HSL Access Notes - Feb. 6th

Hello,

 

A few notes for the week……

 

 

Engagement Survey

A reminder that all staff are encouraged to complete the staff engagement survey.  LCR has had an above average response rate in the past, and the information provided in the surveys does is used for strategic planning at a campus and department level.   It takes about 20 minutes to complete.  Thanks.

 

Sliders

Have you had a look at our HSL sliders on our webpage lately?

Remember, if clients are asking about anything they see on a slider, they can click on the slider to take them to a page for more detailed information.

The RefWorks slider directs clients to the session registration calendar, the UptoDate  slider directs them to the Mobile app LibGuide, the resources sliders directs them to the catalogue records, etc. 

 

SP 2013

HSL staff, don’t miss out on the SharePoint 2013 roll-out and hands-on calendar session.  Everyone will get to use the new and streamlined calendars and processes.

Join us on Tuesday, February 10^th at 2:30 in 1459 for some fun, and exciting next steps with SP 2013.

 

 

Electronics

The Mac adapters that we have at the service desk are intended for use in the library only to support technology in the study rooms.  Clients using the rooms outside of the library can request that type of support through AV services.

 

Room booking System Update

Our room booking system allows students, staff and faculty to book up to two hours per day for a total of 3 hours in a 7 day period.  In one of our recent system changes, it appears that the limits had been changes to allow longer bookings during the day.  The 2 hour per day limit has been reset.  If clients are wondering why they could book 3 hours a day last week and only 2 hours per day this week, it is due to this glitch.  The 2 hour limit per day is to try to ensure that as many students as possible can use the space during open hours.

 

Students and  ucalgary email

We have seen quite a number of students with overdues on their term loans recently.  We believe in many cases this has to do with the change UC made this past fall that required that all official UC email was directed to ucalgary email addresses only.  In many cases students may not be checking their ucalgary email (for example those with ahs emails).

These renewal messages are continuing to be sent, however according the UofC policy, all official UC email is now directed to clients' ucalgary email address effective October of 2014.  If clients do not check this email account regularly, we would recommend that they set up email forwarding so that mail sent to the ucalgary email is directed to an account you check regularly so that you will continue to receive all library notifications.

 

HOM display

History of Medicine Days held in the HSC, are coming up the first weekend of March.

In connection with this, HSL will be hosting a special AHS sponsored travelling exhibit on the history of vaccination and immunology.

 

“AHS Archives has partnered with Public Health and Communications to respond to this timely issue to create a travelling exhibit that explores the history of epidemics and vaccination in Alberta. Thanks to a  generous  grant  from  the  Alberta  Museums’ Association, the AHS Archives has  been able to draw on the AHS archival collections of medical artifacts  and  historic  photographs.     This  exhibit, Titled  “A  History  of  Epidemics,  Vaccines  and Innovation”, presents  an  engaging  and  informative  story  of Alberta’s response to the threat of disease, profiling notable physicians and discoveries from across the province.”

 

This is a tabletop display that will be featured at HSL the first week of March, and will be set up in the area where the Touch Table lives.

 

IM Chat and Sound on Station #3 

A reminder when logging into IM chat at station #3 at the service desk, to also check the station sound volume.  We did miss one chat this week when we didn’t realize that the sound had been muted on the station.

 

Google Searching Tips

Lourdes attended the recent Training Thursday session at TFDL, 20 Awesome Things You Can Do with Google, and has shared these notes:

 

https://metacate.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/training-thursday-20-awesome-things-you-can-do-with-google/

 

Upcoming Training sessions at TFDL

There are some sessions being offered for staff and students in the TFDL Digital Media Commons.  Check out the story in UToday.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2015-02-06/tfdls-digital-media-commons-host-technology-workshops?utm_source=UToday&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=February-6-2015&utm_term=TFDL's%20Digital%20Media%20Commons%20to%20host%20technology%20workshops

 

Have a good weekend.

Mary

HSL Access Notes - January 22nd

Hello Everyone,

 

A few mid-week notes …

 

Away

I will be away on vacation, January 27 – February 11^th inclusive.

 

Phone Update

Yoojin’s phone is now fully operational.  She can be reached at 403-220-8099.  The staff contact lists have been updated in SharePoint.

 

Welcome to New Student Assistant

Please welcome new student assistant Krystal Le, who began training at Health Sciences Library last week and will be covering our regular Tuesday evening shift.

