They're Here!

Be prepared to tell our regular guests that group rooms are unavailable this week. Around 1,000 Kelley Direct students will be joining us and using almost all of our group study rooms almost all of the time, from BUSP's opening until closing. A member of each Kelley Direct group will be given a room key in the morning and will return it to us at the end of each day. To avoid fines, we will not check the keys out to them. A schedule of their group room assignments is at the service desk, and a check mark has been placed by each group leader's name. (This is the person who has our key.) You will need to use this list if a Kelley Direct student forgets which room he/she has been assigned. These long distance learning students are coming to us from near and far. Do smile and make them feel welcome!

Remember to let your supervisor know if you have any questions or concerns. And as always,thanks for all!

Hey, who's that?

If you work in the evening, Sunday-Thursday, you'll soon see someone wearing a red shirt sitting in the service desk chair that is nearest to the reserve shelves. This is a UITS student computer consultant here to answer technology questions and field the technology needs for BUSP's guests. The consultant will also be taking care of any workstation problems in our lab area. He/she is not here to do circulation work, check group study rooms, or answer the phone. That's your job, right? Please introduce yourself to the new consultant and give him/her a big BUSP welcome. Their presence here should make our lives easier and allow us to provide better service.

Got questions? Just ask.

Please Recycle

Help the planet and all of us living on it. New recycling containers for paper have been placed at the service desk and by the staff bulletin board. A new container for cans and plastics #1-7 has also been placed by the staff bulletin board. If your can or plastic container is messy, please rinse it off in the sink before giving it the old heave-ho into the recycling bin.

Your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. will appreciate you doing this. (Me too.)

--Terry

Little 500 Scholarships

Information about the Little 500 Scholarship program is posted on the staff bulletin board. Thirty-four scholarships of $1000 each will be distributed. Applicants must be full-time undergraduates above the freshmen level, who have worked at least ten hours per week for spring and fall semesters, 2010. Do you fit these qualifications? Check out the bulletin board for more information and for applicant materials. The deadline is March 11.

Spring Break

Hooray and hallelujah, spring break is less than a month away! As you are making your plans, please remember that you are responsible for your work schedule up until we close at 5:00 on Friday, March 11, and your responsibility resumes when we reopen at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 20. If your plans will cause you to miss shifts, please use the sub board. Remember that putting sub notices up a week in advance allows all your co-workers to see your need and gives them a chance to help you (and BUSP).

If you sub for someone on Sunday, the 20th, you will receive full credit to your time bank account. For example, one hour will be added to your time bank for one hour worked, instead of the usual one-half hour added. If your time bank is low, subbing on this day is a good way to beef it up before the end of the semester arrives.

If your plans for the break include remaining in Bloomington, and you'd like to work, talk to Terry.

Thanks for all you do!

OOPS! Room Key Update

We've done it...we made a mistake. We checked out a room to a group when the room was reserved for a different group. In an effort to keep this from happening again, all keys for reservable rooms (#154-#166) have been placed in a box with the day's reservation schedule attached to the lid. Check out keys from this box only after all other rooms are in use. And always check the reservation schedule before checking out a key from the box. Please remember that until further notice, there will be no room reservations made before 6:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, since the Kelley School currently has a hold on these rooms for corporate interviews.

So we're not perfect...but if we're all careful, we can come really close. We're just that good!

Why bother with the Reference Portal?

a) It's your job.
b) It allows you to keep your job. Reference Portal statistics are used by the Library Administation to determine how busy (or not busy) the different libraries and the ICs on this campus are. Lots of questions recorded on the reference portal means they'll continue funding BUSP, so we can keep paying you to do your job. Few questions recorded on the reference portal may mean a decrease in the budget line that fuels your paycheck.

Each time a guest approaches you at the desk, one of three things should happen:
1) You check a book, room key, etc. out to them.
2) They hand you a book, room key, etc. to check back in.
3) They ask you a question, and you record it on the Reference Portal.

Not sure how to record a question on the portal? Ask a supervisor. We'll be very happy to show you. We want you to keep your job.

Send Terry an e-mail (treynold@indiana.edu) after you've read this blog post.