Access Services: What People Think I Do vs. What I Actually Do

Following our trend of exploring what people think library employees do vs. what we actually do, today we are exploring access services! 

Access services is the first touch point that patrons usually experience and can set the tone of a library. At our law library, access services consists of the amazing and unparalleled student employees that cover our circulation desk along with their fantastical and overly exuberant Access Services Coordinator (who is certainly not the one writing this blog post). 

We are all involved in anything and everything, and have become quite adept at multi-tasking. We greet you as you come in, we monitor room reservations, we check out materials, we check in materials, we pull books, we shelve books, we answer questions at the circulation desk…
*takes deep breath*

…We redirect patrons to someone who can answer the question if we don’t know the answer yet, we fix printers, we load a lot of printer paper, we deck the halls for holidays, and do even more things in between. It is a department that continuously adapts to anticipate needs.

One of our more behind-the-scenes duties includes shelf reading. We go into the stacks (the term for the shelving that holds the books) to make sure all of the books are in the right order. It is time consuming to read every call number (the label on the spine), but very important. This process reduces the chance of a book being misshelved and assumed lost as well as makes it easier for patrons and staff to locate materials. With a collection of over 290,000 volumes, it takes almost the whole semester to get through just the open stacks. 

That effervescent Access Services Coordinator (fueled by an extensive candy drawer) also manages scheduling, assists in organizing accommodated exam locations, and serves as backup to Interlibrary Loan and document deliveries. Occasionally, the Access Services Coordinator even dabbles in writing fascinating Legal Beagle blog posts. Those twenty student employees are the ones who tirelessly work late into the night and over weekends to make sure that you can utilize the library and what we provide.

All of these duties are essential in giving you, the esteemed patron, the best experience possible in our library. We want to ensure that you have access to anything you require, hence the name access services.

We look forward to seeing you soon!