Staffing - Information Assistants

In recent weeks we have appointed a number of new staff to the Customer Services Team in Information Services. Two of these roles are evening and weekend library assistants and four roles are Information Assistants. The Information Assistants work approximately 10 hours a week each in order to provide IT help and support in the library.
The duties include dealing with IT enquiries at the IS Lib Help-desk, on the library floors and occasionally by phone. The enquiries or issues have to be accurately logged and recorded.
In conjunction with the Helpdesk consultant who is the person who provides a range of IT support and expertise in the library, the Information Assistants provide help with basic
applications and software e.g.Microsoft Office
e.g. setting up wifi /eduroam
The Information Assistants are responsible for monitoring the printers/MFDs - filling them with paper, helping students to use them and troubleshooting faults.
One more traditional library task they do is shelving, tidying and weeding.
An important part of their role is to monitor the library space and its usage. It is important that they provide relevant support for students at the time and place that it is needed.
As with any new roles, there is a testing and reviewing component but so far it is working out alright. The Information Assistants all possess some customer service skills, some IT skills and some experience of working in a library or educational environment. The challenge during these first few weeks is to ensure that balance is correct and that the people have the training they need to carry out the role effectively.

Library - self service kiosks and staff cards

Our Library Self Service system and other new Information Services developments were 'opened' by the University Principal on the 13th September.  It was an opportunity to show off the new services that are available.  As well as the self issue / return book kiosks, there are staff service cards which are like ID cards but can be used for printing via the MFDs and accessing secure buildings. Also there has been changes to the library space to make more room for study spaces.

More information is available in a blog post on the Information Services blog
http://informs.hw.ac.uk/2013/09/19/principal-inaugurates-new-services/