Granting Access to Library Users
One of the main functions of the Circulation Desk and the reason why it is staffed every hour of the day is that the person at the desk is responsible for the safety and security of Reading Room materials and for enforcing access rules in the library. The rules for who has access to the Reading Room and Stacks is explained in detail in chapter 1.2. Please make sure you read that section before continuing on here.
Between 9am and 1pm the Reading Room is not open to the public. The signs at the front door and behind the ropes indicate this but it is the job of the person staffing the Circulation Desk to reinforce this message to museum visitors. To view the library exhibition or the works of art in the Reading Room, museum visitors should come to the library during our public hours from 1-5.
If museum visitors are keen to have research questions answered before public hours, you should let them know that they can search the library catalog online from any computer or they can leave a message for the Reference Desk using email or voicemail. The cards we keep at the Circulation and Reception desks have all of this information printed on them along with our public hours.
Between 9am-1pm, the Reading Room is only open to staff of the museum and certain SAIC students and faculty. Anyone with an AIC ID badge can use the Reading Room for study space outside of public hours. SAIC users should swipe their ARTICard through the card reader at the Circ Desk. Undergraduate students have the same privileges as members of the public although they may sometimes use the Reading Room outside of public hours as part of a pre-arranged class visit. Graduate students and Faculty that have received a library orientation will be given stack access as well as permission to use the Reading Room as a quiet study space outside of Public Hours. To find out whether a particular student or faculty member has access, enter their last name into ALMA to bring up their patron record. In the “User Notes” field, there will be an indication of their library access status. The same goes for AIC research staff and interns. If a department or orientation date is indicated, that person has stack access and library circulation privileges.
Checking out prox cards
One you have confirmed that a person has stack access, you will check a prox card out to their patron record. This is to grant them access to the stack areas in B and K.
Graduate students should have their SAIC ID held in the circ cabinet in exchange for a special grad student prox card with orange tag. This will be indicated in the User Notes field of their patron record.
Archives interns and volunteers will also occasionally need to check out a 2M access card for the purpose of getting the elevator to take them to 2M.
Checking in/Checking out items in ALMA
To check an item out in ALMA, first bring up the user’s patron record. Go the “Managing Patron Services” function under “Fulfilment” in the ALMA menu. Then type the user’s last name and select them from the users from the drop down. If the user has “(proxy)” after their patron name, make sure to check the box that says, “use proxy” underneath the patron name field and select the staff member they will be checking items out for.
Once the patron record is open you can scan barcodes into the “scan item barcode” field. The list of checkouts will appear below.
To check items in, select the “Return Items” function from the “Fulfilment” menu. Any barcodes you scan into the “scan item barcode” field will get checked in.
2M access
Interns and volunteers working in Archives can check out a special 2M prox card for the purpose of getting the elevator to go to that limited-access area. These are kept in the cabinet with the grad student cards.
Sometimes, researchers or staff members will have an appointment on 2M or with an Archives Staff Member. In these cases, it is best to call the staff member in question on the phone to see if they prefer to come down and meet the person or if they prefer for you to allow the person upstairs using your own prox card on the elevator card reader.
Email and Phone
The circ desk is the primary contact for questions about library access, recall/offsite/backlog requests, delivery and pickup requests, and the general whereabouts and circulation of all library materials.
There should always be two applications running on the circulation computer during business hours. Thunderbird should be running in the background in order to ensure that requests are sent to the receipt printer. On Chrome, there should be at least 3 tabs open at all times: the circulation gmail inbox and calendar and ALMA. You will also need to use the Northwestern library catalog (for offsite requests) and occasionally our own public library catalog that we call “Primo.”
Please answer the phone by indicating that the caller has reached the Ryerson & Burnham Circulation Desk. To transfer a call to another extension, simply push the “XFER” button at the lower right of the phone and dial the extension to which you wish to transfer the call. Likewise, questions arriving via email that you don’t know how to respond to should be forwarded to the Circulation Manager using the forward function in gmail.
It is the responsibility of the staff member at the Circ Desk to respond to all communications in a timely and polite manner.
Research Questions
As a rule, we do not entertain research questions at the Circulation Desk. During public hours, all research questions should be referred to the Reference Desk. When Museum Staff or Volunteers have research questions outside of public hours, please refer them to the Reader Services office or contact a Reference Librarian directly. Certain logistical questions about wayfinding, policies, hours, and where a specific item can be found and if it is available are all under the purview of the Circ Desk. However, it is best to develop a sense for when a question will reach a level of specificity that moves beyond the Circulation Desk’s capacity and lead to having to bring in a librarian. It causes the patron or staff member to have to repeat themselves and lose valuable time. This is bad patron service and should be avoided.
