A Concept Paper for a Roving Library Staff for Reference Service of De La Salle University-Manila

A Concept Paper for a Roving Library Staff for Reference Service of De La Salle University-Manila

Proposal Statement

To be a roving library staff moving throughout the library building for the De La Salle University-Manila aimed at offering mobile reference service to where the user-clients are. Its presence on all floors draws attention to assist patrons who intend not to come around the reference desk. A roving staff person may be able to deliver as fast as he can what the client’s information needs at hand and offer a worthwhile and successful stay in the library. Specifically, this roving activity:

- accelerates reference service;
- recognizes the value of the availability of a staff person at a time of need; and,
- promotes productive readership.

This roving reference service for the library of De La Salle University shall make its staff more visible at all times. An underserved group of patrons will now be supported since the library provides ‘point of need’ reference assistance (Kalsbeek, O’Shea & Sylka, 2005). Also, the staff person appears where students congregate like in the newly renovated Internet Café, round-table discussions inside the Bienvenido N. Santos Memorabilia Room, on-line public access catalog stations or even while they queue to claim for their bags. It is one on-the spot information and/or reference assistance without a desk increasing visibility rate of librarians and awareness of reference service (Miller, 2008). The staff person brings with him pathfinders, library manuals, a laptop for demonstration and must be equipped with few effective customer-handling and communication techniques. And in doing so, with its positive and very high impact outcome, the staff person becomes a walking PR making use of a roving technique as platform, an event (Garrovillas, 2010).

Introduction

The library becomes more accessible within through its roving staff. The rover, either approaches and asks the patron: How may I help you find what you need? or allow the patron to approach the rover for the desired assistance. The rover
finds patrons in all the floors and many times seen assisting those who are using the catalogs and instructs them about basic information searching methods. Just being seen on the floor and identified as a staff person will provide better service (Bacon, 2007). The rover wears a LORA cap, in a green and white laboratory gown or simply in a shirt with ASK LORA dyed on it, obviously, to fascinate onlookers on why she looks, dresses up and behaves a little differently than all the rest. Patrons come nearer and the rover starts to offer candies, neon colored ballpens, memo pads, stickers, and other service promo paraphernalia to excite any to solicit reference help from her. Technical queries are entertained and machine assistance as well. At times, the rover walks in the library lobby and stands beside the IMS behind a LORA paper mask. Her hand demonstrates what she is about: Delighted to serve you!

Even those who are so gripped with using laptops, who may appear, from afar, not mindful of the rover’s being there will turn into all ears, be spectator and eventually, recipient of a personalized information and reference service of a lady or a gentleman staff person whose task is to rove around and be pleased at the same time with more than five help out instances with information seeking library patrons in a day. Her frequent visits to the University’s Circulation Section, while shelving displaced books, are enough to create a buzz and alert loyal shelf guests about LORA’s authentic intention to offer her time, proficiencies, and stimulate some sense of belongingness between and among them. Also, Lora is sharp to identify who is to approach, who is approachable, and when to approach a potential beneficiary of the library’s added out-of-the box service. For example, a busy-looking guy who goes to and from his table, walks around cabinets, browsing items on the shelf is LORA’s perfect target to score for the day’s roving goals.

To illustrate, Rover Librando is rover LORA. Both of them are librarians on call and staff persons on location. They make several trips to memorabilia rooms in order for Lorenzo, Francisco, Bien and Bro. Andrew meet and engage viewers of their huge achievements and mementos to take them on, journey back, on and on, to what they had witnessed while mortals of this nation. Their rooms cease to be forlorn since either Lora or Librando is often spotted inside and that encourages attendees to come after. Their stay is prized with a certain gift of knowing about a piece of each and of his milieu and permits them feel connected, again, to 24-year Philippine senator Lorenzo Tanada, cancer-stricken don Francisco Ortigas, English stories publisher Bienvenido N. Santos and beloved DLSU president from 1979-1991 and 1994-1998 Bro. Andrew Gonzales.

Rover named Librando, never forgets, to tour around a pair or stir up a group to guess who became winner, a pensionado-scholar, out of the donated pottery collection and museum artifacts of Daniel Tantoco, Jr. found beside the Archives Room. He amazes the same group with the Philippine Numismatic Collection of De La Salle University where 400 specimens of rare Philippine coins and paper currency are displayed. He also talks about its donor, a successful man, Felipe Liao, whose first love was philately.

