When I was hired at the end of last summer to be a Graduate Student Assistant, the training was very limited. Two of my coworkers and I sat in on a incoming regular student assistant training, but it wasn't particularly helpful.
It came time to (wo)man the reference desk. Brian, the other new GSA, and I just jumped right into the work. Everything was hands on experience. I was new to the campus, so it was a bit difficult when the directional questions came up. Yet, we got those so much that I quickly learned. This type of "training" if you want to call it that, is bad form.
Now, Brian and I are going to be the only GSAs left and we have to develop a training manual for the three newbies coming in the summer. It will be easier to show them the ropes in the quieter spring/summer semesters (Brian and I were thrown in the fire of fall semester - eeek!)
One of my biggest problems with libraries sometimes is the atrocious communication. For example, three campus police cars were present yesterday in front of the building and no one at the checkout counter would tell me what was going on. They asked, does it have anything to do with your desk? I'm the f***ing INFORMATION desk and people were asking me about what was going on, which is still considered information. It was ridiculous.
Anyway, the only way to get stuff done around here is to do it yourself. Hence, Brian and I are going to try to make the transition of three rookies a bit easier.
Some of the important parts of the manual would include:
- important phone numbers
- what each GSA job consists of (desk manager, statistics manager, schedule maker, exhibit designer and there's one more I'm not clear on)
- security measures, what DO you do when the gate alarm goes off or there are rowdy patrons.
- layout of the library
- frequently asked questions
- taking breaks
- making up and trading hours
- what services are offered (get this button, ILL, MEL, remote access databases)
There are more, but for now, that is all.
No comments:
Post a Comment