ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 462 When the library becomes the largest computer lab on campus Supporting productivity software in an academic environment by Krista Graham M o st c o n te m p o ra ry aca d em ic lib ra ries provide c o m p u te r w o rk sta tio n s to al­ low p atrons to access electronic research tools. Typically, users are able to use library worksta­ tions to access electronic versions o f the catalog, online indexes and abstracts, reference tools, online journals, and electronic books. In addi­ tion, libraries often provide Internet access for research purposes. However, in order to ensure that workstations are available for research, li­ braries often leave the provision o f productivity software (i.e., word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation tools) to campus computer labs. W h en libraries do provide access to p ro ­ ductivity software, a separate group o f com ­ puters, w hether in a lab or a selected corner, is often designated for th is purpose. B ut w hat happens w hen the d istinction betw een lab and library disappears? W h en all library com puters provide access to a broad range o f software tools? W h en the library becomes, in effect, the largest com puter lab on campus? T hese were the questions facing the C entral M ichigan U n i­ versity (C M U ) Libraries in the fall o f 2001 as we planned for the opening o f our new b u ild ­ ing in January 2002. Background A t the beginning o f fall 2001, the C M U Li­ brary was rapidly app ro ach in g the e nd o f a m ajor tw o-and-a-half-year building expansion and renovation project. W h en com pleted, the new building w ould c o ntain over 300 public w orkstations dispersed over four floors, which, w hen com bined, would be equal in size to about th re e -a n d -a -h a lf fo otball fields. In ad d itio n , we plan n ed to provide a fu rth er 300 netw ork connections for laptop users. At th a t p o in t in the project, the decision h ad already been m ade to provide a full suite o f p ro d u c tiv ity software on all p u blic w o rk ­ stations in the building. In ad d itio n to a com ­ plete installation o f M icrosoft (MS) O ffice (in­ cluding Access, Excel FrontPage, Pow erPoint, Publisher, and W ord), all w o rk sta tio n s were configured to allow unblocked In tern e t access. T h is m eant th a t students w ould be able to ac­ cess e-mail and chat software from any library com puter. F urtherm ore, all com puters were to be equipped w ith C D burners and D V D play­ ers and the appropriate software to operate this equipm ent. A lthough we had a clear vision o f the type o f inform ation technology th a t we w ould pro­ vide in ou r new setting, we did n o t have a plan for how to provide quality service and sup p o rt to patrons using this new software. W ith lim ­ ited tim e and resources, we set a b o u t develop­ ing and im plem enting a software su p p o rt ser­ vice plan. About the author Krista Graham is electronic services coordinator/reference librarian a t Central Michigan University; e-mail: krista.graham@cmich.edu mailto:krista.graham@cmich.edu C&RL News ■ July/August 2003 / 463 The plan L evel o f s u p p o r t T he library provides full support for the com ­ m only used M S O ffice program s (i.e., W ord, Pow erPoint, and Excel), b u t n o t for the m ore sp e c ia liz e d p ro g ra m s , su c h as P r o je c t a n d FrontPage. T his decision m ade sense for tw o rea­ sons. First, we anticipated th at these core p ro ­ grams w ould be the m ost heavily used by our students. In ad d itio n , we w ere co n fid e n t th a t m ost library staff m em bers already possessed a basic familiarity w ith these program s and w ould n ot need extensive training to assist others w ith their use. In addition to the core Office software, we also help patrons use the C D burners to copy data files, troubleshoot basic e-mail problems, a nd pro­ vide assistance to patro n s using all trad itio n a l online library resources. We do not provide assis­ tance to students playing games or chatting online, although b o th activities are allowed on library com puters. Illegal downloads o f music files are n ot permitted. S u p p o rt m o d e l Prior to the opening o f the new library building, the university’s inform ation technology (IT) group already operated a num ber o f conventional com ­ puter labs across campus. Since the software con­ figuration in these labs was similar to the one we planned to provide, we m et w ith IT representa­ tives to get their perspective on the situation. T hey warned us to expect a high volume o f questions on a wide range o f topics varying in complexity from simple to the m ost advanced. Based on the IT staff’s knowledge o f lab support needs, and our understanding o f library reference, we devel­ oped the following software support model. Tier 1: Software support student assistants Prim ary support is provided by a core group o f students w ho are trained at the highest level pos­ sible. T hese students have been trained prim arily to assist library patrons w orking w ith M icrosoft O ffice. T h e y also provide assistance w ith the printing system and troubleshoot equipm ent prob­ lems w ith the public w orkstations a nd com pact shelving. O u r original plan called for a staffing level o f two students w hen the library was open, or 210 h o u rs p e r w eek. H ow ever, due to o u r sh o rt timeframe, we were unable to hire and train as m any students as we needed to cover all proposed hours. W ith the num ber o f qualified students we were able to hire, we were able to schedule two students m ost o f the hours the library was open, and at least one at all other times. D uring the interview process, we concentrated on identifying students w ho already had a high degree o f fam iliarity and com petence w orking w ith c o m p u te r softw are a n d hardw are. U p o n com pletion o f an in-person interview, all students were required to pass a computer-based test (CBT) to demonstrate competence w ith M icrosoft W ord, Excel, and Pow erPoint at an interm ediate level. For this testing, we used a M icrosoft C B T training program made available through the university’s inform ation technology W eb site. Before w orking w ith patrons, each stu d e n t assistant was required to com plete 17 hours o f technical and public service training. T he techni­ cal training was completed using the same C B T training modules used during the interview pro­ cess. S tudents were required to take advanced tutorials for W ord, Excel, and Pow erPoint and reach an 80 percent mastery level. T h e students were given a tim efram e fo r c o m pletion o f the tutorials and were required to com plete them at their own pace. A fter finishing the program , the students received a curriculum progress report indicating their level o f achievem ent on the m od­ ule. T h ey su bm itted this report to their supervi­ sor as p ro o f th a t the train in g had been com ­ pleted. O n average, this p o rtion o f the training to o k 15 hours. In addition to the technical training, all stu­ dent assistants were required to attend an in-house service training session. D uring this tw o-hour ses­ sion, students were given a tour and introduced to the organizational structure o f the library. In ad­ dition, they were introduced to the concept o f the library as an organization com m itted to ser­ vice quality. Finally, we taught them how to d if­ ferentiate between a software question and a ref­ erence question, a nd to make referrals to the ap­ propriate service desk for questions they were n ot trained to answer. Tier 2: Librarians an d support sta ff Library staff working at all service desks provide secondary support. T hey are trained to answer all basic software questions, and may m ake referrals to technical su p p o rt stu d e n ts as needed. As w ith the software support students, library staff mem bers were asked to self-train using the C B T training modules. Reference librarians were required to complete the interm ediate level m od­ ules, while other library staff members were expected 464 / C&RL News ■ July/August 2003 to have a basic understanding o f the soft­ ware. Tier 3: In fo r m a tio n technology help desk Q uestions that cannot be answered by library or technical support staff are referred to the IT C om ­ p uter H elp Desk. For example, students experi­ encing difficulty configuring their laptops for ac­ cess to the university netw ork are routinely re­ ferred to the help desk. Fortunately, the com puter help desk, although under the auspices o f the cam­ pus IT group, is conveniently located w ithin the library building. The outcom e In January 2002, the new building opened and the software su p p o rt plan was im m ediately im ple­ m ented. D uring our first semester, we kept de­ tailed statistics o f the num ber and types o f ques­ tions, as well as the tim e o f day questions were received. In addition, we m et w ith the software support students during the