As illustrated through Lora and Librando, the Library will have a roving library staff moving throughout the library building for the De La Salle University-Manila aimed at offering mobile reference service to where the user-clients are. The thing that Radical Reference is best known for is pushing the boundaries of what it means to do reference and more institutions are thinking about things like roving reference. (James Jacobs, 2007)

Methodology

A committee shall be formed to work on the following:

a. discussion about roving reference service, its process & customer handling on location;
b. staffing persons, calendar and roving schedule;
c. locations where to rove;
d. added features, costuming & attire of the rovers, promo paraphernalia;
e. evaluation, to confer and meet for feedback and to improve the service.

A Concept Paper for a Roving Reference Service for De La Salle University-Manila

A Concept Paper for a Roving Reference Service for De La Salle University-Manila
First Part of A Series
By Mr. Roderick B. Ramos, Associate Librarian


Proposal Statement


To set up a roving reference service desk for the De La Salle University-Manila aimed at establishing off-site (mobile) librarianship offering assistance to users outside the library with roving librarians alternately circulating within the University premises. Accessibility at any Internet terminals in and off DLSU-Manila Campus and continuously increasing and updated databases plus extremely huge print collections of books, unpublished materials, special collections and periodical subscriptions only identify the need for roving faculty-librarians who are expectedly tasked to deliver effective off-site library services.

The roving reference service for the library of De La Salle University shall bring out and showcase a studio space with an attractive and appropriately designed IRS help Desk or booth, primarily, for the library’s Customer Relationship Management or CRM, to be customer-centric library organization while discovering library- customer chemistry; to establish effective customer relationships management by acquiring, maintaining and expanding library customer database; and, to create mechanisms while providing and marketing hardcore web-based/online 24-hour service to invisible and wired library customers, and for the following specific service inquiries about/on electronic options and non-web-based reader services offered by the Information-Reference Section and the library itself which are increasing each year:

• University Library • History
• Organizational Chart
• Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ)
• Current Awareness Bulletin Service
• Library Orientation 2009
• Information Literacy Program Request Form
• Tutorials
• Wireless Access
• Newsette
• Consortia
• Guidelines for Visiting Users
• Ask LORA (Library Online Reference Assistant)
• Chat with LORA
• Search
• WebOPAC
• DLSU PULSE (Philippine University Library Search Engine)
• Pathfinder
• Reference Tools
• Webliography
• Faculty Publications
• Philippine Biographical Webliographies
• Subject Webliographies
• Online Subscriptions
• Electronic Databases
• E-journals
• Free/On-trial Databases
• Sections & Satellite Libraries
• Depository Area
• IMS
• OPAC
• American Studies Resource Center
• European Documentation Centre
• Conference/Seminar Rooms
• Cybernook
• Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health Data Bank
• Bienvenido N. Santos
• Brother Andrew Gonzales Memorabilia Room
• Francisco Ortigas Jr. Seminar Room
• Lorenzo M. Tanada Memorabilia Room
• Exhibit Area and Display Cases
• Technical Services
• Director’s Office
• Periodicals
• Information-Reference Service
• Systems Services
• Public Programs
• Conference/Seminar Rooms
• OPAC
• CRS Counter
• Graduate Studies Facilities
• Mini E-Classroom
• Photocopying Services
• Scanning services
• Conference/Seminar Rooms
• Faculty Corner
• Graduate studies facilities
• Photocopying Services
• Artifacts Collection
• Photocopying Services
• Filipiniana
• Archives/Special Collection/Memorabilia
• Br. Andrew Gonzales Hall
• Br. Benedict Learning Resource Center
• Graduate School of Business (La Salle Green Hills, Mandaluyong City)
• Graduate School of Business (5th floor, RCBC Plaza, Makati City)
• Intranet access only
• Library Manual

Introduction


We realize that people can’t always come to the library. So, we try to bring the library to the people. New technology gives us new ways to do that. (Anne Cain)

Roving librarians can play a role in this linking as we share personal and friendly interchanges with students while providing some direct or incidental learning. We also learn more about our students and their current interests and curiosities during roving than we would have in the traditional reference setting. (Lisa Lavoie, 2008).


