Mixed media for your holiday pleasure

First up, there is a wonderful shout out to the Fales Library, and in particular Lisa Darms, in the latest issue of Coilhouse Magazine.

An interview with music icon Kathleen Hanna features some discussion of Fales' new Riot Grrrl archive as an important resource, and how that collection got its start.


[photo from Coilhouse]

It's always nice to see NYU Libraries represented positively in the media, especially in such cool and unexpected places!


Next up, David W. Boles of WordPunk offers up a positively glowing review of WiFi Speeds at Bobst Library:


[Photo from WordPunk]

Boles concludes that NYU, and Bobst in particular, "supports technology and its students and faculty in wonderful and robust ways in every event and arena". Yay for us!


Last but by no means least, check out this Holiday Song from OCLC Research, created by Dennis Massie who used to work right here in Bobst! Thanks to Rob P. in ILL for the link. Music starts around the 0:55 mark:



"May your mission align precisely / with your parent institution's / and may happy holidays be yours and mine."


Happy Holidays, everyone! See you in 2012!

Using e-readers for on-demand delivery

There's an interesting article in College & Research Libraries News about how the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) is using the Amazon Kindle for Interlibrary Loans.


Once you have consciously trained your brain to “be aware,” you cannot
turn it off. You will instinctually notice “new” or “different” things and ask
yourself “How can we use this in the library?” or “How does this impact our
services?” Be the person who thinks of a new or different way to apply
emerging trends and technology to new or current services.


It was this line of thought that led them to explore using the very popular E-Reader.


Since we were pioneers in loaning ereaders, we had to invent the wheel.
Without the right mindset—“I know this is possible, we just have to figure
out the way”—we might have quit at the first hurdle. Not the least of which
was national publicity concerning the legality of loaning the Kindle. Was it a
violation of Amazon’s ambiguous terms of service?

----

In the beginning, about 90 percent of patrons chose the traditional
hardcover, even though they would have to wait. Reasons given for not
using the Kindle included:

“I don’t want to learn a new technology; I already know how to
use a book.”

“I need to be able to photocopy pages.”

“There is no approved citation style for e-books.”

“I want it on my own e-reader.”

All of the above issues have been resolved, even photocopying. (Yes, I
actually tried making a photocopy of a page on the Kindle, and it worked).

Fascinating stuff! Of course different libraries have different capabilities and concerns - legal and otherwise - but wouldn't it be interesting to imagine how this would shake down around here?

Knowledge Exchange: The Results Are In!

We've tallied up the scores from the post-assessment questionnaire for Knowledge Exchange and here's how we compare:

Before Knowledge Exchange

The questionnaire was taken by 34 staff and supervisors from Access Services.

Circulation, 6.12 familiarity rating, 47.6% correct

Delivery Services, 3.97 familiarity rating, 16.5% correct

Interlibrary Loan, 4.21 familiarity rating, 44.1% correct

Library Privileges, 5.79 familiarity rating, 84.7% correct

Reserves, 5.38 familiarity rating, 63.5% correct

Stacks, 5.81 familiarity rating, 67.6% correct

Fun Facts:

• The question most people answered correctly was “What is the shortest length of time someone can rent a locker for?”
• The question most people did not answer correctly was “What type of items can be requested through Delivery Services?”

After Knowledge Exchange

The questionnaire was taken by 36 staff and supervisors from Access Services.

Circulation, 6.97 familiarity rating, 43.8% correct

Delivery Services, 5.5 familiarity rating, 30.4% correct

Interlibrary Loan, 5.86 familiarity rating, 37.3% correct

Library Privileges, 7.2 familiarity rating, 83.3% correct

Reserves, 6.7 familiarity rating, 71.1% correct

Stacks, 6.8 familiarity rating, 31.2% correct

Fun Facts:

• The question most people answered correctly was a tie between two questions:

"Yes or No, Can a NYU student who has forgotten their ID come into the library?"
"What is the shortest length of time for which someone can rent a locker?"

• The question most people did not answer correctly was:

"What is the fine limit that will cause a patron to have a University Registration hold?"

Conclusions

Familiarity went up across the board. This shows people are more aware of what goes on in Access Services departments.

Familiarity Rating Chart




Delivery Services had the biggest gains in correct answers and Reserves also had a small increase. The percentages of correct answers for other departments curiously went down. This may have been due to the large number of post-assessments that were left blank (no answer was given for many questions).


% Correct Answers Chart

Leave a comment: What do you think of the results?

Questions and Correct Answers

Circulation

How many days does a patron have to return a recalled item before being charged a fine?
Fourteen (or two weeks)

What is the fine limit that will block a patron from borrowing materials?
$5.00

What is the fine limit that will cause a patron to have a University Registration hold?
$60.00
(A University Registration hold is a block on a patron's account that prevents them from registering for classes and from graduating)

How many searches are conducted for a Claim Returned book?
Five

How many days after a Quick Search is placed will the Circulation Department conduct a check of the stacks for the missing item?
The following day (or one day)

Delivery Services

Who can request materials to be paged and/or scanned?
NYU Faculty
NYU Abu Dhabi Staff
NYU Abu Dhabi Students
NYU Abu Dhabi Faculty
NEW! Since the post-assessment, NYU PhDs and NYU TAs have been granted privileges
Also, any NYU patron abroad (regardless of status) can request scans of NYU Bobst material if they use the Delivery Services options on the ILL request forms on the web.

