Tuesday, December 05, 2006

So, when do you just say no?

I had a patron the other night that wanted "5 books on segregation, congregation and disintegration and if you can just get those for me". After some questioning I figured out that apparently she wanted books on segregation in prison (there aren't any) then she told me she just wanted the numbers for books on segregation. Ten minutes later she came back and said, "Jesus is teaching me a lesson in patience today"...mutter mutter...and then something about how I had sent her to the wrong place. She then tells me she had asked me for books on prison and to give her the call numbers for books about prison. I said it is a broad topic and can she give me some more information so I could narrow it down and find the "right" books. She said it didn't matter, she can write a paper using any books about any aspect of prison and just give her the numbers.

My question is, if she came back again, what should I have done? She was highly agitated and impatient and was perhaps having a slightly different experience of reality than most of us. Do I put up with her abuse? (She was extremely rude to me) This is obviously not the first time someone has been rude to me while working this desk, but is there a point where I put my foot down and just say I can't help her? I gently suggested she try the OPAC and you'd have thought she suggested I sell her child to travelling gypsies. There was no way to make her happy, so how could I politely say no?

Any thoughts?

Monday, November 20, 2006

Here's an interesting quandry. . .

If students prefer finding articles online (and not in print), why do they prefer using the printed graduate bulletin (and look injured when I tell them they have to access the bulletin online)?

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Adventures in Adaptive Technology

For the past week or so I've been mulling over my reference encounters, unsuccessfully trying to find a topic to write about. However, after the reference question I just finished, I've stumbled upon a topic. Eureka!

Here's something I don't remember learning much about in library school: adaptive technologies for the hearing and visually impaired, which we may happen across from time to time as librarians.

Like today, for instance. When the phone rang, I fully expected that I would be asked to repeat my standard Saturday evening reference mantra: "We close at 9 p.m. tonight." Instead, I was introduced to the new and fascinating world of voice carryover calls at the Michigan Relay Center. The operator explained that the person calling was deaf -- he would talk to me directly, and the operator would type my response and send it to his TTY phone. While I had heard about this service before, I had not actually experienced it. It took me a while to get the hang of what was going on. I frequently forgot to say "go ahead" at the end of my response, signaling the operator to send the message. It also took me a while to figure out that when the patron said "GA," he meant "go ahead".

This made for a long reference question, made even longer by the content of the question. The patron was, I believe translating a passage in the bible either into or out of Greek. He was looking for the nuances in meaning of a few Greek words. Collection development side note: perhaps UGL should invest in a Greek dictionary that has the Greek words in both Cyrillic and Latin (English) letters. But most of the Greek/English dictionary Web sites I found didn't include both sets of letters either.

But I digress.

Today's situation reminded me of a patron I helped a few weeks ago: a legally blind student who had to write an art appreciation paper about two paintings. I had assumed that books would be completely off limits, and everything we found would need to be online so she could use her screen reader. However, I learned that she could checkout or make photocopies of books, scan them using OCR technology, and then open them on her computer so that her screen reader could read them. Looking back, this doesn't seem like such a groundbreaking technique, but I had never thought of doing so until then. Our time together was very collaborative: I told her what I was searching for on the book catalog, we talked through the search results, I retrieved the books for her and then bookmarked the relevant pages. Using the databases, I was able to e-mail the articles to her directly.

While we were working, a patron standing nearby was watching and listening to the process intently. She had a nephew who was blind, and she had no idea that so many resources were available to him. Patron #1 then explained about the Educational Accessiblity Services (in Suite 1600), and the resources available at the Detroit Public Library. More information is available at the library's page on adaptive technologies.

Have any of your classes discussed adaptive technologies in the library? Because mine really haven't, and it would seem like an important topic to cover.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Stuck Staple Removal

I just wanted to share with everybody that I have just discovered that a push pin is an excellent tool for removing a heavy-duty staple stuck in the standard stapler.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Millenials and Me

In my new quest to achieve ultimate multitasking efficiency this semester, I've decided to write today's blog about a speaker at the dinner I attended for my other job. The speaker, whose name I don't remember at the moment, is a consultant for K-12 schools and the occasional college. His speech, which he delivered to a room of roughly 400 faculty and staff dressed like high-powered business execs, was entitled "Teaching to the Millenials." Or something like that.

The speaker asked the audience (and I'm paraphrasing) "where were you on this day in 1982." I whispered to my tablemates, much to their mirth, that I was less than a month old. The next youngest person at the table said that in 1982 she was a junior in high school. In fact, I was one of perhaps five Millenials (born between 1982 and 2002) sitting amongst 400+ Boomers and Gen Xers clad in executive business suits. And I was being placed in the same generational group as today's 4-year-olds. That's good.

On the upside, my fellow Millenials are, apparently, the next great American generation, full of technological prowess, energy and ideals, and are more interested in enjoying their jobs than in being paid well for them. The speaker told us that not only is this group of idealists even larger than the Boomer generation, but Millenials are also potentially more influential, providing they can overcome their incredibly short attention spans (look! a bunny!)

While I think it may be a little premature to start labeling today's preschoolers as America's next heroes (that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid who can't yet tie his own shoes), I did catch the speaker's two main points.

First, having been raised with computers and cell phones and various other forms of technology, Millenials are extraordinarily good (or think they're extraordinarily good) at multitasking. Thus, in class (and the library), even if Millenials are otherwise engaged and aren't staring at their teacher (or friendly librarian), part of them may still be absorbing information. Millenials do particularly well through learning activities, in which they can apply what they've learned.

