SIRS (McKeldin Service+ Information & Research
Services Desk Committee)
Minutes of meeting
October 27, 1999

Present: Bunn,  Laguerre, Moreton, Nail-Chiwetalu,
Todd,  Harvey, Winker, T.Johnson, Lindquist, Stefany

1. Report from SMaCC meeting of October 26 (Cindy).
Discussion of food and drink in the library: Cindy will
remind desk staff of our responsibilities to enforce the
food/drink policy.  Discussion of Arts and Humanities Media
Fair (Nov 16); Eric described MITH and ETIC for SIRS.

2. SIRS would like to know if there are usage statistics
for pay-for-print.  Chris reported that reordering of paper
for the machines has picked up in the past couple of weeks.
Cindy will see if there are other usage statistics
available.

3. Cindy asked "what isn't going well at the desk?"

A. Mary and Deb report that there is very light traffic at
this service desk during the 6-8 PM shift on Saturdays.
There are complaints from users that there is "no good
place to study" on campus on Saturday nights.  We agreed
that user comments should be encouraged and that it is
especially useful to have them in writing.  SIRS would like
to hear about how user comments in the Comments Box are
being managed and that information
(comments/questions/answers) are disseminated to both staff
and users.  We discussed setting up a "comments book" for
the desk, encouraging the development of a web form for
user comments, putting the existing comments box in a more
conspicuous spot. Cindy agreed to see if Sue could come to
one of our meetings.
B. We discussed the difficulties for students when their
ID cards get stuck in the various library machines during
hours when Photocopy Center staff is not present to extract
those cards.  Those ID cards give students access to
buildings and  pay for their food.  Cindy will follow
through Mark and Terry to see if we can find a way to
extract those cards at all hours.  Meanwhile, desk staff
might encourage users to buy the photocopy card for use in
the photocopier and pay-for-print stations.
C. We discussed removing the benches and chairs that create
a "conversation alcove" that is under T. McKeldin's
portrait.  The ensemble is attracting noisy groups that are
disrupting service from the desk.  Cindy will pursue this
idea.
D. Ross observed that we need to clean-up the computers
again and agreed to talk with Dave or Will in ITD to
confirm the process for turning-off the equipment security
system while we shove things around.  We will need to make
certain that we document the turn-off process for future
cleanings!
E. The desk area is messy again.  Diane and Mary volunteered
to engage in a between-the-semesters spring
cleaning/organizing-what's-left-project.  They will be
installing a cork board in the area above the "grey-flipper
book."  We will attempt to organize the information mounted
on that cork board.  One good idea is to reserve a portion
of that board for time sensitive messages to desk staff…for
example, notes on a problem solved for a user who will
return.  At Glenn's suggestion, Mary will try to
standardize the locations of handouts at the desk.  More on
this as the project unfolds.

Beyond the cleaning/organizing project, we all agreed that
the day-to-day effort is necessary.    Desk staff including
students and rovers are encouraged to do their part to
maintain our working environment :  desk staff should TAKE
YOUR STUFF WITH YOU when you leave the desk, everyone
should be on the look out to pick-up stray paper, pencils,
pens, library guides.  We don't want to send a message that
we don't care about our work surroundings.
F. We discussed the appropriate process for transferring a
telephone call:
1) Always give the caller the telephone number for the office
to which you will be transferring their call
2) Call the number
3) Always identify yourself…something like, "Hello, this is
Cindy Todd from the Information Desk, I am transferring a
call."
4) Then transfer the call
G. We discussed the pick-up tray which is located behind
the desk.  This is a place where we can leave research or
occasionally books for users to pick-up.  Everything left
in the tray should be clearly marked with the date, the
person
that the pick-up is for, and the staff person responsible
for the material.  Deb S. regularly checks the pick-up tray
and will remove "over-due pick-ups" and return them to the
appropriate staff person.
H. We had a very lively discussion about users who want to
leave material at the desk "while they run to the Union for
change" or "while they feed their parking
a later meeting, however we all agreed that short term
public lockers, sort of like those in the bookstore would
be a good solution.

NEXT MEETING:  November 17th at 10:30.  We will be discussing the guidelines for
circulation of the McK Reference collection

----------------------
Cynthia Todd
Coordinator for Information & Research Services
McKeldin Library
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
ct15@umail.umd.edu