A desk by any other name...

Just a random though.... a desk shift has always been a desk shift, which is a desk shift of course, but in reality what we are doing for those scheduled desk shifts is customer service. So, it might be a good time to start thinking of desk shifts as customer service shifts. 


Okay, it's purely semantics but it highlights what our focus is when we're working these shifts...important stuff like the million ways we assist customers directly via a range of mediums, but also how we assist them indirectly by working on library presentation, collection management, 1LMS operations, developing our reader's advisory skills, service promotion, list checking for database integrity, and so so so many other things we do that make our libraries look as best they can and offer the best services we can... and thereby provide the foundation for great customer service in terms of processes, systems, data access, collections, staff development, shared goals, service improvements and more! Wow, we sure do a lot...

And most of all - in our post-RFID implementation world we won't have a desk per se, and a 'pod' shift doesn't have quite the same ring (invasion of the body snatchers, anyone?). We will still be doing shifts and helping customers just as much (and maybe more!) than we always have so bring on the customer service shifts I say!