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Social Sciences Reference Desk: Old Announcements

This guide is for the use of Students working at the Social Sciences Help Desk. Use this guide to get updates on upcoming projects, check for daily announcements, request time off and find answers to FAQ's about the help desk.

Old Announcements

  • 9/1/21
    • A few things to note:
      • LABOR DAY- Our desk is open from 10-6 and we need at least single coverage at the desk for those hours. PLEASE SIGN UP
      • There was a mistake on the schedule where the Saturday shifts were slightly off on the time. It has now been fixed but make sure you have the correct hours in your personal calendars (Saturday Shifts should be either 10-2 or 2-6)
      • If you have not yet picked up a Library T-shirt from the LAO please do so ASAP
      • 1st year writing groups are coming through the library. Be prepared to answer their questions about Help Desks and help them locate resources if needed. Above all else, we want these students to have a positive experience so they will come back to the Help Desks.
      • T-Shirt giveaway: the Library is hosting a T-shirt giveaway on social media. For a chance to win you just have to post a library-related picture on social media and tag @byu_hbll
  • 8/30/21
  • Happy Fall Y'all! I hope you are all excited for a new semester and to actually have patrons in the library again! Remember to sign up for Saturday shifts and be thinking ahead about any time off you might be needing this semester. As always, come to me if you have any questions or concerns.
  • 8/20/21
    • Happy last week of summer! Just a few updates for everyone:
      • You may notice that you have to log back into some accounts next time you come to work. This is because we are currently doing a clean sweep of all our saved passwords. This needs to be done periodically for security reasons. If for any reason you have trouble accessing something you need please come talk to me.
      • I will be sending out a preliminary version of the fall schedule next week. We still are in need of someone to work from 10am-11am on Mondays and Wednesdays. If you do not have a class at this time please consider covering this shift.
      • Mask Requirements: masks are now required on campus when physical distancing is not possible. We can usually maintain fairly good distance in our area but please be prepared to mask up when the situation calls for it. 
  • 8/9/21: Parties and Schedules
    • Our end of Summer Party is this Thursday in the Flex room from 10:30-12:30. Sign ups to bring something is on the workroom whiteboard. We will be watching Jurassic Park and eating food.
    • If you are working during the August break there are a few areas that still need single coverage and lots of opportunities for double coverage if you would like more hours so please look the schedule over and help out where you can!
    • Good luck on Finals!!!
  • 7/26/21: Scheduling and Parties
    • Below is a form for you all to fill out concerning the schedule for the Semester Break and for Fall. Even if you don't feel confident about your fall schedule yet please fill out the survey with as much detail as possible and we can always make changes as needed further down the road.
      • https://forms.gle/czyQ7o8abBZZmLty7
    • Also a quick note on our Party. Due to some Scheduling conflicts with our room our Party will now be from 10:30-12:30 on Thursday August 12th. Since the party starts at 10:30 I thought it might be more appropriate to do a brunch theme of food. Keep an eye on our workroom whiteboard for more information on that and sign ups for different items to bring.
  • 7/19/21
    • Pioneer Day: The Library will be closed for Pioneer day and Pioneer Day observed this upcoming Friday and Saturday (the 23rd and 24th). Enjoy the Long weekend!
    • End of Semester Party: We would like to have a party to celebrate the end of summer term. The current proposed date and time is Friday August 13th at 6pm. Please take this survey to help me plan the party:
      • https://forms.gle/Jxj8eZjqpgrNbNpU7
  • 7/6/21
    • Training: For the rest of the Summer our Training meetings will be focusing on becoming familiar with various research methods and libguides in our area. The first will be this Thursday at 11 in the workroom and after that each training will be lead by one of you. Below is a link to an excel sheet where  you can sign up for what week you want to teach as well as a list of topics to choose from. Please do not sign up for the same topic as anyone else, topics and time slots are first come, first served. Let me know if you have any questions!

  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bjZeI9I-w05N30puqJuqFqrz4gz-1G0A2zCsrPnDV8k/edit?usp=sharing

