The Information Commoner: Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground, 2009 November.

              Information Commoner
November 2009
Volume 4, Issue 5
Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground
In This Issue
At Your Service 2
Announcements 4
Department News 4
Employee Spotlight 9
Ask the Tech Guy 9
Mike’s Message
Have you ever noticed that when you have been working at the same position for a
rather long time that your job can become rather routine? You feel that you’re
doing the same old thing over and over and over. You have a case of the doldrums,
and you need re-charging. What can you do? I have a suggestion. When was the last
time you actually changed your job? No, not taken another position, but actually
changed the job you currently perform. What could be done to change procedures
to make your job more efficient? What could be implemented to give better service
to library patrons? What could you suggest (and who
knows the job better than you) to improve matters?
Implement a new software? Perhaps getting rid of
unnecessary steps and procedures? Offload clerical tasks
to our student workers? Manage our time better? Do
some cross-training to learn a new area? Everyone
should be asking that fundamental question – how can
we do this better?
Lesli has a free portable CD player in her office. Submit the best idea for improving
one’s job by the end of December to Lesli, and win the player.
Contest begins………………………now.
What’s Our Policy
Inappropriate Content in Family Study
By Lesli Baker
If a student is caught viewing inappropriate content in the Family Study Room, the
tech aide will disable their account immediately. To reinstate the account, the
student will need to contact Darel Hawkins, Center for Student Computer Director.
Please ask Carlos for more information.
2 INFORMATION COMMONER
At Your Service
“Puttin’ on the Ritz”…with a “Motel 6” Budget
By Ruby Cheesman, ULA President
I know each and every library in Utah is feeling the pinch
this year – and will continue through 2010. We have
been required to tighten our proverbial library belts, cut
collection budgets, forego a few nonessential services,
and maybe even reduce hours. But we’ve survived.
We’re still here. And busier than ever!
So how can we give excellent customer service when our
staff feel stretched to the limit? I’ve only stayed at a Ritz
-Carlton once in my life, but it was very memorable. As I
reflected on what made the stay so special, I realized
that while the rooms were certainly luxurious, what I
remembered most really cost nothing, or very little.
With a little effort, we can incorporate these “Ritz”
moments in our libraries and make our customers’
encounters with us special and memorable.
#1: Make them feel welcome: Ritz-Carlton employees
were always smiling….like they really meant it! And all
the areas were spotless, from the entrance, to the lobby,
and of course, the rooms. How can we apply these
principles to our libraries?
•  Smile – it doesn’t cost anything to smile and be
pleasant…and you’ll feel better! It’s even been
proven to lower blood pressure.
•  Check your main entrance, and even parking lots
and sidewalks. Keep them clean and attractive. Take
down outdated flyers and nonessential signage (you
know library customers really don’t read all those
signs anyway!)
•  Straighten your shelves and displays. Keep them well
stocked and attractive. Displays don’t have to be
expensive to be effective.
•  Have staff pick up as they walk around – whether it’s
pieces of paper on the floor, or the stray book or
DVD.
#2: Make it personal: After I registered at the Ritz, each
and every employee remembered my name.
•  Greet them by name. Many of you already do this,
but make it a habit to call your customers by their
names. As you place a hold or clear up a matter on
their card, you probably have their account on your
screen. So take the time to say, “I’ve put that book
on hold for you, Mr. Johnson”; or “Thank you for
taking care of that fine, Ms. Green.” You’d be
surprised at how welcoming that personal touch can
be.
•  Roving Reader’s Advisory: Instead of always sitting
behind the reference desk, schedule staff to “rove”
throughout the library, asking customers if they
need help, doing pickup, facing books on shelves and
restocking displays.
•  Personalized booklists: Salt Lake County began this
program a few years ago and it has really been
popular. Customers can email us with a request for
some books that are similar to their favorite authors
or tell us what types of books they like, and
librarians are assigned to find 4-5 titles that meet
their criteria.
#3: Added value: This is the “mints on the pillow” part.
You know how that extra touch at a hotel or restaurant
makes you feel so special. Libraries, even with trimmed
budgets, can still give our customers a little something
extra.
INFORMATION COMMONER 3
ED I TO R I A L IN FORMA T I ON
The Information Commoner is an internal
communication tool published once a month by and
for the Utah Valley University Library staff. Input
from all library staff is encouraged.
The deadline for information submittal is the third
Friday of each month. Send information to Lesli via
email.
