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Periodic Hourly Counts will run all week -- Sunday, February 3 - Saturday, February 9. Remember to check the gate count at both desks and record it on the sheet every hour on the hour, open to close!
Please put sheets in Melissa's box when they are filled.
Please post your initials in a comment to indicate you've read this post.
Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Everyone,
Starting today (1/29/08) no one is to enter Fines information into Aleph. Please make sure that you fill out the Fines sheet completely, attach a receipt to it and give it to Melissa or place in the Fines box.
Please initial so that I know you have read the post.
Thanks!
Melissa
Hello Everyone,
Starting today (1/22/08), the library will be open until 3am. A security monitor will be here until 3am. This replaces the 24/7, which did not see that many people from 3-7am.
So when you close the library at the normal time (11 during the week and Sundays, 7 on Fridays and 6 on Saturdays), you will need to close as you normally would. HOWEVER, you will now need to turn off the handicap button (so that the handicap button does not work). Remember you do this by using that weird little forked key and the lock is on the wall (looks like a light switch). After you are done switching it off (and checking it, to make sure the door does not open on its own via the button), you MUST notify a security monitor that it is closed and that they will need to open the door for anyone who needs help. Both doors will remain unlocked until 3am, but the handicap button will not be working.
Also we now have three sheets for you to hand the night security monitor (or the extended hours monitor if you see them). You will find copies in the blue Diehl Security monitor book:
1) New closing instructions
2) Demographic survey
3) Study room log in sheet
-Remind the security monitor to place them in my mail box
-You must give these sheets to the security monitor!!!
Please respond to this entry with your initials.
Thanks,
Melissa
Short Notice Shift Problem!
Can anyone cover?
This Wednesday, Jan. 24: 1:00- 5:00pm
I could attempt to switch hours if that would be helpful.
Please let me know, shann104@umn.edu
Thanks!
Kate
Yes, we do take Credit Cards (remember only for fine, nothing else).
However only a full time person (Melissa, Emily, David, etc) may actually give the form out to people. This is because the forms deal with private and very sensitive information.
So if someone wants to pay via credit card, please find Melissa, Emily, David, etc and have them deal with the Credit Card Payment Form.
If for some reason, a full time person (Melissa, Emily, David, etc) is NOT available you may have the library patron fill out the form (they must do this themselves). Then immediately after you are done helping them, place the Credit Card Payment Form on Melissa's chair (please turn it over so that no one can read any information on it). DO NOT leave the Credit Card Payment Form anywhere else, but on Melissa's chair.
Please respond to this entry with your initials.
If you have any questions please ask.
Thanks,
Melissa
The new Spring Schedule is out! I have emailed it out to everyone and I have also posted next weeks schedule on 2nd and 3rd floors.
Remember that Monday January 21st is MLK Day and we are closed!
Have a great Spring Semester,
Melissa
Please welcome our newest circulation student workers Rhea and Sunyoung!
Sunyoung has worked at the Vet Library and at Wilson and is working on her PhD in Human Resources. Rhea has worked at Appleton Papers and Dunn Brothers and is a pre-nursing student.
Both will begin their training this week and will start their normal hours next week.
Also please welcome our newest page, Nadi!
Nadi is originally from Sri Lanka and is the College of the Bio-Sciences and wants to become a vet.
Welcome Rhea, Sunyoung and Nadi to the Bio-Medical Library!
Please, ALL READ, Pages AND Deskers:
Next week (Sunday, Jan. 13 – Saturday, Jan. 19) we will be recording the number of volumes and issues of journals that we handle in shelving by title in an online database. We have done this before, and will do so again, later in the semester. For some of you this may be new, and perhaps a little review doesn’t hurt any of us. Each volume must be counted and recorded by title in the database on one of the computers at one of the service desks. Here are the steps to follow, subject to clarification over the next few days as people notice what I’ve forgotten.
