Student Employment Archives

2008 March
2008 February
2007 December
2007 November
2007 October
2007 September
2007 May
2007 April
2007 March
2007 February
2007 January
2006 December
2006 November
2006 October
2006 September

2008 March

Spring Break at the Library

Spring Break begins in the library at 4:30pm on Friday, March 9th when the library will be closing. Students are expected to work scheduled shifts up until the library closes and resume work Monday, March 24 at 8:00am. The library will have limited hours over break: 10:00am-4:30pm on Monday through Thursday, reopening at 6:00pm Sunday, March 23. No employee is required or expected to work during break. But...if you are going to be around and you are interested in picking up some hours during the week, talk to your supervisor - depending on your department's needs, it's a great chance to make up hours if you are behind in earning your award!

Library Employees Honored

Congratulations to Library Student Employees who are on the Fall 2007 Dean’s List!

2008 February

Change in Hours Posting for the Spring

Please note that there has been a change in the way hours are being posted. Hours awarded, remaining, and total worked now indicate the amounts for the entire year, rather than merely the hours per a semester. J-term hours are also included in these figures.

2007 December

Help Us Build Our Library Collection

We invite student employees to take an active roll in making recommendations for titles to add to our collection.  If you would like to recommend that we purchase a book or a DVD for the library, you can either send an email to Angi Faiks (faiks@mac) or use the online "Suggest a Resource" form (http://www.macalester.edu/library/forms/suggest.html). 
Thank you for helping us develop a collection that meets this needs of our community!

Study Away Images Project - Get Involved!

Are you or a friend taking part in a study away experience this spring?  If so, we encourage you to be a contributor to the very first Macalester Study Away Digital Images Project.  Study away students will be invited to submit images and related descriptions that capture meaningful cultural reflections of their study-away experiences.  The images will be imported into the Macalester Digital Images repository for the our community and world to view and use, primarily for teaching and learning. Details about the project and specific instructions will be sent to you in January.  We especially encourage library student employees to get involved!  Happy travels.

Holiday Open House

Come celebrate the Holidays and your hard work this semester at the Library Student Employment Appreciation Potluck! You just bring yourself -- library staff members will bring the treats, plates, utensils, & music. Come enjoy delicious holiday goodies, warm up with hot apple cider, and take a break from work. 

Drop by any time Thursday and Friday December 13-14 in the Staff Room, Number 212.

Be sure to check out the game on the staff room bulletin board. All who play will be entered in a prize drawing. Prizes include an iTunes card, movie passes, and a Thomas Kinkade gift basket. Check the website news page early next week for winners.

Open House Prizes and Answers

Twenty-one student employees entered our game and drawing at last week’s student employee open house in the staff room. Only two students - Aleksander Azarnov and Rado Penchev - were able to identify all fourteen languages represented. Both win a library tote bag. The winners of our random drawing for prizes are:

Jake Disch - $25 iTunes card
Sara Gottlieb – Thomas Kinkade gift basket
Zena Hardt – 4 passes to Mann movie theatres

Regardless of the language, our thanks for your hard work during fall semester are very sincere. You make excellent service to our users possible. See the correct answers here.

Interested in seeing who else was at the Open House? Click Here to see pictures of you and your friends!

2007 November

Don't Overwork

In these last few weeks of the semester, be sure you are watching your hours so as not to run over your semester award.  Keep in mind that library student employees are expected to work through finals.  This is a busy time for everyone and the library depends on you to help keep us up and running during finals week.  Check what percentage of the semester you have completed on the Tracking Hours Worked page.

Working J-Term

The deadline for hiring students who are interested in working over J-term is November 30th. Employment over J-term is limited. If you are still considering working but have not confirmed with your supervisor, make contact as soon as possible.

No-Need Students Working Next Spring

Students working without a work study award should contact Student Employment. You may have paper work that you need to fill out to keep your job next spring.

Help for Computer Freeze printing problem

Many lab users are becoming frustrated when their computer freezes up when they try to save a document. They then can't seem to get the computer to respond at all and reboot the computer, usually losing all of their work! The most likely culprit in these situations is that they are trying to save to a USB flash drive. If they pull out the USB drive the computer should again respond and they can salvage their work without losing it.

