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

              Information Commoner
March 2009
Volume 3, Issue 6
Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground
In This Issue
At Your Service 2
Announcements 3
Quiet Up Debuts 3
Department News 4
Brag Box 6
Forum on Children’s
Literature Conference
Report
7
Employee Spotlight 8
Mike’s Message
What’s Our Policy
Every five years we are required to do a
program ( Library) review for the State
Board of Regents, and our anniversary
year arrives this spring. The process is
similar to the Northwest accreditation
review in that libraries are asked to
assess themselves in terms of their
services, policies and procedures,
collections, staffing, funding, capital
facilities, and technical support. Librarians are currently writing sections of the
report for their areas. The review is an opportunity for everyone to sit back and
think about their procedures, and to examine ways that we can improve. Are there
activities and services that we should be abandoning? Are there new services that
we should be implementing? So often we get into our day to day routines and fail to
ask if we could be doing our duties in a better and more efficient way.
In addition, the Regents require outside reviewers to visit the Library, review the
varied areas, and write a short report with their commendations and
recommendations for improvement. We will have three reviewers: Kay Logan-
Peters from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln will review Public Services, Betty
Rozum from Utah State University will review Technical Services, and Ann Marie
Breznay from the University of Utah will review Systems. Their visits are scheduled
for April 9 and 10, and we will need to be available to visit with and answer their
questions in any way that is needed. Mark your calendars.
Community Patron Cards and Alumni
By Lesli Baker
We all know that we have community patron cards available for $ 20, which is quite
a deal. However, did you know that former students with an alumni card have an
even better deal? Former students may purchase a community patron card for $ 10
when they present their UVU Alumni card. Anyone interested in receiving an alumni
card needs to register on the Alumni department’s web site ( www. uvualumni. org).
Patron card holders are eligible for all circulation privileges, except Interlibrary
Loan, Reserves, and Distance Education videos.
2 INFORMATION COMMONER
The Importance of Internal Customer Service
By Christy Donaldson
We talk a great deal about customer service,
focusing on how we treat people who use the
Library and our services. Equal attention needs to be
paid to the way we work with other staff— the
internal customer. Michael Baber ( 1986) describes
25 customer service mistakes organizations make 1 .
While focused on external customers, it can be
easily modified to apply to working relationships
within the library. Using Baber’s list as a model,
consider the common mistakes we make when
working with each other:
1. Being unappreciative.
2. Not being interested.
3. Not listening.
4. Unfriendliness.
5. Lack of empathy.
6. Ignoring a coworker’s input.
7. Not asking questions.
8. Forgetting the benefits of good internal customer
relations.
9. Jumping the gun.
10. Lack of sympathy.
11. Keeping coworkers waiting.
12. Being pushy.
13. Being discourteous.
14. Arguing with coworkers.
15. Not admitting you are wrong.
16. Allowing distractions.
17. Rushing the internal customer.
18. Being insensitive to behavioral styles.
19. Being undependable.
20. Being inconsistent.
21. Allowing your coworkers to be embarrassed.
22. Criticizing coworkers.
23. Becoming angry.
24. Expecting life to be fair.
25. Wasting a coworker’s time.
Fixing these customer service mistakes will enhance
your ability to work better with your coworkers.
While we all have the occasional “ off” day, don’t let
any of these behaviors become habit. Internal
customer service is about the values we bring to
work everyday and improving how well your team,
department or the whole Library works. By
improving internal customer service we enhance
customer service to our external customers as well.
One of the number- one driving forces determined
by participants in the pre- conference at ALA
Midwinter was " creating an atmosphere of sharing
and helping." Here are some tips for creating that
atmosphere:
1. Begin with your own perspective: Regard fellow
employees and other departments as your
customers. Understand that helping your colleagues
do their jobs more successfully helps your
organization and you. Therefore, they are your
customers. Treat them like VIPs.
2. View interruptions not as nuisances, but as
opportunities to serve your internal customers. If
you tend to view every interruption as a pothole in
your road to success, reexamine those interruptions.
