First Rotation Access Services & Reference Services

My first rotation began in mid- August 2018 and ended at the beginning of December 2018.

I started my rotation in Access Services where I was able to learn about the circulation desk duties, the library as a facility, and the scheduling of the staff in that area.  During this time I worked at the circulation desk assisting students with checking in and out materials. Also, I would sign out our single and group study rooms.  I would do our number counts at the assigned time and document that. Lastly, I would sign in people from the community if they wanted to access our public computers.  I was able to attend a facility meeting with my rotation supervisor which helped me understand the construction of the simulation center that was being built in the library.  My project was to create an Access services schedule which I was able to do by showing the evening/weekend manager the schedule that I created by following his advice.

The second part of the rotation was with reference services.  I was able to shadow two of my colleagues’ instruction sessions. Also, I was able to work on literature searches.  Also, I was put on the “on call” schedule for the last three Wednesdays from 9am to 1pm.  Being “on call” is answering incoming chat messages, incoming emails and assisting a person that walks in that needs help from one of our reference librarians.  Lastly, I did a presentation on the “Best Practices for LibGuides” to our reference librarians so that we can create a best practices guide for our libguides at the library.  I was able to compile information from two presentations that I attended and from 3 health sciences libraries.

Both departments helped me understand the various dynamics of the library.   Furthermore, I have transferrable skills that will be useful for my next position.  By working at the circulation desk I was able to see the library from this perspective which has helped me explain how the processes work at some library meetings.  Please post any questions below.