End of the Semester

I know, I need to keep up with this thing a bit better than I have. Anyway we are in the last stretch of final exams and things have been going more smoothly/calmly this year. I'm working on compiling our headcount statistics for this year so we can evaluate whether or not we need to stay open longer during finals. Instead of changing the library's hours this semester for finals we came to a compromise with the SBA. The first compromise was even though the library will close by midnight, security will keep the building open until 3am. The second compromise was to allow the students to check out reserve items overnight as long as they dropped them in the book drop or had them back first thing in the morning. This seems to have all worked out and kept stress levels lower. In examining all of the numbers we may need to make minor adjustments to the Library's finals schedule. But keeping the building open untill 3am may be too much as there were never more than 6 people here at 2:30am. Is this enough to justify the operating charges? That debate has just begun.
As I prepare to leave for the holiday break I have a number of projects lined up for when I return on January 2.

Orientation and student ID cards
Leading a campus wide team in finding facilities management and room reservation software
Putting together a presentation on Copyright for the faculty
Starting our first inventory type project
Putting together a proposal for creating an institutional archive

See, it's just a couple of small things on top of all of the regular day to day duties such as managing student workers...that's a whole other post.

Happy Holidays

Up to Par

I am still working on bringing my department up to what I feel are industry standards. There does not seem to be any time for research and development. I need to find something that has practical value that I can also justify the research time for. So many ideas, so little support.

Gen Y to the T

As is typical of my generation I just can't get enough education. I already have my B.S. and M.S. and now I am going to pursue my J.D. Why? It is something that I have wanted to do for a while and if I don't try now I am going to be doing the what if thing the rest of my life. I do not necessarily want to practice law, but in order to advance in academia I know I need to have one more advanced degree next to my M.S.. The bigger challenge will be working full time while taking law classes part time. I did the same thing when attaining my M.S. however I do understand that law takes more effort, I know I can pull it off. I find that when I am really busy I tend to be more productive because then there is less down time to procrastinate.

Patron Issues

I have an open door policy. The only time my door is closed is if I am off site, making an important phone call, or in a meeting with an employee. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to come in, say hi, express concerns or content with something. With law students everything is expressed in an extreme. For example if one student is annoyed at another because they were talking a little too loud, I get the complaint that "people are yelling, laughing out loud, mocking me, gossiping, being inconsiderate, disrespectful, and I don't have to stand for this because I pay tens of thousands of dollars to go here, if something is not done right now, I'm going to the Dean!" This is all said in one breath, most of the time a day or two after it happens. The first thing to do in my head is realize that the story is at least somewhat embellished. Then apologize to the student for the experience they had, promise that efforts to curb this from happening will be increased, and then tell the student to let me know right away when this happens so it can be addressed as it happens. It is very difficult to remedy a situation that no longer exists. I apologize again and the student returns to their semi-normal self. The reason that I did not address the threat of the student going to the dean is because the student thinks by saying that it gives them leverage. If they were to actually go to the dean all the dean would do is call me or my supervisor and want to know what was going on.

I have no problem addressing patron issues. If they are having a problem I want to be able to help them. The issue is to read through the embellished story that they have spent a day or two developing thinking that they will get their way right away when in actuality it would have been to their advantage to have me address the situation as it occurred.

So how do you weed through the embellishing. It's not so easy at first, but the key is to listen to everything they have to say. In the above example the student was distraught because another student was having a conversation and not paying attention to his/her environment. All of the other stuff in the complaint was intended to reinforce the argument that the other students should be more considerate. That is why all I did was apologize for the incident and reassure the student that the matter will be looked into and to make sure it does not happen reaffirm that the library staff will walk around on a more constant basis especially as finals get closer.

How hard is all of this? Well I am still in my first year at this position and I already fell like a broken record. It may not be the same for all people, but the key is to listen, and at the same time put yourself in the students' shoes.

Where's the Library

I was talking with a co-worker in another department and found out that a faculty member had come to her to find out if her department had any materials on an advanced degree program. Her department is called Career Services which assists students in preparing for and obtaining jobs after graduation. Wouldn't the ideal place to start looking for information about an advanced degree begin in the library? A faculty member especially should know about the plethora of resources that the library offers, right? Unfortunately I have found that faculty members are the worst offenders of not knowing what the library provides. I have even had faculty members tell me (a librarian) that they do not use the library. WHAT!! I do understand that there is a lot of material that can be found using the Internet, but why reinvent the wheel when you do not have to. Yes, some of the materials that faculty members put together themselves have already been done for them, but since Google couldn't find it then it must not exist. I will be honest, I tend to start with Google when gathering information. The first place that Google takes me about 70% of the time is Wikipedia, which is a topic unto itself, but for further information why not ask the information specialists, a.k.a. the librarian. Being a librarian I am very biased, but I still feel that faculty should be right behind the librarians. This turned into more of a rant than I wanted it to so I guess I'll stop for now.

Today is one of those days that I am in and out of meetings. These days sometimes feel like a waste, because none of the other work on my desk gets taken care of and meetings just pile more on. The best thing about early morning and noon meetings are that they generally provide food, and of course communication and interaction opportunities, but I get there early for the food. What would early morning and noon meetings be without food? They would be full of punchy, hungry people. With the food people are just punchy, but they are too busy eating to throw a punch. Here's to food at meetings.

Politics

Working through office politics has never been a huge issue for me. I tend to learn and understand politics rather quickly. The problem is not having political "clout." Now if this were used in another way like, credibility I would probably not have such an issue with it. As the newer guy on the block all I want to do is my job. When being able to do my job effectively depends on others doing their jobs correctly the first time, I would expect that the others who have been doing their job longer than I would execute their duties accordingly. When they do not, I have to ask them to do it again. Somewhere along the way it then becomes my fault for not doing my job, or it is my fault because all I did was my job. It all comes down to this thing called "clout." I understand being new I have to prove myself, but when I cannot do my job because others have not done theirs, what am I supposed to do? All I want is to do what is required of me plus a bit more (I don't believe in being confined to job descriptions). How long does the fight to keep my head above water last?

That's the way...

Have you ever heard the phrase "That's the way it's always been done." Growing up with technology I have become used to change. If things are not changing then to me it seems that there is a problem somewhere. Now, I am aware that people in general are afraid of change, but as a recent graduate of an MLIS program I have new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. I have not had an impossible time, but it seems this phrase gets used and nothing changes. Why do people settle for that's the way... when they know it can be done differently and more efficiently?

I have found that if I do have a new idea and do some preliminary research to back it up I have had an easier time sparking interest in a new idea and at least getting it on the discussion table instead of shot down with the above mentioned phrase. Is there another way? How common is this issue?