Hope your holiday went well . . . mine did, now I’m back at work.

So, I basically ignored anything work or blog related during the holiday.  We went to CT to stay with my parents and Thanksgiving was at my brother’s house in MA (32 to be exact-Oy Vay!).  It all was very nice and I was glad to especially see my nieces and nephew again.  I ate too much and loved it and spent a lot of relaxing time with family.  I made jewelery with my mother (one piece will be given away at the ACRL/NY Symposium as a door prize or raffle . . . can’t remember which), finished knitting a sweater that has been in the making (off and on) for about five years now, got a radio for the kitchen, and raced cows with my parents and sweetie on their Wii.  It was pretty funny. 

Friday was shop for bridesmaids dresses day at David’s Bridal in Warwick, RI.  All three girls found what they wanted.  I decided to choose a color and let them pick the style.  They are going to very pretty.  My dress was chosen, purchased and came in about a month ago and is at my parent’s house.  I tried it on when we got back from shopping just to make sure we got the right size, thankfully we did.  Let me say, that is a huge relief.  I would hate to have to exchange it for a different size.  Now I need to shop for shoes . . . ugh.  Maybe in January.

Back at work yesterday I did my usual reference shift.  I felt a bit like I was at a public library reference desk.  There was a message on voicemail from someone in the city looking for someone else  to make sure they were ok and was wondering if we had an alumni directory with the person’s address.  But the information was only good if it was Sunday night . . . yeah, ok.  The second voicemail message was cancelling the first message saying he found the person and they were ok.  I guess that is good, seeing as we don’ t have an alumni directory.  Then another patron came from the restroom and announced very loudly to me that the toilet had overflowed because they had used it, because they ‘had to go,’ and it finally all went down but it did overflow and could a custodian take care of . . . well, you get the picture.  It was kind of funny because everyone around the reference desk clearly heard the person ‘announce’ the overflow.  I just thanked them and notified the building manager.  Ironically, they did not seem embarrassed at all.  Then again, why should one be embarrassed about an overflowing toilet?  Better to just get it cleaned up.

The rest of the day was kind of shot for me.  I had called the vascular surgeon in the morning to see if I could get an appointment soon and they could only take me Monday afternoon, or I had to wait until January.  So, I ran off to that appointment around 1:30.  And all is fine.  Recovery is ongoing. My right leg is kind of bothering me now but,  I take my Coumadin daily, wear compression stockings daily (I would prefer to wear cotton socks, not these nylon things, but for the winter they are wonderfully warm and they make my legs feel a whole lot better, they really are amazing), put my feet up at home to help the circulation, and get my blood checked regularly.  I have also started going to a hematologist.  Hopefully, he will help me figure out what caused all this in the first place.  So, overall, I am recovering, but it won’t all happen overnight.  Thankfully each day is better and better.

My mother asked us what we were most thankful for this year.  The first thing out of my mouth was “Not being dead.”  And, yes, that is true.  Granted, there is a lot more I am thankful for, but I couldn’t be thankful for any of that without the not being dead part.

Article Series (2): Searching for answers in libraries via 1968

Taylor, Robert S.  “Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries.”  College & Research Libraries.  29.3(1968):178-194.

Well, like my last article, I cannot say why I originally picked this one up.  It was on the same pile as my previous article, the next one in line really.  However, I’m sure it was recommended in a blog post I read in the past six months or so.  I certainly would give the recommender credit if I could recall who it was.  Now, before you question my choice of articles, let me defend myself.  I know this one is from 1968 (about six years before I was born), but having read it I will argue it is as timely and relevant today as it was in 1968.  The author broaches some of the most fundamental questions of librarianship and information management that we still struggle with today.  And, he also looks to the future.  Some of his ideas are today’s reality, others are still a dream.  This is an article I would definitely recommend all MLS students read, in fact, all librarians should read this one every year.  There is a lot in here that I can draw on to, hopefully, improve my skills at answering reference questions.

