Dunn & Wilson scholarship project 1995

Observation Data

Wilma
Wilma was mainly involved with data entry tasks and supervisory matters throughout the observation stage of the study.

Wilma demonstrated an awareness of staff needs in regard to use of equipment and use of software. She was also alert to the need for staff to have resources such as equipment as they required same. Wilma also demonstrated her sense of accountability in relation to the cost of acquiring items on interlibrary loan by seeking out less costly means.

Wilma obviously viewed staff development as a responsibility. She expressed pleasure about the full time staff member going to courses because it contributed to her abilities within the section. She also showed great interest when interacting with a part-time member of staff about her application for another job.

Wilma spoke about the positive effect of establishing good rapport with clients and demonstrated the importance by talking about the request in hand where the academic had provided her with additional information in order to facilitate access. She was very responsive to client requests in that she took immediate action such as confirming an extension of a loan for an academic. Also, when someone presented to the unit office looking for a book which was supposed to be held at the circulation desk, Wilma escorted them to the desk, looked around and on not finding same said she would follow it up; she did so immediately and found out that the book had been returned to the lending library because the expiry date had lapsed. She then informed the academic and asked if she wanted the book re-requested; quality principles in action!

Wilma's memory for detail was apparent when a member of staff named an undergraduate student who had made requests; she immediately referred to a list which informed her that person had been given special permission.

Evidence of Wilma's service standards and monitoring was apparent in her comment during data entry on the fact that a particular library was providing better service; at one time she had avoided using that library because supply was too slow or their standard response had been 'unable to supply'. Also when doing statistics, which was a major activity during the visit due to a request from her manager, Wilma compared months and stated that August was the heaviest month. She also realised that the total statistics were down and on checking identified that she had not entered the figure for one month. Wilma stated that whilst processing statistics she tended to identify problems which indicated mistakes made by staff and which she followed up with them, for example she identified that someone had recalled an item then had sent it out again to the same person. Wilma also had to respond to a request from the accounts department for clarification of the system for ordering Interlibrary loans vouchers; she was responsible for the control of same and later in the day the ALT pointed out that more were needed.

Wilma was also involved in a problem solving activity for the interlibrary loans section in a different campus library: she ascertained that a book had been sent out in the wrong name and staff were then able to locate it.

Wilma carried out activities related to the development of the interlibrary loans system. Whilst processing a returned book she realised the strap was missing therefore rang the library concerned; also decided that as this frequently happened there was a place for a proforma letter and wrote herself a note to do this. She informed me that she had also put together a proforma letter which facilitated the ordering of articles from another campus and that she had instituted and developed a control system using the straps which had a barcode label attached and request number added; the book title was in the data base with the request number plus date due whereas the barcode was on the circulation system. Wilma also commented that she had tried to network Interlibrary loans requests but this had caused problems and she intended reinstalling the software when the library got its own server. Whilst working on computer she identified that access to certain software would be improved if another programme group was minimized therefore called upon Systems staff to deal with same. She had previously suggested to her administrator that it would be beneficial for a proposal to be made for a longer loan period from a major library. All of this would seem to demonstrate that Wilma is always looking at ways of improving service delivery and efficiency.

Wilma spent a major proportion of her work in supervising staff. She checked another person's paperwork and then asked them to do photocopying; also reminded them of the need to record statistics. She received someone's search results. She checked why a member of staff from a different section had not arrived to work in the Unit. When they did present, Wilma gave them a list of chores to do including checking photocopies, and preparing material for dispatch. She got staff to check requested items against the Library's holdings, to enter requests on the data base, to sort requests for filing, and she spoke about her intention of teaching someone else to enter other information on the data base because it was a lower level task which she found extremely boring. She interacted with staff to clarify whether an item was held and pointed out the financial implications of making an Interlibrary loans request for a held item. Wilma also performed administrative tasks such as forwarding time sheets. The supervisory demands made on Wilma during my observation of her work was even more extensive than those I've listed and not only did she handle these competently she also seemed to be thinking ahead and required the same of others, for example she asked the full time staff member what she would be doing in the afternoon and stated that if she could let her know then Wilma could inform someone else what was required of them. In addition, whilst completing her own tasks Wilma obviously was very aware of what else was occurring and when work/issues needed to be attended to. Another aspect of Wilma's supervisory style that was evidenced was when leaving the building during a fire drill she was talking to staff about their roles and responsibilities. Also, having returned to the building Wilma commented to me about her awareness that as their supervisor, she felt responsible for the care of those staff.

Although only a small permanent team of staff comprising Wilma and one other, Wilma's contribution to that team was demonstrated in the tasks she achieved during my visit and in the task sharing (entering data onto computer) and information sharing ('telnetting not possible at end of week because of microwave hookup') that they were both involved in. Also, the ALT asked Wilma to perform a search for a request which she did. Wilma demonstrated a willingness, in fact a keenness, to accept ideas for change/improvement from the ALT. She stated that they both reflected upon procedures, especially if a problem arose, to assess how a re-occurrence could be prevented. For example, previously Wilma would have been able to see that a book had been returned and the date of return thereby saving time when the client (mentioned above) could not find her book at the circulation desk, however, they had ceased entering that data. On revisiting the issue and reflecting upon same, they decided to re-institute such data entry. Sometimes information sharing between Wilma and the ALT also resulted in decision making and problem solving; this was evidenced while they were both working on data entry in relation to statistics. Wilma and the ALT generally shared the day-to-day tasks, however, if any problems were experienced, for example not enough information in a request, that was referred to Wilma in the first instance because of her higher-level problem solving/analytical ability.

Similar to Sandra, when Wilma checked e-mail she was selective about what she dealt with. This related to what tasks she had decided to do, for example she printed off e-mail requests from academics because she intended to process them immediately.

Another significant task that Wilma was involved in was that of dealing with requests. She down loaded the ILANET requests to the local database and after creating a file of 'requests out' sent them via the modem. She then printed off requests for non-ILANET libraries using the data base and attached them to fax forms which had been printed in one run. Wilma was also involved in searching library holdings and responding to and following up phone requests, which included a fast track. Although searching on ABN was not in Wilma's duty statement, she did it regularly because the work would not have been achieved otherwise. During the process of dealing with requests and of searching, Wilma seemed to be very efficient in many of her actions and particularly knowledgeable and skilled in dealing with the computerised aspects of her work. When Wilma became frustrated by slow access to a network, she commented that she usually found other work to do while she waited and may have occasionally used the time to read an article.

Wilma's willingness to co-operate with other libraries was demonstrated: in her response to a library which wanted to check holdings; in making an effort to provide requested information where possible; in her suggestion that another library fax a request; and in her keenness to offer a responsive service, for example she told an enquirer that their request was sent out less than 24 hours after its receipt.