[Publib] reference desk time

[Karen Mahnk]

Since I am the only reference librarian in our little library - I am
"on reference" all day. We do not have a reference desk per se, but my
office is the designated "reference" spot in the library. I still do
"desk time" at the circ desk for an hour each day.  I also am
responsible for the online requests  from the website. Over all, it
takes about half the day -  if it's final project time at school -
more if the requests are more detailed. The othe half involves
cataloging, stats, overdues, collection development, program
development, etc. Small = variety ;-)

Karen Mahnk,
Reference Librarian
Lake Park Public Library
529 Park Avenue
Lake Park, Fl., 33403
561 881-3330 Fax: 561881-3336
kmahnk at lakeparkflorida.gov
www.lakepark-fl.gov


On 3/3/07, Bruce Bumbalough <bbumbalough at ci.grapevine.tx.us> wrote:
> Here at Grapevine Public Library there are three full-time reference
> staff for the adults side and two part-timers that fill alternate
> Sundays.   That is 124 person hours a week.  We are open 70 hours a
> week.  During the three days (Tu-Th)  the schedule has all three FT
> persons at the library, we split the reference duties shifts faily
> evenly.   That is 4 hours a day done in two hour shifts.  On Monday and
> Friday there are two people and again  the time  is split into two hour
> shifts, but we spend more tiome on the desk.   On Saturday the person
> working (me) works all day on the desk.  On Sunday the library is open 4
> hours and two people work all day on the desk.   Sunday is a very busy
> day for this library.   The single Saturday staff is left from the days
> in the old building when the adult and children's desk were close
> together and staff could cover for each other.  Now the two desks are in
> different rooms and neirher can be seen from the other.  Still I seldom
> get so busy that I need help.   Many of the Saturday patrons are
> browsers.  The Sunday ones are students diong homework etc.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Bruce Bumbalough at the start of a 8 hour tour on the desk in sunny but
> cool Grapevine, Texas
>
> >>> Kathleen Fargo <kaf33 at yahoo.com> 3/2/2007 6:50 PM >>>
> Hi all you reference workers out there!
> Think about your typical shift at work...how many
> hours are you actually "on call" at the reference
> desk?  Also, does your library have reasons for the
> amount of time each reference librarian is at the
> desk? If so, please explain.
> Thanks,
> Kathleen
>
>
>
>
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