 

IM Chat – Expanded Service

We have rolled out our expanded IM service evenings and weekends!  Staff are reminded to add IM questions to Refstats.

 

AV Project in study rooms 1454 & 1455

1454 and 1455 are booked for AV installation Tuesday – through Monday.  We are trying to keep the AV update a bit of a surprise, so if students are asking why the rooms are blocked, please just let them know that something new is coming.  The rooms will be kept locked  when installers are not on site.  The key for the rooms is the  AH7 key.  There is a copy of AH7 key the service area key box while the work in the rooms is underway for ease of access.

 

Reserve Collection

 There are a few Reserve titles that are not yet available at HSL, but are on order.  In some cases TFDL may have a copy.  Course reserve information is is filed (by course number) in the cabinet behind the service desk.

  If follow up is required about a Reserve item, please speak with Brian , 

 

SharePoint

We are now testing a new shift report template saved in SharePoint.  All staff can view the evening and weekend shift reports under Documents >Shift Reports.

 

Military Museum Items

If University of Calgary library items belonging to the Military Museum location are received at Health Sciences Library, they should be returned to their home location via TFDL.

 

Key Control

TerriLynne is now the main contact for Health Sciences Library key requests and inventory.  Thanks TerriLynne.

 

Knowledge Resource Service Location Acronyms

We had an interesting time recently with two Knowledge Resource Service locations that have very similar acronyms.

Do you know the difference between SHC and SCHS?

·         SHC :  South Health Campus  (the new hospital, 4448 Front Street SE)

·         SCHC:  South Calgary Health Centre (31 Sunpark Plaza SE, Calgary)

Staff are asked to double check client locations and addresses  especially when sending outreach requests.

 

Pick Up Stats and new Sirsi Process

Items that are found on tables, desks and shelves in the library are generally collected by student assistants and numbers recorded for our “in house use” statistics.  This has always been a manual count, however we have now begun to use the ‘Mark Items as Used’ function in Sirsi to scan and record all items with a barcode that are collected.  We will continue to count journals that do not have barcodes manually.

 

Visit Garrison Collection on Touch Table

The Garrison collection, a core part of the Mackie History of Neuroscience collection is now on display on the Touch Table.  There are over 20 items now showing in the HOM Bohemian Bookshelf.  Thanks Chelsea!

 

Hslcirc email

With the removal of the Campus Photocopy webpage (this service is now offered through ILL), the hslcirc email address is no longer posted publically.  It will continued to be valuable for  internal use only.  This is the email that receives all the Sirsi reports related to  holds, fines, final overdues, etc. 

 

On the Go – Update

The UC is removing the Quick Cuisine and Baja food services outlets and adding an Extreme Pita outlet.  During construction (January 13 – March 17), the Starbucks will remain open and Chartwells will continue to offer a reduced Quick Cuisine and Baja menu.  Please visit On the Go for more information.

 

U.S. currency

As directed by LCR Finance, if a client would like to use U.S. currency for a transaction at the desk, we can accept, however it would be at face value.  That is $20.00 U.S. = $20.00 CAD. 

 

Interesting Client Situation of the week...

Client:  I can't access this article - can you help?  The article is not online or in print - I tried ILL request form, but was blocked (error message).  

Follow Up:

• Checked UofC access numbers - OK,
• checked email address loaded in Sirsi - yes.  
• Found client had fine that was blocking access. 
• Client paid fine, then ILL staff were able to reset Relais access and we submitted request successfully. 
• If ILL staff were not available to reset, the system would automatically reset after noon on the next business day.

HSL Access notes - Nov. 8th

Hello,

 

A few notes to end the week....

 

 

Remembrance Day and Weekend Hours

HSL will be open through the weekend and open holiday hours on Monday, Remembrance Day as follows:

Saturday, October 12th:  10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 13th:  12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Monday, October 14th:  10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Thanks to our student assistants who will be covering the holiday hours on Remembrance Day Monday.