To which libraries can paged materials be physically delivered?
Bobst
Courant
ISAW (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)
IFA (Institute of Fine Arts)
Jack Brause (formerly Real Estate Institute)
Abu Dhabi

What types of items can be requested through Delivery Services?
Regularly circulating Bobst books
Regularly circulating Bobst Offsite books
Regularly circulating Courant books
Media from the Avery Fisher Center
Book chapter/journal article scans

On average, how long does it take to ship items to Abu Dhabi?
Three days

To which libraries can Bobst and Courant items be returned?
Bobst
Courant
ISAW (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)
IFA (Institute of Fine Arts)
Jack Brause (formerly Real Estate Institute)
Abu Dhabi

Interlibrary Loan

What is the maximum number of times an Interlibrary Loan item can be renewed?
Unless the item indicates NO RENEWALS, a patron can request a renewal online one time. They must contact the ILL office for subsequent renewals. All renewals are granted at the discretion of the lending library.

True or False, Interlibrary Loan books can be renewed through the patron's BobCat account.
False, patrons must go through their ILL account to renew ILL books.

From the list below, please select the patron types that can use the ILL service at Bobst Library:

a. NYU Employee Family
b. NYU Polytech Students & Faculty
c. NYU Medical or Dental Students & Faculty
d. New School Students & Faculty
e. NYU Law Students & Faculty
f. NYU Abu Dhabi Students & Faculty

NYU Polytech, NYU Medical, NYU Dental, and NYU Law all have ILL services through their home libraries, not Bobst.

True or False, All Interlibrary Loan items are available for patrons to pick up at the Circulation Desk.
False. "Library use only" items are kept at Avery Fisher Center, Reserves, and Fales.

Which of the following is NOT a method that patrons can use to request Interlibrary Loan items?

a. Through the library's website
b. At the Circulation desk
c. Through the BobCat catalog
d. Through the Arch
(The Arch is what the "Articles & Databases" section of the website is called.)

Patrons cannot request Interlibrary Loan items at the Circulation Desk. Thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhey can pick up ILL items there, but they cannot make requests there.

Library Privileges

Yes or No, Can a NYU student who has forgotten their ID come into the library?
Yes

Yes or No, Can anyone purchase a membership to the library?
Yes, unless they are on the "PNG" (persona non grata) list

Yes or No, Can the general public gain access to Bobst with a referral from the New York Public Library?
Yes, with a METRO Title Referral Card

What is the only kind of personal storage available in the library to undergraduates?
Lockers

What is the shortest length of time for which someone can rent a locker?
One semester

Reserves

Which of the following is the correct list of current loan periods for materials held on reserve?

a. 2-hour, 4-hour, 1-day
b. 2-hour, 4-hour, 3-day
c. 2-hour, 1-day, 3-day
d. 4-hour, 1-day, 2-day

True or False, Patrons can email scanned microfilms and fiche to themselves directly from the scanning machines.
True

True or False, The Reserved Department is responsible for the processing and re-shelving of the Leisure Reading collection located on Lower Level 2?
True

True or False, The Reserves Department loans out white board markers to patrons.
True

Which of the following does the Reserves Department NOT house:

a. Offsite "Library Use Only" materials
b. Interlibrary Loan "Library Use Only" materials
c. Avery Fisher Center Reserves materials
d. NYU Bookstore Course Packs

Stacks

What roles do the full-time staff play in the stacks?
Oversee assigned floor
monitor work of part-time staff
delegate tasks to part-time staff

What are the responsibilities of the stacks in general?
Shelve books
Straighten and shelf-read
Floor pick-ups
Help patrons
Shifting

Who should be notified about problems in the stacks? For example: loud disruptive staff, books out of order, patron needing help.
Ted or Pablo

What are Ted's and Pablo's responsibilities?
Ted: leads department projects, manages full-time staff
Pablo: manages part-time staff, deputy department leader

From where are stacks part-time staff recruited?
Local high schools and NYU

Offsite...right next door?

Last week I attended the 12th Interlending & Document Supply Conference, titled "Resource Sharing in the Digital Age," held in lovely Chicago, Illinois. Over three jam-packed days we learned from ILL & delivery services colleagues from all over the world, including Italy, Germany, China, Zimbabwe, Australia, Canada, Turkey and the US.

On my final day in Chicago a group of us toured the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and the University of Chicago Mansueto Library.

Stacks of newspapers at CRL

The newly constructed Mansueto Library demonstrates an interesting approach to "offsite" storage. Directly next door (and connected) to the University of Chicago Regenstein Library, Mansueto has a storage capacity of 3.5 million volumes, housed in a 50 foot tall facility, underground!

One of five aisles of storage

The ground floor of the library has the "Grand Reading Room" and Circulation Service Center on one side, and the Library's Preservation Department, complete with laboratories for conservation and digitization, on the other. This entire space is covered by a glass dome, 35 feet tall at its highest point. Mansueto is truly a striking structure.

David Bottorff, Head of Stacks for Regenstein Library, shows us the Grand Reading Room

Amazingly, in an average of five minutes after placing a request, items are delivered from the storage area to the Circulation Services Center. Check out this video to see how it's all done:

Banned Books

Hey everyone!

It's Banned Books Week so get out there and read a banned book!

Here's a list of banned books and here are the reasons why they were banned.

I'm reading As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.

What are you reading? Comment on this post and let us know!

Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam

I recently joined the OBA, Amsterdam's Public Library. Join
really is the operative word here, because while access to the building is open to everyone, circulation privileges are only given to those who purchase an annual membership. This is pretty typical for European libraries.

