Working at the library: basic information

The purpose of this course is to train part-time students assigned to the Architecture library in certain aspects of the work carried out by library staff, so that they can perform at their best the 150 hours of collaboration required of them.

Some of this knowledge will also be useful to employ the research tools and services provided by the libraries of the University of Florence, and, in a broader perspective, the academic libraries that you will frequent elsewhere for study purposes more consciously and effectively.

Working with library staff will also allow you to interact with other students from a different perspective, namely that of someone who has to respond to the needs of users.

Finally, you should engage in this experience to broaden your knowledge of the workforce, if only to learn a different way of organizing your time according to the rhythms imposed by your studies and to deal with the opportunities and problems of working with other colleagues (both librarians and other part-time students).

You will also be able to apply the skills you have acquired during your studies to the production of flyers and signage, thereby contributing significantly to the work of the staff.

By the end of this course, you will have learned:

• How to orient yourselves among the book shelves and main resources of the Architecture library (both in print and electronic formats), knowing their use and organization in the physical spaces of the library.
• The workflow of the main activities dedicated to part-time students
• How to show users the main search features in OneSearch, that allows access to online resources, the availability of print resources and the use of a personal account for managing renewals and requests.
• How to promote University Library System services,  from assistance to bibliographic research, to purchase proposals and from interlibrary loan to articles digitization.

In this course, you will learn some basic concepts for working in a library:

1. The organization and administrative management of the collaboration;
2. Useful information to understand the organization of the library and its activities;
3. The use of OneSearch and other users' services.

You will need to read all the material and watch all the videos. Only after completing all the required activities will you be able to take the final test and provide feedback as part of the end-of-course activities.