So, to the article itself.  Taylor brings this up himself, on a very basic level, some may argue that this article is an exercise in the obvious.  Many of the issues raised or described are not new to current information professionals.  Today, these issues are age old concerns that have been discussed, pondered, argued, and worked over for decades.  So, why bother with such an article?  The deeper I got into it, I found Taylor breaks down the information search into detailed steps.  The result is a scientific analysis of the information inquiry that sheds more light onto the challenges associated with reference questions and provides some fascinating strategies on how to approach such inquiries from the perspective of the librarian.  In the abstract it is stated that, “The author contends that research is needed into the techniques of conducting this negotiation between the user and the reference librarian” (178).  I would argue that Taylor began some of this research in this very article himself.

Now, for the sake of not boring you with an incredibly long post summarizing this article I will try to outline it enough to entice you to read it.  Or, I will succeed in truly boring you.  Following Taylor’s introduction, he launches into a section titled “Question Negotiation by Librarians,” which was borne out of a series of interviews of librarians.

A.  Question Negotiation by Librarians (Taylor analyses the approach the inquirer uses to get information.  He even includes a very interesting flow chart near the beginning.)

            1.  Once arriving at the information desk there are 4 possible levels of information need and questions:

                      a.  “the conscious or even unconscious need for information”

                      b.  “a conscious mental description of an ill-defined area of indecision”

                      c.  “an inquirer can form a qualified and rational statement of his question”

                      d.  “the question is recast in anticipation of what the files can deliver” (182)

             2.  Taylor defines these needs as follows:

                      Q1-the visceral need

                      Q2-the conscious need

                      Q3-the formalized need

                      Q4-the compromised need (182)

              3.  Each question posed at the reference desk goes through five general filters that allows the librarian to assist the inquirer.  Taylor delves into a great description of the obstacles associated with each of these filters:

                        a.  determination of subject

                        b.  objective and motivation

                        c.  personal characteristics of inquirer

                        d.  relationship of inquiry description to file organization

                        e.  anticipated or acceptable answers (183-188) 

B.  The next section of the article is titled “The Information Seeking Strategies of Users,” where Taylor describes an analytic study done of a group of users.  The study involved the users describing the steps they went through in their search for answers to a self-chosen question.  We have all read, or come across, similar studies of this kind that have been published since 1968, but if you are interested in such studies you might want to give this one a quick read too.

C.  Taylor’s final section, “Summary and Conclusions,” pulls together the issues he wrote of earlier through two sections titled “Negotiation” and “Self-Help.”  The final heading in this section is “Possible Systems and Devices,” and attempts to tie it to the information seeking challenges he is addressing in the bulk of the paper.  He writes of current (1968) innovations.  One such innovation we recognize as one of the precursors to the database.  The name is great: “Recordak Lodestar Microfilm Reader-Printer with an Image Control Keyboard.” (193). Seriously, if you read nothing else of this article, read about the Recordak system.  It is fascinating to read today, knowing what we know about databases. 

This article is very rich with a lot of great information and a great read for historical interest.  I could load up this post with tons of quotes, but I will finish with just one that I think will leave you all nodding in agreement and give you something to think about.  It is as timely today as it was then.

             “If libraries, at any level of service, are going to grow and evolve (and indeed exist) as integral parts of our urban techno-scientific     

               culture, then they must know themselves.  They must know themselves both as local and rather special institutions and as parts of very

               large, very dynamic, and very complex information and communications networks, which operate on both a formal and

               informal level” (194).

Fell off the radar again . . . ’cause I came close to death.

Yeah, so how is that for a post title?  I’m not going to go into too many of the ugly details but let’s see if I can give you some sort of idea what happened.

So, if you have been following my blog you may have read about the pulled calf muscle in my left leg.  Guess what?  Not a pulled calf muscle, not at all.  My leg had been bothering me off and on since about mid-June.  Sometimes it would be ok, sometimes it would hurt so much it made me cry.  But I kept thinking I was not giving myself enough time to heal.  Boy was I wrong.  I had an ultrasound in July to rule out the possibility of a blood clot and the test came back clear (unfortunately). 

