Information Desk Specialist Training Home - Introduction
 Information Desk Introduction/Parameters |
| Information Desk Specialists Expectations |
| Communication Expectations |
| Scheduling For Desk |
Information Desk Introduction/Parameters
The Information Desk was established in the Geisel Library building to help alleviate lower level inquiries at the Reference Desk. Librarians were being asked many directional questions such as bathroom locations, library hours, and introductory questions about how to find a book or a journal. This was not the most efficient use of the librarians’ time as it took away from more involved reference assistance and bibliographic duties.
The Information Desk was originally staffed by “volunteers”. These were existing library staff (Library Assistants) from throughout the Library system who would work a few hours a week or more on the Desk to field all incoming inquiries. As its value as both a buffer for all the public service desks, and as a welcoming presence to visitors was proven, staffing was provided to enhance its presence and stability.
Over the years, the Information Desk has increased its staffing so that there are currently four half-time employees whose main job is to work the Information Desk. Their hours are supplemented by approximately 10 other library staff persons (and occasionally a volunteer) to maintain a regular presence during the Geisel Library building’s busiest hours. It is not unusual to have a couple of librarians volunteer to work the Desk as well, as the cross-training benefits and sharing of knowledge have been immense.
The service desk itself serves all of the Libraries at UCSD, including the Medical Center Library and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library. All staff are required to complete a fairly extensive training program, possess excellent public service skills, and participate in continuing education programs throughout the year. Volunteers must make a minimum six-month commitment to the job. Over time, the Information Desk providers’ knowledge and responsibilities have expanded. Staff are frequently asked questions about the UCSD Campus as well as San Diego in general. And the parameters of service- level given to patrons have expanded due to changing technologies, greater knowledge on the part of the staff and more electronic databases available for searching for information.
In order to maintain a reasonable level of consistency among information- providers and to avoid giving patrons false expectations of how much assistance they may come to expect at the Information Desk, parameters are set up as guides to the service given. In addition, an Information Desk staff person may not be aware of other sources or tools and, by trying to do too much, might cause the patron to miss an abundance of resources available at the Reference Desk. Also, when school is in session, there are times when the Desk can get quite busy, so it’s optimal that a limited amount of time is spent with each patron so that prospective patrons are not hesitant to approach. In general, almost all transactions should not take more than five minutes total, and often take 30-60 seconds. By design, the expertise given at the Information is currently at a Library Assistant III level, as that is the main staffing at the Desk. While the average patron automatically assumes that all Library employees are librarians, it is not improper for staff to dispel this myth through education. And while staff responding to questions should not have to “act dumb” in order to meet the lowest common denominator of knowledge held at the Desk, there are parameters or guidelines that should be followed when giving assistance. For example, it is not within the parameters of service for the Information Desk provider to do in-depth subject searches on the Internet or in Sage for the patron. If, though, a provider has particular expertise in some area, they should feel free to provide that along with an acknowledgement that the provider happens to have “special” information regarding that subject area.
As mentioned above, the parameters do change over time, but currently the service that is offered at the Desk and should be followed by all staff at the Desk includes:
CollegeSource Online and Ulrich’s and various other directories described in the Reference Tools section of this training manual.
Information Desk Specialists Expectations
At a minimum, my expectations are that the workplace should be an enjoyable and congenial place to work.
Unless my Do Not Disturb sign is up, please feel free to interrupt me at any time. Also, I don’t mind getting work-related calls at home.
Please limit the amount of socializing with co-workers, including student workers, during work hours to a reasonable amount as it interrupts the workflow and thus the service provided to our patrons.
I expect that all Info Deskers will be open to constructive criticism from both their co-workers and their supervisor (presented of course in a fair manner). The expectation is that there is a desire to learn and constantly improve the level of service that we offer to patrons.
All of us must strive to provide kind, courteous service. As the original job posting stated, “Outstanding public service” skills are a requirement of this job.
No employee should be subjected to unwarranted abusive behavior by patrons. Please call for assistance if this should ever happen to you.
If you trade hours with a co-worker, you must take responsibility for changing the hours schedule asap. Also, you must make up the hours to your co-worker within a reasonable time period.