  • Saturdays: Saturday sign ups are now open for Summer term. Everyone needs to sign up for 2 Saturday shifts between now and the end of term. This includes the upcoming Saturday June 26th, please make sure this gets covered! Thank you!
  • 6/22/21
    • Scheduling: Thank everyone for keeping up with the blog posts for requesting time off and highlighting the hours on the schedule! We still have lots of extra hours up for grabs. Most hours we have at least 1 person working however, this Friday, June 25th, we still need coverage from 1-2 and from 5-6. If you can cover those (or any other open hour) just go ahead and erase the yellow highlighted name and replace it with you name highlighted gray on the schedule. 
  • 6/16/21
    • Book Finding Survey: By now you all should have taken our book finding survey and been shown how to conduct the survey for others. We're hoping to survey about 20 patrons, 10 who are familiar with the area and 10 who are not. So please feel free to invite your friends to come take the survey! If everyone finds 2-3 other people to take the survey we should be able to finish this rather quickly.
  • 6/10/21
    • Photo Opportunity: The library needs some images of employees, student and or non-student, for some projects teams are working on. If you would like to be in a picture we could use your help tomorrow, Friday, June 11, at 10:00 am. We’ll be meeting in the LAO and then moving to the reading room to take a few photos. It should take about twenty minutes.
    • Chores from May: Congratulations to Emily for completing the most chores in May! See Raechel for your prize!
  • 6/1/21: Survey for Summer Schedule'
    • You should have all received an email with a link to a survey for the summer schedule. Please fill it out as soon as you can so we can get the schedule put together for summer term. 
    • https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfstqm_04jEwHHUtdihiRg-aUxxoR_qR5UvBlAY8zh33kevMg/viewform?usp=sf_link
  • 5/17/21: Birthdays and Masks
    • I have a survey for everyone to take regarding birthdays. Use this link and answer a few questions about your birthday! This can be done on the clock. https://forms.gle/vqjjTkdYBB9c4tQS8
    • We've received new guidance on masks. Transmission rates on campus are less than .1% and BYU is easing up on mask guidelines. Effective immediately we no longer need to tell patrons to wear masks. We haven't received word on whether or not employees need to continue to wear masks so we will keep you appraised on that front. 
  • 5/11/21: 
    • Remember to check the scheduling requests page every day and comment on any new posts. Even if you cannot cover any hours you still need to comment on the post so we know who has and hasn't seen it.
    • Another Department in the Library made this video please check it out and feel free to share! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdTO0JBdoI
  • 5/4/21: STAR WARS, Saturdays, and Chores...oh my!
    • May the 4th be with you! There is a Star Wars themed activity in the workroom that you are all encouraged to participate in. Also, if you have any ideas for upcoming bracket challenges you'd like to see on our workroom whiteboard let me know!
    • Saturday Sign ups for May are now available. Everyone must sign up for 2 Saturday shifts in May.
    • Finally, the chore count for April has been finalized and it was the closest contest yet! Congratulations to Emily for doing the most chores in the month of April!! Come see Raechel for your prize!
  • 4/28/21: Workflows Fun and T-shirts
    • Did you know you can change the color of your workflows? All you have to do is open workflows, go to the Preferences tab on the top of the page, go to Desktop, then click on desktop set up. Once you're there scroll down to Themes and pick your new workflows color scheme! And the nice thing is, this will only change the workflows colors for your individual computer login so everyone could have a different colored workflows if they want! Enjoy
    • If you weren't working with us last fall and so did not get a Library T-shirts there are extras in the LAO, go pick yours up while they last!
    • 4/23
      • You should all now have access to the Religionshare folder on box. This is the folder used by the Religion and Family History desk. Since we are all in the same department we often overlap projects with the Religion desk. Once such project we currently have is a Copyright Check for Joe Everett. If you need something to do at the desk or working remotely this project is open to everyone and you can find all the information you need for it on our Ongoing Project Sheet. 
      • Please check to make sure you've been granted access to Religionshare by going to our ongoing projects sheet and following the links for the Copyright Check project. Once you have done so, please respond to the poll below by selecting your name.
  • 4/16: Access to Religionshare 
  • 4/6: March Chores, no training meeting this week and a job posting for our graduates: 
    • Just like last month, we kept track of who did the most chores. Congratulation to.....MADISON!!! Come see me to pick up your chores pin for your lanyard.
    • There will ne no training this Thursday, Happy Spring break to Brian!
    • For our upcoming graduates who may be interested in furthuring their library work, there is a job opening up at the Church History Library in Salt Lake that you can apply for here: https://careersearch.churchofjesuschrist.org/public/jobdetail.aspx?jobid=294363
  • 3/26: Happy Student Employee Appreciation week! Thank you all for all you do! If you haven't already, make sure you pick up your chocolate bar from your locker today!
  • Our University Librarian Rick Anderson also expresses his thanks for all your wonderful work and has asked us to pass along this message:

One of my favorite things about the BYU Library is the fact that we employ so many students—not only is it good for them; it’s amazing for us. I know at least some of you have heard me tell this story more than once, but I’m going to tell it again: when I was part of a research library leadership development program about ten years ago, I got to travel around the country and visit seven or eight other institutions and see how their libraries worked. After our visits to most of these places, all of us in the cohort would talk about the wonderful facilities we’d seen, and the great library and campus leaders we’d talked with, and the forward-thinking programming we’d been exposed to. But after we visited BYU, all my colleagues could talk about was the student employees in the library—how impressive they were, how much responsibility they’d been given, how happy and engaged they seemed. They kept saying how much they wished they had student employees like BYU’s at their own institutions. It made me so proud to be a BYU alum (even though I wasn’t a BYU employee at the time). Anyway, I still feel the same way. 

