This was my first winter break in New York City. We didn't go anywhere this year and I elected to work the last week of December.
I learned one thing this week:
1) Do not make a two-page long "to do" list and expect to get it done in one week.
Why won't it get done? Because:
a) a blizzard will strike and keep you prisoner in your Brooklyn apartment on Monday
b) some of the colleagues you need to work with to solve a problem will get sick and not come to work
c) students will also get sick and not come to work
d) students will also get stuck in other states while waiting to catch flights back to blizzard-blown NYC
f) you will get sick and feel miserable
g) Aleph will crash on Wednesday
h) the Wiki will also not work
i) the Ariel server will also go down
In all seriousness, though, Aleph crashing couldn't have happened at a better time (during a break). We're also old pros at this by now; Circulation staff could do offline circ and come back online with their eyes closed. Patron inconveniences were few (considering the huge crash in November 2009).
As for the things remaining on my "to do" list, they will have to wait for January.
Happy Holidays Bobst Library! Better luck for 2011 (please)!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Disney
I have a confession to make: There is an email that's been in my in-box since July 21, 2010. It's from the Disney Institute, and it asks me, "Are you ready to D-think your organization?" The D in D-think looks like the one from Walt Disney's signature. I can't bring my self to delete it.
Disney is a company known for excellent staff development and superior customer service. They offer a one-day seminar (held at the Disneyland resort) entitled "Disney's Approach to Quality Service." Lest you think that this is aimed only at theme park employees, the first line of the course description says:
If I could waive my magic wand and say, "Bibidy Bobidy Boo," I would zap us all to Disneyland to take this course.
I was reminded of this email that I can't part with because of the reference to one of Disney's strategies in the book, The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton,which I'm reading for a class. First off, this is a great little book on workplace civility that I highly recommend. Well, the Disney reference talks about dealing with irate theme park guests. Basically, the passage suggests that, when dealing with angry or upset people, the best strategy (both the most effective and the one that will keep you from going crazy) is to neither blame yourself or the upset (or irrational or hostile) person:
Years ago, a former student of mine took copious notes during her new employee orientation classes at Disney University. Her instructors emphasized that although 99% of guests are nice, the real test is when you are encircled by an angry family of eight who are all hollering at you about all the things that have gone wrong. The new [employees] were instructed to avoid getting angry at or blaming the nasty guests. They were asked to imagine all the awful experiences the family suffered that whipped them into such a hostile state (e.g. to imagine that their car broke down or they just got soaked in the ran) and to not take their anger personally (as it isn't your fault).
Cast members were also reminded to see the abuse as something that wouldn't last long (because most other guests are nice) and that it "didn't need to ruin your day" because, if they "just kept smiling" and treat people as VIPs," it will create friendly interactions with other guests, and might even turn the family that is hollering at you right now into nicer people. (Kindle location 1601)
So, there's a little piece of Disney wisdom. As I was reading this I was thinking about my own experiences on the front lines, with not only library users but also ice-cream buyers and Macy's shoppers. About 10 years worth (and at Macy's there's no such thing as an off-desk project, although I must admit that when I scooped ice cream I often volunteered to dishwash to get a break from the front line), a lot of which wasn't exactly exemplary service. Take it from someone who used to be pretty surly: Things are a lot more pleasant for the service provider if you don't take it personally and treat users like a VIP.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Sharon Thomas
Today I came to the sad realization that November 15th would have been Sharon Thomas' 16th anniversary at Bobst. Since March I have been sending anniversary cards to celebrate the hire date of all of our colleagues in Access Services. I don't get to send one to Sharon. If I did, I'd thank her for her years of service and commitment to doing an excellent job. I'd also thank her for her continual interest in learning, and specifically for her interest in the Service Excellence Initiative. Service Excellence was a lot of work, and there were times that thinking about Sharon's level of engagement in the program gave me the energy to keep moving forward.
At Sharon's funeral I learned that my understanding of Sharon was pretty much shared by everyone she met: she was a genuinely positive person who cared about other people. I certainly saw this in every encounter I had with Sharon and it made me happy to learn that this is simply how she was--in all aspects of her life. In her eulogy, Sharon's minister talked about how it's easy to be nice to people you like and a whole lot more challenging to be nice to people you dislike. Sharon was nice to everyone. Being nice to everyone doesn't always come naturally but since Sharon's funeral I certainly keep it mind more than I used to. I guess you could say that Sharon is still challenging me to be a better person.
