Circulation Student Staff Information: Circulation Manual

Introduction

The primary duty of the Circulation Assistants is to ensure that all law library users receive satisfactory service and information. Please review this Circulation Manual to become familiar with general library policies. You will check out books, Reserve material, and assist patrons with copiers and microform machines. You are also responsible for picking up and re-shelving books and maintaining order in the book stacks.

While we allow you to study while working at the desk (provided you have completed all assigned work), your main job is to attend to the patrons at the Circulation Desk and answer the telephone. Similarly, please conduct yourself professionally while working - including no personal telephone conversations or eating at the desk.

While working in the library, you will encounter all manner of questions. Feel free to answer basic questions (e.g., hours, parking, what we have on reserve, etc.) and any directional questions (e.g., where is the Boley Printer, where is the Oregon Digest, etc.). Please refer any questions that require an explanation of policy to Collections & Access staff or any research questions to one of the Research & Instruction Librarians (Jim, Kian, Mari, Meredith, and Rob). Feel free to ask for assistance from a staff member anytime.

When you work alone and are uncertain or unclear about answering a question, tell the patron when a law librarian is available to help them and suggest they email their question to lawlib@lclark.edu. Typically, Research & Instruction Librarians show patrons how to do basic research, look for information, and use research materials but may not interpret or state the law. Student Circulation employees do not give research help or legal advice.

Daily tasks vary by shift, but generally include:

• Opening
• Staffing the Circulation Desk
• Patron counts (9am, 1pm, 4pm, 1 hour before closing)
• Mail and Watzek run (between 2 and 3pm weekdays)
• Shelving
• Shelf reading
• File microfiche
• Tidy up
• Closing

Sort checked-in materials
Books should be placed in order on the shelving cart.
Reserve items and equipment should be shelved appropriately.

Face Reserves and the Hold Shelves

Make Boley a better place
Clean up the desk and the rest of the Circulation work area
Tidy up the Reading Room and the Boley Atrium
Let a supervisor know if we're low on something
Read the manual
Push in chairs
Be creative...

Ask if there is anything else to do

Shelving

Reshelve books on the shelving cart once every shift, unless you work at the Circulation Desk alone in the evening during the week. If you see books lying around on the shelves, carrels, carts, or tables throughout the library, please bring them to the circulation desk and scan them into Alma before re-shelving (this counts their use for statistical purposes and also checks for requests and "missing" status). 

Do a final pick-up at closing. We will not pick up books in Wood Hall; students are responsible for bringing all checked-out materials back to the library. While shelving, also take the time to tidy up the shelves by standing the books upright and pulling the spines to the front edge of the shelf. 

Shelf Reading 

Shelf reading is the process of checking the collection for improperly shelved books. The purpose of shelf reading is to maintain proper order in a library collection. Shelf reading helps patrons and staff find materials and reduces the likelihood that books will be marked as missing. Shelf-reading is an essential part of stacks maintenance. There are three main purposes to shelf reading: 

1. Making sure each book/item is properly shelved in the correct location. It is easy for a mistake to be made and for a book to end up in the incorrect location, and shelf-reading identifies and fixes these errors. 
2. Identifying any label issues. While shelf-reading, you may find damaged pieces, such as missing a label, label falling off, or unreadable label. Please bring those back to the circulation desk and create work orders for them, then place them in a supervisor's inbox with a TLC flag.
3. Keep the shelves themselves in order. It is important that we keep the shelves in top condition, with the books brought forward (faced) and stored properly with the correct bookend (vertical or spine down--never warped or leaning).

Opening Checklist:

You will be scheduled to arrive 15 minutes before opening to have ample time to complete the opening
procedures.

1. LIGHTS: Turn on all lights.
   • The main switches are on the wall in the break room.
   • Also, turn on lights in the reserve area, the hallway by the workroom, and the front entrance light.
2. COMPUTERS: Turn on the circulation computer and log-in to Alma. Turn on the monitors to the student computers (x2), public computers (x2), and catalog kiosk (x1).
   • Circulation computer logins:
   • COMPUTER: Login: boleycirc
   • Password: lawlibrary2023
3. MONEY: Unlock the workroom door. Retrieve the money drawer key from heart box. Unlock the cash drawer and replace key inside of the heart box.
4. WOOD HALL ENTRY: To open the door between the Library & Wood Hall, enter 6636* on the keypad in the break room.  Magnetic locks will deactivate for 45 seconds so promptly walk over to the Wood Hall entry and open the doors.
5. FRONT DOORS: Put the “quick release” safety cuffs over the crash bars to open/unlock the front doors.
6. BOOK DROP: The Book drop is located by the main entryway of the library. Using the book drop key from heart box, unlock the book drop's side door and bring in all material and relock the door. Make sure the book drop flap is closed so patrons know to return items to the library desk during regular business hours.
   • Check in all items and reshelve if reserve or study aids. 
   • All others go on shelving cart or the ILL desk if they are ILL returns.
   • Stamp returned Summit items and place in the Watzek bin.
7. PRINTER: Check the Circulation Desk printer and refill with paper if needed.
   • Weekends only: Check the Boley printer in the stacks, and the Wood Hall copy room printer and refill with paper if needed.