Come to think of it and try to imagine a faculty-librarian in a studio-type, make-shift booth with a reference help desk in the midst of a crowd populating the ground floor-lobby of the Yuchengco Building, and see LORA with a laptop and a microphone enticing all, individually, to come closer and receive a personalized information service including technical queries. Also, proximity of LORA’s booth to the Amphitheatre and Marian Quadrangle where students, faculty, staff, and community library users are is very strong for library service promotion. This roving reference and a help desk is an information and assistance resource allowing the faculty-librarian to engage in conversation while troubleshooting, technical or non-technical, problems. Specifically, the conversation is bridging CRM and may send each as repeat user and be lifelong occupant of the library. For example, users’ curiosity about LORA and to see her in person expressed through Ask LORA or Chat with LORA facilities, is winsome. Any attempt to take on and keep a passerby to listen about what the library’s online reference assistant, LORA, can offer and her homepage, http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/library/, is captivating. The library’s electronic site of De La Salle University, in particular, features PULSE or DLSU's Philippine University Library Search Engine, http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/library/pulse/search.asp, is likely to excite onlookers to run to the library building anytime or grab a referral slip right there and then where the booth is.

Enrollees amounting to more than 15,000 - graduate enrollees , newly enrolled freshmen students, transferees, daily average of outside researchers, and a percentage or a number from the academic community who may have not been in the library and might have not been homepage users, it becomes fundamental that the DLSU library lure these statistics, having roving reference in mind as one radical approach, e.g., to walk through still and moving pictures in an interactive content of a 3-minute virtual tour or an actual visit to the University’s center for learning, reading and research. The thing that Radical Reference is best known for is pushing the boundaries of what it means to do reference and more institutions are thinking about things like roving reference. (James Jacobs, 2007)


The library council continuously discovers new initiatives and to provide a more pleasant and stimulating user-oriented learning environment through convenient and effective access to library services, collections and information sources, the Library will set up a roving reference service desk for the De La Salle University-Manila aimed at establishing off-site (mobile) librarianship offering assistance to users outside the library with roving librarians alternately circulating within the University premises. By bringing out a faculty-librarian near high traffic areas such as Brother Connon Hall with a clinic, an auditorium, canteen, students’ coop and a bookstore, for example, renders the rover (faculty-librarian) accessible at the point of need (Courtois & Liriano, 2000) and who is adept at hosting a conversation (Lavoie, 2008). The faculty-librarian is expected to be one great conversationalist having high enthusiasm talking about the library services to each inquirer who enjoys listening and sends feedback after seeking help. The rover or the faculty-librarian serves as a walking PR with roving reference service desk as his platform in announcing her day business or event.

Purpose & Figures


Table 1 Users with PINS & W/o PINS

P.Type Registrant With PIN Without PIN
Undergraduate 11425 6894 4531
Graduate 2201 1406 795

Table 1 reveals that 40% or 4531 out of 11425 undergraduate records from the Millennium database of the previous term did not register or set a personal identification number or a desired PIN/password through the MyLibrary, http://lib1000.dlsu.edu.ph/patroninfo. Specific PINS entered in the database assist each student to login and have patron privileges, off campus access to online subscriptions, and over other resources of the university library. 4531 registrants or enrolled students is quite a number and is probably causal to low rates of database use.

36% or 795 out of 2201 graduate records from the Millennium database of the previous term did not register or set a personal identification number or a desired PIN/password through the MyLibrary.

Table 2 Users with CIRC Activity/Without CIRC Activity

P.Type Registrant With CIRC Activity Without CIRC Activity
Undergraduate 11425 5444 5981
Graduate 2201 1128 1073

CIRC Activity means that the patron borrowed something in the library
More than half of the undergraduate registrants, 52% or 5981 failed to borrow any from the library. Graduate records have a percentage of 47 or 1073 students who have never made use of their accounts for library transactions.

Table 3 Users Who Accessed/Did Not Access Databases Off Campus

P.Type Registrant Access Off Campus DB Did not Access Off Campus DB
Undergraduate 11425 2588 8837
Graduate 2201 802 1399

Very high percentages are documented for students who did not access databases off campus, 77% or 8837 out of 11425 and 64% or 1399 out of 2201, respectively of undergraduates and graduates.

(Tables provided by Avelino Dancalan , 2010)