At Sharon's funeral I learned that my understanding of Sharon was pretty much shared by everyone she met: she was a genuinely positive person who cared about other people. I certainly saw this in every encounter I had with Sharon and it made me happy to learn that this is simply how she was--in all aspects of her life. In her eulogy, Sharon's minister talked about how it's easy to be nice to people you like and a whole lot more challenging to be nice to people you dislike. Sharon was nice to everyone. Being nice to everyone doesn't always come naturally but since Sharon's funeral I certainly keep it mind more than I used to. I guess you could say that Sharon is still challenging me to be a better person.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Some problems are NOT here to stay!
This semester, we've seen more patrons loaded into Aleph, patron barcodes being loaded into Aleph, and single sign-on for ILL accounts. These three things may seem small, especially to our users, but for us, they've had a big impact.
Here in ILL, we used to get maybe 20 users a day who needed to have accounts created, updated, or corrected. In the few weeks since Sydney and I sat down with Barnaby Alter (Web Developer), David Perry (Database Administrator), and Scot Dalton (Systems), our routine patrons login problems have disappeared. Another great thing to come out of this was David's load of Medical, Dental, or Law status into a specific field in Aleph, allowing the ILL staff to determine whether the patron has ILL with us or with another library.
It was amazing to work with this group of people toward a common goal: to get things to work correctly. The work was collaborative, we all brought our own skills to the table, and relayed each others' concerns in a way that was exemplary teamwork.
This experience has encouraged me to reach out to others outside of Access Services more often, to look for opportunities to work with others, even if it's just a 2 minute phone call. I've noticed, also, that when I reach out to them, it opens a door for them to reach out to me. They've been calling me with questions, questions that were not asked before probably because they didn't know I existed or what I did, or if I was the correct person to ask.
For all those who are looking to build bridges between Access Services and other departments of the library, I encourage you to start building by actively seeking opportunities to communicate. Communicating is the only way to put our names and jobs and skills on the map for other people, the only way for them to know that we are the right people to ask and that we have the answer they are looking for.
Here in ILL, we used to get maybe 20 users a day who needed to have accounts created, updated, or corrected. In the few weeks since Sydney and I sat down with Barnaby Alter (Web Developer), David Perry (Database Administrator), and Scot Dalton (Systems), our routine patrons login problems have disappeared. Another great thing to come out of this was David's load of Medical, Dental, or Law status into a specific field in Aleph, allowing the ILL staff to determine whether the patron has ILL with us or with another library.
It was amazing to work with this group of people toward a common goal: to get things to work correctly. The work was collaborative, we all brought our own skills to the table, and relayed each others' concerns in a way that was exemplary teamwork.
This experience has encouraged me to reach out to others outside of Access Services more often, to look for opportunities to work with others, even if it's just a 2 minute phone call. I've noticed, also, that when I reach out to them, it opens a door for them to reach out to me. They've been calling me with questions, questions that were not asked before probably because they didn't know I existed or what I did, or if I was the correct person to ask.
For all those who are looking to build bridges between Access Services and other departments of the library, I encourage you to start building by actively seeking opportunities to communicate. Communicating is the only way to put our names and jobs and skills on the map for other people, the only way for them to know that we are the right people to ask and that we have the answer they are looking for.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Communication, Transparency, and Holistic Service
As supervisor of Offsite Storage, a department that works regularly with so many different part of the library, I’ve always had to do a lot of communicating across the divides. Since becoming a part of Access Services, this aspect of my job has become even more pronounced.
I think this is largely due to Offsite Storage becoming more high-profile during the planning of the 2010 Renovation and its resultant need to coordinate related workflows with a larger number of faculty and staff members than ever before.
But I have also come to see it as part of a larger context: the push toward a new “Holistic Service Model” as discussed at the last Division of Libraries meeting a few months ago.
One of the themes that comes up a lot when discussing the “Holistic Service Model” - and which also came up a lot during Access Services' year-long Service Excellence Initiative - is transparency.
Personally, I find that good communication goes hand-in-hand with transparency. Good communication should be as clear as possible in its aims and in the information it is providing. However, this is much easier said than done!
What seems clear to one person might be totally confusing to another. It can be hard to step outside yourself and your own experience, especially when you’re deeply entrenched in the nitty-gritty. This is something that most of us have probably struggled with at one point or another, either at work, at home or in the outside world. It's also something that can always be improved upon. Sometimes all it takes is just that little extra bit of self-awareness and kindness.
Also, making it known that information is out there for all to find - on the Wiki, for example - is easier... done than done? What I mean is, no matter how well-organized and accurate a Wiki page may be, you can never be sure that its intended audience will take the time to consult it. Sometimes this sort of knowledge-gap can be fixed by a simple private e-mail or phone call, too.