The problem in these situations is typically that the USB flash drive is trying to use a network drive letter (usually F, etc) that is already in use by the Macalester campus network causing the conflict which freezes up the computer. Pulling out the USB drive eliminates the conflict and unfreezes the computer.

Before the student uses the USB jump drive again to save a document, they should reassign the drive letter associated with their jump drive. The directions for doing this

1) When jump drive is plugged into computer's USB port, right click on MY COMPUTER and and select MANAGE.
2) Click on DISK MANAGEMENT and select the USB jump drive. Right click and select "Change Drive letter and paths"
3) Select the current letter and click the CHANGE button. Select the new drive letter from the drop down (B, E, and X are recommended since they are not used on the Macalester network.

These directions can also be found on the library lab's HOW DO I...webpage.

Spring Registration

Spring 2008 Registration is coming up beginning Monday November 11. If your registration time slot is during your work period, make arrangements with your supervisor so that you don't miss out on your first available time to register - classes fill up quickly! After you register, let your supervisor know your tentative schedule for Spring Term as soon as possible.

2007 October

Halloween Treats

All student employees will be receiving Halloween goody bags during the week of October 29-November 2. These will be handed out by supervisors and come to you courtesy of the library staff, thanking you for your good work this semester.

Report Timeclock Errors Right Away!

Forget to punch out for a shift or have some other issue with the timeclock? Now that the College has moved to bi-weekly payroll for student employees, it's important that all student employees talk with a supervisor right away and have these timeclock issues corrected in a timely fashion. Issues that remain uncorrected when the bi-weekly payroll report is run and sent to the payroll office could result in a student not being paid for some hours until the next pay period or until the issue has been corrected. Talk to your supervisor if you have questions about how and where to report time clock errors.

Daylight Savings

Daylight savings occurs at 2:00am, Sunday November, 4. Time will “fall back” one hour. Remember to change your clocks, and don’t be late to work for Sunday shifts.

Volunteers Being Sought

We are looking for students (as well as staff and faculty) who would be willing to help us test and evaluate the finalists among the 'products' being considered to replace OCS as the email solution for the Macalester community. The first of two meetings has already taken place, but if you are interestered, contact Ron Joslin in the LL Lab - there's a few free meals involved! Also there will be 3 brown bag sessions, open to the public throughout October and November to discuss our email options

2007 September

Fall Break

All library employees are expected to work scheduled shifts until Fall Break starts at 4:30pm on Wednesday, October 24th. Employees are expected to begin working scheduled shifts again on Monday morning, October 29th at 8:00am. No employee is required or expected to work during break. But, if you are going to be around over break and are interested in picking up some hours during the week, talk to your supervisor - depending on your department's needs, it's a great chance to make up hours if you are behind in earning your award!

Adding Library Printers to Personal Laptops

Help people set up their laptop to print to the printers in the library! The steps for helping users set up library printers (BEN/JERRY on main level or BOB/JAY on lower level) to their personal laptop (or desktop computer) is pretty straightforward and can be found on the HOW DO I... webpage.

Family Fest is coming up -- Plan ahead!

Family Fest weekend is coming up October 5th through 7th. If you have family and friends who will be on campus or just wish to participate in some of the activities, please talk with your supervisor as soon as possble if you need to alter your schedule! Remember, if you don't make arrangements for shift coverage ahead of time, you will be expected to work as scheduled.

TimeClock Access in the Library

First-year student employees will use the last 4 digits of their ID numbers to clock in and out
when reporting to work in Fall. The new ID number generated by Banner is 9 digits long involving many 0's, therefore, we'd like to make it easy for our student employees by using just the last 4 digits on TimeClock Plus.

This change doesn't affect returning student employees. They will still have to enter the full 6 digit ID numbers to clock in and out as they have done in the past.

A reminder of this procedural change will be posted by the timeclock. Contact Suphachai Laptavijok with any questions.

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2007 May

Ashley Lambert wins Library Award

Graduating senior Ashley Lambert, circulation manager, has been awarded Macalester's first annual Jean K. Archibald Award for Library Service.

Established in 2006 with an endowment from Jean K. Archibald, former library director from 1978 to 1985, and supplemented with donations from friends, this annual award recognizes a graduating student employee of the library who has consistently provided excellent service to library patrons. The award includes a cash prize. Ashley will also have her name inscribed on a plaque located near the entrance to the library's rare books room.