As August came in I went to the IDS Project Conference in Oswego, NY and had one hell of a time driving home because my leg was hurting again.  I thought it was because I had been doing so much walking at the conference andthe muscles in my leg were punishing me for it.  Little did I know, I was flirting with something far worse.  The day after I got home I went for my tonsillectomy, which I have already written about here.  At the end of that recovery I went into New York City for a meeting, that was August 21st.  My throat was fine, my leg wasn’t great, but I had to go.  The city was sweltering that day and I was ducking in and out of shops to take advantage of the air conditioning.  Got to my meeting on time, and then as I as leaving I suddenly became very out of breath.  I explained it away as the heat, stress, and adrenaline from trying to stay focused at the meeting (yeah . . . it was none of that).  Before getting on the train home I did some shopping at Borders, Staples and a bakery in Penn Station.  When I got home I got a take out pizza and crashed on the couch, thinking I was just really exhausted. 

The next day, Aug. 22nd, my sweetie and I met my brother and his family at the Bronx Zoo.  It was a humid day with a lot of walking and my leg was again crying by the time we got in the car to go home.  I thought, two days of walking after being off of it for about two weeks was making me pay.  We went out to dinner that night to celebrate our engagement (yes, we got engaged folks).  Sunday was a quiet day at home but I found even walking across the room to open the window was getting me out of breath.  Strange, I couldn’t understand why I was so winded. 

August 24th was my first day back to work.  I was  happy to go and very ready to get back on track.  When I got to work it tookme about forty minutes to walk from my car to the library because I was so out of breath.  I had to stop five times to calm down andcatch my breath.  Finally got in and parked my butt at my desk, talked to folks who stopped by to welcome me back and see how I was doing, andthen went to a Reference meeting that lasted from 10:30 to 12.  It was good to be back at work, but this being out of breath thing was surreal.  I actually had to have a colleague get me a sandwich because I could not walk the short distance for myself.  In the afternoon I just worked on catching up on the ILL backlog, unpacking materials and getting some requests put through.  Then, about 3:30, my left arm went all numb andtingly (this was the second time this had happened, it had also happened on Aug. 13th).  I shared this information with some of my colleagues and they thought I should call someone ASAP.  So, I called my doctor andwaited for her to call me back.  That was a very long ten minute wait, but I was hoping she would say I was fine.  When I got on the phone with her and described my symptoms she told me I needed to go to an ER, not a clinic, an ER at a hospital, and I shouldn’t drive myself.  My reaction was pretty much, HOLY SHIT!  And of course started crying.  Thankfully, some of my colleagues (and they know who they are) helped me out.  One offered to drive me to Greenwich Hospital and the other made sure I got out the library the easiest way possible.

At the hospital ER we pulled up to valet parking (yes, valet parking folks) and was pretty much taken right away.  The ER doctor I saw initially thought I just had anxiety, as I have a history of it, but decided to do a CAT scan of my chest anyway, since I was having trouble breathing.  The CAT scan was my ticket to admission.  I had very large blood clots in both lungs, pulmonary embolism is the technical phrase.  I was taken to the telemetry ward, which is basically a step down from the ICU.  Honestly, I did not know how bad my condition was, and that was probably good or I would have freaked out.  I spent the next three and a half days “tied” to the wall while they monitored my heart, oxygen levels, and kept me on oxygen.  They wouldn’t even let me out of bed!  I won’t trouble you with the details of that.  But suffice it to say you lose all your dignity when you are confined to a hospital bed.  And boy was my hair in need of a good washing!

The Friday after I was admitted they, thankfully, moved me to a regular floor andlucky me got a private room.  I say thankfully because they had put a dying woman in the bed next to me late Thursday night.  By the time they moved me the room was filled with her family members and I only had a curtain separating me from all that drama.  Then, I spent about another three and a half days on the regular floor before I was allowed to go home.  Basically, they needed to make sure that no more clots were going to move, my heart rate and oxygen levels were ok, and I had enough anticoagulant drugs in me to prevent any more clots.  The final verdict, I had DVT(deep vein thrombosis) in my left leg.  THAT was what all the pain was, it had nothing to do with my muscles.  And some of that had gone to my lungs.  My condition was very serious, I’m just lucky that, despite my delayed diagnosis, it didn’t get any worse than it did.  Such problems can kill, I am one of the survivors.  Actually, one of my nurses (andlet me say they were all AWESOME) mentioned that there was recently a girl in the ICU at Greenwich withthe same problem but she had had a stroke.  I was sent home on Monday, August 31st, with a prescription for Coumadin and a charge to see my doctor on Wednesday.

