Desk stats now online

Just a reminder that we have moved to collecting Reference statistics online. The SurveyMonkey page is bookmarked on the browser toolbar on every machine at the desk.

There are only two required fields, but it would be helpful if you could fill out other fields if you have time between questions.

Many thanks to Frank Gravier for getting this project off the ground and on the computers.

thank you,

Lucia

IT support over Spring Break

Omar let Lucia know that CNS will be providing on-call service only. The students working this week are addressing maintenance issues, but will be checking machines and monitoring paper supplies. We need to call the CNS number, 459-2486, if there are problems.

Desk stats migrating to online form

We are migrating McHenry Ref Desk statistics gathering online, using SurveyMonkey. We will start using this on Monday, March 29th, the first day of Spring quarter. We will no longer be using the paper forms and clipboard. However, we do have them on hand in case the power goes out or there is some other unforeseen problem.

Here's the important things to know:

There are only two *required* fields: Shift Time and Desk Stats Category (Dir, Short, Long). The other fields are optional. It would be helpful if you could fill them out, but you don't need to if it's busy.

Category refresher:
+ Directional: Giving directions. Pointing to a resource or service point or location of materials. Directions to the bathroom, etc.

+ Short: Anything more than directional that requires explanation up to 5 minutes, such as how to read call numbers, how to look up a book, etc.

+ Lengthy: Anything longer than 5 minutes.

The form is bookmarked on the toolbars at every Ref desk machine as "MCH REF DESK STATS." If you want to take a look at it now, use this URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mchrefstats.

Keep this URL handy in case you need to enter statistics after your desk shift.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

thank you,

Lucia

Opening PDFs on public computers

If a document opens with the open source PDF viewer (not Adobe), right-click to choose "Open with...Adobe" or save it to the desktop and then drag it to Adobe in the dock. Same for the Ref Desk computers.

Printing update and clarification

From the public computers, there is no longer a second popup window (that tells the patron how much the print job will be). That changed with the new system, but some did not hear about the change. Macs didn't need the notify acknowledgment, but PCs did, to send the print job. It was a feature of the old
printing system, that we did not implement in the new version. So now all the patron needs to do is name the print job and then pick it up from one of the release stations. They will see the cost when they pick up the print job from the release station (Thanks to Frank Dang for this clarification).

Questions from the desk

-local high school student needed to find books and articles about Jack Ruby

-community member doing research for a memoir by a former UCSC student from the 1970's
(including info about minority students groups now and then; the 1975 sit-in re: EOP)

-faculty needed help doing a search in our catalog for handmade books

-community member found a book in Google books, needed to find the source of a quotation used, but could not see the page with the source in Google books (we had it and I emailed the source)

-student currently writing a policy statement on the overspending on and
overpopulated prison in California

-PhD student in Hong Kong needed help with contemporary Latin American cinema research in determining which libraries in California (Los Angeles in particular) had a particular film

-graduate student at UCB developing a resource management plan for a ranch property in southern San Benito
County and is trying to determine if it had been part of a Mexican land grant

-graduate student needed to find books, articles, or websites on pre-Christian Basque mythology, specifically a deity associated with caves

-student looking at California high school exit exam information, specifically Latino students failure rate

Random questions at the desk, 3/3/10

Today patrons I helped were:

- Looking for paper copies of several French language periodicals.

- Looking for a poem, published as a broadside, by Charles Bukowski.

- Looking for the consensus-based criteria for establishing diagnosis of a vegetative state.

Random questions at the desk 3/1/10

History of Lent.

Opiates effect on neurotransmitters and synapses.

Research by mycologist R.J. Wesson on use of "magic mushrooms" in Mazatec ritual ceremonies in Oaxaca.

Water, logging and environmental information about Clavey River in Tuolomne County.