When starting a new truck of journals for shelving, put an “uncounted” (red) indicator in the pocket on the end of the truck. (If there are two pockets, two labels may be used—but mainly make sure that we don’t have two conflicting messages). Put journals on the truck as usual, whether you’re collecting them from tables in the stacks areas or by the copy machines, and then put the journals in order (if you don’t always put the journals in precise order before shelving them, you may want to change your ways for this counting process). Once the journals are in order on the truck, take them to a counting station at the 2nd or 3rd level desk. On the FileMaker counting database, look up each title and record the number of volumes and issues that you’re shelving.
Then: Read each barcode into the "in-house use" window in the Aleph client at the circulation desks. This is a procedure that Bri and other shelvers have been following for the books, all of the time. We will do this for the journals only for this week. Let me knw if you agree that this would be simpler and easier than the current procedure of looking each title up in the FileMaker database. Unbarcoded journal issues on Monday should be collected and given to me, and I will decide whether I want to employ a special, cumbersome procedure more than just one day. (Look for further instruction regarding unbounds as of Tuesday). If this works out, this might be the whole procedure in the future.
When the truck is finished, change the “uncounted” red indicator to a green “counted” tab, and the truck is ready for shelving as usual. After emptying a counted truck, change the indicators back to uncounted.
• Obviously, do NOT pick up any loose journals along the way to shelving and add them on to the truck—these must be counted first.
• All journals should be counted before they are shelved.
• Books with call numbers are NOT included in this process, so just handle them as usual.
If the FileMaker database is not up, you may need to sign in: use the pull-down menu command “Open Remote,” and choose the first listed file, "2008 JAN JOURNAL STATISTICS"---Do NOT use the old “JOURNAL_STATISTICS” file, further down the list. Like most FileMaker files, put in the usual password, and the user name should be "Circstaff." The password should appear in the place where we keep the passwords, known to all desk staff.
I’m not going to try to fully discuss using the database to record these counts, but if no one has gone over this with you, please stop and ask to review this with either one of the desks students who is familiar with the process, or preferably with me (if I’m available) or Melissa or Steve. If there are particular points that you think should be highlighted, please add them in the comments that you can attach to this memo. Please at the least initial this memo, so that I know that everyone has read it.
This process obviously adds a bit to the time it takes to pickup, sort and put away the journals. As I’ve previously discussed, this work can and ought to be shared between the pages & the desk staff.
If you’ve never done this, why not open the database right now and take a look at how this is supposed to work. Ask any questions in advance!
Thanks for your help with this project. --David
| Did you know that you can attend some library workshops on library time? |
If you haven't done so already, here's one to check out: RefWorks will help you organize your citations, insert them correctly into papers and format perfect bibliographies. It will save you from hours and hours of grief while you try to figure out how to cite a website in MLA or a personal communication in APA!
Upcoming Classes at Bio-Med
Literature Search Techniques and RefWorks
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM, Mon February 25, 2008
RefWorks Basics
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, Thu February 21, 2008
Additional RefWorks classes are held in other libraries. To get work credit (i.e. $s) for attending, get permission prior to attending from Melissa, David or Emily and then show one of us a copy of the handout from the class you attend.
Cheers,
Emily
OVID Technologies is moving to its new OvidSP platform as the default in
February 2008 - this is a major update to the user interface, which retains
classic search functions combined with enhanced usability and natural
language searching which allows for searching across databases.
The University Libraries will be migrating to OvidSP the morning of Tuesday,
January 15, 2008. Ovid users with saved searches or AutoAlert SDIs will
received an Ovid system generated e-mail with their user names and temporary
passwords to access their saved content. New users wishing to save their
searches or to customize the user interface will have to create a new user
account.
 | ALEPH and all the public catalogs will be down for up to two hours beginning at 6:00 a.m. this Sunday, January 6, so that both OIT and LEO can apply updates to the system. If no problems are encountered, we estimate that Aleph will be back up by 9am. |