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The Albert Sloman Library |
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The Albert Sloman Library |
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What we do as student assistants |
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Contents: |
As a student assistant the tasks are many and varied. The traineeship includes placements in the cataloguing, inter-library loans and accessions departments, and these places are where you'll spend the bulk of your time each day. Other duties are undertaken on a weekly basis. Below is a brief description of what you'll get to do in each area. Cataloguing Here we make a catalogue record for
everything that comes into the library. We download a record from OCLC and
then edit it to fit our catalogue, removing any unnecessary information.
This applies to all items from books and pamphlets to maps, CDs and DVDs.
In the Albert Sloman Library we have the opportunity to try and give each item a
class mark before passing it to the subject librarian for inspection, giving us
an experience of classification which is not given at some other universities. Inter-library loans This is a service provided by the library whereby staff and postgraduate students can request an item from another library which we don't hold here. Requests are sent to the British Library Document Supply Centre in Boston Spa, but if they are not able to supply items we then have to look to other UK libraries, and sometimes overseas ones, for loans or photocopies. Quite a few interesting queries are brought to our attention in this department, and finding a copy of that elusive title in a small library in Hong Kong can be extremely satisfying! Accessions The Accessions department deals with the purchasing and processing of new library stock. New books are ordered based on the information give in course reading lists, and following requests from staff and students. The trainee's role is to deal with incoming book parcels; checking that the correct books have been sent, updating the order records, and giving each book a barcode before it is sent to the cataloguing team. We are also involved in sending old and damaged books to be re-bound. Circulation desk Most of your circulation desk experience will be gained during your late night (once a week during term-time) and weekend duties (about 3 days per term). Here we check items in and out, make renewals, reserve titles for staff and students, place items on the hold shelves, take money for fines, photocopy cards and printing vouchers, as well as answering simple enquiries. Enquiry desk Does exactly what it says on the tin! This is where library users come if they have a problem with anything in the library, or just a question about how to use it. Enquiries can range from the simple that are easily solved, to the major that take the brains of at least 3 staff members! It's a great way to familiarise yourself with the way the library works and build your confidence up. Miscellaneous As well as the duties above, student assistants are responsible for these web pages and the library staff newsletter which is circulated about once a month. As a member of the university staff, we are also able to sign up for development courses ranging from how to use FrontPage, Word, Excel, etc. to dealing with difficult people. Alongside the visits to other libraries that we are taken on, it makes for a very well-rounded year providing us with the experience we need to carry us forward. |
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