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 27, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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?
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.
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?
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. . .
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???
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