So, now I am recovering at home and hoping to go back to work on Sept. 7th, maybe for some half days.  And my sweetie is recovering too.  He says he is fine, but he spent seven days driving back and forth from his work and our apartment in NJ to the Greenwich Hospital.  The whole ordeal had taken a lot out of both of us.  But it is wonderful to have someone there for you everyday when you are stuck in the hospital.  My parents were there for several days too and both my brothers each made a visit.  So, I certainly was not in need of company.  It also helped to focus on our engagement instead of the fact that I was stuck in the hospital. 

So, what caused all this?  Good question.  There were probably several factors.  Long trips can cause such problems, but I had not been on any significantly long trips recently to say that was what caused the problem.  The one thing my doctors andI think was probably the biggest contributing factor was birth control pills.  Yes, we have all heard the warnings on the TV ads, but of course you never think it will happen to you.  Well, it may not, but it happened to me and I hope that for some girls it will maybe make them stop and pause for a moment and maybe make a more educated decision about taking them.  I am not advocating against or for them, they were great for me for many many years, but making sure they really are the right choice for you should not be taken lightly.  I am off them now and will not go back to taking them.  My doctor and I will also be checking to make sure I don’t have any genetic predisposition for blood clots.  I will have to be on Coumadin for at least six months and have my blood tested regularly to make sure my PT/INR levels are ok (should be between 2 and3, right now it is about 2.2).  While I am on it can bruise easily, if I get a cut it will bleed longer, if I hit my head or are in any kind of accident, I will have to go to the ER to get checked out.  As for the clots, my body should get rid of them with time, it takes a while.  And, I cannot get pregnant during this time because the drug can cause serious birth defects.  Yeah, all a bit of a downer, but I’m out of the hospital, I’m alive, and I’m looking forward to a lot.  I am thankful and lucky I have a future to look forward to. 

Andthat future includes, beyond being the Coumadin poster child, getting back to work at the library, planning a wedding, and much more.  Not sure how I’m going to do it, I guess just one day at a time.  So, enough drama here.  Hopefully I can get back to posting about more mundane library-related things soon.  Meanwhile I will go back to trying to remove more of the adhesive residue from all the stuff stuck to me while I was in the hospital.  Ick.

Oh, I just want to say, Greenwich Hospital is absolutely lovely.  The doctors and nurses are great and the facilities themselves are to die for, better than some hotels I have seen.

Tuesday, July 28th-Seems a bit of at time waster . . . but I’m trying

Day 2 of A Day in the Life of a Library . . .

Morning

• A very hot and humid morning.  So smart me decided to actually iron her clothes!  Yeah, should have just worn them wrinkled.  I hate sweating after a shower.  Ick.
• Got to campus at about 8:30 (relished the car’s AC) and snagged one of the last parking spots in the most coveted lot,  on campus.  Forgot the Smartfood in the trunk of my car for this afternoon’s webinar, will have to get it later.  Was disappointed at Starbucks, they don’t do decaf iced coffee . . . booo!  Got hot instead and a grapefruit IZZE.  Grrr. 
• Finally in my office and logged on, checked my email, opened ILLiad, opened Twitter, found the link for the Day in the Life wiki and blew my time until 10 am writing Monday’s post and adding my ‘name’ to the list on the wiki.  Then decided to start on today’s post.  Why not, I’m on a roll, why not blow the entire morning on semi-work related stuff?
• Only a few work related things came up, a student looking for instructions on how to access the wireless came in to my office to ask for help on that (this was before the Reference Desk starts at 10 am).  My office is right next to the Reference Desk and computing area, so through no intentional effort I have become the library’s default reference person when no one is at the desk.  A bit annoying at times, but it reminds me of why I am really here, to help our customers use our materials and services.  Then a colleague came in to say she was having a minor crisis because she got an overdue notice for book she already returned to me.  Crisis resolved, the notice was for a different book and I renewed the one she got a notice for.  We discussed Brian Matthew’s book briefly. 
• Sneezed and the morning’s reference librarian called me to say ‘Bless you.’  Pretty funny since she is close enough to say it without the phone.  Yeah, we are a weird bunch.
• Distributed books to their respective pick-up locations for today’s pick-up/deliveries, talked to a colleague about how my blouse doesn’t fix exactly right (she give me a bit of some sarcastic sympathy, which gave me a good laugh for the morning).  Talked briefly about this afternoon’s webinar and told her I’m bringing Smartfood.  She has never had it before!
• Back at the computer, I looked at techMETRO’s post for Monday and decided to check out Pandora as a result.  I am so out of the streaming music scene.  Processed some interlibrary loan requests, faxed an article, copied and scanned another, processed a few more books for shipping.  Tried reading more of “Fluent”, the Razorfish report, and realized it is all about Social Influence Marketing, Social Ads, and a way for Razorfish to market itself to commercial companies.  Some librarians may argue there is useful stuff in this report . . . I tossed it in the recycling bin.  Went back to reading more of Brian Matthew’s book.  The second half of chapter 5 is better than the first,  all very valuable.  Ordered some books on blogging through interlibrary loan for a faculty and staff workshop I am doing this Fall and for my own personal blogging improvement.

