Academic Desk Taskforce Report

The Academic Taskforce had a meeting last week discuss the future of the Academic Desk. The group originally recommended begin the new Desk as a pilot and re-evaluate the desk once it was live for a few months.   

The group moved to make the Academic Desk an official part of the Ask a Librarian service.  The additional desk still is growing, but all indications are- patrons and librarians are quite happy with the new Desk.

The group did make several recommendations, including:
- The Desk should be open longer hours
- More librarians are needed to staff the desk (so, we will work on recruiting more libraries- but more librarians at libraries already staffing would be needed as well).

The biggest issue the taskforce was concerned about, was no-shows or librarians not answering questions. With librarians, split over two desks- it is imperative that shifts are covered. Missing a shift causes stressed co-workers and unhappy customers. No one wants to be alone on the desk.  Please contact Jennifer if a scheduling issue has arisen and/or post the shift to the Ask a Librarian Mailing List.  Most importantly, report technical or scheduling issues immediately to the Ask a Librarian helpdesk (askalibrarian@tblc.org).

Overall, reviews and feedback were overwhelmingly positive! The desk is now an official part of the service – and I for one feel it has only helped improve the service.

The official notes are available at: aal-academic-minutes-2-8-08.pdf