•  Bookmarks: Lots of catalogs offer these for just
a few cents each. Colorful, with a library slogan,
for summer reading…just some at your service
desks. We like to put them in coffee mugs on
our tables, with a sign that lets them know they
can take one for free!
•  Coloring sheets: Kids love these and they are so
cheap and easy to make…many available free of
charge to print out.
•  Chocolate for votes. If you have a reading
program, offer a sweet treat when they vote for
a Beehive or Summer Reading book selection.
Salt Lake County has a Reader’s Choice program
and our library gives chocolate for ballots turned
in. Works like a charm!
#4: Ask them: When I completed my stay at the
Ritz, I was asked to complete a telephone survey
after I returned home. The questions were
thoughtful and personalized to my stay.
•  Survey your customers. Ask them about their
library experience, either by a simple paper
survey, online through your website, or pay for
an independent company.
•  Analyze the answers. Don’t just put the survey
results in a drawer; as painful as it may be, take
a look at the results.
•  Make changes as suggested. Your customers
know what they want; look for ways that you
can make improvements, within your means.
•  Follow up: Make sure things are working after
changes have been made. If not, stop! Rethink
and try something else.
#5: Thank them….many, many times! The staff at the
Ritz-Carlton thanked me as I checked out, and they
seemed to really mean it. A few days later, I received
a personal note from the manager thanking me for
my visit with them and encouraging me to return.
•  Thank you notes to your staff. Managers and
directors don’t forget to say “thanks” to your
library employees. Even just a little card
thanking them for going the extra mile in
handling a difficult customer is really
appreciated.
•  Personal notes to library board members,
legislators, mayors, etc. Let those with the purse
strings know how vital they are.
•  Thank you notes to newspapers. Be sure to
thank those reporters who have written
complimentary articles about your library. They
will want to visit your library again!
•  And, of course, thank your customers. Just
saying “Thanks for coming, Mr. Brown, see you
next week” will make your library customers feel
special…and want to return again.
Even if your budget falls in the “Motel 6” category
try a few of the above suggestions to make your
library feel like the “Ritz”!
Announcements: December and January Events
4 INFORMATION COMMONER
New eRes Server and Software Installed and
Electronic Media Files Migrated
By Mark Stevens
The installation of hardware and software to
support our UVU Electronic Reserve library service
is complete, and the data files from our old eRes
server have been migrated and upgraded to the
latest version (5.6.1). User (library staff)
acceptance testing will occur for the next three to
seven days before we commit to the new server.
After acceptance, the Library web page links will be
permanently changed to hit the new server and its
eRes system. This is the first of two conversions.
The second will occur sometime in 2010, at which
point the server will be upgraded to Windows
Server 2008, and we'll get a (yet) newer version of
eRes (that is currently under development at
SirsiDynix).
We have pursued and purchased the best server
hardware that we could buy, with a "if we build it,
they will come" mentality. This anticipates a steady
increase of academic requests for the library to
provide online electronic media (streamed video,
streamed audio) in a copyright controlled
environment. We should enjoy an immediate
improvement in storage capacity as well as a
performance boost for video and audio streaming.
Our thanks to Alan Stephens, Tim Rowley and
others for facilitating this transition.
News from Systems
Sunday Hours
The Library will offer extended
weekend hours for finals. Our
hours will be as follows:
•  Saturday, December 5: 8 am
‑
10 pm
•  Sunday, December 6: 2 pm
‑
10 pm
•  Saturday, December 12: 8 am
‑
10 pm
•  Sunday, December 13: 2 pm
‑
10 pm
•  Saturday, December 19: 8 am
‑
5 pm
Welcome Back Potluck
The Christmas Party has been changed to a
Welcome Back Potluck! Join us on Tuesday, January
5 from 11:30 - 1:00 in the Timpanogos Room. Sign
up sheets for the potluck will be posted soon.
Sub for Santa
The Library is sponsoring a
UVU student Sub for Santa
family this year. To sign up
for gifts to bring the family,
please contact Lesli by
December 11. All gifts will
need to be turned in to Lesli by Wednesday,
December 16. Gifts should not be wrapped.
By Keith Rowley
Over 1,500 purchase orders have been entered into
Symphony since the first one was entered on
September 1. Unfortunately in the meantime a
major problem has surfaced. We started getting e-mails
from our vendors telling us that the title and
the ISBN on some of the purchase orders didn't
match up. For some reason Symphony is putting
bogus ISBNs in some of the POs in an extremely
random fashion. So Azucena and SirsiDynix are
currently working on the problem. Hopefully it will
be fixed soon.
