I-Share Hold Shelf

 All, 

Please keep the hold shelf more organized when pulling books off of them. Letter labels have been stuck in haphazardly and books have been falling over, making the shelf look like a mess. Presentation is important, as well as organization. When you need to pull books off when a patron is checking out, make sure to straighten anything that has fallen over or close any gaps. Do not leave it a mess. 

Thank you, 

Neena

Juvenile Collection is Relocating

 

Hi all, 

The first project to relocate materials from the lower level prior to the renovation has begun! Thanks to Neena's hard work, the Juvenile Collection is now on the move. The beginning of the collection is now in the Reference Room on the wooden shelves that previously housed the Reference Collection. I would anticipate that by sometime next week the entire collection will be in this new location.

We are moving that collection up so that it can remain accessible during the first phase of the renovation. Once this move is completed, other collections from the lower level will also be relocated. We will let you know when the next collection begins. 

There will likely be patrons who will need assistance finding these materials. Please help us direct them to this new, temporary location!

 

Belinda

Phone Chargers are back!

 All, 

Access Services has made the decision to bring back phone chargers. There are several portable chargers that charge both Android and iPhone phones, about three regular iPhone chargers, and a plethora of Android chargers available for use. 

Since it's been a while, here is a refreshers on how students can use our chargers. We need their student ID to give them a charger. We need to be able to identify them and contact them if they choose to not to return our chargers. If they say they need their ID to print, for example, kindly inform them that they can still manually type in their information on the printer to print. 

You are not allowed to take anything else of "value" instead of the ID. If there are any issues, grab a staff member. 

Check the battery levels of portable chargers before you hand them out. If they are low or dying, please plug them in to charge. 

If there are any other questions, please ask. 

Neena

BIG NEWS ABOUT OESTERLE LIBRARY

 All,   

 

We have big, BIG updates about Oesterle Library that we can finally share with you all. Oesterle Library is finally getting a much-needed renovation! This will be a complete top to bottom renovation of the entire building that will be done by the end of July 2022. This massive project is starting this week, and it will require a lot of work with the collection. Within the new design for the building, ALL of the library collections will be moving to the Lower Level of the building. It will be a massive project to transition our collection down there.  

 

This is where all of you come in! Since we have to move the entire collection, it makes the most sense for us to weed items out of the collection that we no longer want or need before we move them. There will be a lot of projects that the staff will need assistance with to keep up with how quickly we need to move. To begin with, you may be given a list of titles to pull from the shelf and fill a cart (not too terribly painful!). Access Services and Techincal Services shifts will be working closely with this project, but there will be times where we may pull Periodicals desk students off their shifts as well to help with this process! Keep that in mind when you're coming to work every day. It'll be a dusty project. Closed-toed shoes are recommended! 

 

It's going to take all of us to make this happen within the timeline given to us. We will have more details for you soon once we start giving out assignments.  

 

I, for one, can say that I am beyond thrilled to see the library finally getting some much-needed TLC and I'm excited to work with all of you to make it happen. Your help will be integral to this process this fall.  

 

If you have any questions or concerns about any of this, please don't hesitate to let me know!  

Neena

Updated I-Share and Alma Information

 All, 

I've updated the Alma Training on the Student Assistant Website to reflect some updated processes you all will be doing at the front desk: checking out to I-Share patrons again as well as returning items. 

Currently, we will be allowing I-Share patrons to check out material again by appointment only. This may change to allowing walk ins once keycard access ends. The process to checking out to I-Share patrons is not completely different, but requires some different steps. Please look over the training on the website to familiarize yourself with the steps. 

Secondly, since we are not quarantining books anymore, you will start accepting returns again at the front desk. The process to return items is also in the Alma Training section. Please read this carefully, as you will not be using the 'Return Items' page to return any items. 

If you have any questions on these processes, please let me know immediately so we can walk through them together. I will check in on you to see how you are doing with the processes either way. 

New Access Services Assistant for Resources!

All, 

Please join me in welcoming Olivia Mullenax to the Access Services Team! She joined us July 29th as the new Access Services Assistant for Resources. Let's all give her a warm welcome and help her ease into her new role on the Oesterle team!