*** If you notice any issues from the prior night’s closing procedures, inform your supervisor in person or by email ***

Closing Checklist:

1. FLASH LIGHTS
   • 15 minutes before closing, flash the main lights to signal the library is closing (light switch panel is in the break room).
   • Repeat five minutes before closing.
   • Do a final walk through the stacks to let people know we are closing.
2. COMPUTERS
   • Turn off circulation computer.
   • Turn off the monitors only on the public terminals (x2) and student terminals (x2) 
3. CASHBOX DRAWER
   • If there are wireless accessories (keyboard, mouse), place them in the drawer with the cashbox (second drawer on the top row to the right of the circ computer) and lock the drawer using the key in the heart box (located in the leftmost upper cabinet in the work room). If they are not wireless, don't bother putting them in the drawer, just make sure to lock the cashbox up.
4. OFFICE DOORS
   • Lock all office doors in circulation area: sliding door between circulation and the workroom (no key, just use the turning lock on the workroom side of the handle), door from atrium to breakroom (AK7 key), and door between circ and the workroom (AK7 key).
5. WOOD HALL
   • Close one of the doors 15 minutes prior to closing.
   • Close both doors to Wood Hall. Wood Hall remains open 24 hours via an L&C ID proxy card at the Wood Hall main entrance. Make sure that the doors between Wood Hall and Boley are securely locked before leaving.
6. FRONT DOORS
   • Lock front doors by removing the “quick release” safety cuffs on the crash bars.
7. WALK THROUGH
   • Make a tour of the library to see that everyone is gone. NO ONE except faculty members and library staff may stay after closing.
   • Make sure the side door of the library (leading to the sky bridge) is closed tight.
   • Turn off all lamp lights in carrels.
   • If you find any personal material - papers, books, water bottles etc., place in Lost & Found.
   • All books left on carrels and tables should be returned to Circulation, scanned in, and reshelved, unless reserved by a Visiting Scholar. In this case, there will be a sign on the carrel with instructions to leave items.
8. TURN OFF LIGHTS
   • Turn off all lights in the library including the main switch, circulation area lights, the entrance bunker, and any office lights that are left on.
9. WHEN YOU LEAVE MAKE SURE THE FRONT DOORS CLOSE BEHIND YOU AND THE LOCK IS IN THE LOCKED POSITION.
10. BOOK DROP
    • Open flap on the outside book drop as you leave, so patrons know where to return items when the library is closed.
       

Take a keycard out of the cash drawer to access the back door in the Reading Room.  Take the red mail cart to deliver and pickup items to and from the LRC.  If there is outgoing mail to be delivered, it will be on the cart.  This may include packages and/or letters to deliver to the outgoing USPS box, and/or newsletters and books to deliver to faculty inboxes (some faculty inboxes are in the LRC Faculty Lounge; others are in Wood Hall).

1. First stop: LRC Copy Room --
   • Cross the sky bridge to the LRC (this is technically the 3rd floor of that building) and walk to the Copy Room, located at the far end, on the left side.
   • Place all outgoing mail in the “outgoing mail” box sitting on the Copy Room counter
   • Check the “Computer Services/Library Services” mailbox (bottom right side) as well as the counter just below it for incoming library mail
   • Check the counter and the wooden box just below the others for any books returned by staff/faculty
   • Check for any UPS/FedEx packages that may be on the counter below the mailboxes and any packages there may be behind the desk (near the back door) that need to be delivered to the library or computing services staff
2. Second stop: LRC Faculty Lounge --
   • Take the elevator to bottom floor (1st floor) and deliver CKO books and other items to the Faculty mailboxes inside the Faculty break room
   • Check the wooden tray on the counter, and the cabinet below the mailboxes (center) for books returned by Faculty
3. Third stop: Business Office window --
   • Check to see if the business office has any mail/packages for the library
4. Fourth stop: Boley --
   • Bring the cart (loaded with packages, books, and mail) back across the sky bridge to the library
   • Place all Interlibrary Loan packages on the ILL desk
   • Place all mail and packages addressed to Boley Law Library or Technical Services (or similar) in Liana's inbox
   • Place book returns from faculty in the book drop
   • Distribute all other mail and packages to their individual inboxes
   • Delivery CKO books to faculty inboxes in Wood Hall (in the environmental law suite, or upstairs in the faculty/staff breakroom)
   • Deliver the contents of Rob's downstairs inbox to his upstairs inbox

