Skip to Main Content

Reference Librarian Manual

Reference Duties

PT- Librarian Job Description

PURPOSE AND SCOPE:

Promotes and supports student learning. Responsible for providing and disseminating information services in support of the college's mission to provide quality educational programs to a diverse student population. Position's role encompasses the general areas of learning facilitation, personal and professional development, and institutional and community service. Reference services may include developing or acquiring instructional materials and providing assistance to the college community in the use of research technology and materials. Position contributes to the educational environment of the college by teaching information literacy and providing support for classroom learning.

 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

  1. Instructs students, faculty, and other library users in accessing and using print, audio-visual, and electronic information resources
  2. Plans and develops a variety of instructional materials using appropriate technologies that will assist students in meeting their research needs
  3. Promotes the use of general and subject-oriented print and electronic research guides and other instructional materials
  4. Plans, organizes, and delivers research instruction and other programming
  5. Maintains a study atmosphere conducive to student learning
  6. Evaluates, acquires, and provides access to information resources in a variety of formats to support student learning
  7. Maintains professional working relationships with students, colleagues, and other library users
  8. Assists students and faculty by supporting specific programs or course research needs
  9. Provides reference assistance during the day, evenings, and weekends to meet student, faculty, and community research needs
  10. Interprets policies and procedures for library users
  11. Responsible for other reasonable, related duties as assigned

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

    • Knowledge and skills in library technology
    • Excellent oral, written and interpersonal communication skills
    • Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with colleagues and community

PHYSICAL ABILITIES:

The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items, such as papers, books, or small parts; or driving an automobile. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

WORK SCHEDULE AND CONDITIONS:

    • Equipment used includes, PC workstation running on a LAN in a Microsoft Windows environment, calculator, phone and other general office equipment
    • Internal and external contacts as needed to carry out the functions of the position
    • Work is performed in a climate-controlled office with minimal exposure to safety hazards
    • Work schedule may include weekdays, weekends, or evening

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

    • Master's degree in Library Science/Information Science from an ALA-accredited institution

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

 
    • Minimum 3 years of library experience in higher education, preferably at a community college
    • Thorough knowledge of library automation systems, including circulation and acquisitions functions

 

Phones

When answering a phone call, say: “Lone Star College- Kingwood Learning Commons, this is ________.”

Do not answer with simply saying “hello.” You want to make sure the caller knows that they got the right number.

How to put patron on Hold:

  1. Answer the phone. Let the patron know you are putting them on hold. Say “I’m going to put you on hold while I get more information for you.”
  2. Press Hold button (first button from the left)
  3. Find the information or answer to the patron’s question.
  4. Press Hold button before picking up the receiver. The caller will still be on the line.

How to transfer a call:

  1. Answer the phone.
  2. Locate the phone number in the Contact Directory in the LC Manual.
  3. Always give the patron the desired number in case of disconnect (including the area code.)
  4. Press the transfer button (third button from the left)
  5. Dial desired number (no area code if transferring to a department or person on campus.)
  6. Press the transfer button again.
  7. Hang up the phone.

General

  • Please respond to all reference question emails received during your shift.
    • Use the Kingwood Learning Commons email, not your work email account.
  • If your shift is coming to an end and you have not completed answering the questions,
    • respond with what you have done and let the recipient know that a shift change is happening and that the next librarian will follow up with more information.
    • Include the reference email in the list of recipients as a visual reminder for the next librarian on duty.
  • Outside the above bullet point, there should not be any unread emails left in the Reference inbox at the end of your shift.

Spam Quarantine

The LearningCommons Reference & Citation email frequently gets a Spam Quarantine Summary. Please clear out the spam during your shift. 

  • Click on "View your entire Quarantine Inbox or manage your preferences". This will take you to our Quarantine Inbox. 
  • Review which emails the system thought was spam.
  • Click on the Deliver link to have that message delivered to the primary inbox. Click on the Allow List link to have that message delivered to the primary inbox and that sender added to the Allow List. Click on the Delete link to remove that message from the quarantine. Click on the View link to display that message in a new Message Details browser window.

Please make sure that the summary email was marked as unread. Spam occurs several times a day, therefore each shift should check spam quarantine.

General

  • Check to see if there are any WCOnline appointments for Reference and Citation Help. Check if you have any appointments and check if other part-time Reference Librarians are scheduled, too. 

    • If there are appointments for you, click on the appointment so you can review and prepare ahead of time.

  • If an appointment is 10 minutes late, mark that they did not show up on their appointment.

  • If they do show up make sure to fill out a client report form stating why they are late.  

  • When there are two part-time Reference Librarians at the Service Desk, a librarian with an appointment may use LIB 104 (an empty staff office) by reserving it on WCOnline.  

    • To do so click on Schedules and select LIB-116 Conf. Table & LIB-102 Office and check availability.

      • If free when needed, select the room and time and create an appointment

  • Always let the staff at the Service Desk know when you are stepping away for consultations (and in general). 

  • Sometimes a student will schedule an appointment five minutes before their appointment.

  • Use the first few minutes of the consultation to get clarification about the student's assignment, research question, and steps of the assignment they are at. Walk through the assignment and resources with them and guide them through the research process. 

Calling in

If a part-time Reference Librarian calls in, check if a student scheduled an appointment with them. 

If a student has an appointment, and there is another part-time Reference Librarian available, move the appointment over to the other part-time Reference Librarian (for statistics).

  • Select appointment
  • Click on "Edit"
  • Change the Staff or Resource to the available part-time Reference Librarian
  • Make sure "Notify client" is selected (To let the student know that there has been a change)
  • Save Changes

You are also welcome to e-mail the student separately to explain why and explain their options. 