It is your responsibility to regularly check on your assigned tasks in the manila folder in the Desk and be sure they are up to date, as well as working on your point-of-use guides and look-ups.
Attending Continuing Education sessions, Info/CPNM Group Meetings and other announced meetings are mandatory if you are available.
The following two items apply only to those people that the Information Desk Manager directly supervises:
If you are ever late more than 15 minutes to work, you must fill out an absence slip for vacation time. You cannot make up the time unless plans were made in advance with your supervisor.
Absence slips must be turned in to your supervisor within 2 working days of returning from an absence.
I wanted to bring up the following agenda item at the Info/CPNM Group meeting so there would be a public forum for discussion if anyone wanted to discuss the issue with me or others. It deals with how we communicate with one another and trying to work for an optimal environment of cooperation and respect for each other and creating a positive environment for our patrons to encounter. I am asking for your help in this endeavor.
Directly I supervise 8 staff and about 7 students and indirectly am closely involved with an additional 7 Info Deskers. All in all I think we have an excellent team and am thankful for so many of you pitching in when we are short-staffed and for going the extra mile to help patrons. I recognize we will never be close to perfect in our assistance or our personal interaction, but as a manager I do strive for continually improving and fine tuning our service. I do believe that the level of service we provide to our patrons is affected by our own personal interactions amongst ourselves. I also know that with my duties spread thin, I am finding myself playing “counselor” far too much for my own mental health. I have to recognize my limitations and my shortcomings, so I want to let people know that if you have a problem with a co-worker, I want to strongly recommend that you approach him/her with the problem first. I also want to strongly recommend that the recipient of the feedback listen carefully to that feedback and not immediately become defensive.
If this is unsuccessful, then at this point, please feel free to involve me. When anything has reached the point of interfering with the service we provide I definitely want to be involved. Hypothetical examples would be if someone dislikes a co-worker and therefore refuses to make trades with him or her (this results in less Desk coverage during emergencies), always interrupting the other person while they are helping a patron (this leads to tension/friction at the Desk, often recognized by a patron), refusing to offer follow up advice or assistance that could have been helpful to a patron because your co-worker has severe body odor (this results in less accurate or incomplete information given to our patrons). Again, these are just examples whose ramifications may go beyond the every day differences of opinion. And if you don’t feel comfortable approaching me with these things if they have not been resolved between yourselves, then please bring them to the attention of my supervisor.
What I want to get away from though is the people coming to complain to me about someone’s personal habits, nuances, attire, etc. that should either be ignored or else dealt with between the two of you. I am guilty of these gossipy type things myself and am going to work on improving it, but I can no longer be the ear for people’s complaints about others until they have approached that person in an open (non-attacking), honest, supportive way. It simply is too draining on me personally to play psychologist when it involves people I care about.
What I don’t want you to get from this is thinking that I am unapproachable now. Nor do I want you to think that I don’t want to hear feedback about the quality of co-workers’ service or work or punctuality, etc. I am definitely interested in that. What I’m talking about is the personality differences that make us all unique and wonderful and at times, trying individuals. Again, if it falls into this category, please be open to talking to the person(s) most involved and then if you can’t reach some mutual satisfaction, come to me. As my Mom and I’m sure some of yours’ may have said in the past, “Paul, if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.” While this needn’t be taken to the extreme, I hope to use it as a general guideline for my personal interactions.
If you have any thoughts about this I would encourage people to talk openly about it now or I can schedule another meeting where we can dialogue about it. Thank you all for listening and for your hard work and caring.
Sincerely,
Paul
The Information Desk Manager schedules the Desk based on the staffing needs of the Library so as to help maintain a high level of responsive public service, and to ensure that the Desk never closes during its advertised open hours.
Weeks or months in advance the Manager will request that staff submit their preferences for schedules, noting those hours they most want to work, those they could work, and those they positively cannot work. In addition, a vacation/conflict binder resides at the Info Desk for staff to note their vacation requests as well as specific conflict hours.
If the staff person has not submitted their requests/conflicts by the deadline, then they are responsible for finding substitutes for any hours they are scheduled.
Working during holidays and weekends rotates each quarter unless staff specifically indicate a desire to work those dates.
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8/10/05
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