Recording Studios: Staff Information Guide : Student Manual

Welcome to the Northeastern University Digital Media Commons. You were selected on the basis of your experience, knowledge, eagerness to work, and enthusiasm.  We feel confident that you will enhance the quality of programs and services our department can provide.

Your goal is to respond to patron’s questions to the best of your ability, obtain a supervisor’s or full-time staff member’s support when you cannot assist, conduct transactions for checking out equipment and rooms, and assist with projects as requested.  Please never say “No” or “I don’t know” to a patron’s questions or requests, without checking with a full-time staff member first. 

By becoming a member of this staff, you agree to abide by and enforce all established policies and procedures, such as the Statement of Expectations, which you signed upon being hired.

 Please read this entire manual. It is important that you understand our mission and philosophy, as well as, the basic operation of the department. This document is here to assist you in meeting those expectations.

We look forward to working with you and hope that you enjoy your employment experience here at the Digital Media Center.

NU Libraries’ Mission

The Northeastern University Libraries support the mission of the University by working in partnership with the University community to develop and disseminate new scholarship. The Library fosters intellectual and professional growth, enriches the research, teaching, and learning environment, and promotes the effective use of knowledge by managing and delivering information resources and services to library users.

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   What is the DMC?

                                               i.     The Digital Media Commons (DMC) is a collaborative learning facility: a media lab and digital creativity center. The DMC includes:

                                             ii.     Support services for both research and technology, including walk-up technical and reference help, 24/7 chat and phone support, workshops, teaching and one-on-one instruction, and more.

                                            iii.     DMC is centered around media types: including video, audio, animation, game design; AutoCAD, GIS, Data analysis, and other creative work.

                                            iv.     Commons serves the whole university community, available 24/7 and encourage collaboration and cross-disciplinary work.

The Studio provides services, technologies and instructional support for digitizing and remixing various resources, enabling users to create new digital content.

Service Philosophy

If you learn these basics, you are on your way to mastering the art of customer service:

• A patron is the most important person in our business.
• A patron is not dependent on us- we are dependent on him/her.
• A patron is not an interruption of our work- he/she is the purpose of our work.
• A patron does us a favor by calling upon our services- we are not doing him/her a favor by assisting him/her.
• A patron is a business- not a distraction.
• A patron is not a cold statistic- he/she is a flesh and blood human being with feelings and emotions like ours.

Attendance

You are responsible for reporting on time for your assigned shifts. If you are going to be late or absent, call x2465 as soon as possible to let us know that you won’t be in. You may leave a message on voice mail.  (If that number is our of order, call Jonathan at x4901. If he is on vacation, call Debra at ext.4902, or Thomas at ext.3399.)  If you want time off or to change your schedule, please speak with Jonathan or Debra as far in advance as possible.  You can fill out a substitute form in advance to find another student to take your shift.

Snow Days / Closings

There will be times when we call upon our student workers to work should the University close due to snow or other reason and the Library remain open.  If you wish to be a snow team member you must live within a safe walking distance from the library.

Northeastern University has made arrangements to notify students, faculty, and staff by radio and television when it becomes necessary to cancel classes because of extremely inclement weather. AM stations WBZ (1030) and WRKO (680), and FM stations WBUR (90.9), WBMX (98.5), and WFNX (101.7) are the radio stations authorized to announce the University's decision to close. Television stations WBZ-TV4, WCVB-TV5, and WHDH-TV7 will also report cancellations. Please listen to the radio or television to determine whether the University will be closed. News station websites are also helpful.

If a storm occurs at night, the announcement of University closing is given to the radio stations at approximately 6 AM. Classes are generally cancelled for the entire day and evening at all campus locations unless stated otherwise. When a storm begins late in the day, cancellations of evening classes may be announced. This announcement is usually made between 2-3 PM.

Student payroll and timesheets

Student employees of the Digital Media Center need to record their work time in two locations: the sign in book and myNEU, this link will explain the process of how to fill out an on-line timesheet via myNEU:

https://studentemployment.neu.edu/cimages/UserGuideTimesheets.pdf

On-line time sheets will be approved every Tuesday before 12 noon so please submit your time before the deadline.

