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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