One day in the Library life - (gosh it has taken me three days to complete this post #busy)
Sharing what I did in one day at the Library.
8:00 leave for work in car.
8:10 Stop at coffee shop for flat white and Banana Maple Muffin.
8:20 Arrive at work - turn off security and turn on lights and loans desk computers
8:30 Go to office to work on expenses for trip to MPOW main campus, greeting team as they arrive. Library doors open to clients.
9:00 Turn on email and remember arranged (2009) to show Humanities team tour of new facilities - prepare.
9:30am Receive email from Humanities team leader - she is on leave for the long weekend and will not be in - cancelled tour.
9:30 Email (still catching up from leave)
deal with tasks from email:
including new item request from lecturer - interesting title for reusing "past use by date" mining open pits, "101 things to do with a hole in the ground".
& where is the item I requested? - another lecturer - send email request for update.
(realise left diary at home - sigh!)
10:00 phone call from Mr 18 - he has a place at his university accommodation village - phew - much paperwork to be completed, but still... :D
!!celebrate with tea and breakfast muffin :D
10:15 received phone call from potential employee L/A position - gave relevant information.
10:20 colleague dropped in to enquire about L/A position - for his spouse. ditto
10:30 help client register-on and use the new printing/photocopying system
10:45 check new items received while on leave, now on display. Have to keep up
11:00 Mail - tub from main campus contains new item I have been waiting for, open mail - complete tasks from mail and sneek a peek at book on "Personal Learning networks"
12:00 Desk - and also help colleague move desks to new area. (relocating computer etc.) Various tasks on desk - mainly new copy card system and loans of scanner.
13:00 lunch
14:00 various tasks arising from morning activities including sorting out details of recruitment for Library Assistant
15:30 Reference/enquiries Desk
17:00 Home
glass of white and new book - bliss
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Australia Day 'gratitude'
Good things:
the land
the people
the opportunities
the joy at simple pleasures eg.
floating thong 'record' at Cottesloe beach
Always liked the 'Third' verse...
Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
This original version was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick
Enjoy the fireworks in Perth y'all :D
the land
the people
the opportunities
the joy at simple pleasures eg.
floating thong 'record' at Cottesloe beach
Always liked the 'Third' verse...
Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
This original version was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick
Enjoy the fireworks in Perth y'all :D
Sunday, January 24, 2010
ponderings on a hot Sunday - help in the library...
Avoiding the thought of going out in the heat, 34.7C (94.46F) at 11.00am, I was reading a travel blog of a friend librarian who was visiting Europe (reading about being cold can be fun, but I am not sure I would like the experience) and his account of a Monday visit to the new 'Amsterdam Central Library'. It is an interesting account of the services, the wine bar at the front and the eating area with great views. The thing he found lacking, besides the lighting on the 6th floor being "some of the worst shelf lighting I've ever seen in my life!", seemed to be, in his opinion, helpful staff.
After some unsuccessful attempts to interest staff in his queries about the Library, the stock, the building and other information that interests Librarians visiting other libraries, he goes on to say,
"I've taken a lot from this building with regard to design, layout and stock but there is NO substitute for trained, professional and helpful staff to make the library successful."
The blog entry is here if you want to read it Wightbear's wanderings.
I was thinking he might have enjoyed more a visit to DOK in Delft, I know that is a place I would like to visit :-)
Thinking further about the staffing of Libraries, it brings me back to thinking about MPOW and our team. We in our small branch, are changing our approach to answering queries and visibility, altering our thinking from 'got to get to the back room to finish that task', to siting at the desk and completing tasks, if we can, between queries from clients.
We have recently had a facelift at the front desk area of the library. At the entrance, we had a black blank wall of returns slot and hidden processing area that did not give any one entering the library a view of helpful staff anywhere. With the renovation we have a hopefully inviting 'Help' desk, with client seating that actually faces the entrance and a new computer room, here open when the library is open, off to the side of that desk.
The mission this year, and hopefully the team will be able to cover it :-) is to staff that desk at all opening hours and 'help' clients with queries.
We know that more and more services are electronic, and we are being asked more often how to access these services. From simple queries about passwords (not so simple a lot of the time, given our different schools and client range, yr 11 to post grad), to how to decide which electronic database would be best for a given subject. Given also that we are a resonably fully employed town, with a lot of part-time study, a great number of our clients also work and have family responsibilities. If we can smooth the way for a client that has only a set amount of hours to complete a task, well, yay!
Our team already swings into action when a query from a client or a visitor to the area comes in, however we had found this could be delayed by the layout of the entrance statement and the confusion of where to go for information. We have discovered that while we may be a university library branch, we are the only technical library in this area and we have certain obligations to support the community we live in. We have a lot of visitors researching, personal and other topics and they rely on the information they can find in a quick visit, so 'onward and upward' with the new renovation.
I suppose my point is, that my friend had little time in Amsterdam and an interest in gathering information for his topic. A smile and a helping hand would have gone a very long way to achieving his purpose, and also would have given a different, better impression of the service from the beginning.
On a personal note - Yay team!
After some unsuccessful attempts to interest staff in his queries about the Library, the stock, the building and other information that interests Librarians visiting other libraries, he goes on to say,
"I've taken a lot from this building with regard to design, layout and stock but there is NO substitute for trained, professional and helpful staff to make the library successful."
The blog entry is here if you want to read it Wightbear's wanderings.
I was thinking he might have enjoyed more a visit to DOK in Delft, I know that is a place I would like to visit :-)
Thinking further about the staffing of Libraries, it brings me back to thinking about MPOW and our team. We in our small branch, are changing our approach to answering queries and visibility, altering our thinking from 'got to get to the back room to finish that task', to siting at the desk and completing tasks, if we can, between queries from clients.
We have recently had a facelift at the front desk area of the library. At the entrance, we had a black blank wall of returns slot and hidden processing area that did not give any one entering the library a view of helpful staff anywhere. With the renovation we have a hopefully inviting 'Help' desk, with client seating that actually faces the entrance and a new computer room, here open when the library is open, off to the side of that desk.
The mission this year, and hopefully the team will be able to cover it :-) is to staff that desk at all opening hours and 'help' clients with queries.
We know that more and more services are electronic, and we are being asked more often how to access these services. From simple queries about passwords (not so simple a lot of the time, given our different schools and client range, yr 11 to post grad), to how to decide which electronic database would be best for a given subject. Given also that we are a resonably fully employed town, with a lot of part-time study, a great number of our clients also work and have family responsibilities. If we can smooth the way for a client that has only a set amount of hours to complete a task, well, yay!
Our team already swings into action when a query from a client or a visitor to the area comes in, however we had found this could be delayed by the layout of the entrance statement and the confusion of where to go for information. We have discovered that while we may be a university library branch, we are the only technical library in this area and we have certain obligations to support the community we live in. We have a lot of visitors researching, personal and other topics and they rely on the information they can find in a quick visit, so 'onward and upward' with the new renovation.
I suppose my point is, that my friend had little time in Amsterdam and an interest in gathering information for his topic. A smile and a helping hand would have gone a very long way to achieving his purpose, and also would have given a different, better impression of the service from the beginning.
On a personal note - Yay team!
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