If there are no part-time Reference Librarians available for the appointment, cancel the appointment on WCOnline. Make sure that the cancellation is emailed to the student. Contact the student to further explain the situation and offer alternatives.

General

  • Part-time reference librarians on duty are expected to be on chat throughout their shift to answer questions that may pop up.
    • If there is only one part-time reference librarian scheduled at the Service Desk you are not required to open chat.  During very slow periods, use your professional judgement when opening chat. It is not your priority when there is only one librarian on duty. 
  • Chat is set up for questions to go round-robin, which means that we receive chats in alphabetical order based on which operators are online at that time.
  • Face-to-face transactions take priority. If you are occupied with another transaction or need to step away from the computer, set yourself offline.
  • Do not decline chat questions. Chat statistics go towards our reference transactions. Every question counts! "Declined" means that a chat was either missed by the chat operator (probably due to a longer than expected transaction at the service desk) or actively declined. 
  • Transfer questions that are campus-specific. They will do a better job answering their campus-related questions. Always provide a phone number and email if the other campus' operators do not pick up the chat.

Chat Guidelines

  • When opening up a chat, first introduce yourself so the user knows with whom they are conversing.
  • Ask open-ended questions: Who, what, why, where, when.
  • Be professional - don't use chat abbreviations, slang, etc.
  • Keep questions and comments short.
  • Send frequent feedback.
  • Be patient. The user may be on a slow computer.
  • Offer to wait while the user looks at the resources you've recommended.
  • End that chat with an invitation to return if they need more help.

For complicated reference questions or library instruction, sometimes it may be easier to handle over a phone call, or follow-up with an email. Make recommendations as needed.

Want to learn more about chat? There is a guide with more information.

 

23136002768435

23136002644305 

23136002697303

These barcodes are generic and students may use them for database access only. While students can log into the databases with their username and password, Kingwood only databases require a library barcode. Encourage the student to apply for an online barcode and remind them to choose "Kingwood" as their library location.  However, for those needing database access quickly, the generic barcode will work for them.

 LSC students can apply for an online library barcode by completing the form if they are not able to visit a campus.

Link:  Online Library Barcode Request Form.

 

LC Service Desk Duties

Duties

  • Check the Learning Commons Reference & Citation email for any correspondence
  • Respond to chat requests
  • Answer reference questions in person and over the phone
  • Consultations when scheduled- Check WCOnline daily.

Walking the Learning Commons

Make sure that the space is welcoming and the best it can be for our community. To do this, we need you to regularly walk the space (at least one person per hour) and keep an eye on what is going on. 

Specialist III Stations

Specialist III are scheduled at these stations:

  • Circulation and ID station
    • Item checking in and out, pull lists and holds, fines, online barcodes and making IDs
  • Tutor Check-In
    • Checking students in and out of tutoring (including Research & Citation) and registration for WCOnline
  • Tech Help
    • Answer technology questions relating to Microsoft Office and D2L, and help troubleshoot tech related issues (computer login, printing, scanning etc.)

Each station has their own set of tasks for their shift. Some Specialist III have specific tasks and projects as well.

Check the Learning Commons Sharepoint for more information and check lists for the Specialist III stations. (To learn more about PT Specialist III training: PT Specialist III Training Guide)

Working together

When a part-time Reference Librarian is asked a question not relating to their duties (example printing) it is best to refer the person to the Tech Help worker. If the worker is unavailable, refer the person to another available Specialist III. If no one is available to help (if we are short staffed or helping others) please help the person as best you can until a Specialist III is available to take over. 

Likewise if a Specialist III gets a research and citation question, they will direct the person to a part-time Reference Librarian.

Always alert at least one person at the Service Desk if you are stepping away for any reason. 

If we are short staffed or incredibly busy with Service Desk questions, please alert the Specialist IV and/or Coordinator III in the Workroom for assistance (if available). 

Walking the Learning Commons

Make sure that the space is welcoming and the best it can be for our community. To do this, we need you to regularly walk the space and keep and eye on what is going on (at least one person per hour). Here are some ideas of things that you might want to be cognizant of and may need to be addressed:

  • Look for students looking "lost" or needing help. Ask what you can do to help them. You may need to refer them to the Service Desk, or have one of the Spec IIIs come to help them. 
  • Students being too loud by the offices? Suggest that they use the Group Study computer lab. 
  • Check the computers
    • Are they on? Sometimes people shut down the computer rather than log off.
    • Has the computer been abandoned? Log out the user.
    • Does it have a keyboard, mouse, and USB hub?
    • Is there a chair at the station? Is it pushed in?
  • Printing Area
    • Are the Print release stations working? 
    • Do the paper trays and staplers need refilling? 
  • Pods and collaborations spaces
    • Are there people in them? Check for trash.
  • Labs
    • Are the people in there respecting the silent individual study?
    • Make sure no one is eating in the labs.
    • Is there an upcoming class?  Check LIB 118 and 120 room schedulers on the outside of each classroom. Let the occupants know that they need to relocate.
  • Are there abandoned devices on tables and chairs?
    • Monitor to make sure that item is abandoned.
    • Bring the abandoned item to the Circulation Station. 
    • Circulation will try to contact the owner/borrower before putting item in lost and found. 
  • One Button Studio and ADA Tutoring Room.  Is there anyone in these rooms? Let the Service Desk know especially near closing time. 

If there is anything worth noting (a mess that needs cleaned up, students that you needed to remind about our space and policies, or questions asked) please alert the rest of the Service Desk and the Service Desk supervisor. 

LSC-Kingwood Learning Commons | Ask Us: Kingwood.LearningCommons@LoneStar.edu | Reference: 281.312.1693 | Circulation: 281.312.1691 | LIB 100, 20000 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood, TX 77339