my library has a wiki where library staff can report problems with databases or other technical issues; it’s my job to respond to and resolve the problems. i’d seen enough wiki entries that went something like this: “patron called to say he can’t access databases from home. swears he’s a current student” to know that we needed to establish a troubleshooting workflow for this issue. from the wiki entry i can’t tell what our staff did to troubleshoot the problem or how to get in touch with the patron to do any follow-up.
i started a conversation via email with our head of access and the systems librarian because i knew they were somehow involved in checking whether a patron is active in our system. i asked how they usually heard about issues like this and what they usually did when they got reports. while i waited for a response i interviewed some of our reference librarians to find out how they usually get reports of access problems and how they responded to the patron, wrote down what they said, probed for more information on certain points. i read the whole scenario back to them at that point and noted any further comments that they made. i got an email response from both the head of access and the systems librarian and they reported how they were involved in the process and what information they needed to troubleshoot.
from this wealth of responses i put together a workflow that addressed the salient points from the perspective of our head of access, systems librarian, and reference librarians. in the workflow i assigned certain steps to particular roles, so that it was clear what information they need to gather and to whom they need to direct that data. i sent the workflow to them via email and requested feedback. based on that feedback i asked a couple follow-up questions and tweaked the workflow. at the last iteration everyone involved agreed that the new workflow would serve us all well. at the end of the process we now have a troubleshooting workflow that everyone understands and is holistic rather than silo-ish.
as i reflected over the approach i used to gather information for this workflow it occurred to me that i had done an extended reference interview with each of the participants. with them i was able to diagnose the problem, probe for more information, clarify, provide a possible solution, and confirm. the last step will be as we use the workflow and evaluate if there are any further tweaks that need to be made.
The National Data Catalog is an open platform for government data sets and APIs. It makes it easy to find datasets by and about government, across all levels (federal, state, and local) and across all branches (executive, legislative, and judicial). The data here is imported from multiple sources and curated by our staff.
Here’s a video of a monkey reading the abstract of the paper I’ll be presenting at the upcoming Library Assessment conference. The title of the paper is “Cycling Through: Paths Libraries Take to Marketing Electronic Resources.”
we’re in the process of filling out resource records for our electronic resources in our NEW e-resource management system, innovative’s erm. we discovered a neat thing yesterday: html code can be entered into the back end and it displays properly in the opac. it’s a small thing really, but we’re so pleased. </geek>
here’s a screen shot of the back end of the database, where we enter the data (and now, html code!):
and a screen shot of how it appears in our public catalog (note the live links are underlined):
james murphy of lcd soundsystem articulated something about how he has chosen to do his job in a way that really hit home with me. during a fresh air (read / listen) discussion with terry gross he talked about what it was about music that energizes him, what he doesn’t like, and what sustains his interest in the medium. the way he talked about music can apply to someone in any profession, and was most meaningful to me when i thought about it related to how i’ve chosen to interact with my own profession of librarianship.
when one is new to a profession there’s a certain amount of hanging around and seeing what’s what to gain familiarity with it. it’s really only when you’ve understood the scope of what your profession can be that you’re able to intelligently critique it. james murphy came to that point by going to a lot of concerts and djing, then coming to realize what it was about concerts that he didn’t like. rather than just “complaining about things,” he decided to change it by making music that he liked to hear. in talking about his djing, he noted,
People danced or they didn’t. And if they did, you know, you’re doing your job. And if you like it and they did, then you’re doing your job in an uncompromised way, which was a really nice thing to finally be able to learn.
that proactive decision, made by identifying what sounds he liked and how he thought a musical performance should look/feel, is a healthy way to approach a profession. what if, instead of grumbling about the way things are done in your profession, you simply choose to focus on what you feel is important? in this way you’re not fighting a parent organization like ala, but rather making competent strides in an area you think you can make changes in. just a different way to think about things, but it really struck a chord with me. it prompted me to sit and ponder what it is about the profession that i appreciate, where i think i can make headway to move the profession forward, and how i need to construct my plan to make that happen. and listened to some cool music along the way.
Marie Kennedy is the Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. This blog is about organization, librarianship, and sometimes monkeys and/or bananas.