m iddle o f the semes­ ter to get their feedback on the effectiveness of the service. T yp es o f q u estio n s D uring our first semester, software support stu­ dents answered over 2,500 questions. Unexpect­ edly, only 20 percent o f the questions received were related to the use o f M icrosoft Office appli­ cations. Q uestions related to the new netw ork printing system, including dem onstrating how to set up new accounts and send and retrieve p rint jobs and troubleshooting printing problems, rep­ resented the largest proportion o f questions an­ swered (50 percent). Software support students also assisted w ith a significant n um ber o f hard­ ware-related problems (15 percent). Staffing D uring our first semester, we scheduled two soft­ ware s tu d e n t a ssista n ts d u r in g m o s t o f o u r h o u rs o f o p e ra tio n . H o w ev e r, based on ou r observations a n d statistical analysis, we d e te r­ m in e d th a t tw o stu d e n ts were n o t n eeded to a d eq u a te ly pro v id e th is service. Specifically, we fo u n d th a t relatively few q uestions are asked d u rin g th e m o rn in g hours, w hile evening and w eekend h ours are q u ite busy. C onsequently, we m odified o u r schedule for fall 2 0 0 2 to elim i­ n ate s tu d e n t staffing d u rin g th e m o rn in g s and p ro v id e a p p ro p ria te levels a t o th e r tim es o f the day based on use. W h e n softw are su p p o rt stu d e n ts are unavailable, reference lib ra rian s are expected to p rovide first tie r technical as­ sistance. Im p le m e n ta tio n tip s F o r those libraries interested in im plem enting a similar type o f software support program , the fol­ lowing tips and suggestions may be o f interest. 1) Hire students with a technology background AND people skills. D uring our initial hiring stage, we focused primarily on iden­ tifying and hiring students who already possessed a high level o f proficiency w ith com puter hard­ ware and software. Because o f our tight timeline for hiring and training the software support staff, we needed students w ho w ould require little tech­ nical training. We focused less on their public ser­ vice experience and skills. U nfortunately, some individuals w ho possess o u tstan d in g technical abilities m ay have trouble effectively com m uni­ cating that knowledge to others. W e have found that the best support students exhibit a balance between com puter competency, com m unication skills, and people skills such as patience and friend­ liness. 2) Locate a software support service desk in a highly visible location. Because software su p p o rt was an add-on service in our new library, the original construction plans did n ot provide for the inclusion o f a physical com ­ p uter help desk. Since the students had no official location from w hich to provide service, our initial plan was to provide them with identification badges and clipboards, and have them rove around the library providing assistance as requested. U nfor­ tunately, this plan did n o t work. Students could n o t easily identify the software support staff, and seemed to prefer approaching a traditional service desk w ith their questions. As a result, we decided to provide a clearly identified seat at our reference desk specifically for software support questions. Ultimately, we would prefer to place a separate, clearly marked, software support service desk on another floor in the library in addition to provid­ ing support from the reference desk. 3 ) Be flexible and experiment. W h e n im p le m e n tin g any n ew p ro g ram a w illingness to be flexible a n d e x p erim e n t is essential. Be­ cause we w ere m o v in g in to an e n tire ly new e n v iro n m e n t, a n d w ere at the sam e tim e sig­ n ific a n tly e x p an d in g o u r softw are pro v isio n , we h a d no past experiences o n w h ic h to base o u r e x p ec ta tio n s. As a re su lt, flex ib ility was o f p a ra m o u n t im p o rta n ce . We had to be willing (continued on page 468) 468 / C&RL News M July/August 2003 Notes 1. A recent survey o f academic libraries in the U n ited States reported th at over 90 percent o f respondents identified a librarian as coordinator o f library instruction. See K ristin Johnson and Kathleen Carlisle Fountain, “Laying a Founda­ tion for C om paring D epartm ental Structures be­ tween Reference and Instructional Services: Analy­ sis o f a N ationw ide Survey,” College & Research Libraries 63 (2002), 281. 