Have You Ever Had to Work with a Diva?
By Jennifer Gallagher, Circulation (Main/LAN)
Have you ever had to work with a diva? Or maybe you’ve encountered a rock legend? They have many demanding ways, expect you to adapt to suit them, and naturally they know they are something special.
Working here at the Lantana Road Branch has given me insight into what it must be like to work alongside a ‘star.’ In the last two months the staff members here have been getting to know the newest member in our workroom, affectionately named Lana. No doubts about it either, she definitely is a star. Lana is only one of a handful of sorting machines from Lyngsoe already installed at their permanent locations. Naturally, many people from around the System have stopped in to get a peek and see her in action. Visitors walk into the workroom and stop immediately in their tracks, fascinated with the mechanical diva. And don’t think that all this attention is going unnoticed by Lana herself.
Since Lana’s installation, she somehow learned how to command and make demands of staff. I blame it on all the attention she has been getting going to her head. Well … maybe her processor anyway. I suspect her highhanded ways won’t last much longer.
Her constant antics have staff running at her beck and call, trying to determine what may have upset her delicate sensibilities. Just because she is a machine doesn’t mean that she doesn’t believe she deserves a break once and a while either. When Lana wants her fifteen, she will take it and there is no stopping her.
Even with her antics, I must admit she is definitely something to behold, with her nine bins lined up along her length and the nearly constant sounds of the belts running and materials dropping into their designated bins. Patrons and staff alike are kept busy feeding materials through her scanners, attempting to sate her relentless appetite for work. Since her arrival we have been constantly attempting to test her in new ways to see how she can make our jobs faster and more efficient.
Lana assists us in the morning to process our items being sent out to other locations for holds. After we open she keeps up with the steady influx of returned items, neatly taking them off patron records and dumping them into bins to be shelved, or handled by staff in the case of unusual items she isn’t quite sure what to do with. When our route-ins arrive, we have found that she takes the laborious and time-consuming nature of processing the incoming materials to an almost light speed process in comparison. Doing route-ins by hand is quickly becoming passé.
Even the public is thrilled to have Lana here to serve them. Patrons are very enthusiastic about her wonderful customer service in giving them a receipt for their returned items; giving them peace of mind. Other patrons are equally thrilled to discover that returning their materials through the Library Mate means their items come off their records almost instantly. This means less waiting for them to check out another stack of DVDs or other materials.
Lana and the LAN staff are still adjusting to each other and finding new ways to work together in order to provide a better overall experience for the public. If you haven’t yet met Lana or one of her siblings, Wally (WEL) and Tex (HRR), I can assure you that one of their relatives will soon be gracing your branch and bringing the delight of working with a sorter to you.
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