If someone interrupts you to share gossip, that's a
pothole. If someone interrupts you to ask for
statistics she needs to analyze team performance,
that's a necessary lane change that will get your
organization closer to its destination. Learn to
identify every real need from a colleague as a
" necessary lane change," and think of every
necessary lane change as an opportunity to move
your organization closer to its goals. Take pride in
At Your Service
helping your colleagues; enjoy your role in sharing
information and providing services that help others get
their jobs done. In most cases, your willingness to help
others get their jobs done will lead them to readily assist
you when you need it.
3. Exceed your internal customers' expectations. When
someone exceeds your expectations, how do you feel?
Most people feel delighted, excited, upbeat, and very,
very positive about that person and his or her
organization. Think what you can accomplish in your
organization by exceeding the expectations of fellow
employees. If payroll asks for time sheets by 3 p. m.,
provide them by 1 p. m. so payroll can relax, knowing
they have the time sheets in hand.
4. Say thank you. A simple, genuine " thank you" goes
much farther to create an atmosphere of sharing and
helping than two such small words would suggest. Even
when it is a person's job to provide information or a
product to you, tell them " thank you" when they have
done it. Express your appreciation of their timeliness in
providing it. Explain how it has made your job much
easier. Show them your delight when they exceed your
expectations.
Superior internal customer service improves morale,
productivity, employee retention, external customer
service and ultimately, everyone’s happiness.
Remember, it's the SLDs ( subtle little differences) that
make the big difference.
____
1. Michael Baber, Integrated Business Leadership Through
Cross Marketing. St. Louis: Warren Green, Inc., 1986.
National Library Week Event
We will celebrate National Library Week on Thursday,
April 16 from 12- 2. Join us on the patio for games,
prizes, and lots of fun! Our theme is the World’s
Greatest Heroes @ Your Library.
By Lesli Baker
Throughout this semester, noise
complaints have been a major
problem. To help educate our
patrons and other visitors, we will
begin a new quiet campaign called
Quiet Up. Quiet Up signs will be
posted on the third, fourth and
fifth floors, as well as the digital
signage, to remind everyone that the upper floors are
our quiet areas. We also ask cell phone conversations be
held in the elevator corridor or south stairwell and that
groups should use the study rooms with the doors
closed.
Although the signs will be in visible locations, they may
not be enough. We all need to help ensure our students
have a quiet place to study. If you notice any disruptions
on the third, fourth or fifth floors, please remind the
person or group that they are on a quiet floor and need
to move to a different . Signs will also be updated on the
study rooms stating that groups have priority for using
the room.
If you have any other ideas on how we can best spread
the word to Quiet Up, please let me know!
INFORMATION COMMONER 3
Announcements: April Events
Quiet Up Debuts
Quiet Up signs will be
posted around the
Library
4 INFORMATION COMMONER
News from Reference/
Instruction
News from Access Services
By Annie Smith
As the semester winds down and the research
questions get more difficult, I would like to share
some tools and tricks that I use to answer reference
questions. Rama and Trevor will share their own tips
and tricks in upcoming editions.
Google Site Search: Did you know that you can use
one of Google’s advanced search techniques to have
the giant search engine do some evaluation work for
you? By adding site:. gov ( or . edu, or . org) to your
search, you can limit your search results to a
particular domain. I used this just the other day to
track down a USDA document listing the sugar
content of popular sodas by adding site:. gov to my
search and eliminating results from alternative
health sites, diet sites, and other . com detritus.
LexisNexis Academic Legal Search: I use LexisNexis
Academic’s legal search whenever I have a “ there
ought to be a law” question and a student wants to
know if such and such a practice is banned or if a
particular law exists. LexisNexis is particularly useful
in that it includes Shepard’s Citations, which let you
know if a law is still in force.
WorldCat ( www. worldcat. org): This is the free
version of OCLC’s national catalog. Using WorldCat,
you can find out what titles exist on which topic,
including articles and multimedia, and who owns a
copy ( in a ranked list based on distance from a zip
code you provide). I’ve also used this catalog to
verify citations and check titles. Caveat: Provo Public
Library and Orem Public Library are not included in
WorldCat.