Pre-employment forms can be found using this link:

https://studentemployment.neu.edu/Cmx_Content.aspx?cpId=2

Student payroll contact information

Student Employment Office
101 Curry Student

Phone: (617) 373-3200

Fax: (617) 373-5175

E-mail: studentemployment@neu.edu

You are responsible for tracking your hours work against your allocation.  Please inform Jonathan Iannone when you are nearing the end of your allocations, so he can discern whether you can go on the part-time payroll.

Customer Service

All patrons should be helped promptly, in a professional, courteous, and service-oriented manner.  Do not leave the office unattended.

Use of Library/DMC Equipment

Library equipment and supplies may be used for Snell Library business only (including telephones, computers, copiers, printers, faxes, etc.)

Dress

Dress and personal appearance should be neat, clean, and appropriate to a place of business

Grounds for Disciplinary Action

• Unexcused absence or tardiness
• Leaving the job site during a shift without permission
• Falsifying time sheets
• Unsatisfactory performance
• Failure to perform an assigned job
• Refusing to follow a supervisor’s direction
• Inappropriate or abusive behavior or language
• Violation of security procedures
• Destruction or unauthorized use of Library property

POLICIES

Confidentiality Policy

Never give out information about a patron (name, address, ID # etc., who is using what equipment, etc.) to another patron! (it is against the law!)

ID Policy

In order to maintain a safe and secure environment, everyone using the DMC must have a current/valid NU PHOTO ID.  If there are any problems with ID’s, see a supervisor and/or send the patron to the Circulation Desk on the first floor.

Do not check out workstations, rooms, or equipment to anyone (faculty and staff included) who do not have a valid Northeastern University ID Card.  If a patron does not have their Northeastern ID with them and wants to use something in-house, you may ask for another form of ID and type their last name into Millennium to see if they are an NU student, faculty, or staff.  BE SURE TO CHECK the Expiration Date!!!  If any difficulties arise regarding this refer patron to a supervisor, or send them to the Circulation desk to get their ID straightened out.

Do not hold on to anyone’s ID.  Quickly return it following a transaction.  Any IDs found in the DMC must immediately be returned to the Circulation Desk.

Food/Drink Policy

The DMC has a no food and no drinks policy. There is NO eating or drinking on the job. If you need to have a snack, ask permission to leave the help desk and go to the staff lounge. If you see patrons with food or drinks, ask them nicely to put it away or get rid of it.  On your shift, monitor the DMC for evidence of food and drink.

Appropriate Use Policy Regarding Computers

The information systems of Northeastern University are intended for the use of authorized members of the Northeastern community, in the conduct of their academic and administrative work. This means that you must nicely ask all DMC patrons for their ID when they ask to use the workstations, equipment or room, even if accompanied by someone who has an ID.

To protect the integrity of computing and information resources against unauthorized or improper use, and to protect authorized users from the effects of unauthorized or improper usage, the University reserves the right, with or without notice, to monitor, record, limit or restrict any account holder´s access and/or usage. The University may also monitor, record, inspect, copy, remove or otherwise alter any data, file, or system resources. The University reserves the right to periodically check these systems and to take any other actions necessary to protect the computer, network and telecommunications facilities. The University also retains access rights to all files and electronic mail on its computing and network facilities. Anyone using these systems or networks expressly consents to such monitoring.

The remaining policy:

http://www.i-nfoservices.neu.edu/aup.html 

Copyright Policy:

The Libraries copyright policy is located here:

https://library.northeastern.edu/get-help/copyright-and-fair-use

Although we cannot police patrons per se, we can monitor use of workstations and report copyright concerns to supervisors and full-time staff when it looks like patrons are violating copyright guidelines. Each Mac workstation has a Fair Use checklist to guide patrons in decision-making regarding the use of copyrighted materials in their works.

The DMC has a collection of public domain music loaded in iTunes on all workstations and available in CD format for in-house Use.  There are also websites for royalty free clip art and sound files available on the workstations. Familiarize yourself with these materials.

The following activities are not permitted:

·      Copying commercial videotapes, especially those from the library’s collection

·      Copying CDs

Using iTunes to import music from CDS and save to DMC iTunes