I guess I'm taking the long way 'round to saying this:
The “Holistic Service Model” isn't just about making things better for library users, but for ourselves as well. I like to think of Offsite Storage as a good testing ground for this philosophy, since we don't usually deal directly with users but are nonetheless always interested in ways to provide better service - via coordination, communication, transparecy, and plain old friendliness! - to coworkers and colleagues. And I like to think that by doing so, we are indirectly improving upon service to all users anyway!
Now if only I could succeed in setting up simple and transparent mini-workflows during my upcoming maternity leave... :)
I think this is largely due to Offsite Storage becoming more high-profile during the planning of the 2010 Renovation and its resultant need to coordinate related workflows with a larger number of faculty and staff members than ever before.
But I have also come to see it as part of a larger context: the push toward a new “Holistic Service Model” as discussed at the last Division of Libraries meeting a few months ago.
One of the themes that comes up a lot when discussing the “Holistic Service Model” - and which also came up a lot during Access Services' year-long Service Excellence Initiative - is transparency.
Personally, I find that good communication goes hand-in-hand with transparency. Good communication should be as clear as possible in its aims and in the information it is providing. However, this is much easier said than done!
What seems clear to one person might be totally confusing to another. It can be hard to step outside yourself and your own experience, especially when you’re deeply entrenched in the nitty-gritty. This is something that most of us have probably struggled with at one point or another, either at work, at home or in the outside world. It's also something that can always be improved upon. Sometimes all it takes is just that little extra bit of self-awareness and kindness.
Also, making it known that information is out there for all to find - on the Wiki, for example - is easier... done than done? What I mean is, no matter how well-organized and accurate a Wiki page may be, you can never be sure that its intended audience will take the time to consult it. Sometimes this sort of knowledge-gap can be fixed by a simple private e-mail or phone call, too.
I guess I'm taking the long way 'round to saying this:
The “Holistic Service Model” isn't just about making things better for library users, but for ourselves as well. I like to think of Offsite Storage as a good testing ground for this philosophy, since we don't usually deal directly with users but are nonetheless always interested in ways to provide better service - via coordination, communication, transparecy, and plain old friendliness! - to coworkers and colleagues. And I like to think that by doing so, we are indirectly improving upon service to all users anyway!
Now if only I could succeed in setting up simple and transparent mini-workflows during my upcoming maternity leave... :)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Stats
I recently posted to my Facebook page that I was working on the fun part of stats. Immediately a friend replied that she wasn't aware that there was a fun part. Another friend suggested the fun part was when you are done. He was right (although he later confirmed my suspicion that he was talking about the beer you drink when you are done). The data tabulation is a necessary evil: the fun part for me is looking for patterns once all the data is there.
This year's "annual report" is a little different from previous years: the deadline is moved up so it's really an 11 month report (Sept 2009-July 2010). And it's needed urgently so I'll work on the full stats for comparison with last year later. But, I have identified a couple of cool things I'd like to share with you.
Quick Checks:
Our self service check-out machines have been very popular. The account for about 23% of the 326,291 loans we charged out over the past 11 months.
Email Reference:
The Access Sups answered 501 Ask-A-Librarian (email reference) questions on Access Services topics, or about 14% of the total traffic on AAL.
Offsite:
We discarded over 50,000 duplicate volumes (including print journals we have electronically) and sent 253,218 low-use titles offsite. We now have about a million items at our Clancy-Cullen managed facility in Patterson, New York. This year users requested 21,667 items. Although still a reasonable 2% recall rate, this number is three times what it was last year.
Recalls:
28,898 recalls were placed on materials charged out by other users. This means that 9% of all check-outs are recalled. While certainly staggering, this number isn't all that surprising: recalls jumped when we rolled out Aleph, presumably because the request button is more prominent.
Stacks:
Our Stacks staff shelved 532,879 bound volumes and 7,078 current periodicals and newspapers. Last year's numbers appear to be an anomaly, but if you look over the past two years in-house use is down 15% while general reshelving is up 6%.
Microforms:
Microform use is down 18% but is still over 8,000 uses for the year.
Entrances:
I'm still waiting for final numbers on swipes into Bobst (usually they are over a million) but we issues 2,210 collection passes, 14,905 general passes and 9,838 visitor passes for a grand total of almost 27,000 passes, many of which allow multiple entries.
Quick Search:
The number of Quick Searches placed is down about 15% to 2,772. Percentages found on the three searches remains just about the same (58%).
