Changing the dates, checking out reference items

Now that we no longer have the 8-10am shift folks doing this, it will fall to the 10-12 shift folks to change the dates on the date-stamps in the morning. Until we're all used to the change, it would be a good idea to double check the dates before you check out the first items of the day.

Also, if you have questions about the circulation of reference items the Circ folks should have the answers for you. I do know that the test prep books (GRE, CLAST, LSAT, etc.) can be checked out. But we recently found out that the Judaica Reference books do not circulate at all. The 3rd floor reference books can circulate only if they have a notice with them from the reference desk giving permission.

Can you tell it's been a slow week for updates? If you have anything come up that you think the Infopoint folks should be aware of, please email Angela to have it added to the blog. I'm always on the lookout for blog topics!

When Aleph is down and you're on the desk

This came up in a meeting last week. Sometimes when you're on the Information Point Aleph can go down. It happened to me about a week ago.

When this happens, the circulation staff member will set up two terminals (probably not the InfoPoint one) for Offline Circulation. One line will be for short term loan items (laptops, keys, course reserves, basically anything with a loan period of less than one day) and the other will be for regular loans. During this time, we'll still be able to answer questions and retrieve ILL materials for patrons, but we'll have to refer anything that requires the staff side of Aleph to the two working terminals.

The good news is that Aleph is usually not down for very long.

Thank you everyone!

The celebration yesterday was very well attended, and I hope everyone enjoyed the food and recognition. Click here to see the great photos that Barbara took. I thoroughly enjoyed throwing you a party, and I can't wait to do another one! Everyone has been a lot of fun to work with and has really made a difference to the Information Point, the library and the patrons. I sent certificates back with folks for the folks who couldn't attend so hopefully you've gotten them by now. Just a little something to add to your collections of accomplishments. ;)

Now for the news you've all been waiting for! I was able to meet with Carol this week and we've gotten the go-ahead to continue the Information Point for the foreseeable future. That means we'll even staff it over the summer. There was one change that is to be implemented immediately following Spring Break and that is to change the hours of coverage. We will be staffing the desk from 10-8pm, and eliminating the 8-10am shift. This is all based on statistical data we've gathered. (You guys have been doing great in gathering data! Thank you!)

I very much value everyone's contribution to the Information Point though, and so I've been trying to fit everyone into the existing schedule by seeing what hours the former morning folks are available and who would be willing to give up half of their shift. So far I've been able to place most of the morning folks who need coverage, but I do have two more to hear from. I should have the new schedule finalized by Monday and if your regular shift is changing at all it will only be with your knowledge and consent. If you have any questions, please give me (Angela) a call. I appreciate everyone being flexible while we figure out how to keep all our volunteers on the desk.

Do you get computer questions?

Neflin has free full color help guides on over 60 computer programs that we can get for free. Here is a link to a list of available guides.

Do you get questions about using any particular programs (Windows, Word, Excel,PowerPoint, etc.) Would these quick reference guides be useful on the Information Point?

I personally haven't been getting these kinds of questions, but I thought I'd check with you all before saying we don't need them. You can email Angela or leave a comment here with your feedback.

Thank you!

25,000 Questions Fielded!

I have great news! The Employee Recognition Committee has approved a request for Discretionary Recognition Funds to be used to upgrade our March Meeting into a celebration! So come and join us for a celebration to recognize all the Information Specialists who have volunteered on the Information Point. Food and drinks will be provided. Please notice the time has been changed to a more food-friendly time. See you there!

Date: Wednesday, March 14th
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Place: Access Services Conf Room 253

Enjoy Spring Break!

Everyone enjoy your spring break! We won't staff the Infopoint next week. But do remember to come to our Team Meeting on Wednesday the 14th! The Employee Recognition Committee has given us some $ to turn this into a real celebration, so there will be food! Watch for a new and improved invitation to come to you soon!

Clarification on Group Study Rooms

This came up yesterday. If a person is IN a group study room with a group they can't get on the waiting list until they've turned the key back in. If you have any questions about these kinds of questions, check with the Circ staff out at the desk. Sometimes patrons ask the darnedest things. :)

The update for Illiad is today!

Today from 3:30pm-7:00pm Illiad will be undergoing the major upgrade we heard about in the recent ILL presentation. During this time no one will be able to log into Illiad.

After the upgrade, the user interface will look completely different, so I encourage you to explore it when you have the chance. From the presentation it looks like it will be much more user-friendly and easy to navigate, but it is substantially different than the old Illiad. ILL staff are available for questions about the new interface at their main number 273-2535.