The speaker's second point was that K-12 schools generally have been slow to learn and apply this information to their teaching practices. The speaker argued that this leads to students who are ill-prepared for college because information has not been presented to them in a way they can easily understand and process.

Soooo...how can I bring this back 'round to Club UGL?

Millenials (i.e. 3/4 of Club UGL attendees) know how to play with technology but aren't all that skilled in doing productive stuff with it. When they ask for help, they expect a quick answer and seem to be more interested in the ends rather than the means (witness the students who ask for directions and begin walking away when you speak).

Boomers and Gen Xers are more patient learners (and I am speaking in generalities here), but their patience is tried when they have to glean information from technology they don't understand.

These learning differences present problems for librarians charged with the task of teaching Millenials and non-Millenials how to use library resources to find information. When working with patrons one-on-one, it isn't too difficult to switch your teaching style to meet the patrons' needs. However, how do you teach library skills to a mixed group?

I've watched one drop-in workshop at Club UGL and was a "student" in another. In both, technologically-adept Millenials sat next to computer illiterate non-millenials. And at my other job I've watched many BI sessions (and gave a few of my own today) with a similar mix of students. What's the best way to teach library skills in this situation? Do you teach to the lowest common denominator and risk having the Millenials zone out on you? Do you aim high and tell non-Millenials to watch their neighbors? Or do you teach to the middle, hoping that the Millenials don't get too bored while you explain how to double-click a mouse button, and hoping that the non-Millenials can keep up? You can tell the bored or confused to ask for help later, but I'm sure many won't. Each group has a right and a need to learn, so where do you draw the balance when working with both?

Friday, September 15, 2006

blog

During her presentation last tuesday Rachel Singer Gordon talked quite a bit about using blogs and social sites to promote the library's role in the community. This made me think about how we have this blog to update our fellow GSAs about what is going on, or to discuss issues, but it might be helpful to have a blog for the people who use the library. We could use it to post problems with the computer system, or events in the library, changes in the library hours, etc. And the library users could post their issues with the library, their suggestions as to how we could do our jobs better, or questions about our services.

I don't know, maybe it's just the coffee talking. What do you guys think?

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Welcome Week in the Library; or Where's My Textbook?

The game's afoot.

I had conveniently forgotten just how crowded campus is during the fall semester, and particularly how crowded it is during the first few weeks of the fall semester. Thus imagine my surprise on Tuesday when, after wading through the sea of patrons lurking outside Club UGL, I found ladyblogsalot surrounded by a slightly smaller sea of people, with yet another person on the phone. Thankfully, I didn't start working until several hours later.

I had been warned that the first few weeks of fall were "a little busy," and internally I knew that these first few weeks of the semester will be hectic. Nevertheless, like a deer in the headlights, I found myself stunned at just how many people were in the library. My first semester at the info desk took place during the sleepy summer semester, and my hours there were spent somewhat leisurely. Fast-forward to Tuesday, the second day of the fall semester -- each time I wrote down the gate count on Tuesday I stopped to recheck the number, certain that there must be a mistake. Did 4,000 people really pass through the gates in a single hour in the evening? At some point during my shift on Tuesday the gate counter definitely went haywire, as evidenced by the 4,000+ person increase in the gate count between 10 and 11 p.m. I would believe 4,000 people passed through the gates around dinnertime during Welcome Week, but certainly not around bedtime.

Now that it's the weekend the library has quieted down a bit, and I have some time to write this posting. Future GSAs might read this to prepare for their first onslaught of Welcome Week students. Current GSAs might use this posting to learn or share tips and such, or just to commiserate. Mostly, I'm writing this to vent, unwind, and absorb what I've learned this week.

By far the most popular questions that I heard were:
-"Where's building X?"
-"Where's my class?"
-"Do you have my textbook?"
-"Why don't you have my textbook?"
-"Why can I only check out my textbook for two hours?"

As students learned that they couldn't check out their books for more than a few hours, questions about using the photocopiers also became *very* popular. I did see on one student's syllabus that the professor promised to confiscate any photocopies of the textbook.

And of course, the great classics of UGL still applied: "Where's advising? Tutoring? Counseling? Where's the bathroom? The computers? The vending machines? Change for the vending machines?"

My favorite interaction of the week was:
Obvious Freshman: "Where do I go to checkout a textbook for my class?"
Me: "Textbooks are on reserve over at the checkout desk?" (I point to checkout desk).
OF: "Oh, okay." (Walks half way to checkout desk. Walks back.) "So do I tell them what book I need?"
Me: "Yup. . ." (Patron walks away as I smile and think "No, they have a psychic back there who tells them what you need.")

And to the creepy, old movie-lovin' man who said 30 years older than myself isn't too old: No...just...just no.

So, those were my Welcome Week experiences...care to share yours?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Developments in Freedom of Information

Last week I ran across two fascinating developments in the world of Freedom of Information. The first involves the Library Connection kerfuffle (what a great word!), and the second involves people you've never heard of protecting you from diry hotel movies. Enjoy!

Library Connection Kerfuffle
Since it first broke in August 2005, I have followed the general story arc of the skirmish between the Connecticut-based Library Connection consortium, the Government, and a National Security Letter demanding that the Library Connection turn over patron records to the FBI. A summary of the case and links to a long list of news stories and court documents can be found here. However, I had not studied the situation in depth until last week, when I saw that the American Civil Liberties Union posted several court documents from Doe [Library Connection} vs. Gonzalez that the government had kept tightly under wraps until this month, when the Supreme Court ordered them to be unsealed. They are beautiful. My two particular favorites are:

1) The infamous National Security Letter, received by Ken Sutton, the Systems and Telecommunications Manager for the Library Connection. After assuring Sutton that the First Amendment doesn't come into play, Special Agent Wolf instructs Sutton that he is prohibited by law from telling anyone about the NSL and must hand deliver all relevant patron records to the FBI himself. To his credit, Special Agent Wolf ends the letter on a slightly warmer note, informing Sutton that "Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated." Isn't that nice (but not nice enough for Library Connection and the ACLU to pay heed).