  • 3/23-  Business questions: Just a reminder, when you get business questions (either in person, email or chat) that you are unable to answer and need to forward on to a Librarian, do NOT send them to Andy Spackman. Instead, send them as follows:
    • Things related to business and the consumer research side of advertising/PR can go to Lety or Brian W
    • Things from advertising/PR that are more related to rhetoric, criticism, or media portrayal etc. can go to Elizabeth Smart (elizabeth_smart@byu.edu)
    • Economics can so to Lety, Brian W or even Brian C
    • When in doubt come see Raechel or Brian W and we will help!

  • 3/17: A message from HR

    • "Last week our office sent out an email to all student employees asking them to complete our annual student employee survey. This survey provides valuable feedback for administration as we continually try to improve the student employee experience here at the library. It also helps you as the supervisor receive some helpful feedback. If any students have not yet completed this survey, please do so by this Friday, March 19th.  If the student did not receive an email with the survey, please email library_hr@byu.edu as soon as possible, and we will send that out. All students who complete the survey will be  entered into an anonymous drawing for a $25 Visa gift card. The survey should take a maximum of 5-10 minutes to complete.

  • Promotional Masks for Choose 2 Give campaign

    The Library has agreed to help support the Student Choose 2 Give campaign by offering free C2G masks to student employees who are in public-facing positions. (Attached is an image of the mask). C2G is an annual campus-wide student-run and student-funded campaign which helps raise money to provide scholarships for students. One hundred percent of the money raised benefits BYU students.

    •  If you would like to participate you would agree to wear the mask during your work shifts in the week of March 22-26. Participation is entirely optional; there is no pressure to sign up for this mask. And you do NOT need to say anything to patrons about the C2G campaign. I believe we’ll get some info aboutC2G in case patrons ask to know more. But again, no obligation to be a “sales force

    • If you would be willing to wear the C2G mask during your work shifts next week, please let me know by Thursday evening, March 18th. Masks will be delivered to our department on Friday

  • 3/15- As many of you know, one of our Business Librarians, Andy Spackman, has accepted a new position in the Library as AUL over collection Services. While the library look for his replacement there may be significant need to assist our remaining Business Librarian, Lety Camacho. AS such, the following changes are in place for the time being:
  • All of Andy's Library Guides contact info will be changed to direct patrons to the help desk. As such we will likely be getting an increase in emails regarding business topics. Please be sure you are regularly checking our gmail during your shift. Answer any simple questions you can but if you get something you or your coworker cannot answer go ahead and forward it to the appropriate Librarian:
    • Things related to business and the consumer research side of advertising/PR can go to Lety or Brian W
    • Things from advertising/PR that are more related to rhetoric, criticism, or media portrayal etc. can go to Elizabeth Smart
    • Economics can so to Lety, Brian W or even Brian C.
  • Lety will also be needing some personal assistance with her Library instruction and fielding business questions. If you have any interest in learning more about business or Library Instructions please reach out to me or Lety and we can give you some projects to work on
  • 3/10- Spring Scheduling: Fill out the following form if you plan to work during Spring term: https://forms.gle/Mim1u9ymjTd9hd6h7 Graduates, please remember that you are allowed to continue working up to two weeks after graduation. Please let Raechel or Brian know what your last day will be.
  • 3/5- So far only 4 of you have completed the training practicum for our last training. Please remember to do so before our next training meeting.
  • FAQ's- please email Raechel any suggestions you have for the FAQ section of this LibGuide (raechel_hornfischer@byu.edu)
  • Congratulations to Taylor for completing the most amount of chores during the month of February! You will receive a special pin for your lanyard as a reward! We will keep track of chores during March as well so make sure you mark off when you do chores for a chance to win a special prize!
  • 2/26 There has been some complaints recently about the volume of our desk students. Please remember to speak softly when you are at the desk. Thank you!
  • 2/25 Welcome to our New Reference Guide for the Social Sciences Help Desk. This guide will be your go to place for announcements, general desk info and FAQ's. Please make sure to check in at the beginning of each shift to see if there are any new announcements or time of requests. When there are new announcements everyone is required to read them and then respond to the attached poll by selecting your name and submitting. This way we know who has seen new information and who has not. Use this announcement as a practice and please respond to the poll below