[Publib] volunteers checking in

[Jim Sanderson]

We instituted "double check in"  When items are checked in they are placed
on a cart behind the circulation desk.
One staff member (you could rotate the duty among your volunteers, it would
give them some insight into the problem) is designated daily as the second
checker.  All items on the cart are checked in a second time to be sure they
have been accounted for.  We also place items found about the building
during the day on this cart to be sure they are properly checked in. 


James W. Sanderson
Supervising Librarian
West Avenue Library
Newport News Public Library
2907 West Avenue
Newport News, Virginia. 23607
(757) 247-8505
(757) 247-2344
www.nngov.com/library

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Knieriem, Lesley
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 2:11 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] volunteers checking in

Oh, dear.  

The first thing that you must tell yourself, repeatedly and firmly, is that
volunteers, no matter how lovely and dedicated, who cause this sort of
problem are HURTING your library, not helping it.  Presumably your
volunteers love the library, and would be horrified to cause harm to its
mission.

Not knowing your system and procedures, it's hard to say exactly where the
problem lies.  But I suspect that fixing it will (at least in the short
term) call for an expenditure of your already limited personnel resources.

Some possibilities:

1.  A small tweak in your Circulation module may be all you need.  For
example, we had a similar problem with our checkin procedures, because staff
was listening for the "beeps" instead of looking at the screen, and the beep
merely meant that the item had been successfully scanned, rather than
successfully checked in.  We turned off the beeps, forcing staff to watch
the screen, and voila! A dramatic decrease in the error rate.

2.  It may be just one or two individuals who are causing the problem.
You can track this by requiring "double check in".  When I had to implement
this, I ran off hundreds of slips marked CHECKED IN "date"
"initials" DOUBLECHECKED "date" "initials" "problems".  Whoever checked in a
cart of items would fill out the top half of the slip, and insert it in the
last item they checked;  the next person would scan each item to make sure
it was properly checked in before starting on any unchecked-in items.  They
would then fill in the bottom half of the slip, noting any errors, and
return the slips to me.
   Warning:  My staff HATED this.  HATE HATE HATE.  And it made checkin take
twice as long.  But it not only winkled out the one person with real
problems, but just knowing someone was checking behind them made them MUCH
less sloppy.

3.  Take away checkin from volunteers completely.  See if there are other
tasks they can do that will free up regular staff to check in materials.
Yeah, they may like check in best.  Yeah, they may stop volunteering if they
don't get to do it.  Too bad.  Remember, once
again:  VOLUNTEERS WHO DO THE JOB WRONG ARE NOT HELPING THE LIBRARY, THEY
ARE HURTING THE LIBRARY.

Lesley Knieriem
Rogers Public Library
Rogers AR


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Beth Conlee [mailto:maryc at ci.burlington.wa.us]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:25 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] volunteers checking in

Hello, collective wisdom,

I've inherited an eight-month-old volunteer program of fifteen lovely and
dedicated volunteers. Their favorite activity is checking items in, and we
don't have the staff to do this without volunteer help. Our failure rate, as
evidenced by the number of books found on the shelves that have not been
checked in, is disturbing and problematic. Patrons are starting to routinely
go to the shelves and find the books we tell them are overdue.

They volunteers have all been trained at least twice. They are all aware of
the problems, and, at meetings, list preventative practices and remind each
other of vigilance.

Surely we are not the only small library using volunteers in this capacity
and running into this problem (or the only library running into this problem
with paid staff either!). I'd appreciate suggestions on how to improve
accuracy, or even evaluate individual performance, in terms of checking
items in. How do you ask for accountability from volunteers?
How do you evaluate what is a reasonable failure rate to be expected, and
what is unacceptable and requires action?

All feedback appreciated.

Thanks,

Mary Beth Conlee

Burlington Public Library



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