Noon

• Another lovely sandwich for lunch with two colleagues and then went to my car for the Smartfood for this afternoon’s webinar.  Lingered at the Circulation Desk to chat for a bit when I got back to the library.

Afternoon

• At the computer again, checked  work and personal email, processed a few interlibrary loan items.  Pretty quiet except for the workers who are still installing windows on the front of our building (we have been under some kind of construction for probably the last ten years with no end in sight).  Picked up the latest issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly to start  reading a couple articles.
• 2:00 and we began our group viewing of the webinar.  UGH!  Very useful for others attending at other locations, not useful for us.  Happily we were well supplied with Smartfood and chocolate.  We already knew everything that was presented, or are already doing it.  Over two hours later and three of us sat down to briefly talk about how we are going to establish a preliminary presence in Moodle, which is a new adoption on our campus.  We will be creating a general library box that faculty can put into their classes in Moodle and we have to decide what we will include in that box, how it will be worded, and what the layout will be.
• That quick meeting ended at 4:15.  Wrapped up my day, and my leg in my ace bandage to head home.  Tonight is a pre-op appointment for next week’s tonsillectomy and then it is off for a swim in the pool.  I loove having a pool at my apartment complex. 

Postscript

• Doctor’s appointment took longer than expeceted and then had to go immediately to hand in prescriptions at the pharmacy.  So no swimming today . . . boooo.
• Last thing for this post, a bit of editing at about 8 pm and then up it went.
• Oh, and not completely sold on this day in the life stuff but I will keep going for now . . .

Monday, July 27th-I’m not doing this . . .

So, yesterday I got into work and checked my Twitter account to see that some folks were participating in “A Day in the Life of a Library . . . “  I thought, interesting, but I don’t have time for this.  I’m leaving for a conference on Sunday and getting my tonsils out on August 6th.  The recovery for the surgery will supposedly take two weeks.  So, after this week, I will be out of the office for three weeks.  THREE WEEKS!  And none of it will be vacation, unless of course you call lying on the couch recovering from minor surgery vacation (Well, I guess it is better than major surgery).  Naturally, blogging about the details of my work life for this week, which is what this project is, does not seem sensible since I am trying to get some things done before I am out.  Another reason is I prefer to stay somewhat anonymous on this blog because I am deliberately blogging as a academic librarian but not as a representative of the institution I work for, or the library.  And the wiki for this project asks for your name (Although, there is no rule I HAVE to give my name).  As of last night at 4:30, when I left work, I was resolved not to do this.  Then, this morning, while getting ready for work (ok, ok, I was in the shower, for some reason my brain occasionally talks some sense into me in the shower) I realized it was a good idea to participate in this.  The main reason is because it is right in line with what my blog is all about, to share with colleagues what it is like to be an academic librarian, inside and outside of the library.  And, as one of my colleagues pointed out, it would give my blog more exposure.  So here I am, a day late (Tuesday) posting my Monday stuff.  And, in the spirit and theme of my blog, I’m not just including the work related stuff, my personal life blends in here, as I’m sure it does with all.  You can’t exactly not share that your Mom called in the afternoon before you left for home when, yes folks, she did.