While the cost is certainly reasonable (27 Euro which is about$36). Not a huge sum, but after I joined I realized my branch has about 10 English language books for preschoolers, which is the primary reason I joined. However, they do have a reasonable DVD collection which can be charged out for a modest 1 Euro per title, and most DVDs offer soundtracks in multiple languages, or at the very least (for adults anyway) subtitles.

One of the self-check machines, the only option for checking out or returning material

My local branch reminds me a lot of a branch of NYPL, mainly because it's in the same type of 1930's civic building. What is different is how automated the branch--and presumably the system--really is. There is no circulation desk. The lobby includes two service desks: one to generally assist with holds, internet log-ins, directional questions, etc. and the other to assist with memberships. Reference desks are elsewhere. In the lobby not only are there 2

self-check machines, there is also a self-service machine for paying fines an fees. Users are responsible not only for checking out their own materials, but also for checking them in! This has been challenging for me because the self checks are in Dutch (the payment machine offers an English option).

The payment kiosk, which allows you to put credit on your library account. This is useful not just for fines, but for utilizing library services for which there is a fee

My main disappointment with OBE is that their catalog does not allow limiting by language. I wish I could search generally for children's books and then limit to English, the way that our

Primo installation allows, since their discovery tool allows me to place requests for books from other branches (and I understand the main library has a much more extensive English language collection).

It will take a little time for me to decide if my library membership is worth it. Some time, a few more check-outs and a visit to the main library, which I think has a larger collection in English (as well as bilingual story hour). But, to learn about a foreign library first hand I suppose $36 is a small price to pay.

Thanks to RFID tags in all the books, these gates sound if a user attempts to leave the building with an improperly charged out book.

Note: While refining this blog post and I was able to figure out the language limit in OBE's catalog! If you select the AquaBrowser link from the English language home page, the catalog options allow a language limit. Now I have to go back and tell the librarians about this, but first I'm off to place several requests...

Students! Help!

Right now, most of us are really itching for student workers to help in our departments.

Hiring students seems like it would be pretty easy, since there's no shortage of them going from department to department asking about jobs. So what's the hold up? Why does it take so long to get new students hired?

Here's why:

Job Postings or Job Fair
This is how student supervisors find students to hire. Jobs are posted to NYU CareerNet. Student supervisors can also accept resumes and applications at NYU-hosted job fairs. Whether you post a job or go to a job fair, you usually receive 50+ applications (in a day at the fair or after 3-5 days of an active job posting).

Serious about Hiring Students
Since we want to hire students who will
a) work well
b) work when we need them to work
c) not call out sick all the time, and
d) hopefully stick around for more than a semester
it takes some time to fish through the 50-100 resumes and find the good ones.

Interviews
It's not unreasonable to want to meet the students you might hire, so you've got to interview them. Scheduling student interviews is a nightmare, especially at the beginning of the semester. They are moving into dorms or apartments and figuring out their class schedules and extra-curricular activities. Even if you're ahead of the game and post your job listing in early August, you usually can't schedule the bulk of your interviews until late August/early September because the majority of students do not live in NYC for the summer. So, there's this race to try and schedule them before school starts, which almost always ends up spilling into the first or second week of classes. Students apply to multiple jobs, have multiple interviews; sometimes your interviewees cancel because they accept another job, other times they have to reschedule for some reason or another. Pretty soon, your list of 20 potential student employees drops to 7 and then you have to go through more resumes! (You get the picture.)

The Wasserman Walk
And then there's the Wasserman form. Students who seek an on-campus job must fill out the correct form and take it to the Wasserman Center for Career Development (during their business hours) to be signed. This verifies that they can hold an on-campus student position. Part of this form requires them to verify their citizenship or visa status (I-9 verification); for this, they need multiple forms of ID. Sometimes they even need their birth certificate, which they have to have their parents mail to them. (I mean, what undergrad brings their birth certificate to college? I would have never thought to pack that.) The form has to be complete and signed by Wasserman before a student supervisor can accept the form and hire the student. If a student brings you an incomplete form, you have to send them back to Wasserman and then the student has to bring the form back to you. Faxing and scanning don't help with this process; a lot of footwork on the part of the student is required.

Wait Three Days
Once a student supervisor has a completed Wasserman form and wants to hire, they fill out some more forms and take all the paperwork (or have the student take the paperwork) to the Human Resources office on the 11th floor. Human Resources needs at least three days to file paperwork and get students into the MyTime system before they can start working. During this time, though, you can confirm work schedules and schedule training for new students.

* * *

As you can see, there are many chances for the process to be delayed. Compound this process by the number of student hires you need to make and you realize that it could easily take two or more weeks before your department has enough students. (Not to mention the time it takes to train them all!)

Streamlining the Process
There are a few things that I've done to streamline the process:

1) Before I even look at resumes, I send out a pre-screening questionnaire via email to all applicants. This narrows my prospective candidate pool by at least half. I narrow it down further by going through resumes until I have 1.5 students for every 1 position available (so I'll interview 9 students for 6 positions).

2) I send out a list of available interview times via email to all candidates and have them sign up for a time. This works better than emailing students individually. It's first come, first serve and if they aren't available for any of the times on the list, then I say "sorry, no interview."

3) I tell the students that they must have a completed Wasserman form before they come to the interview. That way, if I choose to hire them, I can go ahead and submit their paperwork.