2) Justice Ginsburg's decision to keep the government's gag order on the Library Connection in place, even though the government itself accidentally revealed the LC's identity. Pay particular attention to the group of paragraphs beginning with the last sentence on page 5 of the ruling:
"Shortly after the court of appeals entered the stay, the parties learned that, through inadvertence, Doe's identity had been publicly available for several days on the District Court's Web site and on PACER, the electronic docket system run by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts [....] The parties also learned that the media had correctly reported Doe's identity on at least one occasion"

Nevertheless, Ginsburg decided to keep the gag order in place, even though "Doe seeks only to confirm its identity as the recipient of a NSL. It does not seek to disclose the contents of the NSL, nor does it seek to disclose the date on which it was received", and even though "Doe -- the only entity in a position to impart a first-hand account of its experience -- remains barred from revealing its identity, while others who obtained knowledge of Doe's identity -- when the cat was inadvertently let out of the bag -- may speak freely on that subject."

While I can understand the stated reasons behind Justice Ginsburg's decision (namely, that the case was currently being heard by another court), it still seems somewhat, well, stupid, as does following rulings also upholding the gag order. Especially since Justice Ginsburg notes on page 4 that when the case was in District Court the presiding judge asked "whether there are in fact other pieces of information that, when combined with Doe's identity, would hinder the investigation. Counsel could not so confirm." This means, essentially, that the Government insisted on the gag order to wield its authority and not because the investigation would be harmed if the Library Connection said "yes, we did in fact receive a national security letter." It is interesting to note that the Government dropped the whole case after the Patriot Act was reauthorized.

People You've Never Heard of Protecting You From Dirty Hotel Movies
Not being a connoisseur of hotel pornography myself, I was blissfully unaware that by allowing guests access to pornographic media (videos, TV channels, etc), the hotel industry is directly contributing to the downfall of American Family Values. According to a story posted on CNN.com ("Conservatives ask FBI to Investigate Hotel Porn"), a coalition of 13 conservative groups recently launched an advertising campaign with two objectives. First, the ads promote CleanHotels.com, a Web directory of porn-free hotels. Okay, no problem there.

Second and far more problematic purpose of the ad campaign is to get the FBI to investigate whether accessible pornography in hotels violates national and local obscenity laws. Wait a minute . . . whether the coalition likes it or not, child-free pornography is protected by that pesky First Amendment. In the CNN story, hotel representatives rightly point out that 1) people have the right to watch pornography, and 2) guests can choose not to watch pornographic media, and can even ask hotels to block access to that media in their rooms. Unless the hotel industry is strapping guests to their beds and forcing them to watch X-rated media, I don't really see the problem, try as the coalition might to alter my views with broad warnings about impending pornographic doom.

The CNN story highlights two of the coalition's main concerns about accessible pornography in hotels. The president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, argues that when people have access to pornography they become desensitized -- the story doesn't explain just what people are becoming desensitized to, how such a process might occur, or why this is vastly more important for the FBI to investigate than, say, actual child pornography rings.

The coalition's second concern is, to me at least, far more dubious and far more entertaining. CNN's story includes a fascinating assertion by Phil Burress, "a self-described former porn addict who heads the Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values." The story explains:
"Though unable to cite specific cases, Burress contended that the availability of in-room porn is making hotels more dangerous.

"As more and more of these (hardcore) titles become available, we're going to have sexual abuse cases coming out of the hotels," he said. "Hotels are just as dangerous as environments around strip joints and porn stores."

I had assumed that when attempting to bypass the Bill of Rights you might want to provide proof that the Bill of Rights actually needs bypassing. But apparently I stand corrected.

Facts and the First Amendment. Who needs em'.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Patron Stalkers

This weekend, I worked the reference desk at my other library job in Dearborn. Now, contrary to what others may think, we get some pretty interesting characters that come in there. Usually if someone acts wierd or is causing trouble, we don't write it down, but rather take care of it on the spot. Yesterday, however, I learned how important it is to keep a written record of repeat offenders. So, without further ado, let's begin.

A women, we'll call her Alice, has been coming to our library for many years. She took a particular interest in one of our night supervisors and would consistently talk to her. In the beginning, it was a patron-staff relationship that turned into what seemed was friendship. Then, the patron disappeared for months. I did not miss her, because she was one of those people that asked you a question, you'd answer and then she'd launch into an epic tale of her life, none of which interested me.

In any case, Alice made her return a couple of weeks ago. She came into my office one day and blathered on about how the city she was just in was so much better, but that she couldn't afford living there, among countless other boring details. I just let it roll off my back and she eventually left me alone.

This weekend, she returned to pile on more useless details about her life. She came in and tried to trick me by telling me that she was still a student, because she needed a computer with Microsoft Word. She said, "Oh, my social security number must still be in the system." When she said that, I knew she was full of it, because UM-D hasn't used the SS#'s in a very long time. Regardless, I answered her question and she stood up and turned. I thought, fantastic, she's leaving.

