We're inviting Christine and Nicole H. to the November 18th meeting since Ann W. can't make it; we'll meet with her on November 25th, 9:30-10:30.
It may be helpful to have Christine and Nicole visit together so Nicole can hear how RISG fits into circulation and service desks. Both groups will do assessment
Nicole's group oversees space programming; Christine's group will be involved with maintenance of physical locations.
We plan to have Nicole & Christine together from 9-10, on November 18th.
Views/perspective on service points/desks
This information may help the heads of the green circles to understand how things are working now and to pass this information on to the steering committee.
Important to preserve and protect easy connectivity between the user and the subject expertise.
Broad theme: each service location is unique and one service model probably does not fit all.
Overview of service locations:
Dewey - on call reference 11-5 weekdays. walkie talkies, can be called from anywhere. 1-2 calls per hour, questions are pretty in depth, with great variability. recorded as time spent for complex reference (on call, scheduled research consultations, and walk in)
Service desk staff is highly trained to provide accurate responses and appropriate referrals. Anita attends all service desk staff meetings. Lots of daily communication. Research consultation happen frequently and require lots of preparation. Seem to be increasing. Most questions are Dewey specific, most aren't referred to other libraries.
Rotch - Once school year is underway, we are on call from 10-1, often we'll spend the hour at the desk anyway. Otherwise phone is forwarded to offices. Frequently there are Limited Access requests. Fewer questions at the desk, and at the level that any trained staff member could answer. Ref and circ both handle circulation duties on desk. Occasionally there becomes a line of people, and the on call person is asked to come to the desk. Rotch-specific or general questions. Circulation supervisor & Reference coordinator coordinate monthly training.
Barker - On call reference from 10-2 Librarians staff desk from 2-5. In frequently called during on call hours. Ref and circ both handle circulation duties on desk. On call traffic is minimal. In the afternoon the traffic may not be overwhelming; questions could be handled by desk staff. Mentor/mentee training model. Librarians don't attend circ meetings. Communication happens by email, all ESL meetings, mentor/mentee.
Hayden - Always circ person at the desk, also Hum or Sci person. Librarians don't have to know about advanced circ issues because they can be handed off to circ person. Between 11-5 Humanities/Science librarians and support staff staff one side of desk. No official scheduled on call. IM is used as an on call method to call someone from hum or sci as needed. Very few reference questions are asked at desk. Mostly reserves and circulation. Ask-Us phone line rings to Hayden as well. Some special training sessions.
How important is it to us that librarians be involved in the desk
Even though it may not make economic sense; expensive to have librarians handling circ functions, it's important.
Many like the contact with MIT community as it happens at the desk.
Being at the desk provides opportunities to:
Promote the subject specialists/research guides, or any other resource/service
Builds connection with users
Opportunity to show users things that they couldn't if we were busy (having 2 people at desk allows for this)
Informal communication between circulation and reference staff
Librarians on the desk reminds users of things they wanted to talk to us about/ask
Does it make sense to keep track of how many times we are contacted while on call?
Other reference studies group to follow up on this (won't happen fall '09 semester)
Professional and support staff relationships.
It seems like things are pretty integrated now, but the new model seems to be separated more clearly.
Trust, knowledge and communication between the groups could be lost.
There are problems with understanding circ processes and policies when not at desk frequently
Person at the desk needs to know how to do desk duties. If circ staff is on the desk, need to deliver basic level reference service. Are reference librarians still responsible to develop and manage training?
If people are staying as reference coordinators, then we recommend they be invited to meetings of Christine's group. Need representation of reference on circ/christine's group
Scheduling is tricky. It may be hard to create and maintain viable communication methods and cohesiveness among the group (e.g. people coming in at 6 pm may never see those who work earlier shifts)
Summary: (From Remlee's notes)
Units are unique; no single model will work for all
Still important to have librarian involved with desk work, though the data doesn't back it up (enumerate those)
Need communication to build trust
Librarians still really valuable in the training piece
Questions for Christine and Nicole:
Two questions from Howard and Tracy meeting.
Also would like to hear what they thought about training issues for the desk and how that will work.
Any preliminary thoughts on space programming? The geography of the libraries is still important for many collections. How will divisional staff participate in discussions that have implications on local space? How can we suggest ideas for future space needs? (ie instruction plan includes, "find more space for instruction")
Assess why people go to specific locations and how that may impact space planning decisions.
How does Nicole see her role related to collections and storing?
To what extent are they getting guidelines from steering committee about how to organize their groups vs figure it out on their own.
Maybe we should share survey data that RISG identified as valuable to their mission.