Welcome Olivia! 

End of Term Due Date Stamps

 Hi All, 

As we are coming upon the end of the semester, I have some updates in regard to our due date stamps. 

Firstly, all materials will continue to be due for students on May 7th. Please use the End of Term due date stamp for these sorts of materials. 

Alternatively, faculty and staff will now have their due dates returning to the four-week due dates. That means their due dates will be changing every day instead of the static May 7th date that we've had all semester. Belinda and I have put out the 4 Week due date stamp back out at the front desk. Please use this stamp when it comes to these materials. 

Make sure to check the due dates on materials when checking them out to patrons so you can be sure of which stamp to use!

It has been some time since we used more than one due date stamp out at the desk, and we have gotten new student assistants since then! If there are any questions at all about how/when to use the appropriate due date stamps, do not hesitate to ask me or grab the available staff member when you are in the building. 

Neena

I-Share Scanning Issue

  All--

We have noticed when checking out I-Share items that Alma takes a little bit more time to process the book when you scan the item barcode. Because of this, it has happened that books aren't getting properly checked out to patrons if you scan items too fast after the previous one. 

When checking out books, particularly I-Share books, wait until the book appears on the screen underneath 'loans of this session' before scanning the next book. Otherwise, we end up with patrons having books that are not checked out to them. Work slowly and check the books to make sure they appeared on screen and that you scanned all of them before you give them to the patron! 

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me or Belinda. 

Thanks, 

Neena 

New Reference Services Librarian!

 Please join me in welcoming our new Reference Services Librarian - Lori Koetters! 

Lori previously worked at the Moraine Valley Community College library and has spoken excitedly about working with college students. She is joining our team on 11/16 and we are so happy for her to be here. She will be here for Monday and Wednesday evenings. 

Welcome, Lori!

Archives Access

At this time the Archives is available by appointment only. If you receive questions at the desk about using materials in the Archives, please give the patron one of Rebecca's business cards (which are available at the desk). Let the patron know that they will need to email Rebecca for an appointment, and that 24 hour notice is requested.

Extended Due Dates and Bookmarks

As libraries and library users continue to deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARLI consortium has extended due dates for all I-Share materials until February 1, 2021! Oesterle Library staff have decided to extended due dates for materials checked out from our collection as well. Any items already charged to a current North Central College student, faculty or staff member have now been given a February 1^st due date. Any items we check out to our patrons between now and February will receive the February 1^st due date. There is just one date due stamp available at the desk right now, and it is set for February 1. Please do not change that date! 

Neena has prepared some bookmarks to let patrons know that items are due on February 1^st. These bookmarks also suggest that once a patron is done with the item, they should go ahead and return it so that they don’t forget about it and lose it by February! Please include one bookmark per patron when you check items out to them and let them know the new due date.  

Please note that “white band” (interlibrary loan) books have not been given this extended due date. Please be sure to point out the due date to these patrons when you give them white band materials. 

Please let Neena or me know if you have questions! 

Thanks, 

Belinda 

Study Rooms

 The three group study rooms on the lower level are being re-opened. They will have signs indicating that:

1. There is a room capacity limit of ONE.

2. They are reserved for students who are connecting to an online class.

When you are at the Periodicals Desk, you do not have to monitor whether or not the students really are connecting to an online class. However, do keep an eye on the room capacity! If you see more than one student in a room, please call upstairs (x5715) and ask a staff member to come down to speak to the group.

Emotional Support and Service Animals in the library

 Desk staff have been made aware that a student who regularly uses the library has been bringing her emotional support animal (a puppy) with her. According to Mindy Diaz, the college's Student Disability Services Director:

Emotional Support Animals are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, they are only covered under the Fair Housing Act. ESAs are allowed in the residence halls, but they are not allowed outside of the students living space. Service animals are allowed anywhere on campus.

 

There are only two questions a person with an animal can be asked: 1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

 

Comfort is not a task.