She didn't. Instead, she sat down again and said, "Do you know what happened to me at work?" I sighed and looked away to the computer screen, hoping she'd catch the social sign of "I'm not interested" and "Leave me alone." She didn't and continued to tell me how some "black man" just out of now where called her a racist. I said, wow, that's too bad. She continued to tell me that she quit her job because of it. I cocked my eye and told her, "OK." She was confused that I wasn't going into a big bitchfest and asked me what I would do. I looked her in the eye and said, "I wouldn't have given a shit about what he said." She asked for clarification, in disbelief that I didn't care. I said, "What strangers think doesn't mean anything to me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if their opinion is unwarrented, that's not my problem."

She fumbled around with her words, in complete shock that I didn't care what other people thought and that no, in fact, I wouldn't quit my job for something that petty. She knew that she looked weak in front of me and the kicker was when I said, "Crazy people are everywhere. Try working at Wayne State. You get used to it and you get over it." Rarely during this conversation did I look at her, but I glared right into her eyes at the end of my statement.

Alice didn't know what to do, stood up and blurted, "I'm worth $15 million, I don't need that shit. I'll talk to you later." She stormed out and I was relieved, cause she was getting too comfortable for me and now I made her nice and self-conscious. Hey, if patrons want to ask me personal questions, they need to prepare to get a nice helping of the truth.

Later on, I told the night surpervisor, the one that Alice took a liking to, about my little experience. She told me about how about 3 weeks ago, Alice called the circulation desk and hollered some poor student assistant's ear off, claiming that the night supervisor was "setting off bad vibes." I asked if she had ever reported it to the head of circulation. She said she didn't because it only happened once and she thought nothing of it. I said, "Listen, you have to make sure you get this in writing. If she's calling students and complaining about you, you don't know who else she's calling."

I carried on working. Then I took a break. I talked to another circulation supervisor, on that I always shoot the breeze with. As we were conversating about this crazy Alice character, we heard the voice of a woman behind the door. I opened the door and found the night time supervisor in tears. She was panicking and I could hear why. She had the phone to her ear and I could hear crazy Alice yelling obscenitites at this young lady. Apparently Alice thought that she had looked at her wrong.

We had to file a police report and crazy Alice continued to call and be psychotic on the phone, even while we talked to the officer. She told my buddy, Debbie, that she was worth $51 million (it was only $15 million when I talked to her a half hour before), that she was an important Dearborn resident and that she owned 30% in Ford's stock. Hmmm, so why did she work (and quit) a hotel job and why did she claim it was too expensive to live out west?

The moral of the story is that if there is a patron that is showing signs of obsession or has even the slightest stalking tendencies, you must report it. You don't need to report every wierd thing that goes on at UGL, but certainly make note of events that have patterns. It's for your own protection.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Journeying to the IL Land of Confusion; or "Hey! Why Didn't I Know About This Tutorial?"

Here beginneth my travelogue recounting today's journey to the Information Literacy Land of Confusion.

In Lorenzen's latest posting, he discusses an article about Kutztown University's information literacy online tutorial and discusses the tutorial at Central Michigan University. Both the KU tutorial and the CMU tutorial are based on Western Michigan University's open source SearchPath tutorial program.

Curious, I went to CMU's tutorial and went through the first several modules (at least, until I got bored). I then read Flatley and Jefferson's article on KU's experience with the tutorial, which basically concluded that students thought the tutorial was very informative and useful, but also very long and dry.

"Wow!" I thought. "This is a good idea. We should have one of these tutorials on our Web site!"

Which is when, after a little bit of digging, I discovered that we actually do have a tutorial on our Web site. And not just "a" tutorial, but "the" SearchPath tutorial.

So why didn't I know this tutorial?

Could it be because freshman are shown this tutorial at orientation or UGE 1000, but transfer / graduate students are not? Possibly (but, I'll have to look into this point more thoroughly).

Could it be because the link to our tutorial is well hidden within the depths of the library's Web site? Oh yeah.

To get to the tutorial, from the home page one must go to the library services page and follow several links. Alternately, one can click "For Students" link (which is cleverly hidden below the picture on the right-hand side of the page), and then the "getting started tutorial" link. To me, this seems a little excessive.

If I, who spends a lot of time on the library's Web site, somehow missed our online tutorial, I suspect many others are missing the tutorial as well.

This is a shame, because while KU's surveyed students found the tutorial a little long and boring, they also reported that they better understood the difference between types of resources and how to best search for information in these resources.

While many of the patrons who come to the desk don't seem all that interested in learning the finer points of searching the catalog and databases, a few do and I would have directed them to the tutorial had I known it existed.

Thus, I would suggest that the tutorial needs to be more prominent. On the library's Home page. With the text "How to Find Stuff in the Library." In big red letters. Possibly with arrows pointing to it. And an audio clip of applause when you mouse over the link.

Since the tutorial is a set of six modules, I also think it would be a good idea to advertise the modules on relevant pages on the Web site. For example, the library could put a link to Module #4, "Finding Articles," on the Articles and Databases page. Or even better, the library could put a link to the module smack dab next to the "Finding Articles and Databases" text on the library's home page.

The library has placed a link to the library tutorial page on the library catalog's search page (at the bottom), but the text reads "Need more help? Try Searchpath." I would argue that the text should be more specific, such as "How to find stuff in the library catalog," and that it should directly link to that module.

Why do I think the library should go to the trouble of posting these extra links to the IL tutorial? First, it's not obvious from the start that there even is a tutorial. Second, even if they knew there was a tutorial, people are basically lazy (myself included) and may not go to the trouble of searching through the library's site to find it.

Well, them's my two cents. Here endeth my travelogue of today's journey into the Information Literacy Land of Confusion.

****Extra Special Bonus Observation****
When I ran Blogger's SpellCheck feature, why did it want to replace "beginneth" with "paginate"? And if SpellCheck has a problem with "beginneth", shouldn't it also, by association, have a problem with "endeth"?

