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From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum on behalf of Skwor, Jeanette
Sent: Fri 7/25/2008 1:24 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] looking for student job suggestions

Hmmm, I've not ever gotten a complaint from a student about doing this.  I do have them also actually bring up an article or two, so maybe they're bringing up something interesting and reading it :-)  OTOH, another regular task is to search my problem issue list titles on other library websites, to see if they're out there before I claim them, so maybe looking at e-access is fun in comparison . . .

I do, though, tend to break long tasks up into hour-or-so segments.  I think, no matter what it is, concentration tends to flag after much longer than that.

The other thing I do is talk to my students - a lot.  I ask each of them what their favorite and least favorite tasks are, and keep that in mind when assigning jobs.  In this case, I would definitely try to give the student who likes the job the lion's share of it.  I might also ask them for suggestions as to how to make it more interesting, or other thoughts they have.   Students - especially library student workers (although I may be just a tad prejudiced) - often come up with intelligent and innovative insights that save my poor overworked brain cells for things like those publication schedules publishers put out, fictional or non.

Jeanette L. Skwor
Cofrin Library, Serials Dept.
UW-Green Bay
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Ken Siegert
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 11:37 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] looking for student job suggestions

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share how they handle
online access verification as a student job.

For the last several years, the number of our online access titles
has grown significantly (currently at 2500+).  Typically, I have my
student workers look-up each title (listed on a spreadsheet) and
verify that 1) the URL works, 2) our holdings statement matches our
access and 3) they indicate on the spreadsheet if anything needs to
be updated/changed.

Obviously, this student job is not exciting, and it takes a student
who enjoys monotonous work.  I try not to have a student work on this
for more than an hour at a time.  I have only had one student worker
actually say that she enjoyed the job.

Here are some questions that I have --

Do you hire one or two student workers to exclusively work on this
task?  Or do you "share the wealth" with all of your student
workers?  Would anyone have a job description that they'd be willing
to share?  I have attempted to write a job description for this task,
but it typically doesn't get much interest.

Thanks for your help,

Ken

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Ken Siegert
Acquisitions Assistant
Electronic Resources & Periodicals / U.S. Documents
Shadek-Fackenthal Library
Franklin & Marshall College
P.O. Box 3003
Lancaster, PA  17604-3003

Phone -     (717) 291-4219
Fax -     (717) 291-4160