This week started off with yet another program cancellation due to low registration. The other programs only had one teen registered, and consequently cancelled. This time there were three teens registered, so we were hopeful that this program would happen. Unfortunately, one hour before the beginning of the program two of the teens called to cancel. Chris, the teen librarian, called the remaining girl (the same girl who had been the only one to sign up for the other cancelled programs), to see if she wanted to still do the program by herself. I thought this was a nice courtesy to extend, because as it turned out, she didn't want to do the program alone.
The rest of my shifts this week were full of the average computer issues and book questions. But on a day when I wasn't at the library an incident occurred involving three different staff members. Each staff member wrote an incident report of the problem. These reports are automatically sent to department heads and all "Persons-in-Charge," who in turn share them with other staff. Since I didn't know about the incident, a Person-in-Charge showed all three incident reports to me. Incident reports are supposed to be as accurate and unbiased as possible, which I felt these were. But it was interesting to note how they differed in style, one report was written very succinctly, while another went into extensive detail. I think it is important to keep staff updated on daily incidents, in order for them to feel in the loop of communication. I was certainly glad to be kept up-to-date, but I do think there could be a better, more centralized way to keep staff appraised of weekly incidents, than pulling aside people one by one.
Tip of the Week: Small courtesies extended to both staff and patrons can go a long way toward creating an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Article Annotation and Abstract Area
Gordon, Rachel Singer, and Michael Stephens. "How And Why To Try A Blog For Staff Communication." Computers In Libraries 26.2 (2006): 50-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 July 2012.
This article extols the virtues of creating an internal blog, citing increasing staff communication and reducing email clutter as good reasons to begin. Gordon and Stephens go on to explain how to get started with different software options, giving pros and cons for each. They emphasize the importance of delegating responsibility of running the blog to a staff member, while also encouraging other staff to post.
The rest of my shifts this week were full of the average computer issues and book questions. But on a day when I wasn't at the library an incident occurred involving three different staff members. Each staff member wrote an incident report of the problem. These reports are automatically sent to department heads and all "Persons-in-Charge," who in turn share them with other staff. Since I didn't know about the incident, a Person-in-Charge showed all three incident reports to me. Incident reports are supposed to be as accurate and unbiased as possible, which I felt these were. But it was interesting to note how they differed in style, one report was written very succinctly, while another went into extensive detail. I think it is important to keep staff updated on daily incidents, in order for them to feel in the loop of communication. I was certainly glad to be kept up-to-date, but I do think there could be a better, more centralized way to keep staff appraised of weekly incidents, than pulling aside people one by one.
Tip of the Week: Small courtesies extended to both staff and patrons can go a long way toward creating an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Article Annotation and Abstract Area
Gordon, Rachel Singer, and Michael Stephens. "How And Why To Try A Blog For Staff Communication." Computers In Libraries 26.2 (2006): 50-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 July 2012.
This article extols the virtues of creating an internal blog, citing increasing staff communication and reducing email clutter as good reasons to begin. Gordon and Stephens go on to explain how to get started with different software options, giving pros and cons for each. They emphasize the importance of delegating responsibility of running the blog to a staff member, while also encouraging other staff to post.