Copiers and printers are maintained by the Computing Services department.  Refer all patron questions about printing to them.

Microform machines are maintained by the library.  Refer patron questions about microform scanners and printers to a supervisor.

Computing Services maintains two student computers and two public use computers in the Boley Atrium.  These are for drop-in use.

Students should log in with their L&C network username and password to access the student computers for researching, browsing, and printing.

Public users and visitors should ask at the circulation desk for access to the public computers.  Enter the username and password provided in the Circulation Manual binder; don't share this with the patron.

Public users may print from the public computers.  Print jobs are sent to the Circulation Desk printer and may be retrieved at the Circulation Desk.  Prints cost 10 cents per page and are payable in cash or online.  Please verify payment before delivering prints.

Library Membership Policy

Patron Privacy

It is library policy that we never tell another patron who has a particular item checked out, nor give out any personal information about a patron. Even if a faculty member wants to know who has a specific book, we cannot release that information. 

If any patron issues require contact (e.g., a patron has a very overdue book or a lost and found item), ONLY a staff member can contact the patron. Student employees should NEVER call or email a patron about any library matter, except Lost & Found. Refer all such issues to a staff member.

Students 

Students must present a valid I.D. to check out materials of the library. If a student is not in the system or has expired, refer them to a supervisor.  Never check out materials to a student with a blocked account.

Faculty & Staff 

All Lewis & Clark staff, faculty & adjunct professors should already have accounts in the system. If they are not in ALMA, a supervisor can create an account for them using the Boley Law Patron registration form* you will fill out. 

Alumni & Members of the Bar 

Law school alumni may be issued a library membership free of charge.  Their student ALMA record will be converted to an alumni record upon request; refer requests to a supervisor for processing.  Members of the State Bar living in Oregon or Washington may be issued a library membership. The fee is $40 per year. You will need to fill out the Boley Law Library Registration form, take their payment, and record the amount in the receipt book inside the money drawer (provide them with a receipt if they choose), or direct them to pay online.  A supervisor will create a new I.D. and patron record in Alma. 

Summit Members

Faculty, staff, and students from other Summit institutions can physically come to Boley and check out regularly circulating items. To do so, you will need to create a Visiting Summit borrower account (Using the Boley Law Library Patron Registration Form). Regularly circulating items will check out for six weeks with no renewals. Let the summit patron know they can return the material to their home library or to Boley. Other materials such as periodicals or reference items are library-use-only and may not be checked out.

General Public

Members of the public are welcome to use the library during reference hours (M-F 10am-4pm*). They are not able to check out any items, but they can use books while they are in the library. If a member of the public wants to read an item on reserve, they are able to do so using the following procedure: ask for their ID to hold on to while they have the reserve item(s), write the item barcode(s) down on a note and attach it to their ID, check the reserve item(s) out to "General, Public" in Alma, and let the patron know that it is due back in 3 hours and cannot leave the library. Place their ID and note with the barcode(s) in the drawer with the cash box. 

*We will not ask anyone to leave after 4, this is just a general guideline since many public patrons are seeking legal help, and our research librarians are the ones qualified to point them in the right direction. 

Explanation

Library of Congress (LC) call numbers are shelved in a combination of alphabetical and numerical order. Call numbers should be considered one line at a time.

The first line is sorted alphabetically. A comes before B, HD comes before HE. One of the rules of LC is "nothing comes before something".  P comes before PA, etc.

The second row is sorted numerically. 1 comes before 2, 29 is before 30, 30 is before 30.5, etc.

The third row in an LC call number is tricky because it is always a decimal. For example, you can think of HD1 .A3 as being HD1 A 0.3; for HD1 .A311, think of it as HD1 A 0.311. Therefore, many numbers that look bigger than others are actually smaller! For example, .A415 is smaller than .A42.