Even with this streamlined process, it still takes a while. For example, I sent out the pre-screening questionnaire on September 4, conducted interviews September 8-13, and my first student hire is starting September 21.

Unfortunately, the steps of the process that take the longest (Wasserman form, HR's "wait three days") are things that cannot be changed. I've streamlined what is within my power to control.

* * *

The other Access Services Supervisors and myself face this student hiring process every year (and sometimes every semester). No matter how early you start, how prepared you are, or how eager you are to hire, there are a number of other factors that delay the process more than we would like.

I recall that one of our potential working group topics is to address student hiring and student shortages during crucial periods of the semester. It is still on our radar and something that Access Services is planning to organize.

But in the mean time, does anyone have suggestions/comments/questions/feedback about the student hiring process?

"No Room for Books"

A few months ago, an article appeared by one Kevin Kiley on Inside Higher Ed entitled "No Room for Books". It's about the University of Denver's plans to move a whopping 4/5 of the Penrose Library’s holdings into offsite storage and change the building into an '"Academic Commons," much like we have been doing here at Bobst.

A friend sent me this article, wondering what I thought of it in light of my job as Offsite Storage Supervisor. You can read the full article here, but here's an excerpt:

The proposed change has raised the ire of some arts, humanities, and social science professors who say that, while impressive, technology hasn’t yet replaced a good old-fashioned trip through the stacks. They argue that the administration dropped the changes in their laps without consulting them and that it will harm their main mode of research.

"You would never ask a scientist to get rid of his or her laboratory," said Annabeth Headrick, an art history professor. "But that’s exactly what’s being done to us."


Although I remain sensitive to faculty concerns and appreciate a good old-fashioned browsing session as much as anyone - and I must stress that I don't know whether there is truth the the assertion that faculty at Denver were never consulted - I must admit that my first reaction to the above is basically, *Sigh*, here we go again.

At NYU, as with other large libraries utlizing offsite storage space, we've been grappling with these concerns for years, and have had little choice but to get with the times in order to keep our library alive and vibrant.

At Denver, however, the plot thickens:

Once the renovations are complete, the university will bring back some books and leave others at the storage facility. The original plans -- which did not cause alarm -- called for 80 percent of the materials to return to the renovated library, leaving behind seldom-accessed journals and those with digital replacements, government documents, and little-used books.

But the university announced to faculty members last week that the renovated library would now only hold 20 percent of its current collection, much to the surprise of professors.

20%?!!! Holy swiss cheese, Batman! I don't know what the Penrose Library's spacial situation is, but it seems shockingly drastic to me to reduce a collection by that much in one fell swoop.

As I've said before, in my very first post on this blog, "As more of our older material goes upstate to the warehouse... we will eventually reach a tipping point where we have more books Off-Site than we have here."

But to the remaining nay-sayers, we can say that this happened organically, and over enough time that most people have gotten used to it, and have reported that they are at least relatively satisfied with the new methods of research that they've developed as a result.

The Next 12 Months

The next 12 months are certain to be a time of change for all of us. I’m currently planning that July 15^th will be my final day before my one year leave-of-absence begins. I’ve been working with Lucinda and all of the Access Sups to make sure that all of my responsibilities are covered and that I’m not even missed!

Beginning in May, Sydney assumed responsibility for Aleph circulation functions, including all administration and leadership related to circulation, reserves and media booking. In this capacity she leads two new groups: a group of Aleph circ supervisors from throughout the consortium and another a group of Aleph “techy type,” administrators from Bobst, Courant, Cooper and NYU Abu Dhabi.

We have some big changes planned in Stacks to get ready for more renovation, including a shift on 9 and moving the Ns from 7 to 9. Shawn Jacobus from the Libraries’ Budget and Planning department will run point on this and be sure to get Ted or Lucinda involved when needed.

Deb returns in early August, and Jen returns in early September. I’m really grateful to Eileen, Pat and Sydney for stepping in to cover these absences. While I’ll be gone by late July and Kristina doesn’t start until September 12^th, I’m sure with everyone else’s vacations, Lucinda’s leadership and the generally slow pace of August, we’ll be in good shape to coast until Kristina Rose, our

former Access Services Librarian, begins in mid-September.

Once Kristina arrives she will be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 25 hours per week. She will be responsible for the overall administration and leadership of the department, and the related goal of improving our organizational climate. You may wonder how my job has been distilled into 25 hours per week. Two factors contribute to this: Sydney’s ownership of Aleph issues and a shift in focus to Access Services leadership only. OK, there’s a third important thing we all know: Kristina is awesome.

The exact projects Kristina will be working on have not yet been determined or prioritized, but are likely to include: Aleph advanced training, reserve linking improvements and publicity, an Access Services Open House, an Offsite inventory, unifying the service philosophy in Access Services and beyond, and a Bobst inventory sample to name a few. Clearly these are projects that she will not undertake alone, but will work with various supervisors, departments and groups to get the completed.

And, what will I be doing? Living in Amsterdam and learning about a new culture. Mostly spending time with my family, including my European in-laws (they are great—why do people make in-law jokes?). I may also be working part-time (very, very part-time) with an international library organization, but I don’t yet have any details to share on that. I’d like to use my time to think about the strategic direction of Access Services over the next few years and possibly brush up on some skills I’ll need as we work to create the library of the future (which means I’ll have to identify those skills first…). And, I have a goal to cook more, which is something I really miss and don’t have time for now. I’d like to learn enough Dutch to handle a brief, polite conversation (like the sentence, “do you mind if we speak English?”)

which I should be able to do thanks to Mango a cool tool that we have here at NYU. And, I plan to publish the occasional blog post.

