January 23, 2024: There Is a Process for Everything!

Supervisor:  Renee Kirchner

Monday:  3pm- 8pm

Tuesday evening began with a shift at the Account Services Desk (ASD) with Andrea.  We began in the back room where any stray books are dealt with before the next shift comes in.  The Window Returns Bin is emptied and the books are sorted accordingly.  Any problem books that need to be looked at further were taken to the service desk to be worked on during that shift.  Some returned books needed to be mended.  Those books are checked out to Mending and a tag is created detailing the damage.  Every book is assigned a location in the system through the checkout so that it can be located at any time-Mending, Missing Pieces Shelf, etc.  The books to be mended are then taken to the Tech Services baskets (called Taskets) to await repair.  The ASD only handles certain types of tasks and questions- library cards and renewals, account issues, payments.  They can answer a patron’s  basic questions but will refer the patron to the Information Services Desk (ISD) for room or equipment reservations or more detailed questions.  A running tally is kept of the types of questions answered at the ASD.  No shift is longer than 2 hours.  This keeps the staff from getting bored but keeps them well integrated into the entire library machinery.  While Andrea did give examples of badly behaved patrons who became upset with the ASD, most patrons tend to be calm and polite.  As a volunteer, I do not have a login for the computer system so I merely watched as Andrea worked with patrons to answer account questions.  I did not think the management system used seemed very user friendly and Andrea said it most definitely wasn’t!  Perhaps it is best that I do not have a log in.    

I spent the next 2 hours of the day with Elissa.  Elissa is a shelver and we began by finishing a Holds List.  We pulled that day’s hold requests in the Children’s Department.  Those books were taken to the sorting machine where Hold Tickets were generated and then shelved.  Any books left on Reshelving Carts scattered throughout the library, are also taken to the back room where they are first scanned and marked as Used and then to the sorter.  By marking the books Used, the library is able to determine patron usage patterns to make better informed decisions regarding purchases and budgets.  When shelvers take a cart to the floor to be shelved, they first count the items on the cart and log the number, start and finish times.  There seems to be a process for everything!  Everything is recorded in such a way as to make the task measurable.  

The final hour of the evening was spent straightening all the shelves in the library, upstairs and downstairs.  The library staff are not required to do any cleaning but are tasked with keeping the shelves neat.  However, neatening the shelves is done by shelvers throughout the day so the task is typically not too onerous for the closing shift.  Ita and Elissa generally work together during closing and make a good pair.  Elissa is a bit of an OCD perfectionist and will literally touch every book and align them on the shelf.  Ita is more pragmatic and balances the time vs. detail equations.  She often reminds Ellissa that “good enough”  is truly good enough!  They do need to cover the entire library in an hour!  Any last books on Reshelving Carts are brought to the back, scanned, and sorted.  Shelving times are recorded and the Sorted Bins are emptied to the outgoing Reshelving Carts.  There is a remarkable level of teamwork throughout the library staff and everyone seems to have a high level of conscientiousness and attention to detail.