On a good note, the latest Safari eBook update into
Symphony went about 10 times faster than
previously. Also, over 2,000 health and nursing
ebooks from Ebrary have been added to our catalog.
And over 200 bib records for our online dictionaries
and encyclopedias are now in Symphony.
Acquisitions and cataloging have been very busy
processing donations. 769 titles from one donor
have been entered into acquisitions in the last three
weeks and only about 100 of them still need to be
cataloged.
By Judy Robertson
Shaun Schaefer was diagnosed with pneumonia over
the weekend. Hopefully he will be recovered by the
end of Thanksgiving holiday. Kuki is on vacation for
the next two weeks. We will see her after
Thanksgiving. Kyoung Lee begins her vacation
Monday and will be gone until January 3. She is
going home for holidays, which is long way away in
Korea. Warner Neilson will be attending BYU Spring
semester. We will miss his sense of humor and great
work ethic. Good luck at the Y. Marie Teetmant is
having a piano recital on Friday, December 4. I'll get
details.
Of course there are the extended hours during finals
this year beginning, Saturday December 5—13. First
Aide Training will be available on Wednesday,
December 16 around 2 p.m. More details to come.
By Wendy Wise
The compact shelving units on the third floor have
safety devices which cause the movement of the
carriage to stop if it makes contact with an object or
a person. The safety device is the kick bar at the
base of each unit. If you are in the aisle when the
shelves begin to move -- have no fear, you cannot be
squished between the stacks.
As the year draws to a close we are frantically
moving most of the current periodical collection to
the compact shelves. As we do this please keep in
mind that 2009 issues may be found with the bound
volumes. And, as we process the various issues,
some may be found in Technical Services for a brief
period of time.
News from Technical
Services
News from Access Services
INFORMATION COMMONER 5
News from Serials
The kick bars on the compact shelving are an
important safety feature.
6 INFORMATION COMMONER
By Rama Chamberlin
Instruction statistics count every session of library
skills training that is taught by librarians. A review of
instruction statistics recorded during previous years
indicate that while there are some general trends,
the number of sessions receiving library skills
training in the five categories varies somewhat from
semester to semester and year to year.
•  Total classes taught in 2008: 305
•  Total classes taught in 2009: 338
News from Reference/Instruction
Instruction Statistics, 2008-2009
2008 2009
Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer Fall
ENGEL 2010/2020 65 15 54 57 8 48
ENGL 1010 21 2 58 26 9 59
CLSS 0 0 0 4 0 9
Upper Division
18 2 46 33 1 24
Lower Division 7 1 6 24 4 32
Totals
111 20 164 144 22 172
News from Media
By Christy Donaldson
More and more new videos are coming into the
collection each week. These videos are labeled with
"New" stickers. Please leave these stickers on the
videos. The stickers help both us and circulation
know what to shelve on the two new spinner
displays. The media department will remove these
stickers at appropriate intervals depending on how
much we have coming into the collection each
month.
This holiday Heather will be in the media
department over the break. Christy will be gone on
vacation from December 28 through December 31. One of our many new videos
By Catherine McIntyre
Archives
The Archives will soon be adding a fascinating new
collection to our holdings: the Adrian Cannon
Collection. Rick Fish, a lecturer in the History
department and professional archivist, teaches
Public History classes on campus and is using a
collection donated from the Adrian Cannon family
as a way to teach his students how to do archival
processing.
Adrian Cannon was the father of Joe Cannon and
Chris Cannon. Joe Cannon was Chairman of Geneva
Steel and of the Utah Republic Party, and is now
editor of the Deseret News newspaper. Chris
Cannon was a member of the United States House
of Representatives for the Republican Party,
representing the third district of Utah from 1997 -
2009. The collection includes not only documents,
correspondences, and photographs, but also a large
number of Cannon Family home movies on 16 mm
film. The collection will become part of the
permanent holdings of the Sutherland Archives.
On November 2, I attended a meeting of the Utah
Manuscripts Association at Westminster College.
We reported on what sorts of Utah Archives Month
activities or displays member institutions had
sponsored, ideas for group projects next year, and
ways to improve publicity for those projects.
Several retirements were announced, as well.
David Hales, former director of Westminster
College's Giovale Library, is retiring in June 2010.
And John Sillito, historian and archivist at Weber
State University, is retiring in April 2010.
