The LIBRARY MEMO

An Ounce of Prevention: Health Reference Basics”
Soaring to Excellence Teleconference

Speaker: Debra J. Kakuk Smith

Rising health care costs, economic instability, and the proactive nature of today’s society are contributing to more and more individuals seeking out health information online and in print. Are you and your library ready to meet the diverse needs of these health information seekers? Are you effectively marketing your health-related services and resources?

This program will emphasize quality print and electronic resources as well as the roles and responsibilities of patients, library information professionals and health care professionals in the information seeking process. Join us in exploring various aspects of the health reference experience including the need to respect patient privacy, how to accommodate the cultural diversity of our clientele, matching the right types of resources to specific clients, and ways to successfully navigate tricky health reference situations. We’ll also look at ways to promote the health resources and services that you have to offer.

Posted by Sue Trettel at 10:23 AM | Permalink

Soaring to Excellence Teleconference

Date: Friday, February 13, 2009
Time: 11:00-12:30 pm
Location: L410

Speakers: Penny Mandziara and Kelly Watson

Any library, whether it is school, public, academic, or special, is many things to the community it serves. A library offers the information patrons need to improve their quality of life. A library provides open access to technology and the world of online information, as well as guidance on navigating that world. A library also gives their community something that is less tangible, yet just as essential to improving its patrons’ lives: nourishment not just for the mind, but the spirit as well.

How do libraries do that? Through the programming opportunities they create.

In this program we will look at some of the innovative programming libraries today are creating to meet the evolving needs of their patrons. We will also provide a basic primer for anyone who has always wanted to plan a program, but didn’t know where or how to begin.

Posted by Sue Trettel at 8:23 AM | Permalink

The UMD Library will be providing voter registration forms and a drop off box through October 14. Forms can be picked up at the Library Circulation Desk. A secure drop off box can be found to the left of the Circ Desk and all forms will be mailed by MPIRG representatives once a week.

Posted by Sue Trettel at 9:14 AM | Permalink

The UMD Library plans to conduct a LibQUAL+ survey in accordance with Goal #1 of “Library as an Organization�? in our Strategic Directions. The survey is part of a North American effort led by the Association of Research Libraries to measure library service quality and identify best practices.

Survey Period: October 1-31, 2008
Survey Population: All UMD students, faculty and staff, except library staff
Survey Drawing: One iPod Touch and five $20 UMD Bulldog Gift Cards

Library staff will be excluded from the survey because we want to gain a better understanding of our services from users’ perspectives, not our own, and to learn their expectations and desires. The data collected from the survey will enable us to identify the strengths of our services and those areas that require improvements. The findings will facilitate our strategic planning to ensure that our library services are aligned with user expectations.
Even though the library staff won’t be participating in the survey, we encourage you to take a peek at the preview site http://www.libqual.org/Preview/index.cfm?ID=607522 so you know what type of survey it is and what questions will be asked. The preview site will be open till September 19.
If you have any questions, please let me know.

Shixing Wen
UMD LibQUAL+ Liaison

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 11:10 AM | Permalink

I have moved the confidential recycling bin to the 2nd floor freight elevator lobby. Only confidential materials should be placed in this bin.

The bin should only be filled 3/4 of the way to prevent others from removing materials. Notify me when the bin is 3/4 full. I will request a pick-up from the FM Recycling crew.

Submitted by Sue

Posted by Sue Trettel at 11:16 AM | Permalink

The switch to the new financial system requires earlier deadlines for most financial activities. The deadline for Library staff to submit supply requests is Thursday, June 12 at 10 a.m. Staff should only submit requests for standard supply items they anticipate needing between June 16 and July 15.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 2:05 PM | Permalink

In the next few weeks you should see new recycling receptacles in the public areas of the Library. They will be placed on each floor of the Library, including the Library Annex. There will be three bins: office mix, newspaper and bottle/cans. I am hoping this will help eliminate the current problem of everything getting mixed in one bin.

If there is a place in the Library that currently doesn’t have a recycling bin and should, please let me know.

My goal is to empty the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors once a week.

My tentative schedule is:

Monday – 4th floor
Tuesday – 2nd floor and Annex
Wednesday – 3rd floor
Friday – Large bins on the loading dock, if possible.

Staff recycling responsibilities:

~ Staff should contact Admin office at X8130 when large recycling bins are ½ to ¾ filled. Anything more than this and the bins are difficult to move.
~ Staff is responsible for putting recycling in the correct bin. If bins are contaminated with other materials, the whole bin will have to be thrown away. Nothing is recycled.
~ Staff must contact Admin office when working on a project that will produce extra recycling. This is so extra bins can be brought over to the Library.
~ Personal office recycling is individual staff’s responsibility.
~ Cans and plastic bottle recycling need to go to the front of Library by the telephones in the front entrance, not to the loading dock. Cans and plastic bottles are picked up Friday afternoon or Saturday.

The big, black bins are available Tuesday – Thursday on a first come, first serve basis.

Click here for the different types of recycling.

If you have any questions, please contact me at X7486.

Sue

Posted by Sue Trettel at 11:49 AM | Permalink

If you have sick plants please take them home to doctor them.

Do not use any chemicals, e.g. plant fertilizers, pesticides, or plant foods in shared office spaces or communal spaces such as the loading dock.

Some Library staff are extremely sensitive to the chemicals in these products and become ill when exposed.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 3:26 PM | Permalink

Library hours for Spring 2008 are posted on the Library's Web site. Draft hours for Spring Finals 2008 and May Session 2008 also are posted.

Heather and I have checked the draft hours, but would appreciate it if others reviewed them. Send corrections and/or questions to either of us.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 10:14 AM | Permalink

The Library experimented with opening at 7:00 a.m. for the past year in response to a request from the UMD Student Association. During a two week period in early fall, I compared a gate count sampling for the 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. with a visual observation of people entering the Library for the same time period. I noticed that the majority of people entering the Library were Library staff, janitorial staff, and computer staff. Bill and I decided to return to the 7:30 a.m. opening for spring semester based on this information. We have shared this information with our Student Association liaison.

Library staff who start their day at 6:30 a.m. will be able to enter the building as all staff will have the same key card access (fob) to the Library as they had fall semester.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 9:38 AM | Permalink

UMD Library is hosting the following College of DuPage teleconference:

Soaring to Excellence 2008: Mapping the Library Landscape: Every library worker a trendspotter

Finding the Trends that Matter - Get Your Environmental Scan On

Date: Friday, October 26, 2007

Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm (Central Time)

Room: L410

Submitted by Sue

Posted by Sue Trettel at 10:48 AM | Permalink

A draft of the Library's FY08 Work Related Travel Policies is now posted on the Library's web page. The path to the new policy is UMD Library > About the Library > Working At The Library> FY08 Work Related Travel Policies.

Sue created a new online Library Travel Authorization Form using InfoPath2007. The Admin Team is conducting testing on the form. Hopefully a beta version will be released to the staff within the next few weeks. Until it is released staff are asked to use a paper copy of the new form. Each staff member will receive one copy of the paper form early next week. Additional copies will be available from Sue in the Admin Office.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 5:13 PM | Permalink