At the end of every month, I have to submit a report of what I and my staff have done during the month. I think it does a great job of highlighting how eclectic Access Services is and I will be sharing mine from now on. I am often pulled in so many directions that it is hard for me to post as regularly as I like. I think this report demonstrates why that is.

Monthly Report

July 2012

Access Services Activities

I started the month working some nights and the Lumbee Homecoming weekend while Chris was on vacation. Circulation finished up the remaining stacks projects as student assistants completed their summer hours. Our students Dan’elle and Victoria were extremely helpful to us this summer, especially on days we were short of staff and they assisted at circulation. With flex time, leave time, and the resignation of Julious there were days where their assistance was vital and much appreciated. I finished all time sheet approval and updated contract hours work spending calculations. Additionally, I began working on planning for student assistants for the fall semester, discussing with Susan Whitt what the budget would allow us to hire and posting the jobs to the Braves Opportunities system. I will be reviewing applications in the forthcoming weeks.

In addition to circulation concerns, our Ares reserves system had two updates completed in the month of July. I coordinated the database update with Ares technical support and the updating of staff machines with Rob Wolf. We are now using Ares version 4.2. Our Microsoft Access statistics database was also updated with the assistance of Jessica Karpel and Rob Wolf. Chris Bowyer, who is responsible for circulation statistics reporting, and I met and discussed some of the categories of statistics we were keeping in Access that are more easily and more accurately to be had from Millennium – eliminating the need for duplicate reporting and ensuring more accurate statistics. These include laptops, iPads, DVD players, and room keys (Mac Lab, study rooms, multimedia room.) The only remaining statistics to be recorded in Access are questions at the desk (directional, reference, technical, instructional), manual reserve items, and the “reason for no” report. Staff were reminded that this latter statistic is important to record, as it allows us to review our services for needed and possible changes.

Updates were made internally as well to two forms I am responsible for maintaining. The first is the circulation daily checklist. The print form that was submitted each day to report circulation desk activities was replaced by a web form, located at http://www.uncp.edu/library/depts/access/circ_checklist.html. This form reports the same information as the print form, but will submitted by each individual at the end of their shift, rather than having to maintain a print page that is passed from shift to shift. This makes each individual responsible for reporting their own activities. The daily cash count reconciliation and the daily equipment inventory are emailed to me separately by the individual closing the circulation desk. In addition to making reporting more efficient, this web form allows me to more easily store and review circulation desk reports. The second form that I updated was the Library’s incident report form. Previously, this form was a Word Document that the reporting librarian would fill out and then paper copies were made for library administration and the Access Services/Reference Librarian. Then the reporting librarian had to make a log note in an Excel spreadsheet. This process was cumbersome and rarely carried out according to procedure. To make reporting easier to submit, thus encouraging better reporting by library staff, and to make storage and review of incident reports more efficient and less cumbersome, I updated the Word document form into a web form located at http://www.uncp.edu/library/depts/access/Incident_Report.html. Immediately upon submission of this form, email copies are sent to the Dean of Library Services, Associate Dean for Collection Management, Assistant Dean for Research Services, and Access Services/Reference Librarian. Once I receive the report, I follow up with library administration and campus police as appropriate, as well as being responsible for notifying library staff by email of the incident so that all are aware. I updated the problem patron page of the Library Policies and Procedures Manual to reflect the change in format of the form. Other than the format change of the form, the procedure remains unchanged. Library staff were apprised of the change by email, but reminders to encourage reporting would be helpful. Rob Wolf did the web form creation based on the field I told him each needed, and made them live online for me.

July saw a rash of incidents involving smoking in the Library. I received numerous reports of such incidents, but despite reviewing security camera footage have been unable to determine who the culprit is. Library staff have been made aware of the situation and increased monitoring of the library stair wells will be taking place. Campus police will also be notified of the situation.

Library Activities

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

July 9^th – 11^th – With Jessica Karpel, I provided library instruction for Kids’ College. Jess and I met several

times and prepared two units – Animals and Spy Kids. The second unit was requested by a teacher for us to do, yet unfortunately we were unable to carry it out since the teacher did not show up as scheduled. However, we have saved all the materials for use next summer. The animals unit we did get to use, as we provided instruction for four classes, with a total of 38 students attending. We read stories, created some artwork – including the mural on display in the lobby, played Jeopardy based on the stories read, and reviewed basic library skills.

July 11^th – Space Committee Meeting to discuss Library signage

July 26^th – Met with Anne Coleman to review the Library Policies and Procedures Manual to determine

which parts need to go forth for inclusion in the new University policy template.

July 31^st – Met with Jason Hutchinson, Mass Communications, Rob Wolf, Anne Coleman, and Susan Whitt

to discuss the Mass Communications Millennium instance. Jason was seeking to allow students to use the system, which we have not allowed for reasons of privacy and due to the shared nature of the database with the rest of the Coastal Library Consortium. It was decided that Rob would investigate the possibility of a limited log in with Dan Pfohl in Wilmington, but chances are the policy will remain as in unless permissions for a student log in can be sufficiently limited. Additionally, issues regarding receipt of Mass Communications fines into the correct account were brought up. I have subsequently reviewed the fines paid file and determined that $300 of Mass Communications fines were receipted under an incorrect account number – as Library fines instead of Mass Communications fines. The Mass Communications Department needs to provide us with the appropriate fine and replacement account numbers for accurate receipting in the future.

July 31^st – Met with Anne Coleman and Susan Whitt to review the Library Policies and Procedures Manual

to determine which parts need to go forth for inclusion in the new University policy template.

University Activities

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

July 25^th – Heritage Hump Day Social – Chris Bowyer, Tela Brooks

July 25^th – Summer Theatre Workshop performance at GPAC – Chris Bowyer

Professional Development

July 12^th – I participated in the OCLC Virtual Resource Sharing User Group Meeting.

On July 25^th, Chris Bowyer and Sam Jacobs attended AED/CPR training.

Respectfully submitted,

June L. Power

Access Services/Reference Librarian