The ADA/Media Rooms and room 229

Rooms 335 & 336 are the two rooms with ADA/Media equipment. These are available by reservation for up to 4 people. The people reserving the rooms must also be using the equipment.

If you go to the main library page there is a link to the Information Commons page. From there you can click Accessibility and Media Production Studios and that page will show you the equipment, peripherals and software available in those rooms. From there you can click on the highlighted word reserve to see what the reservation policies are. There is an online reservation form, or the patron can go up to the third floor reference desk to reserve a room in person. For more information you can call your fellow Information Specialist Marilyn Ochoa.

Starting Monday, February 19th room 229 will be undergoing an upgrade. This room will be getting specialized equipment to allow it to be used for teleconferencing. This room will no longer be checked out by the Circulation desk, instead it will be reserved and checked out at the third floor reference desk. I do not know how long the installation of the equipment will actually take, but I have been told it will no longer be checked out by the Circulation folks as of February 19th.

Also, just a reminder that folks can also reserve the Group Presentation area (the area near the bean bags with the giant monitor) at the reference desk as well. That information is also linked on the Information Commons page.

Fire Extinguishers and Pull Stations

I just attended the Fire Safety class today and then went on a fire extinguisher hunt. I thought I'd share my findings with you.

Fire extinguishers are all over the place. I found that if I went to a spot where two corridors converged I could see an extinguisher box.

The closest fire extinguishers to the circulation desk are located on either side of the circulation desk on the walls with the long benches towards the north end of the bench (in the halls heading back to the 2nd floor stacks).

There are pull stations (for setting off the fire alarm) at each the door leading into the stairwells on the 2nd and 1st floors, and at the emergency exit doors leading outside from the stairwells on the first floor. Apparently they are placed so that you can pull them on your way OUT of the building.

Group Study Rooms and Laptops

Just a reminder, Group Study Rooms and Laptops should never be checked out to library staff members. If they need a meeting space you can refer them to the various training rooms and conference rooms in the libraries. If they do need a laptop for any reason, please refer them to systems. I'm told systems has loaner laptops for staff use. If you think the staff member might have an extenuating circumstance, please refer them to one of the Access Services managers.

Tax forms

We've had a few folks looking for Tax forms (like the 1040EZ) to file their returns. These can be found in Government Documents on the first floor of the Marston Science Library.

"Gator Wait" beeping pagers

Just a fun fact:

When the Gator Wait pagers are running low on battery power they will start letting out an occasional beep (not the full out lighting up buzzing - just a beep). The pager will still work for the patron, but when it comes back it's a good idea to place it down on the bottom of the stack so that it won't be given out for a while.

Reported issues with patron laptops

We've had a recent increase in the number of patrons having issues with connecting to the wireless network using their laptops. If you have a patron complaint different from the one below, please report it to me so we can see if there are additional issues.

The patron comes to the desk and says they can't log into the wireless network. I was able to get the patron to show me the error he was getting. This was the error:




This was a new laptop and it has Microsoft Vista on it rather than Microsoft Windows XP. Vista has some increased security options that are turned on by default. This page is basically saying "the page you're trying to view is possibly a dangerous page, do you REALLY want to go there?"

All the patron has to do is click the option with the scary red X that says "continue to this website (not recommended)."

I can imagine we'll be getting more inquiries about this as folks get their new laptops with Vista.

--------------------- edited to add--------------
The image above is the error they'll get in Internet Explorer. If they are using Firefox as their browser they might see this error:


------You may have seen this commercial about the security in Vista:------

January Statistics are up

We have January statistics available now. I think we can all see a clear pattern here.

The circulation folks are gathering stats for us this week. I'll compile those and compare them with our stats from this week and see what shows. Then I'll hopefully be able to set up a meeting with the powers that be and get a decision on the future of the Information Point. If you have ideas about what you'd like to see us continue to do or what you like for the future, chime in on the discussion (or start a new one) on the Information Point Forum we have on the Library BBS.

Xerox Copier Hint

We had a patron earlier having a problem with the copiers. He tried all three floors, but found that his copies kept coming out lighter and lighter. We called Xerox and they came out to look to see if the copiers were running low on toner. They weren't. But I got a great tip to share with patrons who have this problem!

If you do not close the top of the copier down over whatever you're copying, the light from the room goes through the glass and compromises the quality of the copy. Use the top of the copier to shield the glass from the light of the room as much as possible to get the best copy quality. I think this mostly will come into play when folks are trying to copy pages from a text (like a reserve item). They tend to use both hands to push the book down and hold it still and do not close the lid. I know it takes extra time to close and open the lid for each copy, but it really does work!

I thought this tip was worth passing along!