By Judy Robertson
We were able to meet with the Library Aides in a
staff meeting this month and cover several items,
including our new Roving Aides Position. J describes
this position as a service to patrons in the Library.
The goal is to be visible on the second, third, and
fourth floors aiding students in finding items,
answering questions, and giving directions. It is an
active role to approach patrons and offer help.
Eventually they will have a vest to set them apart.
The walk around is different. Library aides are to do
clean- up around all floors, straighten books on
shelves, straighten furniture, dust, and perform
housekeeping tasks. In addition, the LA will report to
the supervisors’ special needs in areas. We also
talked about the First Book Program and " Quiet Up."
Half of the staff attended the meeting and we were
able to update other agenda items as well as gear-up
for spring. Thanks to Sam, MaryBeth, Linda, and
Lasca for help covering the desks.
Ben, roving on the fourth floor
INFORMATION COMMONER 5
By Tim Rowley
Mark Stevens' " Dashboard," which displays either
in- use or logged out computers in the Info
Commons and distinguishes between Windows and
MAC OS log- ins on the MacPro computers, is now
on line on a large monitor near the new book
display area. Students will be able to tell at a glance
which computers are available. The next phase is to
try it in different locations. We anticipate that
where we place the monitor is where the queue of
people waiting for computers will form. Annie
Smith assisted Mark with her adept web page
design skills in taking Mark's data and forming it
into a more aesthetically pleasing and useful
display. Excellent work, Mark and Annie.
On April 4th Azucena and Tim will be traveling to
the annual CODI ( Customers of Dynix Incorporated)
users’ group conference being held in Dallas, Texas
this year. They will attend a pre- conference called
" Horizon to Symphony Migration." This year CODI
will be merged with the Unicorn/ Symphony users
group, UUGI ( Unicorn User's Group, Inc). Watch for
a report on the conference in the next newsletter.
By Keith Rowley
We recently received a large donation of microfilm
which should be of great interest. There are two
different collections: 1) the London Times, and 2)
the American Periodicals collection. The London
Times covers the period of 1785 to 1985. The
American Periodicals collections has hundreds of
newspapers, magazines and journals for the years
1741- 1900. Until additional shelving is received for
all these microfilms, only the London Times from
1785- 1829 is currently available on the 2nd floor.
The rest of the microfilm are now in storage in
archives.
By Debbie Short
The UVU Library recently added the ScienceDirect
Social Sciences and Humanities database, which
contains full text, high quality journals published by
Elsevier.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Collection adds
350 journal titles to our periodicals collection in the
subjects of arts and humanities; business,
management and accounting; decision sciences;
economics; econometrics; and finance psychology
and social sciences. This constantly growing
database adds approximately 130,000 new articles,
with more added every month.
News from Systems News from Technical
Services
News from Serials
Mark’s prototype has already seen use by
students searching for an open computer
6 INFORMATION COMMONER
News from Media
By Christy Donaldson
The Media Viewing Rooms are up and ready to go! An
official room policy is forthcoming.
Christy will be traveling the first week in April to present
at the Mountain Plains Library Association conference in
Wichita, KS. She will also be presenting at the Utah
Library Association conference in Sandy, UT at the end
of April. Her presentation will be on managing media.
Here is the presentation summary: Getting swamped by
all the different types of media out there today? Stop by,
take a seat, and relax while we check out ways to keep
you head above water in the wild and crazy movie
industry. From buying films to copyright issues, from Blu
- ray to streaming, feature films and documentaries, take
away all sorts of useful information on film. Even where
to find the best deals and what you need to know about
permissions, this session will try to answer all your
media related questions.
One of the Media Viewing Rooms
BR A G BO X
Amber Begins Graduate School
Amber has been accepted into Utah State
University's Graduate School, to pursue a
Master's degree in History. Congratulations,
Amber!
Ross Recognized
Ross was recently named as a finalist for the
2009 Wolverine Achievement Awards. The
winners will be announced April 8. The UVUSA
Wolverine Achievement Awards are awards
given to students, faculty, staff, alumni and,
administrators in recognition of outstanding
contributions to campus and community.