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Information Literacy and Rats

The other library I work for is sending me to a BI workshop next week, and for homework
we've been asked to locate useful articles and resources on library instruction.
In doing so, I ran across a library-instruction.blogspot.com , an IL blog out of
the UK. Among other useful information and news items on the blog, Shiela Webber
summarizes research about rats' food-related information-seeking behavior:

"Basically, rats recognise that they need information about where to get food. They come across smells of novel kinds of food in various ways. However, they have identified that a good way of evaluating whether this is information they should use or not is by whether they encounter the smell on the breath of another rat that's just eaten the food (the idea being that if Rat B has eaten the food and Rat B is still breathing, the new food must be OK). Rat A then jogs away to the new food, accesses it and synthesises it."
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2006/08/il-of-rats.html

I'm posting this for two reasons. First and foremost, I find this extraordinarily amusing. Second, I can indeed see the parallels in the information-seeking behaviors of rats and library patrons. Not that I'm calling our patrons rats. Certainly not. However, patrons share share their library experiences with each other. When students or other potential patrons need information, I suspect that they consult their peers first to find out which resources are the best, fastest, most friendly, etc. If they find out that their friends have had a positive experience at the library, they are more likely to search for information at the library themselves (I've heard students tell their friends "Ask them, they're helpful"). If the patron's friends have had negative experiences in the library, the friends will likely tell that patron to find the information somewhere else (much like Rat A checking to see if Rat B is alive before eating something new). This information-seeking habit of patrons certainly isn't ground-breaking news, I like the analogy (and I think I could extend it to patrons attempting to navigate the UGL maze . . . hmmm. . . )

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Top this question!

Well, I had the unfortunate experience of answering this question today...

Patron says, "I want to go on a trip to Paris, France."

I tell her ok and that usually public libraries have more travel materials like that, but that I would look for some stuff at the WSU Library System to get her started.

She shakes her head and says, "Well, could you give me the number for AmTrak?"

I cock my eye slightly and tell her, "That's no problem."

She asks, "Do you think they have trains going there?"

At this point, I'm sure my face contorted in a bit of a more confused look. I say, "AmTrak only travels in North America."

"Oh, they don't go over there?"

I explain to her that there is no bridge, road or railway that goes across the great big pond. She thought she heard someplace that blah blah blah and I assured her that boat or plane would be her only options to crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

I don't think she's going to proceed with those particular travel plans.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Bye Brian!

Good luck and best wishes in Florida!

-InfoGirl

Dealing with Vexing VR

Here's a conundrum for you.

Tuesday evening I was roused from reverie when the computer made a dinging noise. A confused look briefly passed over my face. This confused look quickly transformed into a knowing but slightly apprehensive look. And this knowing but apprehensive look was, of course, accompanied by some good ole' dignified hand flapping. This was exciting and nerve-wracking, all at the same time.

You see, I've manned the VR desk on Tuesday nights for almost three months now, and during those three months I think I've had two, maybe three chat reference sessions. In between these sessions my skill in using the VR software gets a little rusty. So when the computer dinged, it took me a second to realize what it was, and several more seconds to remember what I was supposed to do.

I quickly read the patron's question (I need financial information for IKEA. Does the library have Hoover's Online or something like it?). I accepted the question and sent a quick message telling the patron that I was going search the databases. I sent another message to the patron telling him that we did not have Hoover's Online, but I was going to look for another similar database. I looked at the database subject guide for business and finance, and I found Mergent FIS, a database which I am somewhat familiar with. I sent a message to the patron telling him that I searched Mergent but it did not have data for IKEA.

Here's where the problem comes in. I was about to tell the patron that I would search for another resource (I see now that Lexis Nexis might possibly have worked, although it may not have had enough financial data for the patron's needs). I was also going to recommend that the patron contact Rhonda, who created the business and finance subject guide. In fact, I was in the middle of typing this when the patron said "Well thanks anyway" and signed off. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye :(

I was displeased, but I wasn't sure if it was with myself or the patron. Perhaps I should have included an ellipsis in my last message so that he knew more information was coming. Perhaps the patron just wanted a quick answer and didn't want wait while I searched. Perhaps we should subscribe to Hoover's Online? (The following day, at the other library I work for, I discovered that some of Hoover's Online is free, but it didn't have much free information on IKEA).

So what's to do? How do you keep a VR patron from signing off in the middle of a reference interview?

Friday, July 14, 2006

The Mystery of Refunding Money

An installment in the "What do I do when . . .?" series

When someone comes up to the desk asking if they can get a refund, what does one tell the patron? There are many answers.

First off, if it's a vending machine issue, give them the appropriate phone number from the list next to the bulletins on the counter.

Second, if it's a copying issue...ask the patron if they used cash or their OneCard. If they used their OneCard, send them to Checkout and they'll get taken care of there. Checkout will fax the OneCard office with a request to put the money back on the patrons card. If they used cash, send them to Room 50 in the Student Center basement; Checkout cannot refund their money.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Photocopier Woes

An installment in the "What do I do when . . .?" series


The photocopier next to the Librarians' Office has got some multitasking skillz, functioning as a photocopier, a scanner, and a printer. However, like most highly talented and complicated beings (like actors and athletes), the photocopier's zen is easily disturbed and it's prone to throwing tantrums.

On Sunday it threw a tantrum in which it refused to print a document that someone had sent from a computer.

Mark from IKON suggests that before you call him, you should check to make sure that someone hasn't tampered with the settings and taken the photocopier offline.

1) On the photocopier, hit the "Printer" button to the left of the screen

2) Make sure that the "Online" button on the photocopier screen (upper left corner) is highlighted.