Saturday, November 14, I hosted members of the
Utah Folklore Society and gave a brief presentation
about the history of UVU and the history of the
Sutherland Archives. The Society was holding their
annual meeting in the Sorensen Student Center,
and wanted to come over and see the new Library
and new Archives and hear about some unique
collections or projects that we house.
I am on the Conference Planning Committee for the
Conference of Intermountain Archivists (CIMA), and
we are going to be hosting the 2012 CIMA Fall
Caucus here at UVU (we have to plan out five years
in advance!)
Oral History
I went to the UVU Field Station at Capitol Reef the
last weekend in October, joining professors Kathy
French and Linda Shelton to plan an oral history
project involving residents of the communities
surrounding Capitol Reef National Park. Also
present were 15 UVU students, as well as several
residents who want to help organize and
participate in the project. The focus will be on the
many ways in which the creation of Capitol Reef
Continued on next page.
News From the Sutherland Archives
UVU’s Capitol Reef Field Station
INFORMATION COMMONER 7
Continued from previous page.
National Park has affected the lives of the original
white settlers, and their families, to this day. We will
add copies of these interviews and other materials
to our own oral history collection.
Brent and I will also be serving as "advisors" on a
class project, an oral history of local Vietnam War
veterans. Professor Bill Cobb in the History
department is overseeing this endeavor, which will
eventually become part of our permanent collection
as well.
Digitization
We completed a small project with the Daughters of
Utah Pioneers of Nephi, who had received a grant
from the State Archives to scan, preserve, and make
copies of their collections of family and area
histories. Last Spring Amber, Tod and I traveled to
Nephi to train them on basic scanning techniques
and best practices. Their grant-funded workers
saved the scans to DVDs, 36 of them in all, and then
asked us in October to help them with printing out
copies on archival paper. I completed and delivered
the finished product November 19.
We are also working on a grant-funded digitization
project for the Bryner Railroad History Museum in
Price. There are several large record books of the old
Utah Coal Railroad (later called just the Utah
Railroad) that Brent is scanning for them, one of
which will require use of our giant new cradle
scanner because of its fragility. Once scanning is
complete, we will load the images and metadata to
CONTENTdm and host the collection for them.
Orem City and the Orem Heritage Museum (The
Scera), two of our digitization partners, have just
loaded historic photographs into our CONTENTdm
server. The City of Orem's collection can be seen at
http://contentdm.uvu.edu/cdm4/browse.php?
CISOROOT=%2FOremCity and the Orem Heritage
Museum collection at http://contentdm.uvu.edu/
cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2FScera.
We will be moving our collections over to an
updated version of CONTENTdm within the week, so
collections may not be viewable for a short period
while this is taking place.
Other Projects
Brent has also been working hard helping out with
the LibraryCraft game (a web-based Library
orientation exercise) with Annie and Debbie. He is
doing the graphics and artwork, and from what I've
seen so far, he's doing an amazing job.
Near the Capitol Reef Field Station
8 INFORMATION COMMONER
INFORMATION COMMONER 9
Background information: I was raised in Idaho and then
went to a small high school in Brigham City, Utah. I
started college at Weber State and eventually graduated
from BYU. Next, I married and raised three children,
then (when the children were all in public school), I
returned to BYU to get an MLS. After receiving that
degree, I began working at UVU.
When did you start working at UVU? What changes
have you seen? I started at UVU when it was known as
Utah Technology College. I guess the continuing
enrollment growth and the construction of new
buildings are the two biggest changes I’ve seen.
Favorite things about job/UVU: I like all the aspects of
the job, but I especially like helping students with
research problems.
Job duties: I am the Instruction Librarian. I work at
Reference, and I manage collections for Education
(which includes Juvenile and Young Adult Literature),
Legal Studies (which includes the law books, police
science, forensic science) and Criminal Justice, Coop
(Career books), and some disciplines in the University
College.
Education/where did you go to school? I received both
a BA and an MLS from BYU.
Favorite things to do in your spare time or hobbies: I
read the books from the Children’s Literature Collection
and play with my grandchildren.
Employee Spotlight:
Rama Chamberlin
ASK THE TE CH GU Y
Q: How do I make a screenshot?
A: Windows has a solution. All you need are two keys
and Windows Paint.
The keys are ALT, and Print Scrn (located above the
Insert key). By pressing these two keys
simultaneously, an image copy of the screen will be
saved to the clipboard.
Then open Paint (Start, Programs, Accessories) to edit
it. Inside Paint, click on Edit then Paste to see the
image. The tools inside Paint can be used to modify it.
The Print Screen button is
located above the arrow keys.