Dewey Decimal System Recap

Hello everyone!  I thought this would be a good time to do a quick recap on the dewey decimal system.

Shelving Items in "Dewey Order"

In the Dewey Decimal System, books are filed digit by digit, not by whole number.  This means, for example, that our book at 595.789/BROC would come after 595.0123 and before 595.9. 

With Dewey decimal numbers, it doesn't matter how long the number is.  Items get shelved in order of the numbers, as if they all had the same number of digits. 

Here is another example - the Dewey call numbers below are in proper Dewey order:

331

331.01

331.016

331.02

331.041

331.0413

331.042

331.1

331.198

331.2

And again, after the decimal numbers come the letters from the author's name (or title).  When two books have the same number, then they go in alphabetical order by the letters.

Here is an example of Dewey order with decimal numbers and letters:

641

B54s

641.5

C23w

641.5

We45

641.555

R87

641.594

M45e

641.5945

F3s

641.596

M74s

Also, always remember the nothing before something rule, meaning that 823.91 W23 A69s is always going to come before 823.91 W23a 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Heidi

Review Week 2: Hours, Shift Coverage and Timecards

Thank you to all of you who completed week 1 review on time! One thing I need to address from last week is that B1 of P1088-B1 means that the photocopy is on shelf B1 of the container we hold the photocopies in. Please come to me if you don't know what this means.

On to week 2 review: hours and timecards. Belinda and I told you at the beginning of the school year that we would be really cracking down on filling out your timecards so I figured I should make sure everyone understands how to do this.

First, you should be making sure that your google schedule is accurate. This is located on the student assistant website under the student worker contact information page, just go to your name and click on it, your schedule is there. I make changes to these schedules every time you take a shift, get a shift covered, are late, or are sick. This schedule is what we use to check your timecards with. If you find something wrong and don't tell me, we are going to think your timecard is wrong and reject it, which means you will not get paid.

To get a shift covered for the information services desk, periodicals desk, or the 10-Midnight shift for access services you need to fill out the substitution form located on the student assistant website under substitution requests. If you need to miss a technical services or daytime access services shift you just need to talk to your supervisor. DO NOT put a daytime access services or technical services shift on the website for coverage! For the other shifts you just fill out the form and click submit.



Once you have filled the form out, please refresh the page to make sure it appears in the available shifts chart.



If you want to take a shift, you can find available shift in the available shifts chart. If you find a shift you can cover just fill out the "fill a substitution request" form.



Once you have filled it out, please be sure to refresh and make sure that your submission shows up in the filled substitution requests chart



Make sure that you fill out all of these forms accurately!

You should be filling out your timecard EVERY shift! To fill out your timecard you just need to go to Merlin, log in, select the employees section, and then click "Time entry." There you would select the library timecard and then fill out your shifts. All the timecard periods are two weeks long, at the end of the time period you need to "sign" your timecard and submit it. I will send you reminders every week when they are due but it is clear that once the time period is done, you should submit your timecard.

Below is your homework for this week. It is due Thursday, October 27th!

Review: Week 1: Reserves

Hello!

This is week 1 of our reviewing! Please read the following and answer the questions below. Remember I require that all Student Assistants, ASCs and SCs participate!

When a patron comes up and asks for a reserve, the first step is to ask them what class or professor they have. Go to the library website, click on the tab that says "Books, Movies, and More," and click the link that says "Reserves for Classes." In that screen select the search items they give you and click "Find." That will pull up the list of reserves that patron should be interested in.

There are two types of reserves. Faculty owned items, which are the faculty's personal items that they have put on reserve for their students to use. Oesterle library items, which are items the library owns. The faculty owned items have very basic call numbers like f789 (book), v506 (video), c102 (CD), p102-A1 (Photocopies), etc. They have a purple band with the barcode on the band. All of these items are located on the right side of the reserve bookshelf, except for the photocopies which are located in the bins to the left of the bookcase.

The Oesterle library items have our normal Dewey Decimal call numbers, a green band, and the barcode is located where all of our barcodes are, on the back cover, top right hand side. All of these items are located on the left side of the reserve bookshelf.

There are 6 possible different check out times: 2, 3, 4 hours and 1, 2, 3 days. When you charge the item out to the patron the computer will tell you the exact time the item is due, make sure you tell the patron. If you missed the due time on the computer screen, you can just look at the band on the book and with that information figure out the due time. Hourly reserves should NEVER EVER leave the building, that means they can not be desensitized. Daily reserve should be desensitized, so please pay attention to the difference.

Once a reserve item is returned you need to discharge it right away in order to not accidentally give a patron a fine. If it is an hourly reserve you should put it on the reserve shelf, it should never go in the back room. If it is a daily reserve, you should resensitize it in the back and then put it on the reserve shelf. There should NEVER be a reserve book on a shelving cart or on the regular shelves, only on the reserve bookcase.

