Help is needed! Information Specialists to the Rescue!

Remember a few days ago when we got an email about Library West being closed for Intersession and that we wouldn’t staff the Infopoint?

Well scratch that.

Details will be forthcoming on how we’re going to provide services exactly, but we will somehow be providing library services from West during the flooring construction and we can really use the help of the Information Specialists!

I’ll know more about exactly what and where we’ll be during our shifts soon, but let’s all mark our calendars and plan on working our regular hours for intersession. If you need coverage for your shift that week, please send a call out to the list.

Thank you all so much for your flexibility!

Also, please remember if you have any extra availability during the extended hours April 19- May 1 from 8am to 4am your help on the desk would be appreciated. We’re especially having trouble filling the late night spots, but help anytime after 3pm would be wonderful! If you are interested, in working on the desk after 3pm anytime during the next two weeks, please contact Chris McHale at chrmcha at uflib.ufl.edu with your interest and availability.

Library Appreciation Month

Governor Crist has declared April to be Library Appreciation Month. The PR & Marketing Committee is putting together a display over at MSL and they've created bookmarks to gather patron comments about why they love their libraries.

These have been placed at the circulation desk of each branch. Please encourage patrons to take a bookmark, fill it in, and drop it off at any circulation desk. When you have any turned in, give them to the circulation staff person on duty so they can put it in Angela's mailbox. I’ll be transcribing them to be placed on a webpage linked to the library homepage.

If you’re running low on bookmarks, please let Angela know and she’ll request more.

Stress Reduction event upstairs Wednesday

There is a “Stress Reduction Before Finals” event in the InfoCommons tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9 from Noon – 1pm.

A speaker from GatorWell will be going over stress reduction tips including some breathing and visualization techniques.

Meeting Minutes

We had our mid-semester Team Meeting last week. We discussed the future of the Information Point along with a few other topics. Here are the minutes of the meeting:

With the budget crunch, Circulation could really use our help on the desk over Finals, Intersession and the Summer. Angela asked how many folks would still be able to continue to volunteer on the Information Point, and was pleased to hear that everyone in the meeting could stay. With this in mind, an email will be sent out to all the Information Specialists to ask if they are able to stay over summer on the same schedule or if they would like to modify their schedule. We anticipate keeping our same schedule of coverage (11am-3pm) through finals, intersession and Summer C.

There is a new handout to help patrons with the Wireless Network. Angela has only had 50 printed so far. If you find you're handing these out pretty regularly please let her know so she can request more.

New key fobs for the group study keys are being ordered. These will be larger and hopefully the barcode will be easier to scan. They'll also have the group study guidelines in the key fob itself so you will no longer have to write down the due time each time you check out a key. Angela mentioned she would handle this the same way she handles the laptops now that they have the laptop policy attached to them. She asks each patron if they would like the due time written down. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. (Several folks stated that they refer any group study questions or check out requests to Circulation, and this is fine too. But if you are checking out the keys, soon you'll see the new key fobs.)

Faculty laptops were briefly discussed. There are 4 faculty laptops on the bottom of the laptop cart that can only be checked out to faculty. They haven't seen a lot of circulation yet, but Angela encouraged folks to promote them to faculty, especially if they need to place Course Reserves or ILL requests. The student laptops can only be checked out to students, so these 4 are the only ones faculty can check out.

Self-check is coming soon. We will be getting one machine from FCLA in the next few weeks. (Later I found out it will most likely be installed during intersession.) We will hold several training sessions so that everyone gets a chance to practice with it. It will be installed right next to the Information Point, so we'll likely be the first responders for patrons with questions. Later there will be two more purchased for West and they will probably be placed on the other end of the desk near the lost and found.

Laptop batteries- it came up that folks haven't known what procedure to follow for changing the laptop batteries. Do you change them when they're checked in or when they're checked out? Angela went to Jim Stevens after the meeting and asked. He said, while they do charge faster being plugged into the cart, the procedure is to change out the battery when the laptop is checked in. Still, do check the battery status when you're checking out a laptop to a patron, but take the extra 30 seconds to change out the battery to a fresh one when you're returning a laptop.

Several folks brought up that they've noticed student assistants keeping a stash of laptops at their seats for easy access. This observation has been forwarded to the circulation staff so they can talk with their students about promptly returning the laptops to the cart. We talked about how, during busy times, you might have a few laptops handed to you as you're helping someone else, and that's understandable, but that we'll return them to the cart as soon as we can.

It was noticed that one of the keyboard feet went missing again. It has now been fixed. If you notice anything like this when at the desk, please email Angela so it can be repaired right away.

We also talked about how the monitor changes hue when moved. Angela has reported this to the system liaison.

These were my notes from the meeting. Did I miss anything? Thanks for coming!

New handout available!

Evan put together a Wireless Network Troubleshooting Guide to help folks having problems logging on to the wireless network.

He spoke with CNS and CNS has asked us to refer any patrons with wireless issues to their department- either via their website or Help Desk hotline at 392-HELP (this contact info is also contained within the handout).

Since students might have a hard time using the Help Desk website (especially if they are already having wireless connectivity issues) and because they also might not have a way to call the Help Desk hotline, Evan pulled troubleshooting information directly from the CNS website and compiled it into this handout.

Copies have been placed in the handout carts behind the circulation desk for easy access. I only initially ordered 50 copies. If you find you're handing these out a lot and running low, please let me know and I'll order more! This handout, along with many others, is linked to the Handouts page under Useful Links on the Information Point website.