Caught in the Act Award Winners!

Matt Fleace and Charles Sim are this semester's Caught in the Act Award Winners.

Matt is completing his second year on the BUSP staff.  He is a friendly presence whose demeanor makes him easily approachable by guests, and he has shown himself to be very dedicated to helping them.   Matt made directional questions easier for all of us to answer by locating the IU Architect Office's files online. 

Charles also shows a genuine concern for our guests, and looks for ways to make BUSP better meet their needs.  He is able to deal with problems effectively at the desk and works extremely well under stressful conditions.  The All-Staff Meeting sprung from Charles' idea.  He is also completing his second year on the staff. 


Along with our thanks, each of them has received a Target gift card in appreciation of the attention they have given our guests.

Goody Bags!

If you haven't yet picked up your goody bag, it awaits you on the tables in our break area. 
May all your finals be easy!

E-mail Terry when you have read this...

NEW LOST & FOUND POLICY FOR VALUABLE ITEMS

If you find or are given a billfold, cell phone, laptop, tablet, credit/debit card or any other item you deem valuable, give it to your supervisor. 

If a guest comes to claim a valuable item, tell your supervisor and he/she will retrieve the item.  Valuables will no longer be housed in the file cabinet with other lost & found items.  For greater security, only supervisors will have access to valuable lost & found items. 

E-mail Terry (treynold@indiana.edu) when you have ready this post.

Caught in the Act

Matt F. was Caught in the Act of answering the reference desk phone when it rang before scheduled reference desk hours.  Not only did he answer the phone, but he took the time to look up the book information the caller requested.  Thanks, Matt!

Policy Reminders

Just a couple of policy reminders:

Use of personal cell phones, iPads, tablets, laptops, etc. at the desk is not permitted.  Should you need to make a call, please go to our break area.

Eating is not permitted at the desk, but BUSP has a small kitchen facility and break room that you may use when you are hungry.  We are our own kitchen crew, so please throw away your trash and clean up after yourself.  Covered drinks are allowed at the desk; keep them under the desk, not on the desk counter.

Your compliance and contribution to the professional atmosphere at BUSP is needed and most appreciated.

Celebration on Thursday, April 25!

You are cordially invited to attend
BUSP's End of the School Year Celebration!

We did a great job taking care of our guests this year.
Join us at BUSP next Thursday, April 25, from 12:00 noon - 1:30
as we celebrate our accomplishments.

We'll share pizza, cupcakes, stories, and laughter.
This semester's Caught in Act Award winners will be announced.
Our graduates will be applauded.  
Staff members with birthdays in April, May, June, and July will be recognized.
Finals Week survival goody bags will be available.

All in all, it promises to be a good time.
It will be an absolutely wonderful time if YOU are there! 
Please join us.
RSVP to Terry (treynold@indiana.edu).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations, Lindsay!

Lindsay Johnson, one of this year's Senior Circulation Assistants, is graduating with a Library of Science degree with a specialization in Library Technology Management. 

Lindsay came to us from Bethesda, Ohio, a town so small it is officially classed as a village.  After graduation day, she will return to Ohio to marry the special guy in her life.  (Lucky guy.)  Her long term plans center on finding just the right place where she can make an impact on the community and contribute to lifelong learning.

Lindsay's favorite thing about working at BUSP this year is YOU!  You impressed her from the very start.  In addition to the people she leaves behind, what she will miss the most is Mother Bear's Pizza.  Her addiction is serious, and she anticipates a painful withdrawal period.

Before the withdrawal symptoms kick in and while she is still clear-headed, she wants to give you this advice:  "Don't let self doubt stop you from pursuing opportunities or going after the things you care about.  Just go for it, because you're awesome!" 

You're awesome too, Lindsay!  You've been a faithful and fearless leader of the late night and Saturday crews.  The care you've taken with our guests, our staff, and our facility are greatly appreciated.  No doubt about it, you will be missed.  We congratulate you on your achievement and wish you the very best in the years ahead.  May your future be filled with every happiness, including really good pizza.

Terry Needs Your Class Schedule

Remember to e-mail me (treynold@indiana.edu) your class schedule as soon as you have registered for fall semester.  I also need to know any other hours you cannot work (because of another job, etc.) and your preferred hours to work.

Caught in the Act

Jelena and Drew were both Caught in the Act of providing excellent customer service to our guests...each working long hours alone because of  a staff shortage last Sunday.  And during I-Core, no less!

Thank you Drew and Jelena for your stamina, good spirits, and commitment to our guests.  You are appreciated!

Congratulations, Emily!

Emily McGlynn, a senior from Indianapolis, will be graduating at the end of this semester with a major in Apparel Merchandising and minors in Business and Spanish.  She will also have a certificate in the Liberal Arts and Management Program.  (Way to go, Emily!)

She came to BUSP as a sophomore and quickly became a valuable member of our staff.  Over the years she has had her share of odd encounters with some of our guests, and these incidents form some of her valued memories of her college years.  If you see her before she leaves, ask her about dealing with the intoxicated guests…or how she handled the time a guest asked her out on a date while she was working at our service desk. 

Emily will be trading Bloomington with its unique small college town atmosphere for the hustle and bustle of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her future includes working as an analyst in the buying office of Kohl’s Corporate Headquarters. 