 

 

Veterinary Medicine Sessions

Lorraine will be offering optional free search workshops tailored specifically to veterinary medicine graduate students on the dates and times noted below.   These workshops will cover databases and grey literature that is relevant to veterinary medicine topics.  Students can register by emailing Lorraine at ltoews@ucalgary.ca

 

Conducting Systematic Literature Searches in Veterinary Medicine

 

When:                 Thurs, November 14        10 am – 11:30 am               1460 B

                             Tues, November 19           9:30 am – 11 am                1460 A

                             Tues, December 10            10 am – 11:30 am             1460 B

                             Tues, December 17            10 am – 11:30 am             1460 B

 

POI Client and Cards

Persons of Interest:  Most new Persons of Interest (POIs) will pick up an Associate card at the Unicard office and appear in Sirsi as Blocknew.  The POI info doesn’t always transfer over fully from the system, so staff may need to assist in updating.  We see many of these types of clients at HSL and there are many exceptions.   Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns about a POI record.

POI clients are expected to use their Unicard barcode and pin to access online resources remotely (not their UCIT login and password that is also an option for student,  staff and faculty).

 

IM Chat

A reminder that IM chat is now being monitored at station #3.  The site is bookmarked in Chrome.

Login:  tbccinfo

PW:  tbccinfo10

If you are busy with a client or need to step away from the desk, please use the drop down menu to select away.

 

Periodical Shelf Reading Project

Chelsea has been coordinating a periodical inventory project that has involved all evening and weekend staff and students.  Many thanks to all for the many hours of detailed work.  The initial review of the shelves is complete with various follow projects underway to identify and troubleshoot discrepancies between the collection and catalogue.  The result will be an accurate periodical shelf list and more accurate holding records.

 

TAL

At a recent circulation supervisor’s meeting it was mentioned that a number of public clients have arrived at the service desk with their Calgary Public Library(CPL) card expecting to be able to borrow books since this is what they were told. 

·         Please remember that Calgary Public Library members can certainly borrow books at UofC but they first must pick up The Alberta Library (TAL) card at their home library.  We can then add a barcode to their TAL card and create a borrower’s record for them in Sirsi. We do have a handout that outlines these steps in the process for clients.  Please offer this handout  to interested public clients.  The handout is in the front of the TAL binder in the third drawer by the POS at the service counter.

·         Also, it is very important that staff place a TAL flag in each item that is checked out to a TAL client.  This ensures proper TAL processing if the item is retuned to a CPL or other Alberta library.

 

Doucette Education Library Borrowing

The collection at Doucette has limited borrowing for clients outside the faculty.  For example, textbooks and kits are limited to clients within the faculty.  Also, Doucette does not have on shelf holds.  If clients wish to borrow a circulating item that is on their shelf, they may visit Doucette to borrow the item.

Also there are further restrictions for consortium clients who may borrow circulating items on site for a two week firm loan – no  renewals.

 

Reciprocal Users

An update to the reciprocal users list:  Alberta College of Art and Design is no longer on the reciprocal list.  These clients should be encouraged to pick up a TAL card at their home library.

 

Events Calendar at UofC

There are often people asking about upcoming events they have heard about at the UofC.  One way to find these events:

·         UofC homepage

·         Scroll to the links on the  bottom of the page

·         About Us> Events at the University

·         Click on ‘Calendar’ in the red title bar and a calendar of scheduled events is displayed.

·         Past and future months can also be viewed.

 

AV Project at HSL

The AV project is proceeding in rooms 14554 and 1455.

 

Photocopy Prices and Scanning Option

In response to a client comment, a label with photocopy prices has been added to each public copier.  We also have signage on the photocopy table.  Clients inquiring about copying may also be interested in the scanning option that is free of charge.

 

AUPE

Watch for special offers for movie tickets and events.

There are also meetings scheduled over the next few weeks regarding pensions.

Information is posted on the staff bulletin board.

 

 Please let me know if there are any suggestions, concerns or comments.

 Have a great long weekend.

Mary

HSL Access Notes - November 4th

Hello,

 

A few notes to begin the week….

 

Desk Schedule

Our desk and consult office schedule is kept up to date on our SharePoint site (left hand side of page).  There are a number of changes to the daytime schedule this week to accommodate staff training and meetings, as well as a change in the coverage with new staff.  Please check the schedule daily for changes and updates.  Remember that SharePoint works best in Internet Explorer.

 

IM Chat Service at HSL

All staff are encouraged to attend  the IM chat session planned for Tuesday, Nov. 5^th at 2:30 in 1460A!  Training will consist of background knowledge, flagging nuances of chat, and practice time.  I will be covering the desk during that time.