Morning

• Got to work around 8:30 am, thankfully 287 was ok and kind to my leg.  I’m back driving my car (a manual) after borrowing my Dad’s truck (an automatic-THANKS DAD!) for a week to give my pulled calf muscle a rest.  Yeah, you try working a clutch with a pulled muscle.  So I ended up driving with my leg wrapped in an ace bandage and it worked out great, and a lot better than lying on the couch in pain (yes, looking for sympathy here).
• Checked my email, opened up the ILLiad client to see what requests needed processing and processed them,  I also ordered some books for myself through ILLiad and sent out overdue notices, checked Twitter to discover that this Day in the Life thing was going on and decided not to do it, checked one of my other email accounts (I get library-related newsletters sent there, honestly, that was all I was doing there . . . ), and caught up on reading some of my RSS feeds in my Google Reader account (my library ones . . .).   Then, started feeling guilty about the articles I should start writing.
• A colleague asked via email if anyone was interested in tomorrows 2 pm webinar titled “Academic Librarianship by Design: Enhancing the libraries integration into Course / Learning Management Systems“.  Apparently several of us are interested.  As a result she booked a classroom so we can view it as a group.  (I secretly resolved to buy Smartfood to bring to the event.)
• 10 am I started my weekly Reference Shift.  It was a sloooooow morning.  I got two questions, one was on the phone and was really interlibrary loan, which is good because I do all the interlibrary loan stuff.  But I counted it as a Reference question.  The only other question I got between 10 and 12 was from one of our Circulation Supervisors trying to find out who had their bike chained to the railing on the handicap ramp outside (It belongs to one of our student workers, I marked that down on our statistics too).  Other than that, I cracked open my borrowed copy of Brian Matthew’s new book: Marketing Today’s Academic Library.  Already, a very good read.  And, I worked on outlines for two articles.  So, despite the lack of questions during the last week of our last summer session, I was pretty productive.

Noon

• Left the Reference Desk at noon and logged into my computer to check my email.  Like clockwork, some of my colleagues had already sent out a lunch query.  When we have the time, we got to lunch together at the food court on campus.  Whoo Hoo!  Food!  I’m on a mozzarella cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread with oil kick lately.  They are SO good!

Afternoon

• After lunch, what did I do after lunch yesterday . . .  Oh yes, pulled, copied and scanned two articles for a faculty member.  Checked ILLiad again and worked on processing some more stuff.  I attempted to read some of the new report from Razorfish “Fluent” but I printed it in a small font and the content, although useful, is very dry (read it at your own peril) and in some ways a no brainer.  So I set that aside and went back to more of Brian Matthew’s book.  I’m almost half way through now.  A very good book, but I’m slowing down on chapter 5, it is about market research and a bit more dense than the first four chapters.  Asked the director’s assistant if the license keys for adding work email to our Blackberries (for me and a colleague) have come in yet.  She said she is still waiting.  Processed the interlibrary loan deliveries that had come in and packaged up some materials that need to be shipped out on Tuesday.  Discovered the Blogher conference, which will be in NYC next year and am seriously considering going.  Mom called around 4:00 to give me an update on my Dad (he has been sick and they discovered he has some kind of tick borne illness, too early to say exactly what, but he’s being treated already and starting to feel a bit better, although apparently the recovery will take some time).  Wrapped up my day, and my leg in the ace bandage, to leave at 4:30.  Off to the Chiropractor to get adjusted.  Hooray!  And then the grocery store for some essentials and home to saute a zucchini for dinner.

To hell with style guides!

So this student approached the reference desk yesterday in a very energetic manner.  She needed help with her senior project.  Her advisor told her that the paper was fine but her bibliography was horrible and must be fixed.  She had a copy of the 6th edition of the MLA style guide but it appeared she had never opened it.  I ended up spending a good amount of time with her telling her which parts of the book she should be reading and spending loads of time with.  But the rich moment of that interview was when she declared she had decided to put the citations in the order that just made sense to her!  Oh but my dear, experts in scholarly research have not spent years and years and millions of hours coming up with citation and bibliography standards for some nineteen year old to just say, “I’m just going to do it the way I want.”  Sweetheart, you didn’t buy that book to look cool, you bought that MLA style guide to help you do your research . . . PLEASE read it (and use it of course).  Oy Vay!

Swiftly approaching the end of the semester (and chaos?).