3) If this doesn't work, call Mark.


Does anyone else have fix-it tips for the photocopier?

What should I do when . . . ?

Solving common UGL conundrums,
one blog posting at a time

Eva G. Is a genius.

Tuesday we were discussing how to resolve one of the usual little problems that crop up in Club UGL from time to time. Sadly, with the passage of time I've forgotten what that issue was. This is unfortunate, because on Tuesday the problem and the resolution to said problem seemed like rather important knowledge that all the GSAs should know. During the course of our conversation, Eva mentioned that we should put "how to" information like this on the Blog.

See, what a genius.

This seems like a particularly good idea since so many GSAs are moving upward and onward in a month or two, and us newbies and future GSAs won't know many of the tips and tricks that make Club UGL run smoothly.

So, my fellow Clubbers, if you run across any pertinent knowledge please post it on the Blog. I'll put permanent links to them in the gray sidebar. For ease of information location, please post separate issues in separate posts. You should also be able to find posts by using the search box up at the top.

To get things moving, I'll start by posting below this little bit of wisdom, which I gained only a few hours after my discussion with Eva the Genius. Enjoy. . .


What do I do when a student
mysteriously locks himself in the emergency stairwell?

Tuesday afternoon Heather and I were in the hallway leading to the Computer Help Desk, when we heard furious knocking. We turned to see a student locked in one of the emergency stairwells (near the women's restroom).

I'm not sure how this happened. In theory, an alarm is supposed to go off when the doors to the emergency stairwell are opened, or so says the sign on the first floor door. And yet, no alarms. And apparently, once someone has entered the stairwell he or she must rely on the kindness of strangers to let him or her out. Ahhhh good.

I was about to open the door to let the poor student out, however Heather warned against it in case the alarms decided to start functioning again. Rethinking this, I decided that on the whole that Heather's was good advice. I've experienced the glory of the UGL fire alarms once before, and I don't particularly relish the idea of experiencing them again. I suddenly had this vision of hundreds of students pouring down the central staircase at UGL, serenaded by piercing sirens and transfixed by the disco-esque flashing lights. Yeah, it's best not to go there.

So, what do you do when someone locks themselves in the emergency stairwell? Well, my friends, you tell Circulation. The supervisor has a key that will open the emergency stairwell door on the second floor, sans alarms.

I'm happy to report that the trapped student was freed, although probably a little irked that we wouldn't open the door right away. I understand this. I would be irked too. On the whole, however, annoying one patron is preferable to evacuating an entire building of patrons.

This is all very well and good, but I've noticed a major flaw in the system. Let's assume that there is an emergency that warrants evacuation, and a few students decide to take the emergency stairwell. How, pray tell, do they get out of the stairwell? Do they magically unlock when the sirens go off? I'll let you know when I find out.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Am I a failure? JUDGE ME!!!

Tonight, the reference desk at UGL was rather quiet. There were some exceptions, like a million high schoolers pouring in earlier in the day. Or the lady really upset that there were young men talking about the woman's anatomy and sexual intercouse in not-so-appropriate fashions. However, there was a part of my day that made me feel strange.

This older patron came in and asked a very specific question on a particular Church's involvement in the Underground Railroad. To my shock and dismay, WSU carried nothing that dealt with Michigan's role in the Underground Railroad. Regardless, we didn't have any books on a state-wide scale, much less on her specific topic. She wasn't good at listening and kept trying to talk when I was trying to explain what the situation was and what other options she had.

I talked to Andrea about the patron, as she was sitting right next to me while I dealt with the patron for about 20 minutes. By the end of that twenty minutes, I gave the patron a list of 12 books in the UGL, a list of 8 articles having to do with Michigan and the Underground Railroad (which WSU had subscribtions to every journal listed - I checked), the number and hours to the Burton Collection across the street and I even found a big friggin' pot o' researcher gold - the Bentley Historical Archive in Ann Arbor, which had a collection full of the resources that would take this person's research to the next level. Plus, I even printed the history that came off the finding aid at AA (she wouldn't stop baggering me, so I barked, "Don't get used to this, because we never print stuff other than lists and resource information").

The patron said that she couldn't believe that their teacher was giving them such impossible researching assignments. Yet, the assignment wasn't impossible because Ann Arbor had such a wealth of information.

When the patron went upstairs to look for the books I gave her, she found none. When I tried to get her to come to the desk to show her how to use the "Get It" button, she was frustrated and walked away.

So, did I do my job? I mean, looking at the list of stuff I gave her, I'd say I might have done too much. I did practically all her research for her!

But what do you say on the matter???

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Calling all Internet Resources . . .

Although there have been a few exciting incidents for others, life for me has been uneventful here in Club UGL over the past week. Sure, Club UGL has been busy, however interactions at the Info Desk have lacked the intricacies, tumult, pathos, or humor that make for good, blog-worthy stories and observations. Due to the humdrum nature of the Info Desk this week, I've been staring at the blog hoping for divine intervention or professional inspiration to descend upon me and fill this space. I've been side-tracked, however, by the ugly "edit-me" links on the gray navigation bar over here on the right -->

Thus, my Club UGL Topic Du Jour for this week will be . . .

