Again, mainly for the full time volunteers. I promise to eventually have some words of wisdom to pass along to everyone. :) I encourage the adjunct volunteers to add their thoughts and opinions to my post because they always do IM at the reference desk and might have some words of wisdom of their own to share.
Since I've asked several people lately if they prefer to have their IM shifts when they're on the desk or in their office, I thought I would post my thoughts about it. Personally, I prefer having my IM shifts while I'm on the reference desk.
Here's why:
1. While I'm in my office, I have a tendency to get involved with work and leave my office to take care of various things. If I'm in the middle of an IM shift, I'm basically chained to my desk. If I'm at the reference desk I'm already expecting to stay there, or at least close to it.
2. It is very easy to leave your office for a brief time and get stopped by someone to talk or for help. If you're at the reference desk, you can still have that conversation and be close enough to hear if someone sends an IM. That way you can at least excuse yourself for a moment to let the individual on IM know that you'll be right with them.
3. You might be worried that it will be too busy to do IM and reference at the same time. Not so. With the exception of the first week, and maybe around mid-terms and finals, there are times when we're almost begging the students to ask questions. :) At least with IM that's one more way for students to ask something.
4. You might be worried about being the only one doing IM and having in-library questions AND monitoring LivePerson. Don't panic. There are other librarians to help with LivePerson, and just like when you're chatting, don't hesitate to ask the person you're IMing with to hold on a moment while you help the person in the library.
If I think of any other reasons I prefer IM at the reference desk instead of in my office, I'll include them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I've wondered about this too. I have my shifts when I'm in my office but, like Lola, frequently get up to do stuff.
I don't want to rearrange the entire schedule at this point, so I figure I'll stick with office IM for the time being.
My question is: Is it smart to use the "I'm away" statuses that are available in the upper right corner in a drop down menu? I'm confident I'll forget I did that and just leave it there. If I stay available I'll at least get the IM, even if late.
From Teresa:
My experience with IM on the Ref Desk is about the opposite of yours. I don't stay at the Ref Desk; I get up and go into the stacks with students to find books, I assist with Online Services at the PACs, I show students how to use e-reserves (we probably have more of this at NRG because one of our professors has his old tests on e-reserve and students come in in waves to get these), I take DEVR students back to the newspaper area to complete their assignment, troubleshoot printing problems, etc. etc. (It's true that LAs can handle some of this as well, but there are times when we both have to do it). If I were just sitting or standing near the Ref Desk, IM there would work beautifully, but I am more like a Jack-in-the-Box, getting up and down and moving in and out of the stacks and around the library. And I've always believed the library user in person is first, before the one on the phone or chat, so I still conduct reference pretty much that way (there are obviously exceptions and ways/needs to handle both at the same time, but as a general rule, this has been my practice).
In my office, I can actually stay put for a couple of hours (3 hours is too many) and the IM will pop up over the work I'm doing. I am used to this from using Google Talk at home, so it isn't a distraction at all (and there have been only 2 IMs since I've done this--maybe if there were more, it would be more distracting).
I'm with Teresa, I prefer working from my desk where I feel more easily interruptible. But this semester I'll be doing from the ref desk, so we'll see how it goes.
Post a Comment