in; adjusting procedures at branches to ensure accuracy of kits check-in in absence of a supervisor
• Reserves: Adding W10 Ereserves; collaborating with MIIS on WT reserves for Midd faculty at MIIS
• Media Materials Workflow – exploring options for MIDCAT shopping cart and Drupal forms in regards to a better way for media/screening/purchase requests to come to LIS
• NExpress: Requesting still at a peak; overdue follow-up
• Weekend – Much busier on both nights; reserve requests and returns; busy activity/studying in Main Library; building sweeps; no incidents or problems; Juliet’s soliloquy from the upper landing of the Atrium – nice job – though Romeo did not respond
• Cookie night contributions
• Participated in College finance survey
• Tweak to missing DVD/case workflow at Circ with CM
Challenges
• Reserves: MIIS W10 course taught by Midd faculty: determining how to support re: Ereserves
• Complaints about lack of wireless availability prompted question about loaning out Ethernet cables again
• Materials in use all over Main – hard to know what has been abandoned and what is being used; and when to re-shelve/clear from study areas
• Scanner at Arms – now fixed
• Circ printer smoking and catching on fire – now fixed
• Exams – Library generally dirty especially bathrooms; noise complaints from students; 8 desktops (near the microfilm readers) crashing unexpectedly; frequent printer jams; problems with doors & lights for the first 3 nights of 24/7
• Loaner equipment: Some very overdue projectors, camcorders, and firewire drives
• Mini-surge in on-the-fly check-out (items with no records attached in Library catalog)
• Min-surge in web requests for Midd items rather than requesting through NExpress (web request on checked out Midd item does not recall/shorten due date)
• Time-stamping requests at Arms