Internet Resources

When students ask me a question, I hesitate to hop onto the Web to answer them. Not that I have anything against the Web -- I am a child of the Internet and rather like it. However sitting at the reference desk, and as a future librarian, I feel like I should be an emissary for library resources. The library does have a lot of "stuff," however sometimes it just isn't current enough, detailed enough, or close enough at hand to meet patrons' immediate needs. I like Google, but I hate having to turn to it when patrons are standing at the Info desk. It can take a while to sort the useful Web sites from the advertisements, porn sites, and those written by middle-schoolers. Additionally, it patrons who are not skilled in information literacy may assume that any Google search will pull up accurate and reliable information or may not know how to filter Google results themselves. When I have to turn to a Google search to find an information resource, I usually like to preface it with something like "Here's a good (government/university/association) resource. This should be reliable."

Whenever possible, I prefer to show patrons Web sites that I already know and love. I've already decided that I can trust these resources, and I generally know how to navigate them quickly. As an added bonus, I also look like I know what I'm doing. As I am learning in management class right now, appearance, suavity, and savvy can go a long way in smoothing your interactions with others.

Thus, to provide quicker and more accurate information to our patrons (and to make ourselves look and feel more knowledgeable), I would like to post a few of our favorite online resources on the gray navigation bar over here on the right. Perhaps I could even sort them into categories. So, my fellow GSAs, what are your favorite Web sites at the Info desk? Do you turn to FirstGov (www.firstgov.gov) first? Does the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org) rock your world? Does Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org/) set your heart a-flutter? I'm hoping that we will get a long list of great Web sites for our navigation bar, so please share the wealth of your Internet knowledge.

-InfoMaven

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Story removed due to brewing poop storm.

This story has been removed as I wanted to drop this entire poop storm. The officer was spoken to and that's all I hoped would happen. Hopefully she does better next time and I didn't feel a need to drag this out.

The moral of this story was: if a someone claims to be a police officer, make them prove it. Have them show their badge if they're in plain clothing. No one uses our phones, computers, printer, nothing. Police officers are the exception in EMERGENCIES ONLY.

Further, if you run into a similar situation fill out an incident report and give it to your supervisor. If you are on the desk, you must file a complaint through library management and you cannot complain as an individual.

Be safe.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Doctor is Out


I am not a doctor. I am not a therapist. I look like neither a doctor nor a therapist. In fact, many assume that I am an undergraduate, or perhaps even in high school.

And yet, in my first six weeks at Club UGL I have had many people approach me at the Information Desk asking me to diagnose, explain, or cure their medical and emotional problems. Perhaps this is because, behind the desk, I am more or less a captive audience. One woman thought she saw a ghost at the foot of her bed the previous night, and she wanted me to tell her if I thought paranormal phenomena exist or if I thought she was crazy. Returning students frequently talk through the fears about going back to school. I've had people ask me for advise on their relationships. For most of these situations all I can do is smile, nod, and assure people that I am neither a doctor nor a therapist. I can lead people to information, but I cannot (and should not) interpret it for them.

In my very first week on the job, a woman came to the information desk and showed me what appeared to be a report from her OB/GYN. She stabbed her finger at a sentence strewn with medical terms and said something along the lines of "I really need to know what this means. Do you have a medical dictionary? I looked these words up at home on the Internet and they talk about being pregnant." I walked with her to the reference section and pulled out a few medical dictionaries for her to sit down and look at.

15 minutes later she came back to the reference desk, panicked and with dictionary in hand. "Can you help me understand this? They say I'm pregnant. I can't be pregnant, I just can't!" I read the definitions of the two words in the offending sentence that were making the woman panic. If memory serves me the terms were were "gravida" and "para," meaning the number of times a woman has been pregnant and the number of times she has given birth. The number "3" was attached to these terms. I assumed this meant that she had been pregnant and had given birth 3 times (which she said she had), but was not currently pregnant.

I don't like seeing people upset. I wanted to soothe her nerves, to tell her not to worry. But I am not a doctor. I could have been wrong. I hate to leave reference questions unanswered, but it is far worse to misinform your patrons. I quickly considered all of this and decided that all I could do was read the definitions to her and suggest she call her doctor. I think she felt a little less panicked after I read the definitions to her again, but I'm sure she was still quite nervous when she left the library.

I was a bit baffled by this situation at first. Why would someone ask me to explain a report from her OB/GYN? Why would someone ask me if she is pregnant? I have neither a medical degree nor x-ray vision. The more I thought about the situation, though, the happier I became. This woman had what she considered an information emergency and she came to the library. While she started her search on the Internet, she came to the library before she called her doctor, whose number was printed at the top of the report. Perhaps she felt like the Internet could not adequately or reliably answer her questions. Perhaps she was simply looking for personal interaction or someone to listen to her fears. Whatever the case, she, and the others who mistake the Info Desk for a medical and counceling help desk, must feel comfortable enough with the library and confident enough in our services to bring their problems to us. We may not be able to help them, but we can listen.

That has to speak well of libraries, right?

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Face-to-face v. phone v. electronic reference

This last Monday I received a flurry of phone reference questions. Most of them were easy to answer or were questions fit for the Access/Checkout/Circulation desk. One, however, was a student from CMU and needed materials from our Library System. He was a returning student and wasn't sure how to use the library.

I spent quite a bit of time with the patron, perhaps 5-10 minutes. This wasn't much of a problem because the morning was slow. While talking to this patron, I excused myself to answer a couple quick face-to-face questions at the desk. Eventually, I got into the In's and Out's of MelCat, ILL and Michicard. I wanted to make sure he got as much useful information as possible. You know, that's what I do.

In the midst of my explanation of the various cooperatives and ways to get books from other schools, a patron walked up, stood at the desk and stared at me. I was focused on finishing my point with the man on the phone when I realized I was getting rushed by the patron at the desk. He was gesturing for me to hurry up.

Flustered, I cut off my explanation and excused myself again. I put the phone down and with the best smile I could chisel into my face, I tersely said, "I'm sorry, sir, how can I help YOU?" He asked his directional question and eventually he apologized for being such a [fill in the blank] and went about his way.