So, take care everyone. I have very mixed emotions about leaving but one thing I’m certain of: between our intelligent and motivated frontline staff, our dedicated and strong supervisors, and Kristina as our awesome interim department head, I am leaving the department in very capable hands. Tot ziens en veel geluk!

Self-Service Check Out

I read today that Albertson's, a big grocery store chain out West, is getting rid of its self check out lines. They want to encourage a human connection with their customers. The poll posted with the story indicates that readers are just about tied as to whether they love or hate self-service tills. Could this be the wave of the future--a backlash against all this technology we use? The data seems to suggest that our users really like our Quick Checks. What do you think?

Strategic Planning

Just what is a strategic plan and why is it important?

Simply put, a strategic plan is a road map that helps an organization get where it wants to be within a specified time frame. Our current strategic plan covered the years 2007-2012, and with 2012 just around the corner, it's time for an update. Creating our new plan will be a major initiative of the libraries for the coming academic year, and the plan will be launched next Fall.

The process for the creating our plan is outlined on the Strategic Planning wiki page, if you want to take a look.

The next stage of the process is the environmental scan, which is an opportunity to look at all the factors which will influence our to-be-created plan. In order to do this, process organizers will be meeting with each department and getting their impressions on a number of topics. The questions they will be asking include:

1. How did our current strategic plan play a role in your department's/committee's accomplishments?

2. Are there parts of our current strategic plan that we still need to address?

3. What changes have there been in your user groups or work groups?

4. What top five things are you seeing on the horizon for your department/ field?

5. What recommendations do you have for adjusting and adapting to changes in the next five years?

6. What are the new ideas in your department/field that should be included in the 2013-2018 Strategic Plan?

So, take a look at our current plan. In my opinion, we have actually made a sizable dent in the proposed actions, a dent we wouldn't have made if we didn't lay out the map to begin with. Give some thought to these questions, since they will be important to making our next road map a plan we can accomplish!

Service, Collaboration and Innovation

I learned this week that four individuals from Access Services were nominated for the prestigious Dean's Award. The Dean's Award was created by NYU's Division of Libraries to recognize extraordinary achievements in support of service, collaboration, and/or innovation. I'm incredibly proud that our department stands out in these areas. More information on this award is posted at http://library.nyu.edu/recognition/deans_award.html. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to make nominations.

Congratulations to Circ for catching up with the return backlog despite a couple of setbacks--scarce student assistants and a couple of Aleph failures didn't make this task any easier. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got this done! I was also thrilled to see Reserves staff lending a hand for check-in and LP staff volunteering for exit duty so student workers could be dedicated to check-in. ILL and Stacks continue to push through the return onslaught and are making good progress--both by working hard and accepting the help of other units. Offsite has been busy getting a jump on the 9th floor and has recently begun the removal of over 170,000 low-use volumes from the 8th floor. This massive Offsite effort may offer more opportunities for collaboration for Access Services staff.

The Knowledge Exchange is really all about service, collaboration and innovation. Access Services encompasses very different units, but we are all part of the same whole. I see that as people work together to get projects done. And I think it's great!

The Zombie Guide

"Even small academic libraries can be confusing for students. Miller Library developed this graphic novel guide to our library resources in an effort to connect with students in an interesting and unique way."

Thus begins The Library of the Living Dead, from the Miller Library of McPherson College in Kansas. (They also have a pretty cool blog.)



We, too, are always looking for ways to engage with our library users, and to help them learn how to use the library. Maybe we should, ahem, take a page from the folks at McPherson!

How I Conquered Conflict

On Thursday I attended a training session called "Conquering Coworker Conflict." Although the content seemed to be more directed at strategies for dealing with challenging users, there were some gems that would be helpful in any situation of conflict. In fact, I had an opportunity to test out some of these strategies this weekend, when I had a little argument with my sister (ok, I thought it was little, she was threatening to pack up and leave which indicates that to her, it was rather big):

• Avoid justifying your right to be upset. This makes sense to me because every time you think about your justification, you are talking yourself into continuing to be upset! It was actually by not following this one that I started the argument in the first place. My first instinct was to keep my mouth shut, then some little gremlin in my head screamed, "This isn't FAIR! I have a right to be upset!" That's when the trouble started.
• If things get in a stalemate, call on someone else to try another way of communicating. This could be a colleague or a supervisor. In my case, it was my Mom, who, by talking with my sister, was able to identify exactly what I had said that had touched a nerve, and calm my sister down so she could listen to my apology. In a situation with a library user, referring to a colleague might just give the "refresh" that's needed to solve the problem.
  
• In any situation, you have the power to make things better. You also have the power to make things worse. First I made things worse. Then I made things better.
• Put yourself in the other person's shoes. My sister had been up throughout the night with a sick toddler, then the thing I criticized her about was probably something she was already feeling kind of bad about. Once I realized this it wasn't so hard to create a way we could both save face.
  
• Create an opportunity for the other person to save face. In any kind of conflict, rather than trying to "win" by continually zinging the other person, if you create an "easy out" for the other person, the conflict can be solved. This is how I made things better.

The library is trying to bring this session back so that many more staff can attend. I'll be sure it's scheduled at a time when the majority of Access Services staff can make it.