·         Chat service will be monitored by both consult and service desk staff (workstation #3) from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Mon-Fri beginning as soon as possible.

·         We hope to extend this service into evenings, and weekends likely in early 2014, with training provided for staff and student assistants. 

·         Working out how best to coordinate IM chat from the two locations may take some time, however we hope that it will work well to have whoever is available pick up an IM question and answer or refer depending on the nature of the question. 

 

Sirsi User Guide Update

The Sirsi User Information guide that provides information for adding clients to the Sirsi system, and is usually kept in the top drawer of the front counter by the POS has been updated. 

1.        The changes reflect the changes with KRS (note CHR and TBCC are still used as Sirsi profiles for AHS staff for the time being).

2.        as well as a new note about Environment field under the Access Options tab.

·         U of C or Community clients (Alumni, Coppul, TAL):  Environment:  select  PUBLIC

·         AHS or Consumer Health clients (patients and families): Environment:  PUBLICHIN (default)

It is available on SharePoint and in the HSL shared drive.

 

Work in 1454 and 1455

The AV project upgrade for rooms 1454 and 1455 has begun.    Room 1454 is booked for the upgrade work all this week and 1455 is booked all next week.  This may increase demand on remaining rooms for the short term, however the improvements, with screen and computer will make these rooms very useful as practice presentation rooms.  We did receive one complaint about the noise from room 1405 B, and the electricians have agreed to work around the sessions booked in these rooms.  Please let me know if there are any concerns or comments or questions regarding this project work.  Thanks.

 

History of Medicine Collection

Chelsea has completed some very detailed work on the Gordon catalogue of the Mackie History of Neuroscience collection.  The catalogue with items listed alphabetically by author,  includes many notes has been updated to include call numbers for all items currently in our HOM room for easy reference.  A pdf version of the guide has been added to the HSL History of Medicine LibGuide at : http://libguides.ucalgary.ca/hom

Thanks Chelsea.

 

Flat Panels at HSL

Have you noticed the new look of the HSL flat panel screens?  They now display a digital clock, daily closing time, Calgary weather and news feed.  The screens are no longer supported by Omnivex, but Xibo, that allows more onsite management of the screens.  Staff can continue to submit slides in PowerPoint format to Brian for loading.  Watch for more information about Xibo and updated guidelines from Brian soon.  Thanks Brian.

 

Touch Table

There have been changes in the access to the Lindsay Virtual Human program and Chelsea is working to find a solution for Lindsay on our touch table.  More details soon.

 

U of C Visual Identity and Templates

Thanks to Lorraine T. for passing along these helpful links that provide information and templates for the  U of C visual identity. 

 

General info at:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/brand/

 

PowerPoint, poster, stationary templates at: (have to login)

http://www.ucalgary.ca/brand/access/templates

 

Chrome Browser

The Chrome browser is part of the software download on the Commons workstations, but not the public workstations in the service area.

 

Write-N-Cite

Similarly, Write-N-Cite 4 is part of the software download on the Commons workstations, but Write-N-Cite 3 is loaded on the  public workstations in the service area.

 

How to Find a Thesis

I am passing along some very helpful information regarding finding theses.

The University Archives has posted an instructional video on “How to Find a Thesis.”  This may be of assistance if you are working with a student at a service point.

 

The video is located at:  http://archives.ucalgary.ca/theses (bottom of the page)

 

Photoshop now at workstation #3

Thanks Lourdes for this update.

The Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium software has been downloaded on station #3 at the service desk. Feel free to explore it and use it for creating slides for our flat panel.

 

Archibus

The facilities service request program, Archibus, has made some small changes in some of the building codes.  You will notice the change, for example, in the interactive room finder.  For example:

 

Heritage Medical Research Building  was noted as HMRB and will now be noted as   HM                                                        

Health Science Centre was noted as HSC and will now be noted as   HS                                                                                 

 

Bookmarks

We have received more of the newer LCR bookmarks that provide information for different types of clients.  The red bookmarks indicate UofC clients and we have one for graduate students and one for undergraduate students.  The yellow bookmarks indicate non- UofC clients and we have bookmarks for TAL, COPPUL (etc.),and Alumni clients.  These are great tools to use when assisting the various clients.  They are located beside the reference(back-up) printer. 

 

Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.

