Summer Breezes Make Me Feel Fine

How's it going out there, Pages? We're down a few pages--MO just finished her last day w/us, MEG will soon be matriculating at a Midwestern college (the very best kind), and more staff-changes are no doubt forthcoming (all voluntary, I assure everyone).

Have the statistical assessment changes been helpful? Always feel free to comment on this or any other process on the blog--We've made several changes based on things we've read here.

And I hope the SRP (especially in Youth Services) hasn't been too overwhelming. The noise and general chaos just amazes me sometimes. It will be over soon enough, though (last day--August 11th).

S*T*A*R!

The Staff Training and Revitalization Program (STAR) offers an opportunity for staff of the Library to expand their knowledge and understanding of the library services outside their regular workplace. The following is a description of one of your colleague's recent visits to Library Administration. If you are interested in STAR, please let Steven or me know.
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I would like to share my experience to my colleagues and readers on my recent visit to the Loudoun Administration Building. I had a chance to become a “STAR Twinkle” myself. This program is a great opportunity to learn what happens behind the scenes of book spine labeling.
The employees of Loudoun Administration thoroughly taught me several duties, such as how the Collection Department places and receives orders for new books, how they handle wrong or duplicate labels, and how they catalog using OCLC-MARC system. I even had a chance to get “hands-on” experience, by labeling some books myself.
I truly enjoyed having an opportunity to be trained by the STAR Program. I expanded my knowledge and my appreciation for their hard work. One day, I might actually get a book that I cataloged, a book with a spine label that I fixed, or the Children’s book that I had put a cover on. I suggest all my page colleagues to take a break from your routine shelving for a few hours and become a “STAR Twinkle” in the Administration Collection Department. It will definitely be a rewarding experience.

Vijaya J.

Statistics

Anonymous asks:

"What are stats for, besides tracking our every move, and why are we the only group that does them (why not circ)? Does it matter how fast or slow we shelve? Is excellent performance rewarded with any kind of incentive (bonuses, raises, paid vacation)?"


Statistics are used to track developments in the volume and effectiveness of the system as a whole, as well as individual performance. We may notice trends--Are 'Minutes (other)' exceptionally high? Have the number of carts dropped or gained from previous months? We've made adjustments based on shifts in these and other changes.

I'm not aware of what assessment measures the circ. supervisor uses for her staff. I use these stats at least in part because pages have necessarily had to be independent, self-motivated employees, and I sometimes fail to notice their good work; the library is staffed at least 70 hours each week, I work less than 40, and all pages are part-time. The intersection between our hours is rare, and I welcome opportunities to recognize improvement and excellence. Some of the data is requested by senior branch management, as well (not for individuals, but for the pages as a whole).

I also look to statistics not for some arbitrary threshold of competence, but as a measure of improvement; pages should (and nearly always do) get better at all aspects of their work. New pages, especially, are interested how they are doing, and I can show them. The speed of shelving is only one part shelving; accuracy and maintaining shelf order are also necessary. Bonuses have been given out for exceptional performances, of which speed has been one indicator of excellence.

"The noise was glorious." *

Whenever I think about summertime at the Ashburn Library, I'm reminded of that line from Ramona the Pest * by Beverly Cleary. And this from Pink Floyd's "In the Flesh":

"To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow."

The warm thrill of confusion pretty much captures the spirt of the place from my point of view. For me, as you can see, SRP is just peachy, and despite all the problems, I enjoy the chaos. I'm wondering about those veterans of summers paging in the past--How do you feel about the time between mid-June to mid-August here at Ashburn? Any caveats for your uninitiated colleagues?

Process Review

Chrissy writes, "..I suggest that the current Pages write down things that we would like covered during training (things that take a while to pick up, or things that may seem confusing, or things that have been missed during training in the past)".

I agree with Chrissy's suggestion; we should review these procedures from time to time, especially with Page input. Let's start with the opening/closing process--Is there anything in this list you would like to add, delete, revise?
Opening/Closing Checklist

Every other weekend?

If you could work every other weekend (instead of having to work exactly 12 hours per pay period), would you be more inclined to work weekend shifts?

Talk amongst yourselves . . .

Lead Page?

Would it be helpful to have a lead page (or one for each supervisor) that would be responsible for training new pages and disseminating information to the rest of the pages?

Discuss.