She leaves you with these words of wisdom, “Enjoy your time here because it will go by way too fast.  Go to every ethnic restaurant you can (hit up 4^th St., basically), and make sure to branch out of what you are used to.  Your time will be much better spent!”   She also wishes to express her gratitude to you, her co-workers, especially those of you kind enough to have laughed at what she considers her bad jokes.   (They really were good jokes.)

Congratulations, Emily, and thank you so much for what you’ve done for BUSP.  Know that although you’ll be in Wisconsin, a part of you will remain here… in our hearts.  May Life bring you its best offerings.

Extended Hours

To accommodate our guests, we have extended our hours this Friday and Saturday (April 12 & 13) to 9:00 p.m.  We will extend hours until 9:00 p.m. again on April 26 & 27 (Friday & Saturday).

We do this to help people through I-Core and finals week.

A Celebrity at BUSP?

Got a minute?  Check out the new IUAnyWhere video to see which one of your co-workers is featured.  And you can learn about IUAnyWhere while you're at it.  It's all pretty good stuff!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING FALL SEMESTER SCHEDULING. READ CAREFULLY!

I am grateful that several of you have pointed out to me that our current way of scheduling hours is unfair to those who have morning classes.  I agree with this assessment, and have devised a new way of scheduling for fall semeser, which I outline below:

Once you have registered for fall semester classes, send me an e-mail (treynold@indiana.edu) containing the following information:

1)  your class schedule
2)  a listing of any other hours when you cannot regularly work (because of another job, etc.)
3)  a listing of the hours you prefer to work

I need your e-mail containing these three elements no later than Saturday, April 27.

When I have all your schedules, I will divide up the hours, doing my very best to give each of you some of your preferred ones.  Should several employees want the same hours, they will be given to those with the most staff seniority. 

I ran this method of scheduling by most of the PSAs who worked during the day last Thursday and Friday.  The overwhelming majority approved of the new method and thought it more fair than the old method.  Even so, please know that this new way of scheduling is on a trial basis.  If it does not work well for us, we'll come up with another plan for next spring.

If you have any questions about scheduling, please let me know.  I look forward to getting your e-mail by April 27. 

Thanks for all you do.     --Terry

Anna Wins a 2013 IUB Libraries Student Award!

Anna Brinegar has been chosen to receive a 2013 IUB Libraries Student Award in recognition for her outstanding contributions to BUSP.  Anna, a SLIS graduate student, has been an integral part of our reference staff since August, 2012.  In addition to her usual task of helping our guests find the information they need, she contributes to our unit's blog InformU on a regular basis, and she has developed a citation guide which is housed on our website.

From Christina's nomination: In all things, Anna has demonstrated reliability, initiative, and leadership.  Much of her knowledge about resources and patron information use and behavior has been developed by self-directed efforts.  She provides excellent customer service to our patrons and executies at a high-quality level without constant supervision.

Anna's contributions to BUSP will be highlighted at the Libraries Retirement and Recognition Reception held at the Wells Library on April 24.  She will receive a $100.00 award.

Congratulations, Anna, and thank you for all you do for BUSP and its guests!

Edible Books, Yum!

I think it's fair to say that the Library's Edible Books contest was great fun for everyone who concocted an entry and also to everyone who stopped by to vote on the entries and eat a cupcake.

In case you weren't there on April 1, you should know that Terry's The Three Musketeers (three candy bars on a paper plate) did not take any honors.  Neither did Jeri's There's a Hair in my Dirt (Does that title sound familiar?  It's housed in our reserve collection).  But winning this contest isn't important; what matters is the fun that was had in participating. 

The big winner this year was Hairy Potter, a pun on...well, I probably don't need to spell that out for you.  If you'd like to take a look at Hairy Potter and all the other entries, you can do that here. 

Bon appetit!

New Date for Fall Semester Scheduling

It has been brought to my attention (thank you, Jessica!) that not all of you will have registered for classes by April 16.  For this reason, I am shifting the date for fall semester sign-up to Wednesday, April 24. 

Caught in the Act

Zoe was Caught in the Act of going the extra mile to help a guest retrieve her lost items.  Losing your phone, your ID, and your credit card can be very scary.  Zoe made sure the guest knew her lost items were at BUSP, then gave them to Terry for safekeeping.  The guest claimed them quickly and was so relieved.

Thanks for providing such good service, Zoe!

Room Reservations to End for This Semester

From April 8 until the end of the semester, all rooms will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  This means we will not accept reservations for rooms 154, 156, 158, and 160 during this period of time.

Oftentimes guests ask why we've stopped accepting reservations.  Maybe you're wondering this yourself.  It's a reasonable question, to which we have a reasonable answer:  Rooms are heavily in demand during these weeks (I-Core and finals).   Reserved rooms generally have some dead-time between reservations.  For example, if room 154 has a reservation from 2:30-4:30 and another reservation from 5:00-7:00, there is a half hour when the room is vacant.  By eliminating reservations, we eliminate dead-time and open the rooms to full use.  During these busy times, we want to make the rooms available to as many groups as possible.

Should any guest have special needs or become upset over the inability to make a room reservation, get your supervisor.