Interlibrary Lending:
We filled 13,444 of the 24,333 requests we received or 55%. Common reasons we are unable to fill requests are that we lack the volume requested (27%), the item is in use or in processing (18%), the item is non-circulating (18%) or the item is not on the shelf (12%).
Interlibrary Borrowing:
We obtained 30,281 of the 40,005 items requested by our users. By far the most common reason we cancel borrowing requests is because we own the item (42%). Other reasons include not being able to fill the request by the user's deadline (13%), or the item is not available from all possible lenders (17%). The number of returnable (book) ILL requests is on the rise: this year 61% of our requests were for returnables.
Reserve:
We processed 1,158 course lists, 4% less than last year. We also created 1012 durable links for professors in 146 courses (that they can then add to their blackboard courses). This number is also down compared with last year.
There is still a lot more to do for our annual report before I get that beer, but I wanted to share some of what I had found out with you.
This year's "annual report" is a little different from previous years: the deadline is moved up so it's really an 11 month report (Sept 2009-July 2010). And it's needed urgently so I'll work on the full stats for comparison with last year later. But, I have identified a couple of cool things I'd like to share with you.
Quick Checks:
Our self service check-out machines have been very popular. The account for about 23% of the 326,291 loans we charged out over the past 11 months.
Email Reference:
The Access Sups answered 501 Ask-A-Librarian (email reference) questions on Access Services topics, or about 14% of the total traffic on AAL.
Offsite:
We discarded over 50,000 duplicate volumes (including print journals we have electronically) and sent 253,218 low-use titles offsite. We now have about a million items at our Clancy-Cullen managed facility in Patterson, New York. This year users requested 21,667 items. Although still a reasonable 2% recall rate, this number is three times what it was last year.
Recalls:
28,898 recalls were placed on materials charged out by other users. This means that 9% of all check-outs are recalled. While certainly staggering, this number isn't all that surprising: recalls jumped when we rolled out Aleph, presumably because the request button is more prominent.
Stacks:
Our Stacks staff shelved 532,879 bound volumes and 7,078 current periodicals and newspapers. Last year's numbers appear to be an anomaly, but if you look over the past two years in-house use is down 15% while general reshelving is up 6%.
Microforms:
Microform use is down 18% but is still over 8,000 uses for the year.
Entrances:
I'm still waiting for final numbers on swipes into Bobst (usually they are over a million) but we issues 2,210 collection passes, 14,905 general passes and 9,838 visitor passes for a grand total of almost 27,000 passes, many of which allow multiple entries.
Quick Search:
The number of Quick Searches placed is down about 15% to 2,772. Percentages found on the three searches remains just about the same (58%).
Interlibrary Lending:
We filled 13,444 of the 24,333 requests we received or 55%. Common reasons we are unable to fill requests are that we lack the volume requested (27%), the item is in use or in processing (18%), the item is non-circulating (18%) or the item is not on the shelf (12%).
Interlibrary Borrowing:
We obtained 30,281 of the 40,005 items requested by our users. By far the most common reason we cancel borrowing requests is because we own the item (42%). Other reasons include not being able to fill the request by the user's deadline (13%), or the item is not available from all possible lenders (17%). The number of returnable (book) ILL requests is on the rise: this year 61% of our requests were for returnables.
Reserve:
We processed 1,158 course lists, 4% less than last year. We also created 1012 durable links for professors in 146 courses (that they can then add to their blackboard courses). This number is also down compared with last year.
There is still a lot more to do for our annual report before I get that beer, but I wanted to share some of what I had found out with you.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Empathy
I can't get Justin's comment from the last, last Access Services meeting out of my mind. When we were talking about the Service Excellence experiences, he mentioned the role of empathy in the service interaction. This is what I was writing about as we kicked off Service Excellence, although I didn't put the eloquent label on it that Justin did.
Just what is empathy and how does it relate to positive interactions? We have too many Star Trek: The Next Generation fans in Access Services to leave out an analogy to Deanna Troi, the empathic counselor who can sense people's emotions. Although Commander Troi is "empathic" as opposed to "empathetic" (she can actually feel the emotions of the people around her) she still serves as a relatable example.
Empathy is the ability to understand the world from another person’s viewpoint and the motivation to treat another kindly based on that understanding. Excellent service isn't about bending rules, waiving fines or smiling (although all of these may be the result of empathy). First and foremost it's about putting yourself in the other person's shoes.
When I think about the most positive service interactions I've had over the years (especially the times when I've been able to turn around a negative interaction) it's always been when I've channeled my inner Troi.
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