Reviews coming up

Hello,

It is week 5 next week, that means that we have all had time to review or get used to the desks. So, starting next week you should be checking this EVERY TIME you work because I am going to start to review. Reviewing means I will talk about some subject about one of the desks and you will need to answer some questions at the end of my posts. All student assistants, ASCs and SCs are required to participate every week and have them turned in ON TIME.

Get ready :)

Have a great weekend!

Heidi

Reviews

Hello,

We will take a break on reviews from now until the end of the term. I will start back up next term though. This does not mean stop checking the blog because you never know what might come up!

Thanks!

Heidi

Review Week 5: Customer Service

Hello! This week's review is short and simple, be friendly to people!. You should be constantly looking up and around to see if anyone needs help. I know that at the information services desk it is sometimes hard to notice when people walk but you shouldn't be so engrossed in what you are doing to not be looking up. When someone walks up or calls, speak clearly and loud enough for the person to hear you, make the person feel welcome. It is never good to make a person feel bad for asking for help.

Please tell me the answer to the following two questions by next Tuesday, March 1st at 5pm.

1. What is the telephone greeting?
2. How do you transfer a call?

Thanks!

Review Week 4: Periodicals Desk

Hello! It's week 4 of the reviews! There are quite a few of you that have not answered my questions from week 3, please do that by 5pm today. Again, you should be checking this blog and the website every time you work.

The periodicals desk is what most consider to be the easiest shift when working at the library but I think I should review what you need to be doing while on the desk. Every person that works that desk is expected to keep an eye on the people in that room to make sure they are keeping their sound levels down, not talking on their cell phones and that there isn't any suspicious behavior. Another task you are required to do during every periodicals desk shift is to walk around the room, pick up any periodicals laying around, take stats on them, and shelve them properly. This includes microfiche! While you are walking around you should go out into the lobby area and straighten all the periodicals that are laying on those tables so they look nice and organized.

Sometimes you are going to get questions for help on finding a particular article. You can help someone only if they have the title of the article, the year, issue number and the journal name. If they are missing one of those things they should go up to get help from the reference librarian. One way you can find an article is to click the tab that says "articles," then click the link that says "browse journal, magazine and newspaper holdings." There you can search for the journal name, if it comes up with online databases click on one with the appropriate date range, find the year/issue number and then click the article title. If the only option is "North Central College print journals," click on that link, look for the appropriate year and see what format it will be in downstairs. From there you can direct where the item will be located, either in current or bound periodicals or the microfiche. There are many ways you can search for an article, I personally find that the easiest, but it is up to you.

Any other questions other than directional questions, "does NCC have this item," "where is this article or journal" "can I check out this periodical" should be directed to the reference librarian. Please don't try to answer any other questions than that.

Ok, here are your review questions of the week, they are due Tuesday, February 22 at 5pm, please email me (hkkaul@noctrl.edu).

1. What should you do if a patron is talking on their cell phone?
2. How do you take a stat on a journal?
   
3. Tell me in what databases can I find the following article: Creamer, Matthew. How Radiohead is rewriting the rules of online revenue. Advertising Age, 10/8/2007, Vol. 78 Issue 40, p4-48, 2p W
4. How should you help a patron that asks you for help on research for a paper about the stages of grief?
5. How long can a student check out a periodical for?

I know that I didn't answer these questions in the review, but everyone should know them. Although, if you do not know the answers, you can come ask for help. I look forward to your answers!

Heidi

Review Week 3: Reserves

We are back into our reviews. Everyone has given me their assignments from the previous two postings, thank you. There are a number of you who have not responded to my email from yesterday, make sure you do that.

Our week 3 review is going to be about Reserves. When a patron comes up and asks for a reserve, the first step is to ask them what class or professor they have. Go to the library website, click on the tab that says "Books, Movies, and More," and click the link that says "Reserves for Classes." In that screen select the search items they give you and click "Find." That will pull up the list of reserves that patron should be interested in.

There are two types of reserves. Faculty owned items, which are the faculty's personal items that they have put on reserve for their students to use. Oesterle library items, which are items the library owns. The faculty owned items have very basic call numbers like f789 (book), v506 (video), c102 (CD), p102-A1 (Photocopies), etc. They have a purple band with the barcode on the band. All of these items are located on the right side of the reserve bookshelf, except for the photocopies which are located in the bins to the left of the bookcase.

The Oesterle library items have our normal Dewey Decimal call numbers, a green band, and the barcode is located where all of our barcodes are, on the back cover, top right hand side. All of these items are located on the left side of the reserve bookshelf.