After graduation, Ashley plans to spend a year working for the Minnesota Reading Corps and will then pursue studies toward a career as a children's librarian.

Other Archibald Award nominees recognized at the library's senior awards dinner for their exceptional service include Todd Baker, Devin Foster, Emily Hedin, and Elizabeth Ho.

View pictures from the Senior Dinner and Book Project Breakfast here.

Senior Book Project

Each year, the library hosts an exhibit for senior student library employees, in recognition of their many hours of service to our patrons. Graduating seniors have been invited to select a book from the library collection. Each book will receive a special bookplate with the student’s name in recognition of service given to the library. The display includes the book, the student’s picture, and a brief statement about the book and/or the student’s library work experience. The exhibit is on display in the library, and an online version is also available for viewing.

2007 April

Employees Featured in Macalester Today

Jimmy Longun, a Library circulation employee, is featured on the cover of this spring’s Macalester Today. His cover story shares his journey and experiences from Sudan to Macalester.

The spring issue also features a story on Emily Hedin, a Library reference employee. Emily was awarded a Phillips Scholarship for a community project which reaches out to and serves African-born Minnesotans with HIV/AIDS.

To read more on these stories, check at the circulation desk for copies of the Spring 2007 edition of Macalester Today.

Food Privileges and Spills

We have two hard-working custodians in the library--Kathy and Denise. When asked about the impact they've seen on the library from the new food and drink policy, they said that the biggest problem has been an increase in unreported spills.

All library employees are responsible for keeping an eye out for spills in all areas of the library, especially on the lower level and in the lab. Public Service Desk employees are also responsible for doing initial clean-up (spill kits with cleaner and paper towels are availabile at all service desks), and reporting spills to a supervisor so that Kathy and Denise can follow up with more intense clean-up.

Please help us keep the privilege of having food and drink in the library!

Student Appreciation Week Potluck and Reception

The library will host its traditional Student Appreciation Potluck from noon to 1p.m. on Thursday, April 12th, in the Harmon Room. Come for great hot and cold food and treats, courtesy of your supervisors and other library staff. Spring Training prizes will be awarded at the potluck.

As part of National Student Employee Week, Macalester will be having a reception for all student workers and their supervisors on Tuesday, April 10 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the Atrium of the Campus Center. Come when you can, leave when you must.
A short program recognizing those students nominated for Macalester's Student Employee of the Year, and announcing our campus winner, will take place at 12:00 PM, so please try to be there for that, if at all possible. This will be followed by a raffle drawing for various prizes donated by campus offices and departments. All current student employees will automatically be entered in the drawing, and need not be present to win.

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2007 March

Expectations for Spring Break

All library employees are expected to work scheduled shifts until Spring Break starts at 4:30pm on Friday, March 9th. Employees are expected to begin working scheduled shifts again on Monday morning, March 19th at 8:00am. No employee is required or expected to work during break. But...if you are going to be around over break and are interested in picking up some hours during the week, talk to your supervisor - depending on your department's needs, it's a great chance to make up hours if you are behind in earning your award!

2007 February

Job-X Software

Job-X is a new software for posting jobs, searching for job openings and applying online that will be used campus-wide. Student employment job posting procedures will change on the student employment website. You will receive through your SPO a flyer, as well as an email informing you about the changes. New 2007-08 contracts will be sent out to you through your SPO. They will appear entirely different from previous contracts. Instead of giving them to your supervisor, you only need to sign the front and back and return them to Student Employment.

When your paperwork is in, you must apply online using JobX to retain your job at the library for next year. Your supervisor must then hire you using JobX.

Students are strongly encouraged to attend a training session. These will be held in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall, in the Campus Center at 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM on Thursday, February 15 and at 10:30 AM on Friday, February 16. If a training session falls during your work schedule, you may go “on the clock.” If you attend a session on your own time, be sure to sign Student Employment's attendance sheet at the session. We will use that list to credit an hour of work time to library attendees.

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2007 January

Student Payroll changes

Beginning this semester, student payroll has moved into the Banner system, a campus-wide system for accounting. You will no longer be receiving notifications in your SPO for the direct deposit of your paycheck. Instead, you will get an email with an attachment to a secure pdf file which will require your social security number to sign into. However, you may still track your hours via the Library Student Employment Website, which will remain exactly the same.

