Supplies Table

Leads are responsible for keeping the supplies table stocked and organized throughout the day. You should do this periodically throughout your shift when working at the Help & Information desk. Some things to check for include:

  • Make sure staplers are well stocked with staples and functioning
  • Empty electric pencil sharpener and 3-hole punch into trash can
  • Refill binder clips, paper clips, rubber bands and tape as needed.
  • Throw away any trash left behind & straighten up the supplies
  • Put away any supplies that belong in the drawers (especially scissors & paper cutter)
  • Make sure all supplies are still present! See photo below for the supplies that should be on the table and how a fully stocked & organized table should look.

Alma and LibAnswers

You can submit item requests for patrons, instead of them requesting a book through SOS. See the instructions below to learn how to request a book:

Step 1: Type the title or other keyword into the search bar. Make sure the search is set to "Physical Titles"

Step 2: Select the title you would like to request. Make sure the title DOES NOT have the withdrawn symbol (an eye with a line through it, pictured below).

Step 3: Once you've found the correct item, check the location under "Physical" and make sure it is available at Snell, not Olin. Click on the three dots on the right to reveal the "More Actions" menu. Choose "Request".

Step 4: Select "Patron Physical Item Request" and click Submit.

Part 5: Scan the patron's Husky Card or type their name or NUID number in the "Requester" field. Select Snell Library for the "Pickup At" field. Click submit. 

The window should refresh and you should see a notification that says the request was successfully submitted!

A proxy borrower is someone who has been authorized to pick up books on behalf of another patron. Proxy borrowers are only allowed for faculty and staff, or patrons with a disability, and must be approved ahead of time by the IDEAS department.

1. To check an item out using a proxy borrower, start with the “Manage Patron Services” link from the Alma Fulfillment tab:  

2. Activate the “Use Proxy” button underneath the patron search box:  

3. Scan the borrower’s Husky Card, or manually type in their name and select “Go”: 

4. The next screen will list the users this patron is a proxy borrower for.  If there is more than one, the names will appear in a drop-down list.  Choose the correct patron and select “Go”: 

6. This will take you to the patron record of the user the borrower is a proxy for.  The information at the top of their record indicates that you are checking out items to their account via a proxy.  To check out items, begin scanning them in the “Scan Item Barcode” field as you normally would:   

Occasionally a patron will ask a question at the desk or on the phone that’s complicated and needs to be escalated up to a staff member for an answer.

You can create a ticket for the patron to be answered later by a staff member. To do this, first navigate to LibAnswers. Under the Answers dropdown, select ‘Create.’

Next, fill out as much information about the patron and question as you can, and assign the ticket to the Access Services queue. IDEAS staff will make sure it gets transferred to the right department if needed. 

Fill out as much information about the question as you have, or that you think will be useful for the person who will ultimately answer the question. Make sure you ask the patron for their email address at a minimum, and their name if possible.

Then select ‘Create Ticket.’

 

Work Room

Occasionally we have patrons come in to pick up BLC cards, which allow Northeastern students, faculty, and staff to access other libraries in the Boston area that are not open to the public. If someone comes to pick up a BLC card a Lead or Supervisor should get it for them!

There is a white binder at the H&I desk’s IDEAS Cabinet located in the work room (pictured below).

Cards that are ready to be picked up are stored here and organized alphabetically by patron’s last name. 

When you give the card to the patron, make sure you let Alexis DeLeon know by sending her a teams message or email. She is in charge of issuing BLC cards and needs to know when they are picked up. You can direct the patron to Alex with any questions.

At the beginning of semesters, we typically have a lot of new items being put on reserve for different courses. Occasionally, professors will come in to drop off personal copies of textbooks to put on reserve for their classes. When this happens, give them the form pictured below to fill out. 

After a professor fills out this form place it and the book they are dropping off on the shelf next to the stack of forms.