User Services Weekly Report
Date: 10 Feb 2010
Workgroups(s); Circulation Services – Circulation, Reserves and Stacks
Highlights:
• Happy Birthday, Rich!
• New web pages launched! Lots of questions at front desks! Faculty and students trying to find their old pages; helping users navigate new site; tweaks to navigation and content, links clean-up etc.
• Friday before start of term – wild at Reserves and Circ – Eres and print reserves processing; new Febs, faculty taking care of last minute details and preparations for 1st day of term; students returning from break; thesis students; browsing DVD circ; re-shelving; Feb student orientation – busy at Main – directional, how-to this and that; printing and release how-to; alarm over new print policy; new website; changes to procedure and services; high user stress levels; photocopying and copy code user issues
• Reduced library hours seemed a good fit for this break
• Projects over break week: reserves, wikis, blogs, carrels, shelving, hold-shelves; too-long reports; documentation
• Extremely quiet Sunday evening before classes – exactly 1 guest still in the building at 1am closing
• 1st week of Spring term off to a good and busy start
• Student staffing – awesome team of students helping during the break; student policy documentation updated on wiki; policies checked for uniformity across branches; meeting – student management issues; planning for joint supervisory duties; 1st week of term off to a good start – minimal schedule problems and issues; new contact list in circ middfiles folder includes all students at all branches – and Circ staff; schedules seem to be going well – few gaps here and there at Main and Arms, none at Music
• Wiki – student info, research info updated; transfer of old circ wiki content to lis wiki ongoing
• Staff schedules – new Circ staff schedules for Spring term coverage; stretched thin at all branches first week of term; later arrival of evening supervisor due to other commitments; reduced overlap; no Circ staff dedicated to Reserve processing on Mondays
• First Reference shift for Steve this week; regular weekly shift through Spring term
• Self-check unit fixed and software updated – thanks, Jim!
• Reimaging front desk computers – a work in progress (thanks, Nate!) to reduce error reports and upgrade issues; creating new shortcut links (on Chrome) for easy access to wiki, blog, zoho etc.
• Arms – busy break week – lots to do in preparation for spring term; Armstrong reserves still coming in, but manageable; lots of ILL, etc.
• Reviewing loan rules for guest borrowers – eliminate fines for alums? Guests?
• Borrower data base – questions about guest policies and privileges, local students taking classes at Midd; local educators, vcal
• Film screening and bookings – tweaking workflow; adjusting Mill Circ permissions; seems to be going well so far
• RESERVES! Processing HUGE wave of Reserve materials for Spring ’10 at Main, Reserves and Music; with a huge thanks to the students (both Circ and ILL/Res) who helped pull books and scan ERes. Lots of extra help needed this week. In future semesters hope to be able to pull in extra help earlier
• Thesis carrels – reservation prep and planning; tweaking loan rules and procedures; tested self-booking of carrel keys – massive failure
• Loaner equipment – busy, busy, busy booking, checking out and in, re-imaging, deleting files and checking for parts; firewire drives unreliable and problematic for users – time to withdraw the few remaining drives from the pool?
• Stacks – caught up on re-shelving for end of Winter Term; eliminate morning staff courier between branches?
• DA Team: discussion of Digital Center and Digital Committee personnel
• CT Team – preparing for focus groups
• Web Team – next steps – usability; feedback; revisiting goals and deadlines for original charge
• Library hours – setting winter carnival hours; guidelines
• Scheduling PFDP’s; team 360 review/surveys
Challenges
• Circ staff stretched thin (but everyone is jumping in to help!)
• ADA issue – access to Main materials – special request to retrieve and deliver to Arms
• Print management changes – lots of questions/concerns; Papercut after hours – refunds, issues etc?
• ILL’s without item records attached (review processing workflow?)
• Main front desk computer images – virus and update issues – a work in progress
• Keeping staff and students current on workflows and basic duties at Circ (re-shelving, browsing, bins, etc.)
• Gathering accurate gate/use counts and daily circ stats
• Room scheduling changes – spur of the moment requests; after 5 pm and on weekends, Arms lab?
• Ethernet cables/wireless issue
• Billed and lost materials
• Busy front end activity = projects and follow-up piling up