Archives Receives Grant
Catherine recently received an LSTA grant in the
amount of $ 8,964. The grant will fund a cradle
scanner for digitization of fragile materials.
Welcome Back, Claudine!
Claudine returns to work March 27.
Librarians on the Campaign Trail
Several members of the Library staff are running
for ULA offices. Good luck, candidates!
Debbie: ALA Representative
Christy: Secretary, Business Round Table ( BURT)
Jacques: Chair, Library Administration &
Management Round Table ( LAMART)
INFORMATION COMMONER 7
News from the George Sutherland Archive
By Catherine McIntyre
There are some exciting announcements in our
department. Amber has been accepted into Utah
State University's Graduate School, to pursue a
Master's degree in History. Congratulations, Amber!
Also, not quite as exciting, but worth mentioning, is
that the LSTA mini grant that I applied for was
awarded. This grant will enable us to purchase a
cradle book scanner, so we can scan fragile books
without damaging the spine, as could happen on a
flatbed scanner. We have materials of our own, plus
those of our partner institutions, for which we will
be able to use this new scanner.
We have started digitizing some of the meeting
records for the Provo City Recorder's Office. Amber
has been working very diligently, scanning and using
Photoshop to clean up each page image. It is a huge
job— six books of over 700 pages each. We will start
working with the Provo City Library soon. They have
around 500 images that they would like us to host in
CONTENTdm for them. And I am meeting with Dan
Perry, who is UVU faculty in Engineering and Design
Technology but, more to the point, affiliated with
the Utah Council of Land Surveyors ( UCLS) and is
looking to have us digitize some of their historic
images and documents.
On March 18, 19, and 20, I participated in an online
metadata class. For two hours each day, there were
online PowerPoint lectures, discussions, and
worksheets on using Dublin Core metadata, which is
what we use to describe items in our digital
collections.
We will be hosting an exhibit of student sculpture
through April in the Archives reception room. I'll
have more details on that later, but it should be a
great show. I've also heard from two artists who
want to do an exhibit over the summer on alchemy
and art. We're still working out the details, but if it
works, it should be fascinating.
Forum on Children’s Literature Conference Report
By Judy Robertson
I attended the conference and enjoyed the keynote
speakers’ addresses by Shannon Hale and Michael
O. Tunnell. The book panel was interesting to hear
and covered the authors’ favorite books and the
illustrators’ take on books they did not write.
Because the subject was Juvenile and Children's
literature, I shared the list with Rama. I also enjoyed
the editor from Disney Hyperion, Abby Ranger, as
she shared her experiences in editing and
publishing. The author’s take on how they worked
on their manuscripts, rewrites, and worked with
editors and under contracts was also interesting to
me. I learned how characters were developed and
how authors tend to relate to their characters long
after the books are published. I enjoyed the passion
the librarians had for this literature genre.
8 INFORMATION COMMONER
Employee Spotlight: Judy Robertson
Background information: I, fortunately, was born
and lived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, God’s beautiful
country, where I skied, skated, hiked, went to school
and found my one true love. I married Garth ( Toby)
Robertson 46 years ago. We raised two children and
have been blessed with seven grandchildren. Our
daughter, Lennie, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis
as a child and with the help of a lung transplant, is a
living miracle. Her daughter Meirah is a junior in
high school. Kerry, our son, works for UVU in the
grounds department, supervising the mowing and
snow removal efforts. He has two children attending
UVU. Keri is his oldest daughter. She worked at the
Library for about two years and is going on a mission
to Argentina this month. The other grandchildren
are Jake, UVU student; Megan, junior high; Taylor,
junior high, wrestling; Parker, junior high; and Holly,
12.
When did you start
working at UVU? What
changes have you seen?
My first job at UVU was
working as a desk clerk in
the Administration Office. I
learned a lot about politics,
academic hierarchy, and
administrative operations,
from the President to vice
presidents to administrators, Department Heads,
secretaries, to faculty and professional and hourly
employees.