And, my sister and I have patched things up. We've been through worse blow-ups and we'll get through this, too. It's probably not the last conflict we'll face but at least I feel I have a few new tools to conquer conflict!

Hawk Cam Update

As many people know Bobst Library has a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting on a 12th floor window ledge. I have been checking their web page (http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/hawks/) for a look at the hatchlings since Kimberly told us about them. To date, I have only seen one hawk sitting on the nest barely moving.

Until tonight. Tonight I got to see a changing of the guard.

In seconds another hawk (Bobby or Violet I have no idea which) landed on the ledge, nudged the sitting hawk to move, took a moment to move the eggs around, and settled down to take its turn sitting.

All quite exciting.

Future of Libraries

Hmmm, the future of the libraries???

This topic seems to come up for discussion at every meeting I attend. Technology has taken over the world and will continue to play a larger and larger role in the future of libraries. But does this really mean fewer books, librarians and other staff who work in different areas of the library? Can this be entirely true? Hopefully, I will be alive to see this what this kind of a library looks like for myself! While I must admit that I do spend more time on the computer, searching for information when I am writing a paper, I still want to do research the old fashioned way…..FINDING A BOOK AND READING IT!

When I am in class, professors strongly suggest that we get most of our citations from either the library’s electronic databases or Google. This surprised me because I believed that books are the best source of information. Nowadays, such may not be the case. I guess it may be time to throw out my 1980 Britannica Encyclopedia Set. SIGHHHHH.

I am not saying that I’m too old for this new technology movement, but I never thought it would completely change the way a library operates. I may not be too old, but I am not that young either. Anyway, this is a neat clip on YouTube that explains and shows what modern library looks like.

Augmented Reality as a Shelf Reading Tool

Maybe I'm cheating by just redirecting you to another blog, but it's worth it: A tablet ap that assists with shelf-reading, including a video of how it works:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/shelving-made-easy-or-easier/30792?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

COMMITTEE WORK - THE 411

While on the Path train the other day it occurred to me that I have served on several library working groups as well as several committees. Some of them I distinctly remember volunteering for but the others your guess is as good as mine. I suspect that Kimberly had something to do with my “Volunteering.” Whether I volunteered or not is moot, the only real point is that I participated in the groups. My role on the committees have been varied, on some I was the leader and for others I was just one of the members playing whatever part/role that made sense. I lead the access services open house working group (some of you might remember that) and I headed the two library art show committees, I do hope that you remember the Art shows. I am one of the founding members of the University sustainability advocates group and also a founding member of the library sustainability committee and still an active member. I am also currently on the quality of life and the rewards and recognition committees.

My thoughts regarding the committee work are all positive: all of the experiences have help me grow as a manager, I have had and continue to meet and work with many wonderful and talented co-workers and colleagues some of whom I otherwise would have probably only known in passing. There is a diversity of talent in this organization which I find absolutely fascinating and I realize that it is because of the committee work that I have gotten exposure to this community. While committee work stretches you a little thinner and adds one more thing to your already packed daily schedule, I cannot help but argue that the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Not everyone has had the opportunity to be a part of or work on a committee or working group but I encourage you to embrace the opportunity when it arises - take the leap because the experience is very rewarding. You will meet great people; learn a lot about what is happening in the library and you will have the opportunity to make your contributions to the growth of this organization. There is no doubt that all of us have something to contribute and there is undoubtedly a place at the committee table for everyone. That includes "YOU."

"Our Super Technological Future"? Here's Hoping Not!

Recently, I came across this video of a presentation by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jesse Schell, given at D.I.C.E. 2010.

Schell spends the first part of the talk discussing the surprising success of certain technology and games over the past year, and trying to explain that success, but then he spends the last part projecting a near-future world which will emerge from this "Facebook Games" era in which we find ourselves. He argues that all aspects of our lives could soon be governed by (primarily) corporate technology that will monitor quite literally everything we do, in order that we may earn various points and rewards.

You can find the entire talk posted on various websites, but this excerpt contains the scariest part:



At the 7:11 minute mark, he brings up something that hits especially close to home - the tracking of our reading habits. Here is a transcript:

"You sit down with your new Kindle 3.0, which, of course, has the eye-tracking sensor in it that can tell what you've read and how much you've read of the book. And it's important to read the whole book because, then, if you leave a review on Amazon, you'll get super bonus points if it knows you read the whole book through. As you finish the book [...] you get an achievement unlocked. This thing has been tracking you for 20 Years. You finished 500 novels, this is like a big achievement. You are thinking, "I'm really embarrassed that my 500th novel was this dumb Star Trek novel that I'm reading, because, like, I'm going to remember that forever". And then you start thinking about all these achievements and points and things and realizing that, you know, you have no idea what books your grandparents read or where they went on their daily basis. But these sensors that we're going to have on us and all around us and everywhere are going to be tracking, watching what we're doing forever. Our grandchildren will know every book that we read. That legacy will be there, will be remembered. And you get to thinking about how, wow, is it possible maybe that -- since all this stuff is being watched and measured and judged, that maybe I should change my behavior a little bit and be a little better than I would have been? So it could be that these systems are all crass commercialization and it's terrible. But it's possible that they will inspire us to be better people [...]"


So here's what I thought when I heard this, in approximate order:

1) What is wrong with Star Trek novels?!
2) Dude is actually saying that this will cause us to self-consciously police our own reading lists and this is a good thing?!
3) Didn't librarians win acclaim for, you know, not revealing users' reading histories when faced with the Patriot Act? Why on earth would people entrust their reading histories with corporations instead?
4) OMG, I have a Kindle. Big Brother is watching me right now...