Boy, the weather gets warm and things get crazy on campus.  There is a student setting up his senior project in the center of campus.  It is a huge multi-piece sculpture of metal and burnt wood.  There is a protest against gays on the lawn that no one knew about so the reaction to it is very knee-jerk and unorganized.  Everyone is outside in full force, trying to take advantage of the warm weather.  Shorts, sun dresses and flip-flops are the order of the day, along with a few folks that look like they should be at the original Woodstock (this campus is awesome, too bad the mime that was in the library a couple months ago isn’t around today).  And yet there a lot of students in the library.  The semester ends May 12 (two weeks) so students are circling the computing stations like sharks.  Our scanner died about a week ago so there are many concerned questions about it at the Reference Desk.  But on a non-panicked, happy note, for the second year in a row, some of our Art & Design students (12) are displaying their book art final projects in the library.  Go books!

Non-traditional service

We have a fairly new print management system on campus that tracks the number of pages students print out from the public computers.  This system was implemented by the IT department on campus.  And in order for your printing to be tracked you need an email account, which allows you to log on to any of the public computing stations and do your printing. 

So there I am at the reference desk this morning and a non-traditional student comes up, very pleasant and organized and said he needed three articles that were listed on his syllabus.  I had him come around and sit at the reference computer with me.  He had not used the library’s electronic resources.  I asked him if he had an email account.  He said no and volunteered that he doesn’t use the computer.  Ok . . . so there I was thinking, I am surrounded by students at public computers, who use the print management system and and networked printers AND we basically refuse to do any printing for them from staff and faculty computers because of this new system, and they are seeing and hearing me willingly print out “free” copies for someone.  Because, yes, that is exactly what I did.  Instead of telling this person they had to have an email account and I couldn’t print the stuff for him and he had to talk to IT about getting an email account first  and . . . blah, blah, blah . . . I just looked them up and printed them out.  I would have gotten a blank stare and then an upset student if I had said all that.  And he went on his merry way with many thank yous and have a nice days.  How is that fair?  If I was eighteen I would say it wasn’t fair at all!  Why do I have to use the print management system and do all this stuff myself and that guy doesn’t? 

Well . . . is the best customer service the exact same customer service for everyone that comes up to you?  Do you treat every customer EXACTLY the same?  Do you assume the exact same skill levels for all your customers/students?  Do you assume they have the same expectations of how they should be served at a service point?  So is it fair?  I don’t think it is about fairness.  I think it is about meeting the needs of the customer/student in front of you at the moment to the best of your abilities.

Revisiting old student research excuses

This article by Mary W. George, from Princeton University, popped up on Inside Higher Ed this morning:

Admissions of Another Sort

Guess things haven’t changed much.  So if you feel like you are a broken record in your instruction sessions, don’t.  Remember, each time you teach one of your standard sessions, you are speaking to, for the most part, students who have never heard this stuff before.  And boy do they need to hear it!

Customer Service? What is that?

I am at the Reference Desk this morning and a patron came up to me to tell me a computer she attempted to log on to did not work so she shut it down.  Instead she logged on to the computer next to the temperamental one.  I promptly went over to the funky one to see if I could solve the problem and observed that the monitor plug was loose.  At that moment the patron said, “How is your day going so far?”  And  I thought, “Holy sh– I must sound REALLY cranky!”  because she sounded as if she was trying to diffuse someone’s bad mood.  I attempted to reply in as pleasant a manner as possible but felt I had completely failed in that customer service moment.  Thankfully, the patron was seemed to take it all in stride and didn’t seem to scare her away. 

In light of this, I have been thinking a lot about customer service in general lately and have been wondering how I can improve.  I used to think I was pretty good at customer service, but now I’m not so sure.  This morning, I was at the Circulation desk putting some books on carts, but I don’t do any shifts there.  A patron came up and asked the person at Circulation to quickly look up a book for him.  that Circulation person was on the phone dealing with a computer problem so I, thinking I was being helpful said: “You can go right down to the computers at reference and log in and look up anything you want.”  He said ok and made his way downstairs.  Only as he walked away did I realize he probably wanted to avoid taking the time to log into one of the public computers because it takes over two minutes for your profile to load.  I should have said “I can look it up for you right here.”  Since I WAS standing in front of a logged in computer when I told him to go downstairs.  Clearly, I need lots more practice with this customer service stuff.  Good thing I work in a library!