January Team Meeting

We met yesterday and went over the November and December statistics. They're now linked online as well. I think it's fairly obvious that we're primarily doing circulation transactions at this point.

When asked how they feel about this the consensus was that no one was surprised about this. Discussion ensued about how different the Information Point really is from the other circulation desk service points. Are we providing any different kinds of service? It was suggested we keep statistics at the other circulation points to see if the stats show we are answering the same types of questions as the circulation staff. I spoke with the Access Services managers later yesterday and have their approval to design a statistics form for the other circulation desk service points. They will keep statistics (just like we do-with the same categories) for one week between Monday and Friday next week. I'll compile the data and we can see what it shows.

Another topic, and one that has consistently come up in our team meetings is everyone's desire to hear from the circulation staff. To this end we will have a joint meeting at our February Team meeting we will invite all of the circulation staff and have an opportunity to meet everyone and have an open discussion about working the desk together. I spoke with the Access Services managers on this as well, and while they're not sure what kind of feedback is being sought they are open to attending our meeting. They didn't think the student staff would be able to attend in any great number, but we should be able to get the majority of the circulation staff to attend if we time it between 3:30-4:30pm sometime midweek and have enough lead time for schedules to be adjusted. I'll be looking at everyone's February schedules and try to pick a time when most everyone is showing as available. Several of the circulation folks will be coming in early to make the meeting and hopefully anyone who normally leaves early will be able to adjust their schedule to stay a later for the meeting.

Other things that came up in the meeting yesterday:

People ARE reading the blog

I will conduct a survey for the Information Specialists in March

The TV/VCR/DVD players ARE installed in the 6 round booths on the 2nd floor. There are remotes at the circ desk that we can use to help the patron, but we can NOT check them out or give them to the patrons for use.

The late evening volunteers are worried about making trades when they have to miss a shift. They often volunteer to take daytime shifts, not necessarily as a trade, but just to help out and they hope folks will be willing to cover for them occasionally.

It came up and I later confirmed that we WILL be closing the Information Point over Spring Break. Enjoy your Spring Break week!

Suggestions for me to bring up to the Library West Building Group:

More demarkation showing that the Information Point is different than a regular circulation Point.

Having a triage point on the first floor between the escalators during the first few weeks of school. (But not specifically staffed by Information Specialists exclusively)

Possibly using the Information Station on the first floor inside or outside the library.

Creating and having something in-house to help students who are just looking for "novels" or "something to read." Perhaps a list of suggested call number ranges to search for different kinds of books (poetry, novels, etc.)

Later in my meeting with Access Services we were discussing the possibility of establishing a staff presence on the first floor stacks-side. A discussion of this possibility has begun in the Information Point Forum on the Library BBS. Come give your opinion.

If I've left out anything from the meeting, please add your comments below. We talked about a lot of things and my minutes are only as good as my notes!

Barcode Scanner Tip

I heard late last week that some folks have had the barcode scanner stop working during their shifts. I actually had this happen to me today and found out from Brett (thanks Brett!) that all you need to do is unplug it from the back of the computer and then plug it back in. You don't have to restart the computer or anything. If you find this doesn't fix the problem, please let me know and I'll have our systems liaison take a closer look.

January Team Meeting (barely!)

I would like to meet with everyone for January Team Meeting before January is actually over. I've found a time that seems to be available for most of us (even though it is right on the heels of PSC). So our January meeting will be:

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 from 11-12pm in West 253 (in Access Services)

Agenda:
Introducing our newest Information Specialists to the group
Getting answers for some of the crazy questions you're getting on the desk
Look at the November and December statistics
There will be a survey later this spring in order to pick your brains anonymously
I'll be meeting again with the Library West Building Group to finalize future plans for the Information Point, and I'd like your input.

See you soon!

Lecture Series in Library West

There is a lecture series organized by two UF history professors and all four lectures will be held in Room 212 Library West. One was just yesterday and it seems the person who will let them into the room and set up the projector is Paul McDonough. If he's not there to meet them when they arrive (they come early it seems) just give him a call and let him know they're ready.

There ended up being standing room only yesterday so these might be very well attended. Expect lots of questions about "where is the conference room" if you're on the desk during these lectures.

The next lectures are:

On the Muslim Question by Gil Anidjar, Columbia University, Feb 20th at 4:30pm

Politics and Religious Identities in Pre-Modern Europe: Case Studies in Poland and Spain by Benjamin Ehlers, University of Georgia, and Pawel Kras, University of Lublin, March 1st at 4:00pm

Reproducing the West: The History and Politics of Population Growth and Movement by Matthew Connelly, Columbia University and Woodrow Wilson Center, April 5th at 4:30pm