Scheduling

Statewide Schedule

The statewide schedule can be found at: http://askusnow.info/staff/schedule If a partner library is no longer able to cover one of their regularly scheduled shifts they will communicate this to the Operations Assistant as soon as possible.

Monitoring Shifts

Project liaisons are responsible for scheduling their staff. Libraries are responsible for logging on and taking calls during their scheduled shifts. Librarians should be ready to accept chats at the moment their shift starts and should remain monitoring until the end of their shift. Librarians monitoring shifts whose endpoint coincides with their library's closing time may end the shift at 10 minutes before the hour, if not engaged in a chat.

The statewide schedule indicates when a session is global or Maryland Academic Queue only. All other sessions are Local Maryland service hours.

Librarians providing Local Maryland service should select:

  • Primary Queue (automatically selected)
  • BME Queues

Librarians providing Global service to the cooperative should select:

  • Primary Queue (automatically selected)
  • BME Queues
  • 24/7 Reference Cooperative

Librarians providing Academic Only service should select

  • Primary Queue (automatically selected)

Note: Librarians may choose to also select the BME Queues

Frequency

For staff to maintain skills, a minimum of one hour of service every two weeks is recommended. If staff have not provided service for at least 6 months, the project liaison is responsible for ensuring that staff is prepared to resume service. The Statewide Coordinator should be contacted if training is needed.

Replacements

If a librarian is unable to cover the service during the scheduled time, the Project Liaison from that library should assign another staff member from within that library's staff. If the Project Liaison is unable to find a replacement, they should email the listserv: mdaskusnow@askusnow.info to see if another librarian can cover the shift. Include the day, date, and time, and whether it is for a global hour, academic only, spanish, etc. The person asking for coverage on the list is then responsible for updating the Substitution Calendar.

Liaisons whose library can cover a replacement shift will respond to the listserv and update the substitution calendar.

Contact AskUsNow! admin for the password to the calendar account. See the instructions page for help with adding or editing events on the substitution calendar.

Missed hours

If a local library is unable to cover the standard schedule due to a local emergency, the local Project Liaison will notify the Operations Assistant as soon as possible. If no one can cover and it is a global hour, the scheduled library will provide an equivalent global hour (usually within a week). QuestionPoint Public or Academic Coverage Needed wikis can help determine the best date/time for makeup global hours.

Holidays

Dates that no substitute coverage is needed by Maryland AskUsNow! libraries can be found at: http://askusnow.info/staff/holidays