Jan’s role is one of coordination, and during the pandemic he’s been a key component of keeping our main reference point, chat, running smoothly. Jan is responsible for coordinating staff availabilities into a schedule that ensures full chat coverage over 78 hours a week. Jan is also one of the Library’s experts on LibAnswers[1]. Jan’s knowledge of the LibAnswers platform enables him to provide new staff with chat training as well as provide support for staff who have questions about using the platform for entering statistics, using the dashboard and setting/creating accounts. Jan also participates in user experience testing as part of a team that conducts usability testing with volunteers from across the campus community to help improve the library’s various websites and online services.
Jan most enjoys the feeling of a job well done that he gets when seeing positive comments come in from users about their experience with chat. He also finds joy in the collaborative nature of chat as a project that requires folks to work together towards a common goal. When speaking to Jan it was clear that he takes great pride in the work all the members of the chat team do, so it makes sense that he also enjoys the training piece of his role.
The most complex piece of Jan’s of role is managing the scheduling aspects of chat, which is still very much a work in progress. To get a sense of the scale of managing all this – there are now fifty people on the chat email alias. This explains why Jan’s busy season is before the start of each term, when he is creating the new schedule, training new staff, and sending out service updates (updating the hours for the service both internally/externally). This was especially complicated as all reference shifted online last year – new staff needed to be trained for chat and their availabilities taken into consideration as hours were expanded.
In order to keep things running smoothly Jan works with folks across library departments, including Circulation, Information Services and Resources, and Cataloguing. Jan keeps in touch with some of these folks through the Information Services Operational Oversight Team (ISOOT), which consists of Sarah Martin (Manager, Lending Services), Tom Harding (Liaison Librarian) and Liz Wehner (Library Associate, Cataloguing). He touches base with the supervisors and department heads across the Library on a regular basis to ensure that staffing needs for chat are met. Jan has also worked with staff in Digital Initiatives to provide feedback and help with technical changes to the LibAnswers platform.
Jan is currently working on:
Consultation around improvement of virtual reference service. He wants to know what’s working and what’s not about all aspects of chat – from scheduling to technical issues with LibAnswers.
How you can help Jan out
Send your feedback about chat his way! Jan wants to know what your experience has been with chat, whether that be about the training, the platform, the scheduling, or just ideas about the service in general.
Something fun about Jan
Jan enjoys reading in foreign languages. He’s been tackling reading Papillon by Henri Charrière in different languages. So far he’s read it in its original French and is currently tackling the Russian edition. In between readings of Papillon, Jan can be found tending to the hot peppers he’s growing; a mix of habanero and scotch bonnet peppers this year.
[1] The software for chat, LibGuides, and where all the Report a Problem reports go, among other things.