Public Hours
The duties of the Circulation Desk change once the Reading Room opens for public hours. If you are scheduled on the desk at 1pm, your first duty will be to move the stanchions and ropes aside to allow patrons access to the Reading Room.
As patrons sign in and begin to search the catalog, paging requests will print from the receipt printer at the circulation desk. It is the job of the person scheduled to page to retrieve these materials from the stacks [see section 3 “Paging”]. It is the responsibility of the person staffing the Circ Desk to make sure that they get checked out and delivered to patrons in the Reading Room in a timely and accurate way.
Each paging slip will have the stack location and call number of the item being requested. If the patron has followed directions, the Request Note field at the bottom of the paging slip will list the chair number they have selected in the Reading Room. When the pager returns with the retrieved books and corresponding paging slips, you should check each book out to the Reading Room Patron patrons record in ALMA and deliver each book to the chair number listed on the paging slip.
It is okay to deliver books to empty chairs if the patron has not yet taken their seat. However, please remember that Specials and Archives should never be left unattended in the Reading Room.
Serving Archives and Specials during public hours
The procedure for providing access to specials and archives in the Reading Room is slightly different than it is for regular stacks items
Specials
Specials are paged in the same manner as other books. There are some differences to observe in delivering them from the Circ Desk:
Specials should be checked out to the individual chair number at the specials table (7-12) instead of the general Reading Room Patron record used for the rest of the room.
Specials can only be viewed one at a time at the Specials table. This is so that they can be used under the supervision of the Reference Librarian on duty.
Circ Staff should deliver AND pick up special items from the specials table instead of allowing patrons to return special items to the returns counter as they do with regular items.
Most Specials will require extra support while they are being viewed. See the section on Handling Special Collections items for ways to protect the binding and pages of delicate and fragile books. Ideally, the only handling of a special a patron should have to undertake is to turn the pages of a cradled book. You may want to consult with the Reference Librarian on duty to agree on a best practice for setting up any unusual specials you may encounter. Please take time to model proper handling technique for the patron before leaving them to work with the special collections item by themself.
Archives
Archives are the only materials in the library that are still requested the old-fashioned way with pencil and paper. Requesting archives can only be done with the help of the Reference Librarian on duty using a finding aid. Patrons can request up to 6 archival items at a time although sometimes patrons will arrange to view offsite or unprocessed archival materials in advance. These materials will be labeled with white and grey paper listing the patron’s name and the range of dates they should be granted access to the materials.
No matter the number of items from an archival collection a patron requests, it is always best to keep each full request on a separate cart with the purple request slip nearby. This is so that you can track which item the patron is viewing at any given time. As the patron works their way through their request, you will retrieve the requested archival boxes and portfolios from them at the specials table as they finish using them. Each time you check in an archives item, you make a checkmark next to the item on the purple request slip. This way, the next person to take over the Circ Desk can see at a glance where the patron is in their progress through the request.
15 minutes before the end of the day, you should take a moment to consult with each patron still working on archives to determine which boxes and portfolios from their request should be placed on Temporary Reserve and which can be returned to the stacks the next morning.
Multi-Tasking at the Circ Deck
Because the Circ Desk handles many different kinds of requests simultaneously, it can be hard to know which tasks require immediate attention and which can be accomplished later. Here is an incomplete hierarchy of tasks to help you know when to set something aside and attend to something more urgent.
1. Person
As with most service situations, the highest priority requests are the ones coming from a real live person standing at the desk. Emails, offsite and backlog requests, and even phone calls should be put on hold to attend to the needs of a staff or patron who has approached the desk.
2. Phone
The Circ Desk is often the place that people with general questions about the library will call. If you are unable to answer a question you receive by phone, transfer the call to the Circulation Manager or the Reference Desk.
3. Paging requests
A physical item request made during public hours should be retrieved within (at the very most) 10 minutes. If the circ assistant paging is busy, you can call the Circulation Manager for help. Requests coming from patrons should be prioritized over requests from the Reference Desk.
4. Emails
We try and respond to emails in a timely manner. Please respond or forward every email that comes into the inbox requiring a response before the end of your hour at the desk.
5. Other requests
Off-site and Backlogs requests take several days to fulfil. If there are other tasks that require your attention at the desk, these requests can always be processed at the end of the hour or even handed off to the next staff member staffing the desk.
“Handing Off” the Circ Desk
No matter what time of day it is, you should wait until the next circulation staff member arrives before abandoning your post at the Circ Desk. Additionally, it is a good practice to update the person taking over on any open questions that are lingering or situations they might encounter during their shift. If you have to step away from the Circ Desk for a significant amount of time during your shift, please notify the Circulation Manager and they will take over in your absence.