Mary

HSL Access Notes - October 4th

Hello,

 Welcome

I am pleased to announce that Terrilynne Martinez will begin in the Service and Administrative Assistant position at HSL Tuesday, October 15th.  Terrilynne brings with her experience in school, special and public libraries, as well as administrative experience in the retail sector.  Terrilynne will be providing client assistance at the HSL Integrated Service Desk as well as administrative support to the Health Sciences Library staff.  Please join us for coffee and cake to welcome Terrilynne to the Health Sciences Library on Tuesday, October 15^th from 2:30 – 3:00.

 

Student Assistants

We are pleased to  welcome new student assistant Rezwana Shakat to HSL.  Rezwana will be assisting with Saturday coverage.  While new to HSL, Rezwana has been working at WHKC for over a year.

 

Thanksgiving Weekend Hours at HSL

HSL will be open through the Thanksgiving weekend.

Saturday, October 12th:  10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 13th:  12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Monday, October 14th:  10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Our student assistants will cover the holiday hours on Thanksgiving Monday.

 

Study Room Project

HSL has received funds through the Student’s Union to support additional technology in our study rooms.  The project is in the planning stage, but we hope to add LCD screens and computers to at least two of the study rooms, beginning with rooms 1454 and 1455.   This technology will allow students to practice and work more easily on group presentations.

 

Consult Office

The consult office services are being well used.  Staff are encouraged to continue to promote use of the consult office services by referring clients needing in depth reference assistance to the librarian on duty in the consult office.

If the librarian is busy with one client, staff is asked to notify the librarian in the office that another client is waiting.  The librarian will advise of possible wait time.

 

IM

IM chat is a fast way for clients to access library assistance online from any location.  The service is beginning to get busier with more and more clients accessing services remotely.  Until recently the KRS IM and HSL IM chat systems could support one another, so if one location was already busy with clients, another staff person could assist.  KRS is now on a separate system so this is no longer possible.  To support the IM service at HSL, we would like to set up IM at the service desk  (workstation #3) as backup to the consult office.  This is a way that HSL can increase services to clients.  We hope to roll this out later this month once training has been arranged.

 

Security Awareness Campaign

Unfortunately there was a theft of a student backpack from the library recently.  The backpack was recovered later, though cash and cards were missing.  It appears that this was a crime of opportunity - the student left her things unattended and someone else simply left with them.   We do want clients to feel safe in the library, however the best way to prevent these types of thefts is to make sure clients do not leave personal items unattended.

• We have signs posted.
• We are starting a campaign for the remainder of the month that includes regular 'walk arounds'. 
• We will leave a Security bookmark that states, " If I had time to leave this bookmark, a thief had time to steal your possessions" when we find unattended items. 
• At times we have clients ask if we can watch their items, however we do not have the capacity to assist clients in this way. 
• It is important that clients know that we are not responsible for personal items in the library and to advise them to take appropriate precautions.

Student and Service Staff Schedule now in SharePoint

Brian is now using SharePoint/Outlook to create the regular weekly student/staff schedules.   They can be viewed on our HSL SharePoint homepage on the left hand side under lists.  Students and staff can now view the schedule remotely from any computer.  Thanks for your work on this Brian.

 

Staff Wellness Fair

 Staff are encouraged to attend the staff wellness fair.

Drop in for free wellness workshops, health screening, and tools and information to help you live well.

Tuesday, October 8

10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Rozsa Centre

 

 History of Medicine Access Policies

As noted in the  policies for access to the History of Medicine room(available on our HSL SharePoint site), if scholars would like to use the room, they must receive permission from Susan, or myself is she is not available.  However scholars may request  single volumes from the room, to be retrieved by staff,  for supervised use near the service desk.  These would be checked out to the client in Sirsi for library use only.

For full details, please review the policy.

There is also a History of Medicine Interest Group (HONIG) that has permission to meet occasionally in the History of Medicine room.  They are aware of the room use guidelines, that is, that all coats, bags, etc. should be left at the service area when meeting in the HOM room.  This will mean that occasionally we will need to accommodate these items for the HONIG members in the service area when they meet.

 

EndNote

 The instruction version of EndNote has been loaded on station #3 at the service desk.  This should be helpful for assisting clients with EndNote questions.

 

Please let me know if there are any questions, concerns or suggestions.

Mary