This type of situation made me wonder what I should do in situations with patrons that need a touch more assistance, but are not in person. I asked one of the librarians here at UGL, Lothar Spang, and he said that we usually have a 5-minute limit for all patrons. That was a useful policy to know, but it still didn't answer how to prioritize, if you will, the patron types.

I looked to RUSA's (Reference and User Services Association) to their behavioral guidelines. I recommend anyone trying to get into reference services to check this stuff out.

http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/ guidelinesbehavioral.htm

Yet, I really didn't find too much stuff about who to put first in a situation like, for example, I was on the phone and a patron needed a quick question. I didn't find this little bit though:

1.3.1 Employs a system of question triage to identify what types of questions the patrons have when more than two patrons are waiting. Frequently asked questions, brief informational questions, directional questions, and referrals can be answered quickly, allowing more time to devote to in-depth reference questions.


So, looking back, I should've communicated better with the patrons at the desk and knocked out their questions right away. They were, after all, directional and easy. The man on the phone required more assitance.

Friday, June 09, 2006

What it takes to work at Club UGL

As my triumphant departure approaches, I thought to myself about the two new graduate students that will fill my and Brian Smith's spots at the Information Desk. Who will they be? How will they be trained? Do they have what it takes? I've decided to dedicate this post to some of the things I've gained from my experience at the Undergraduate Library.

Easy questions = Easy Job, right? Not so much.
Reflecting on my time at the Undergraduate Library, I found that this is no easy place to work. It may seem that perhaps we don't get the most intense questions all the time, but we certainly get some gems. Our questions vary from "Where's academic advising" to "Where is my class?" to "I need books and articles on mass media" to "How much of the metro Detroit population is Arabic?" to "I need to find out what the weather was like back on January 7, 2006." There are many questions we face and just because we work at the Undergraduate Library doesn't mean that we get all Undergraduate questions.

In fact, we get questions of all sorts. Reason being, we're open the longest. Our reference desk is open the longest and our building is open the longest. That means that all those law students, grad students and medical students flock to us at night. We also get a lot, and I do mean a lot, of community users.

Community Users
The UGL is very much like a public library. There are the most terminals that are open to the public in this building. All sorts of characters come in, but usually everyone behaves. Some of the questions I've noticed a lot from the community users are as follows:
    *How can I print?
    *I want to start my own business, can you give me some information?
    *How do I use email?
    *Legal questions
    *Word definitions
    *Local events
    *Phone numbers and/or location information
    *Many will ask questions on Word, usually pertaining to changing resumes.

There are a few things to remember about community users. For one, they have every right to be there. We are a public institution and unless the patron is breaking a rule of some sort, they cannot be booted from the library. If a community user asks you to go help them at their computer, use your judgement. If you have another GSA or PIC at the desk, go for it. If not, just inform them that you cannot leave the desk empty.

Noise
It's noisy in here. It's not your typical library. We try to have security keep the peace, but this is not always possible.

Porn
Porn and all it's smut counterparts are intellectual property, meaning as long as they're not "reacting" to the porn and just viewing it, that's ok. Seriously. However, child-porn is illegal and should be reported immediately.

So can you do it?
I don't do the hiring, but I think there are some specific things that will help you get a job here. For one, experience. Usually, but not always, GSA's have already had some library experience. If you don't have any, volunteer and get some. Also, try to focus on your customer service jobs as well. Customer service is what it's all about.

Next, references. I've pushed two names to my supervisors and both folks got hired. Now, this isn't an invitation for you to ask me to be a reference. I won't. In fact, neither of the folks whose names I dropped asked me to do so. I did it on my own and because I knew they were right for the job. And if I believe in you, than I will drop your name as well. But don't ask, cause then I definitely won't recommend you.

Third, personality. You need a bit of hipness to work here and that's based strictly on the fact that most of the people that come in are little undergraduates. Have you had experience with teenagers? That will come in handy. Also, if you're a woman, be aware that the horomones are always raging at UGL, so be prepared to shoo some kiddos away. Typically they're harmless, but they need to be dealt with professionally and, to be frank, tersely. The more friendly chit chat you share with them, the more they'll come back for more. Don't be rude, but be stern.

Fourth, you need some sweet reference interview and research skills. Chances are, the folks you deal with on a daily basis have never been to a library and just don't know what they're looking for. I had a lady call me and ask "I need to know about hot dogs." After some reference interview work, I found she needed to know how to start a small business - a Coney Island. Be patient with the patrons, they're not all as good at computers as you. They don't know our library jargon. And further, they're novice researchers. If you give them some stepping stones, you'll be pleased to see that most will get on their own two feet.

I would encourage the other GSA's to add their comments about what they think it will take to work at this desk.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Houston, we've got a weblog

Here begins the weblog for Club UGL . . . May it live long and prosper

At the moment, this blog is intended to let members share their UGL ideas, experiences, and recommended information resources.

The rules are simple:

1) Do not post names, schedules, or any other identifying information.

2) No, really. Don't.

3) Post with caution, young grasshopper. This blog is available to the public (and future employers). Don't say anything you'll regret.

4) Unhappy patrons make for unhappy librarians. Be very careful if you discuss patrons. Conceal their identities and remember that they could conceivably find and read this blog.

5) Though she is loathe to do so, the blogmaster reserves the right to delete identifying information or illegalities.


Currently, non-members can't join the club -- you'll have to watch from the sidelines for the moment, although I may change that later. Once I've figured out what I'm doing.

That's all for now. . . blog away, my friends.