Team: Eldersburg Circulation/Page
Project: We thought Roving Reference was a great concept and we wanted Circ to participate. We could see the advantages and couldn't wait to get started, so before official training, we came up with our own model for participating in the Roving service. As tasks for Roving were being developed, it seemed like a good idea to incorporate some items that are part of evaluation behaviors such as: merchandising and maintaining branch appearance. It was also a great opportunity to promote self-serve technology, such as introducing our self checkout units to customers standing in line. We created an unrestricted schedule where Circ staff and Pages sign up before roving for a 10 minute period. We were taking a risk because it is something we haven't done before and took us out of our comfort zone.We anticipated being able to assist customers out on the floor by answering their questions or directing them to the proper place. Also, we anticipated that the cafe, newspaper and magazine areas would be neater, and the Read It Now, DVD's (and now Games) would be well merchandised.Unanticipated outcomes were that we were getting in some exercise and it was stimulating to do something different. The 10 minutes goes fast and it is easy to go over that time frame when helping a customer.