There are 6 possible different check out times: 2, 3, 4 hours and 1, 2, 3 days. When you charge the item out to the patron the computer will tell you the exact time the item is due, make sure you tell the patron. If you missed the due time on the computer screen, you can just look at the band on the book and with that information figure out the due time. Hourly reserves should NEVER EVER leave the building, that means they can not be desensitized. Daily reserve should be desensitized, so please pay attention to the difference.

Once a reserve item is returned you need to discharge it right away in order to not accidentally give a patron a fine. If it is an hourly reserve you should put it on the reserve shelf, it should never go in the back room. If it is a daily reserve, you should resensitize it in the back and then put it on the reserve shelf. There should NEVER be a reserve book on a shelving cart or on the regular shelves, only on the reserve bookcase.

Here are your assignments for this week:

Do a search for the class GEN-PSY: Psychology Students and the professor is Kelley, Karl.

• How many items are on that list?
  
• How many items are faculty owned and how many items are Oesterle owned?
  
• What is the call number and the location of the GRE/GMAT math workbook?
• If I was a student, how long would I be able to check out Career paths in psychology?

This assignment is due by 5pm, Tuesday, February 15th. Please get this done!

Heidi

Reviews

I know I said we were going to have a week off from the reviews, which we are, but I was wondering if you have any suggestions of what I should review? Is there any areas you feel we need improvement? I have a few more things I have in mind but if you can think of anything else, please email me hkkaul@noctrl.edu

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Heidi

Reviews

Hello,

We are going to have a week off from the reviews because of the crazy weather, don't forget to check next week though. Just a little reminder to always be friendly, most of the time you are the first person a patron deals with and we want everyone to have the best experience possible here.

All of you who have answered the questions have candy waiting for them in their mailboxes.

Heidi

Review Week 2: Checking the website/blog and Timecards

It's week 2 and you still have until 5pm today to give me your answers from week 1. But there have been quite a few of you that haven't responded, which leads me to the beginning of today's review, you should be checking the website and blog every time you have a shift. This is one of your responsibilities of working here and the website is a great source of information. It is also the only way to get your shifts covered and to be able to check your schedule. Please make sure that you are checking the site EVERY TIME you work!

The other item I wanted to review with you is your timecards. There have been a large amount of timecards that have errors on them that we didn't know about. One of your responsibilities of working here is to make sure you clock in and clock out correctly. If you don't clock in and clock out correctly then you need to instantly tell myself or Denise, either by telling us face to face or leaving a note. So please pay attention to your timecards because there may be a chance with many mistakes that you will not get paid until the next pay period.

Secondly, you need to communicate with someone when you are changing or missing a shift, we have to make your online schedule as accurate as possible because we will all be switching to online timecards sometime soon. We have already had part of the student assistant staff testing this program and we have had many problems with people turning them in on time and making them accurate. So please communicate these items with me.

Your assignments for this week are:

1. Email me the link to your personal google calendar that I made you on the student assistant website. Look at every week from now until the end of the term (March 16th), tell me if the calendar is correct and if not, what you think is incorrect.

2. Email me the text from the blog posting about the Harry Potter Exhibit.

3. Tell me what you are supposed to do if you didn't clock out on your last shift and the timeclock beeps at you?

Please email me these items by 5pm Tuesday, February 1st.

Review Week 1: Lost Books and Fines

It is that time of the year that I like to review some items. I will be doing these postings once a week for the next couple of weeks. Please read over this and do the assignment that will be at the end of the post.

Lost Books:

Sometimes when you are discharging items this window pops up:

















When it does, you should click cancel, NOT OK, and place the item on my desk with a note saying "item marked as lost." It is very important for our records and for the accounts that you click cancel.

This means that you should be looking at your computer screen after every book that you scan into the discharge screen. If you just scan another book it will automatically select OK and that would not be good.

Fines:
When a person comes in to pay a fine, if it is under $25 you can post it on people's accounts and the way that you do that is to click this button





in the charge screen. Once you are in that screen click the post button and fill out the form appropriately.















If the fines are $25 and over you cannot post on someone's account. This person has to talk with myself, Belinda or June. Do not do anything with this person's account! Only we can do it! Just inform the person that either you are getting one of us or if it is in the hours that we are not here feel free to give out my email (hkkaul@noctrl.edu) or phone number (630-637-5711) to have the person contact me.

Okay! Just so I know that you are reading these email or come in and tell me by 5pm Tuesday, January 25 the answer to these two questions:

1. What do you do if this window pops up:

















2. How would you handle the following situation: A patron comes in wanting to pay a $60 fine that is on their account and it is 2pm on a Saturday?

Please remember that you can always review this and other procedures by looking at the information services desk manual on the student assistant site https://sites.google.com/site/oesterlelibsa/home/information-services-desk-manual. Let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to give me these answers by next Tuesday!