New food and drink policy

The food and drink policy for patrons at the Library has changed. Eating and drinking RESPONSIBLY is now allowed all over the Library, except on the 4th floor. The 4th floor is to remain a quiet study area and no food or drink is allowed there. In addition, recycling containers have been added to all floors and garbage cans have been placed in locations next to the main entrances of each floor.

Policies for Library employees during their shifts are still being discussed. Check with your supervisor for current policy, and watch the News & Updates for more information.

New Face

Leah Norris, a Mac alum and former employee at the University of St. Thomas, joined our staff this January. She is a Library Specialist for Acquisitions and, specifically, a book and media buyer. If you see her around, say “Hello” and introduce yourself!

2006 December

J-Term Forms

January workers, if you do not bring your work contract to your supervisor before leaving campus, you may not work J-Term. Thanks to everyone who has already completed your forms.

Attendance

With final exams and Holiday events, the end of the semester can be a very busy time. The library heavily depends on your work during this time of year as well. You are still expected to report to work during your regularly scheduled time, unless prior changes have been made with your supervisor. If you must miss a shift due to finals schedules, remember to talk to your supervisor before hand, and make adjustments to your schedule accordingly. To read the attendance policy, click here.

Don't overwork

Keep track of your hours in these last two weeks! As the end of the semester comes to a close, keep in mind that the Library depends on you to work up through your last days on campus. Please be sure that you do not use up all of your hours before the end of the semester. Check your remaining hours on the hours tracking page.

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2006 November

Paperwork for spring semester

For “no need” student employees and any student employees who may need money released from another department in order to work spring semester: please start taking care of necessary paperwork that needs to be finished before you leave campus at the end of the semester so that you can work here in the spring.

Holiday Celebrations

It is Library policy that if students wish to celebrate religious holidays which conflict with work, you ARE able to take time off to celebrate. This kind of absence is excused, but remember to let your supervisor know ahead of time, and make necessary arrangements, such as getting your shift covered.

J-Term Position Available

Looking for part time work in January? Interested in Macalester history?
Hiring 1 student to work ~40 hours over January, to interview retired faculty for a pilot oral history project. Must have excellent verbal communication, listening, and interpersonal skills, and be detail-oriented, impartial, and able to spontaneously develop and ask appropriate follow-up questions. Contact Ellen, Archives, x6901, holtwerle@mac.

2006 October

We're all in this Together - help us make the library safe and secure!

You may have heard that the library recently lost some laptop computers to theft and, as a result, the library's student laptop checkout program has been suspended. This unfortunate incident should remind everyone that student employees (along with regular library staff) need to report anything suspicious or unusual. Also, take a minute to refresh yourself on library security policies. Let's all work together to keep the library as safe and secure as it can be!

Agreements and checklists due

Students please remember to complete and sign your Student Employment Agreement and the Departmental Training Checklist. Supervisors please sign these and return them to the office. We are aiming for 100% completion this year!

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2006 September

Report Timeclock Errors Right Away!

Forget to punch out for a shift or have some other issue with the timeclock? Now that the College has moved to bi-weekly payroll for student employees, it's important that all student employees talk with a supervisor right away and have these timeclock issues corrected in a timely fashion. Issues that remain uncorrected when the bi-weekly payroll report is run and sent to the payroll office could result in a student not being paid for some hours until the next pay period or until the issue has been corrected. Talk to your supervisor if you have questions about how and where to report time clock errors.

Ellie Rogers Featured in Conservation Magazine

The library's own Ellie Rogers, a circulation manager this academic year, is featured in the September-October 2006 issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. Ellie interned with the Department of Natural Resources last summer and has been active in Macalester College conservation efforts as a member of MacCARES. Ellie is quoted in the article The Elephant in the Woods in the This Issue section, and her field notes appear as side bars in the paper version of the magazine, available in the library's staff room.

Check out some great Ellie quotes, field notes, and more at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/index.html.

New Student Employee Orientation Feedback Requested

About 30 'new' student employees gathered in the library's Harmon Room on September 7th for the annual welcome and orientation for all new student employees. The event included staff introductions, small group tours of the library's main work areas, a brief overview of information and resources that will help student employees be successful library employees.

As the library's student employment group evaluates this event, we welcome your comments and suggestions on how to improve this event and make it even more successful next year.
Send us your comments

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