Access Services Conference

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Access Services Conference

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70828

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Event Series

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Library

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 16

Give out Pickles: Customer Service Improvement

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Summey, Terri

In our technological society, people are used to customizable services and quick access to information from a variety of sources. Library customers are why libraries exist and providing good service to customers is one of the keys to creating a user-centered library. This is especially important in those departments, such as Access Services, that are on the front lines of library service and work with people all day, every day. When a person experiences good customer service they become repeat customers and often bring their family and friends. When the customer service is bad, people tell at least seven other individuals. Giving good service to customers is not a new concept, but one that helps provide the foundation of library services. For the past couple of years, one Midwestern university has made improving customer service throughout the entire library a priority. Initially the current state of customer service was assessed. Once this base point was established, each library department established customer service goals. To improve customer service, several types of training were provided to all employees including part-time student assistants. One program that was utilized and helped form the basis for improvement was "Give 'em the Pickle." This DVD with accompanying materials introduced the staff to customer service concepts in a fun way and taught about "giving pickles" to customers. Fulltime staff members are also being trained in Library 2.0 concepts and Web 2.0 technologies to see how they may be incorporated to improve customer service. The experiences of this university library will be shared in this program along with the concepts and training that are being used by the Access Services department to make providing good customer service the top priority of the department.
Student Worker Management Panel Discussion

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Hughes, Jennifer H. ; Lewis, Michelle M. ; Brown, Lee ; Herfel, Stephanie Dawn

This panel discussion will focus on successful methods of managing student workers in an academic library. Jennifer Hughes, Head of Access Services, Michelle Lewis, Circulation Supervisor, and Lee Brown, Assistant Circulation Supervisor from the Kimbel Library of Coastal Carolina University will talk about how their department "hires and manages over 70 student assistants". They will discuss "everything from interviewing & hiring to orientations & training". Sephanie Herfel, Student Staff Manager for York College of Pennsylvania's Schmidt Library will talk about "Technology Tools for Improving Student Management". She will provide information on using free social networking sites such as "Facebook, Diigo, and Delicious for student training and communication. Also, information about scheduling software and training tools will be reviewed".
Library Collections 2.0: Managing Multimedia Technologies in Academic Libraries

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Bodnar, Erica ; Fones, Joey

To support the learning and research needs of faculty and students, academic libraries are finding it increasingly important to incorporate the use of digital learning objects as educational tools in their collections. While libraries and information centers are rapidly entering the digital age with their emphasis on web 2.0, there seems to be a lag when it comes to the growth of these collections. Leaving aside the debate on physical vs. digital delivery, this proposal will address the development of a multimedia technologies collection to facilitate learning in a digital age. Drawing on the experiences the Georgia Institute of Technology's Library & information Center and Agnes Scott College's McCain Library, our presentation explores the opportunities and challenges that these multimedia technologies and educational tools bring to the academic library of the 21st century. Using our collections and libraries as models, we will contrast our experiences in order to address some of the problems, trends, and potential opportunities associated with the management, maintenance, marketing and oversight of a collection of digital learning objects.
A Vision of Access Services in the Open Library Environment (OLE)

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Gardner, Judy

This program will present a scenario of access services in an open source academic library system with enterprise level connections. The Open Library Environment (OLE)'s design will be used as a model. OLE is an open partnership of libraries seeking, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to design and build a next-generation library system based on community source governance, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and integration with campus and extra-campus enterprise systems, such as identity management and financial systems. Traditional access services such as authorization and authentication, request and delivery, and check-out will be described in the dynamic OLE environment. New interactions, functionality, and relationships made possible by a service and enterprise-oriented system such as OLE will be explored. Opportunities, issues and challenges for federated access services, based on the strategic planning of the Virtual Academic Library Environment of New Jersey (VALE) consortium will also be discussed.
When Worlds Collide: Lessons Learned from Merging Two Key Service Points

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Chimato, Mary Carmen ; Reade, Tripp

In January 2007 the NCSU Libraries merged the circulation and reserves service points at the main circulation desk. This merger was part of the Libraries' ongoing assessment of its programs and services with the goal of providing enhanced services while achieving higher levels of efficiency with existing resources. Some direct advantages of the merged service point included providing a single service point for multiple types of transactions; 24 hour access to full circulation services, interlibrary loan request pickup, holds, and reserves; reduction of 5200 hours of staffing coverage per year and improving/facilitating staff cross-training activities. In order to successfully merge two very different units, the department's management created a plan which included extensive cross-training, a new daily scheduling system, and utilized popular social networking tools to facilitate communication, participation and sharing between the department staff. Two years later, the merger is a success. The processing time for reserves has reduced by more than 50%, staff are able to work on projects that had previously been put on hold, and the new spirit of teamwork and the new single identity of the department has improved customer service and has optimized staff time.
Training 2.0

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-13) Power, June L.