Mindy is working with Campus Safety to develop policies and procedures for how to address the presence of emotional support animals outside of their approved spaces. For the moment, she is asking the campus community to note and observe if the puppy makes any more appearances. Please contact me (enicholson@noctrl.edu) if you have any additional sightings (or hearings - the puppy is a barker).   

Thanks, 

Elizabeth

Issues with printing from personal devices

The issues many students are experiencing with printing from their own devices are due to an ITS update that has not been completed.

ITS has suggested that until they complete this update, students that are having printing issues will need to login to a networked computer for their printing needs.

Restricted Use of Our Building

 As you all know, entry to our building currently requires an NCC key card. Given this, we are currently not open to members of the public. This includes both public patrons and NCC alumni who have a Courtesy Borrowers card from us.

In addition, we are not open to other I-Share library patrons as we typically would be. I-Share patrons should not use us as their "pick-up location."

If you receive calls from any of these groups, please transfer the person to Neena or me if we are available. If we are not available, please ask the librarian on call to take the question so that they can fully explain our current situation.

Thanks,

Belinda

Student Coordinator Position

TO:         Student Assistants

RE:          Student Coordinator (SC) positions

We are currently accepting applications for 2 Student Coordinator (SC) positions that will be available beginning MayTerm/summer 2020. Details/requirements of this position include

•  During the academic term, SCs will work a variety of shifts including late afternoon/evening, late night and weekend hours. Please be aware that multiple late night and weekend shifts are common for SCs.  
• During evening/weekend hours when a librarian is on duty, there will be one SC scheduled.  
• During evening/weekend hours when no librarian is on duty, there will be two SCs scheduled. 
• SCs generally have 4-5 shifts per week. All SCs will be expected to work some Midnight shifts and some weekend shifts.  
• All SCs will have at least one shift that overlaps with daytime staff hours in order to maintain contact and communication with daytime staff/supervisors.   
• SCs will be expected to work an average of 13-16 hours per week during the academic term.   
• Given campus restrictions on the number of hours a student can work on campus during the term, students who expect to work a significant number of hours in another position on campus should speak with Belinda before submitting an application.   
• Schedules and the number of hours per week during May Term/summer vary according to the library’s schedule and the number of SCs available. In general, SCs will be expected to be available for at least a portion of May Term/summer. When making our hiring decisions, priority will be given to students available for both May Term and summer.
• SCs have significantly increased responsibility, primarily in providing reference services, supervising other student assistants, maintaining building security, and opening/closing the library. Therefore, SCs have a pay rate of $10.30 per hour

We are now accepting applications for 2 SC positions to begin May Term 2020. Anyone wishing to apply for a SC position should email a professional letter of application to Belinda that includes the number of terms you have worked at the library and areas in which you have worked for us. Your letter should particularly address the reasons you feel especially qualified for the position. If for any reason you will not be available to work this position for any period of time during the coming school year (e.g. Study Abroad or unavailable during the summer), please address this in your letter of application.

The deadline for applying for these positions is Wednesday, March 11^th.  Interviews will be conducted shortly thereafter.  Please do not hesitate to contact Belinda if you have any questions regarding these positions or the procedures for applying.

Spring Break

All student assistants are expected to work their regular schedule through Friday, February 28 and RESUME their regular schedule on Sunday, March 8. Any hours that you are unable to work during that time must be covered via the usual substitution procedures.

Oesterle Library’s hours for Spring Break are:

            Saturday-Sunday, February 20-March 1: closed

            Monday-Friday, March 2-6: 7:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

            Saturday March 7: closed

            Sunday, March 8: Regular hours resume (11:00 a.m.-Midnight)

We have two half-time student assistant positions available for March 2-6. If you are interested in one of these positions, please complete the application form by by Noon on Wednesday, February 19. Preference will be given to applicants that: are able to work all expected hours and dates and have an excellent attendance and work record.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Student workers are not allowed to work more than 29 hours per week in campus positions.  This includes hours worked in all campus positions.  Therefore, if you are planning to work elsewhere on campus during Spring Break, you may not be eligible for these positions.  Please speak to Belinda before applying.