Wilson Dental Library Student Worker Training Guide

InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is used to send requested materials (like article scans or physical library items to be loaned out) to any USC patron (usually only current USC students, staff and faculty) along with outside libraries/institutions.

If an Ostrow patron cannot find specific materials via our physical or electronic collections, you should direct them to submit a request through USC Libraries IDD (Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery) Services to see if our IDD staff is able to locate the item via another library. 

The senior library staff may require help in pulling items from our physical library collections, making photocopies of articles, or scanning articles to be processed.

Refer patrons to Ask-a-Librarian for research-related questions when neither the Information Services Library nor Library Head are available. Here patrons can email questions or schedule an appointment with our librarian.

Patrons can view Reference Office hours here.

Always begin and end your shift with clocking in/out of Workday. Then follow through with the below task list in order:

1. Shelve all library items on the shelving cart ONLY AFTER scanning them in to ensure they have been properly removed from the patrons record and scanning through the book for
   1. Pen/Pencil Marks
   2. Highlighting
   3. Torn Pages
   4. Loose Binding
   5. Leftover Bookmarks
2. Walk through the library every half hour, including the book room and journal room, to retrieve any journals, books or other materials left unattended and arrange chairs properly. Remind patrons of food and noise policy as necessary. Write down how many people are in the library on the stats sheet at the circulation desk.
3. Check Group Study Rooms AFTER each use to ensure lights are off, chairs are arranged properly, computer and television screen are turned off, white board is clean and door is securely locked.
4. Ask the Staff member on desk duty if there are additional tasks which need to be addressed.

Opening Shift Student, please remember:

• To check the outside drop box for returned items and lock it (check in these items using "book drop" under "check in" mode on Horizon).
• Check the WDL staff printer (in the staff office) to see if it needs a paper refill.

Closing Shift Student, please remember:

• After 5pm, pull all Reserves Holds that have not been claimed and re-shelve.
• 15 minutes prior to closing, inform all patrons that library is closing soon.
• 5 minutes prior to closing, push in all chairs, turn off all lights, open study room doors, close Book Room and Bound Journal Room doors, etc. 
• Be sure to fill in the last headcount at the circulation desk stats sheet and input the day's P-Count (patron count) number into LibInsight.
• At closing, post the "CLOSED" sign on the main entrance door.

Alma is the current Integrated Library System (ILS) that the Wilson Dental Library uses to manage our materials.

Student Library Assistants should be familiar with the following Alma functions:

• Checking out materials
• Checking in materials
• How to handle blocks and messages
• How to look up a patron record
• How to look up an item via title, barcode, call number, etc.

Primo is the patron-facing side of Alma. Here borrowers can search materials via title, author, call numbers, etc.

It is important to be familiar with searching on both Alma and Primo.

This manual is designed to serve as an introduction to Alma and how to handle Fulfillment-related functions (checking in/out items, looking up patrons, etc.)