The Unclassifiable Library Remix

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Monthly Report for August 2012



Monthly Report
August 2012

Access Services Activities


August was an extremely busy month, as the first few weeks of the academic year always are.  Just prior to the beginning of the semester, our Ares server received a major update as did all the client machines in the Library.  Rob Wolf and Jess Karpel helped with the upgrading of staff machines.  In other reserves news I have been paying close attention to the judge’s rulings in the GA reserves case, as it has implications for all university e-reserves systems.  Sam has been working diligently to process all the reserves that came in at the beginning of the semester and has done a wonderful job of getting things done in a timely manner and communicating with faculty regarding their reserves.  I assisted with some reserves issue for faculty, namely fixing any connections between Blackboard and Ares lost due to course cross-listings or a faculty member cloning the same class more than once.  I also assisted in finding a few obscure ILL items for Sharon Matilla.  Penny and Tela have been excellent about assisting at the Circulation Desk in the absence of Julious and in light of Sam’s need to focus on course reserves. 

The staff have been excellent in helping the student assistants get settled into the semester as well, setting them up on the biometric time clock, getting them started in training, and supervising them on a day to day basis.  Eric also supervises their stacks activities and makes their stacks maintenance assignments.  Student assistant administration took up the bulk of my month.  I had several meetings with library staff regarding student worker needs for their areas and available students.  I posted all the library jobs in the Career Center’s Brave Opportunities program, and responded to all job queries – both in the system and by e-mail.  I completed contracts for those students hired, conducted interviews, scheduled students, updated Blackboard, and approved time sheets for the first two weeks.  Other than one Hawk Assistantship and the always available work study option, all student library positions have been filled as of the last week of August.  In addition, since Melanie is leaving, I am taking over the supervision of the Hawk Assistant for which she applied for reference/instruction.  In order to stay true to the application, this student will not work circulation but will assist with making video tutorials for reference/instruction, and is available to the other librarians providing instruction on Wednesday and Friday afternoons if needed.

Fee appeals and account queries made up the other main part of my work this month.  When the last time to add/drop classes comes, students come in large numbers to clear their accounts.  Often these fees are not recent and take some time to resolve – talking with staff, checking Millennium, searching the stacks – making each query very time consuming.  This necessitating diffusing a few vociferous situations with students who wanted immediate action, though most I feel were satisfied with the resolution of their fees issues and all were handled as timely as possible in light of the need to expedite their ability to register.

In the rest of my available time I completed the Circulation desk schedule for fall, worked on
SACS assessment reports, and met with both of the new circulation weekend assistants.  Dan’elle and Kara have both worked at the Library for a number of years, so they only needed a quick overview of closing duties, and have been doing a great job so far.


A great picture of the Access Services staff and student worker looking great on school colors day!

The campus body conducting the event recognized our circulation staff for their school spirit.


Library Activities


I participated in/attended the following Library events in the month of August:

August 6th – Met with librarians and staff from NCCU
August 7th – Put up display on lobby board – “Books – Get HBO Programming 10 Years Before
Everyone Else” highlighting books that have been produced as HBO series or movies
August 7th – Met with Beth Froeba to consult on copyright for freshman seminar materials in
Blackboard
August 8th – Hot dog cook out
August 8th – State of the Library
August 9th – Overheard student at reference – "I love the smell of books."
August 10th – Staff Development trip to Raleigh to NC Museums of History and Natural Science
August 13th – Followed up with DSS regarding service animals in the Library after announcement
sent out by DSS – all service dogs wear identifying markers so that there is no confusion with other pets
August 15th – Submitted updated manual pages for incident reporting per discussion regarding
University policy project
August 16th – Library Hawk Assistantship meeting
August 17th – Departmental libraries meeting and revision of cooperative agreement and training
guidelines
August 28th – Study room occupancy meeting
August 28th – Goodreads Book Club
August 31st – Planning committee and Librarians’ meetings
August 31st – Jess’s Farewell Party

Access Services staff participated in/attended the following Library events in the month of August:

August 8th – State of the Library – Tela Brooks and Penny Locklear
August 9th – Facts and Questions presentation – Tela Brooks and Sam Jacobs
August 10th – Staff Development trip to Raleigh to NC Museums of History and Natural Science –
Chris Bowyer
August 29th – FOL meeting – Chris Bowyer
August 30th – Arts, Displays, and Exhibits committee meeting – Penny Locklear
August 30th – National Library Week committee meeting – Sam Jacobs

University Activities

I participated in/attended the following University events in the month of August:

August 14th – Chancellor’s Address
August 14th – Financial Aid Work Study meeting
August 14th – SAGA executive board meeting
August 14th – Welcome Back reception at Chancellor’s
August 23rd – Faculty meeting
August 23rd – SAGA meeting

Access Services staff participated in/attended the following University events in the month of August:

August 13th – Convocation – Chris Bowyer, Tela Brooks, and Penny Locklear
August 14th – Chancellor’s Address – Eric Chavis
August 14th – Health Sciences Building Dedication – Chris Bowyer, Tela Brooks, Eric Chavis,
and Penny Locklear
August 14th – Welcome Back Reception at Chancellor’s – Eric Chavis
August 31st – Jess’s Farewell reception

Professional Development

August 2nd – I participated in a virtual field trip to the 2012 International Disability Rights
Affirmation Conference at Virtual Ability, Inc. Island in Second Life with the purpose of learning to make Second Life more accessible

August 9th – Chris Bowyer presented Facts and Questions with Melanie Wood as part of staff
development week.

Community Service

Penny Locklear and I both attended the PTA Open Houses for our respective children’s schools.

Respectfully submitted,

June L. Power
Access Services/Reference Librarian
September 4, 2012

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