Sometimes there will be a fourth line that looks similar to the third, only does not show a decimal point. However, this line is treated as a decimal as well, just like the third row.

Dates, volume & issue numbers, copy numbers, and other annotations are shelved numerically and alphabetically, one line at a time. Remember that nothing comes before something. 

*Here, a lowercase c. means "copy".

A little more info

The number assigned to a book by a cataloging or classification system is called a "call number." The call number of a book is dictated by information about the book—if you look up the same book here or at any other library using the LC system, you should find that it has the same (or very similar) call number. The call number is basically a complex code indicating some or all of the following information about the book: subject, author, sometimes title, language, date of publication, and other things.

There are two basic parts to a call number. There is the "classification number," which indicates the subject. This is the first line in a Dewey number, and the first TWO lines in an LC number. Then there is the "cutter number," which indicates the author. This is the second line of a Dewey, and the third line of an LC. Sometimes there are other lines indicating some of the other information listed above. 

A simple Library of Congress call number might look like this: 

Without a good deal of time spent studying call numbers, you wouldn't know much about the above book by looking at the call number. You might know, generally, that PS is American literature, but that's about it. However, what you should be able to tell when a patron brings you a call number (that they can't find on the shelf, for example), is whether it looks like a feasible call number. Say a patron comes to you and says, "I can't find this number," and hands you a piece of paper that says BF26405. You can tell by looking that there is something wrong with the call number. Maybe the patron has mistaken the capital O at the beginning of the third line for a zero (it's really BF264.O5) or maybe it's a 6 for a G (BF2.G405). Just knowing that this call number doesn't look right can get you started in the right direction for helping the patron locate the book--try looking the book up in Primo to get the correct call number.

Books are filed on the shelves by call number. They are organized like this: first all the books are put in order by the top line (A, AE, B, BC, BF, CC, DU...). Next, all books with the same top line are put in order by the second line, including any decimals (A 13, A 27, A 108, A 108.4, A 223...). Next, all books with the same first two lines are put in order by the third line -- remember this line is ALWAYS a decimal (BF 24.5 .A113, BF 24.5 .A15 (.15 is bigger than .113!), BF 24.5 .A23, BF 24.5 .B4.....). And so forth. Here is a list of call numbers in order:

Most of Boley's collection is organized using the Library of Congress classification system.  However, materials in some collections are filed by title (Periodicals, State, Federal and Foreign). Ask if you need help with these collections.

Attorney Services is a service Boley Law Library provides to area attorneys.  Through the service, attorneys may:

• Purchase an annual library card for $40
• Request scans of print materials in the collection, billable at $40/hour labor + $2 flat fee per scanned document

Refer all Attorney Services requests to a supervisor. 

Law School alumni have lifetime borrowing privileges from the library. Patron accounts for students remain in Alma after the student graduates, but are not automatically converted to alumni accounts.  To set an alumni account up for borrowing:

1. If a recent grad, find the user account for the student in Alma.  It will either have expired or will expire within 6 months of graduating
2. Convert the account to an Internal account ("Toggle Account Type")
3. Verify the patron's alumni status.  They may either show you their alumni card that was issued to them by the Alumni Office when they graduated, or they may log in to the L&C Alumni Directory, or you may log in to the L&C Alumni Directory to verify their status.  Alumni must have graduated from an L&C degree program.
4. Change their Alma user group from Law Student to Law Alum
5. Verify their current email address and other contact info, and update in Alma
6. Add their email address as an Identifier.  This will allow the patron to sign in to Primo using their email address as their user ID. 
   • Identifiers tab > Add identifier > Identifier Type: Additional ID 1 > Value: enter the patron's current email address > Add and Close
7. Send password reset email.  This will allow the patron to set their Primo password.
   • General Information tab > Send Message: Reset Your Password for Identity Service Mail > Send
8. Update expiration date.
   • General Information tab > Expiration Date: set the date to 1 year from today's date
9. Save
10. If the patron doesn't have an alumni card and would like a paper library card, refer to a supervisor

Alumni are not eligible for Summit or Interlibrary Loan.  Advise them that many public libraries offer Interlibrary Loan services.

Alumni do not have off-campus access to the library's online resources such as e-books and article databases. However, many of our online resources are available to alumni if they visit the library in person. They can access these resources using one of public access computers or by connecting to the library's wifi from their personal device.