Changes I have seen include working with five
different presidents at UVU. Each one contributed a
special talent to expedite the growth and success of
this school.
The number of degrees offered has expanded. The
number of faculty has increased. The services
offered by the Library are totally amazing. The
Library has the ability to provide students with
materials and access to the needs they have. I don’t
miss typewriters, card catalogs, mimeograph
machines, and other obsolete machines.
Working at the Library in its formative stages
provided me many opportunities for growth in
organizational skills and management opportunities.
I believe that I was selected for the jobs that I have
had because of a desire to succeed at what I was
asked to do and because of my diligence in trying to
do all that was asked of me. Eventually, I earned the
title of Head of Circulation.
When I started here we had one director, Carol Reid;
librarian Rama Chamberlin; an office assistant, Janel
Mitchel; three Technicians; Janet Johnson; Claudine
Boothe; Kay; and myself, who did orders and
received shipments. We operated with a staff of
about four to five part- time students. Now we have
a Director, ten Librarians, one head of circulation, six
full time circulation supervisors, plus two part- time,
six people in cataloging and ordering/ receiving, and
a part- time staff of 34 students.
We now have a five floor Library of approximately
180,000 square feet. and 96 hours to staff.
The LRC where the Library was located previously
changed and went through several renovations. It
housed Administration Offices for about two years,
One addition of 21,000 square feet was added to
expand the Library, the Atrium, but it did not
accommodate the expanded growth of the student
body. The funeral of Carol Reid was held in the
Atrium. Art classes in the Library was an experience
because the students would take art books from the
Library to get ideas for their projects. However, they
Judy on her first UV ID
INFORMATION COMMONER 9
also cut out the pictures and destroyed some books.
Others would draw clothes on the nude studies. The
elevators in the LRC Library were terribly slow and
small. You could hardly get a cart of Library books to fit
and books would drop between the floor and door,
disappearing into the black abyss.
Favorite things about job/
UVU: The people I have
worked with at UVU are
absolutely the best thing
about my job. I have great
lifetime friends. Every year
a new crop of diamonds in
the rough come to work at
UVU and it is fascinating to
see how each develop their
talents. These men and women seeking a career and
dream of a great job and a new house; single mothers
returning to school striving to make it as a sole support
of their children; new freshmen trying their wings away
from home; seasoned students mirroring frustration of
change as they complete their degrees; all are learning
the tough lessons of self preservation; all persevering
toward their goals. The role I serve as their supervisor,
as we interact daily, can be a stepping stone or a
boulder on their trail to succeed. They succeed or not
and move on. I have loved this experience and have a
deep gratitude to the institution.
Job duties: Looking at the current list of duties for
supervisors, is like reading a past work experience. The
ground work and guidelines for circulation were ones I
helped to create. Azucena laughs when I tell her I was
once “ systems administrator.” The training that is
available and the support from the director to get
training has improved and is a remarkable asset. The
talent of our current staff is mind boggling and it is an
incredible journey working with them.
My main duties consist of hiring, training, supervising
and scheduling Library Aides, to create productive
employees for the Library. Many outstanding
employees who continue to work at the University,
started in the Library and have moved on to several
different departments.
It takes a lot more time to schedule and supervise 34
part- time staff for the 96 hours a week we are open
than it did 20 years ago to schedule ten people for 50
hours.
Education/ where did you go to school? I attended one
semester at University of Wyoming doing generals and
elementary education courses. I received my Associates
at Utah Valley Community College ( now UVU). I worked
17 years in school districts in various positions in
Wyoming and gained lots of experience from the school
of hard knocks.
Favorite things to do in your spare time or hobbies: I
love camping with the family and friends in our trailer.
I’m done with tents and sleeping on the ground. We
have a small trolling boat, and maybe I’ll learn to fish. I
read, garden, and travel. I love playing sports, card and
board games with grandkids. I enjoy my pets ( a horse,
two cats, ten fish, and yard birds).
ED I TO R I A L IN FORMA T I ON
The Information Commoner is an internal communica-tion
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.
Judy