Setting aside the fact that it would indeed be interesting to know what our grandparents read, it is a little bit narcissistic to assume that our grandchildren will wish the same about us. (Personally, I would be thrilled to discover that my grandmother was reading Star Trek novels!) And setting aside that concern about narcissism, I must admit that it's still a boon to anthropologists of the future that we are leaving behind such a huge amount of information about ourselves already.

But! And this is a really big BUT. I fail to see how reading, not reading, or secretly reading particular kinds of books is an accurate measure of a person's worth, intellectual or otherwise. And I also fail to see how any corporate interests collecting our reading histories would always use their powers for good.

Technology, books, privacy and libraries - this is far too much to unpack in a simple blog post.
But after seeing Schell's presentation, I am even happier to be part of a profession that helps people to read whatever they want, without fear of commercial enterprise, or the Thought Police.

Knowledge Exchange - the Assessment Method

When Jen Salvo-Eaton was designing the Knowledge Exchange program, she determined a need for assessing its success. The Access Services Supervisors decided to create an anonymous aptitude test that would be administered to every staff member and supervisor before the Knowledge Exchange training began, and then again upon the completion of the program. I was tasked with organizing and editing the questionnaire, based on the input of the Access Services Supervisors.

The questionnaire consisted of six questions for each of the Access Services departments (with the exception of Offisite). The first question was the same for each department: On a scale of 1(Low) to 10(High), please rate how familiar you are with the following department’s policies and procedures. The other five questions would pertain to specific policies for the department that the Supervisors felt every staff member should be aware of.

The questionnaire was taken by 34 staff and supervisors from Access Services, and below are the initial results (with the familiarity rating and the percentage of questions answered correctly):

Circulation, 6.12 familiarity rating, 47.6% correct

Delivery Services, 3.97 familiarity rating, 16.5% correct

Interlibrary Loan, 4.21 familiarity rating, 44.1% correct

Library Privileges, 5.79 familiarity rating, 84.7% correct

Reserves, 5.38 familiarity rating, 63.5% correct

Stacks, 5.81 familiarity rating, 67.6% correct

(Fun Facts: The question most people answered correctly was “What is the shortest length of time someone can rent a locker for?”; the question most people did not answer correctly was “What type of items can be requested through Delivery Services?” If you do not know the answers to these questions yourself, you should seek them out.)

The Knowledge Exchange is an entirely new approach to interdepartmental learning, and as we move further along we are adjusting the program as needed. Similarly, this is the first time we have attempted to assess one of our projects in this manner, and in retrospect there are certain changes I should have made, to help the questionnaire be more uniform. The test should have included at least one multiple choice question and one true or false question for each department, as well as a long-form response. Instead, one department was heavy with true or false questions, while another department was devoted to long-form responses, and a third department asked questions solely with numeric answers. I feel the disparity of the questions may have influenced, in part, some of the disparity between departments in the number of questions answered correctly (and may be reflected in the amount of change when the questionnaire is administered the second time).

So far there has been a lot of positive feedback from staff about the trainings they have received. It will be interesting to see how their experiences will translate into improved knowledge and understanding of the various departments. Fortunately, we now have an assessment tool that will help us determine that. Stay tuned.

Now that My Time has arrived can Flex-time be far behind?

Now that My Time -- the university web-based time management system -- has become part of the landscape of the University, is it time for a conversation exploring the possibilities of flex-time also becoming part of the picture?

Many years ago, I asked a director about the possibility of flex-time being implemented here during the summer -- four days on three days off -- the answer was, “no.” And, that “it would be impossible to keep track of staff time.” Although there could be a myriad of other reasons that could make the implementation difficult, My Time may have eliminated that roadblock.

My Time is a time keeping system that provides NYU with a system for tracking time worked and time off balances. It also provides employees with online access to vacation, sick and personal time balances. Could My Time possibly make a dream come true?

What is flex-time? It is a variable work schedule, in contrast to a standard 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday schedule. As employees try to find a balance between work and personal obligations, flex-time could possibly be the answer for many. Often, many life events (for example doctors’ appointments, school, childcare, and elder care obligations) cannot be accommodated by a traditional nine to five schedule. Access Services hours of operation lend themselves to accommodating a new paragon for scheduling staff.

What are some of the benefits of flex-time for the employer?

There have been many studies that indicate that flex-time improved job satisfaction, increased productivity and loyalty. Companies who have implemented flex-time have less burned out employees, unplanned absenteeism and a higher retention rate of their top performers.

It may be early in the process to look at other applications for My Time. However, it can never be never too early to start the conversation.


Flex-time studies:
Current Population Survey (CPS) 2004 Workers on Flexible Shift Schedules

National Study of employers (NSE), 2008:
www.familiesandwork.org/site/research/reports/2008nse.pdf

RFID chips don't save the Library World (yet)

A few months ago I had the opportunity to attend, and present, at an Access Services conference in Atlanta, GA. There were over 150 people representing dozens of libraries across the country. The program consisted of many interesting topics discussing various issues that most libraries all seem to have in common: customer service, staff management, collection management, and statistical data collection, to name a few.

One presentation, by Catherine Jannik Downey from Georgia Gwinnett College Library, stuck out in my mind as it dispelled a couple of myths I have been holding on to. GGC Library is a small but growing library that recently moved into a new building. Starting with a small collection it was(financially) feasible to convert from their existing barcode system to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips as well as being able to upgrade equipment in the new facility.