With less staff time and more things to do, providing consistent and thorough training is sometimes a challenge. In order to streamline training and provide for more effective communication among staff and student assistants, a Blackboard course was created to provide a graded, self-paced, and interactive training tutorial. The tutorials were compiled using Powerpoint, Camtasia, and Snag-It, as well as Blackboard's internal test system.
You Are Not Alone*: Managing Change in User/Access Services with Compassion and Commitment

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-12) Evangeliste, Mary ; Furlong, Katherine ; Dermott, Maureen O'Brien

In this panel presentation three managers of Access Services share the triumphs, disappointments and the "down right uncomfortable" work of transforming a user/access services department. Changes in the user/access service areas are inevitable; systems change and improve, vendors change, production numbers increase or decrease and technology dictates changes in work flow. How can we learn from each other instead of feeling as if we are in this all alone? How can we strive to create respectful workplaces while also asking employees to change when they are comfortable with the current state of their unit? We will discuss how to conduct a gap analysis to identify areas that need improvement, system analysis to aid in the sometimes-contentious abandonment of legacy services, and the most important component of change leadership – how to communicate clearly and effectively with staff so that are informed, educated and feel that they are fundamental in the success of the transformation.
Course Related Content: A Management Solution

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-12) Sewell, Bethany B.

Course Related Content (or Reserves) at the University of Denver's Penrose Library is a multi-departmental network of units working together to support the teaching needs of the DU faculty by providing course related content upon request. Currently our services include the following: electronic reserves, traditional reserves (printed material), streaming video, streaming audio, and non-art images. Penrose, like many other academic libraries, has multiple systems for delivering course related content for their community and each system requires its own unique workflow management from faculty request to the final delivery of content for student use. Materials often need to be reformatted, purchased, cleared for use, and have customized metadata created. Requests need to be submitted, processed, tracked, and designated as complete. The reserve unit is the clearing house for these requests at Penrose. We wanted a comprehensive management system that provides our faculty with one easy to use form for requesting materials, real time tracking of their requests, and the ability for our partners in creating content to actively interface and update the progress of individual requests. This presentation is a result of a review of our options for managing this work. This study compares and contrasts multiple options and requirements for reserves to manage today's wide array of course related content. Systems Covered: 1. Third party vendors 2. ILS system reserve modules 3. Course Management Systems 4. Other open source software/home-grown systems There is research in our field regarding each of these solution, however, I intend to give an analysis of each in the context of the new issues of reserves or Course Related Content. I also include additional partners on campus to be involved in the decision making process including the College Bookstore, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the University Technology Services.
Documents...We Want 'Em Rushed and Readable

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-12) Maresco, Tina ; Dermott, Maureen O'Brien

With budgets shrinking and subscription prices rising, the philosophy of "just in time" seems to be gaining on that of "just in case". Resource sharing is an increasingly crucial adjunct to a library's collection. Like most academic interlibrary loan departments, we send and receive documents in a number of ways: Odyssey, Ariel, PDF, Fax and mail. In the fall of 2006, the document delivery turnaround time for our patrons was 5.25 days. In the fall of 2008, just 2 months after implementation of Rapid, turnaround time was cut in half. While Rapid had taken care of the speed of delivery, we wondered - was quality being sacrificed? We took 2 weeks to survey document quality. One week for borrowing, one week for lending. We listed standards such as clean borders, legibility, completeness, etc. Each incoming and outgoing document was visually checked by a staff member and rated against these criteria. One of the more interesting outcomes of this survey was the setting of acceptable standards of quality – what one person might deem acceptable, another would reject. This impacted the future training and guidelines for student workers who would be scanning our lending articles. A very satisfying result of the survey was the discovery that less than 10% of documents received were unacceptable and required a resend. The articles that we provided as lenders were acceptable 95% of the time. By implementing a variety of delivery strategies and following established guidelines, we hope that interlibrary loan services will continue to be a source of high customer satisfaction.
Looking through the Keyhole: How Users Think About and Use Library Space

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-12) Baldwin, Dave ; Lee, Norice ; Pierard, Cindy

Physical space still matters—even in the highly digital 21st century. How can libraries best assess and improve user space, even if they don't have the ability to undertake a major renovation? This session offers effective, low-cost techniques to assess actual space uses as well as provide insight into user needs and interests when designing improved and/or ideal space. The presenters will share examples from a recent space planning activity in an academic library and invite discussion with session participants as to their experiences with incorporating user feedback into space planning and management. Techniques shared—such as photo surveys and flipchart feedback—are applicable to all library types.