2. For an example o f this thread in the litera­ ture, see Lewis-Guodo Liu (ed.), The Role a n d Im ­ pact o f the Internet on Library and Information Services (W estport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001). 3. N ational Association o f Elementary School Principals, Leading Learning Communities: N A E SP Standards fo r W hat Principals Should Know a nd be Able to Do (Alexandria, VA: N ational Association o f Elem entary School Principals, 2001). 4. Jam es Weber, “Leading the Instructional Program, ” in School Leadership: Handbook fo r Excel­ lence, 3rd ed., eds. Stuart C. Sm ith and Philip K. Piele (Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse o n Edu­ cational M anagem ent, 1997), 253– 78. 5. Larry Lashway, Can Instructional Leaders be Facilitative Leaders? (Eugene, OR: E R IC Clearing­ house on Educational Management, 1995) [online]. R e trie v e d J u n e 11, 2 0 0 3 , fro m h t t p : / / e r i c , u o r e g o n . e d u / p u b l i c a t i o n s / d i g e s t s / digest098.htm l; Weber, “Leading the Instructional Program ,” 277. 6. N athalie Gehrke, Developing Teachers’ Lead­ ership Skills (Washington, D C : ERIC Clearinghouse on Teacher Education, 1991) [online]. Retrieved J u n e 11, 2 0 0 3 , fro m h ttp :/ /w w w .e d .g o v / d a t a b a s e s / E R I C _ D i g e s t s / e d 3 3 0 6 9 1. h tm l ; D eborah Perkins-Gough, “Beyond Instructional Leadership,” Educational Leadership 59 (2002): 96 [online]. Retrieved June 11, 2003, from h ttp :// w w w .a s c d . o r g / r e a d i n g r o o m / e d le a d /0 2 0 5 / perkinsgough_2.html. 7. R o b e rt J. H ouse, “L ea d ersh ip ,” in The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary o f Organizational Behavior‚ ed. Nigel N icolson (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1995), 284. 8. For representative examples, see ACRL Bib­ liographic Instruction Section, Learning to Teach: Workshops on Instruction (Chicago: ACRL, 1993); and Esther Grassian, “Setting U p and M anaging a BI Program,” in Sourcebookfo r Bibliographic Instruc­ tion (Chicago: ACRL, 1993), 59– 75. 9. See, for example, Abraham Zaleznik, “M an­ agers and Leaders: Are T h ey Different?,” Harvard Business Review 55 (1977): 67– 78; and, W arren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1989). 10. Sharon M ader, “In stru c tio n Librarians: L eadership in the N ew O rg a n iza tio n ,” R Q 36 (1996): 192-97. 11. Bennis, On Becoming a Leader. 12. See, fo r exam ple, R o b e rt T. Sweeney, “Leadership in the Post-H ierarchical Library,” Library Trends 43 (1994): 62-94; and Terrence F. M ech and Gerard B. M cCabe, eds., Leadership and Academic Libraries (W estport, CT: G reenw ood Press, 1998). 13. J. H olt, W hat do I do Monday? (New York: D u tto n , 1970). ■ ( “When the libraiy. . . ” continued from page 464) a n d able to im p le m e n t, assess, a n d a d a p t ou r p ro g ra m q u ickly. In o rd e r to fa c ilita te th is a d aptability, we let th e new ly h ire d softw are su p p o rt stu d e n ts k n o w th a t th ey were p a rtic i­ p a tin g in a trial service a n d th a t th e ir assigned shifts a nd tasks m ig h t vary th ro u g h o u t the p i­ lo t project. C onclusions D u rin g th e course o f o u r p ilo t softw are su p ­ p o r t p ro jec t, we fo u n d th a t th e technical ex­ p ertise a n d com p e ten c e ex h ib ited by o u r s tu ­ d e n t assistants com p le m e n ts o u r existing ref­ erence service. T h ese stu d e n ts can be deployed by lib ra rian s to h a n d le m o st tec h n ica l q ues­ tio n s received a t th e desk, th u s freeing lib ra r­ ians to focus on research related questions. In a d d itio n , softw are su p p o rt stu d e n ts are able to quickly resolve m any technical problem s th a t p re v io u s ly w o u ld have b e en re fe rre d to th e already b usy library system s d e p a rtm e n t. T h e ir assistance is particularly valuable d u rin g evening a n d w e ekend h o u rs, w h en th e library systems d e p a rtm e n t is n o t sta ffed a n d th e reference sta ff is extrem ely busy. O verall, th e softw are s u p p o rt p ro g ra m has a llow ed us to p ro v id e q u a lity technical su p p o rt w ith o u t overw helm ­ ing the professional staff. ■ Correction Ilene F. R ockm an is affiliated w ith the Cali­ fornia State U niversity O ffice o f the C h a n ­ cellor a nd not the University o f C alifornia- Berkeley as was listed in the M ay issue o f C&RL News. T h e editors regret the error. http://www.ed.gov/ http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/0205/