When I first heard about RFID chips for books a number of years ago I was thrilled with the possibilities. Patrons walking out the door would have any books in their bag automatically checked out to them as they pass through the security gates. Shelf reading could be done with a wave of a wand across library shelves. Missing books could be tracked down anywhere in the building. Teams of library ninjas could seize unreturned materials from dorm rooms…

It turns out patrons still have to visit a circulation point to have their books checked out and that sometimes the antenna misses a book or two and patrons can leave with uncharged materials in their bag (and set off the exit alarms). Shelf reading wands do not necessarily read the books in order and metal shelves can deflect chip radio signals. Chip signals are not strong enough to track down missing materials. And campus security would probably frown on a team of ninjas.

The RFID chip is not a dead idea though. Companies like UPS and Fedex would not be using them if they did not work very well, but those companies have a great deal of automation and materials are generally handled only by people trained to do things a certain way. Libraries don’t have that luxury. We let people paw through our books and often training patrons is limited to a well worded sign.

But times are changing and so are libraries. Some, for example, have moved toward off-site storage facilities and the RFID chip could play a role in moving materials in an efficient manner. And the cost of converting existing collections could be balanced by limiting it to those materials that are housed outside the traditional library.

RFID technology has the potential to change how libraries operate, but for now they are not ready to take over the library world for a variety of practical reasons that are as yet cost prohibitive to try and overcome.

So until then I will keep working on plan B: the Force and Jedi Knights.



(yes, this entire post was written as an excuse to post this video)

Delightful Customer Service

A couple of weeks ago something terrible happened: my cell phone broke, making it useless for anything other than answering it. No outgoing calls (unless I knew the number, but I don't even know my own number), no email and worst of all, no texts. As a working mom, I use my phone for a lot more than uploading pics to Facebook--it's how I catch up on work on the subway and how I keep in touch with my son's babysitter (she's 17, so texting is our primary form of communication).

I thought I'd have to replace my phone, which wasn't something I was up for, and was happy to learn that certain stores will do this type of repair. One store, on 32nd street isn't too far from my dentist, so last week when I was early for an appointment I stopped in. I explained what was wrong and said that the phone was part of a family plan under my husband's name and that I hoped that wouldn't be a problem. The woman assisting me wore a name tag that indicated she was Kiana, the store manager. Kiana asked me if I knew the last four digits of his social (um, I don't even know my own phone number) and I said that I could probably find it out if I called him. I used their courtesy phones to call my husband, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't pick up since he was bringing our son to school.

After 4 tries I explained that he wasn't available. She asked for my phone and about 2 seconds later, it was fixed! She suggested that to avoid future inconvenience my husband could add me as an authorized user to the phone plan. I thanked her and joked that I now had thousands of voice mails and texts to catch up on and she invited me to take a seat in their waiting area if I wanted.

At any point during this process she could have turned me away. She could have even turned me away nicely and been entirely within her rights. Instead, she bent the rules a little bit to help me out. It absolutely made my day!

How do you show remorse?

On Saturday, I was pulled over for speeding. Not bad, considering I've been driving since 1987. Bad, considering I was driving much faster than I should have, didn't even notice that I blew past a state trooper and am now $150 lighter, not including any surcharge my insurance may assess.

Strangely, all I could think about was library fines. Eric, David Perry and I recently collaborated on an article about our move to get rid of daily overdue fines. One quote we included is:

An unpopular law will be broken, whether or not there is a penalty. Speed limits are probably the best example of this situation in the United States—a large proportion of drivers exceed the speed limit much of the time. Draconian measures can affect driving speeds, but enforcement at that level is difficult and expensive. Library fines appear to fall in the same category. Borrowers will comply with due dates unless they are inconvenienced enough to believe that keeping the item longer is justified. (Shontz, 1999, p. 84)

The trooper approached the car and said, "Ma'am, do you know why you are being stopped?" I told him I figured I was probably driving too fast. He said, "Ma'am, I was going 75 and you flew past me. Is there a reason you were driving so fast." I said no. I was totally freaked out and knew there was no excuse for it. He pushed the issue, though, asking, "is there a reason why you passed a marked state police car?" Honestly, I didn't notice it. So I said that, which I'm sure made me sound even stupider and less remorseful. I was thinking about our users, so I figured there was something he was expecting me to say. When I talk to a user about a fine I want to hear that they have learned their lesson. By being honest, I just sounded kind of bold and arrogant about the whole thing, even though that wasn't really how I was feeling. But Trooper Diolte probably thinks I have no regard for the law.

When I help a user who has a library fine, am I waiting for some coded acknowledgement on their part before I waive the fine? Could it be that those users who provided that coded acknowledgement do so randomly and the others are out of luck. Clearly, I wasn't on the same wavelength as Trooper Diolte (if I were, I would have received a warning). Is being on the same wavelength as someone who is in a position to waive your fine simply a matter of luck?

I actually have learned my lesson, and I feel like this experience shocked me sufficiently to keep me from excessive speeding for the next 23 years. On my return trip I stayed within 5 miles of the posted speed limit, which is about 20 mph slower than what I was caught for. And, instead of getting to my destination in 4 hours I got there in 4 hours and 15 minutes, with an extra quarter tank of gas, at less risk to my family, and without the risk of further financial penalties. I'm sure this will inform the next interaction I have with a user who doesn't seem to get it, because maybe they actually do.