Throughout this blog post, you will see that Access Services and Public Services are used interchangeably, since for all intents and purposes they mean the same thing and perform the same functions.

This past November, I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for a two day Access Services in Libraries Conference, held at the Global Learning Center in Atlanta, Georgia. I cannot tell you what it meant to me, as a dedicated Public Services Staff to attend a conference that was uniquely designed for the role of my job. I knew that potentially, I would learn a lot. However, the reality was even better than I ever imagined.

The first night I attended a reception that was held on the 7th floor of the Crosland Tower, which is part of the library at the Georgia Tech Library. As people began showing up, we all congregated on one of the two outdoor patios on either side of the reception room. From the 7th floor we could view the beautiful nightscape of Atlanta with its ginormous buildings that included the red Coca-Cola sign and the famous sky-wheel.

After check-in, where we received our swag and badges, we made our way to the reception room, where we were served a variety of upscale (and delicious) appetizers, desserts and drinks. During this time of ‘meet and greet’ I met many of the individuals that I would be spending the next two days with, people from all over the country- from as far away as California and Hawaii to as close to home as right here in North Carolina. Represented were all sizes and levels of academic libraries, from very small intimate campuses to large (72,000 students) universities, to community colleges and graduate school libraries.

After the reception, as I headed back to my car, I paused at Harrison Square, which I learned is the site of an ironic dual role for the school; first, in 1864, it was the site of a series of forts conducting siege operations for the South against the North during the Civil War; then in 1961, it was the first college in the deep south to desegregate.

On the first day of the conference, Lauren Pressley gave a keynote address titled, “The Foundational Leadership of Access Services.” Dean Pressley touched on many thoughts and ideas that resonate with me, and that I myself believe are paramount to the work of the ZSR Library Public Service Department. She spoke on:

• Hope during these days of ambiguity- politically, socially, and technologically
• The connective work of libraries in an age of AI
• The foundational leadership of access services

Dean Pressley also spoke about “the power of first contact”

• We are the “first handshake of the institution”
• When our welcome is consistent
  • It creates conditions for belonging and inclusion
  • Builds a foundation of trust for the community
  • Teaches students to engage in the world through at desk conversations
• Presence (leadership through care)
  • Greeting and guiding
  • Reassuring with emotional intelligence and grace.
  • Staff “Create the emotional architecture of belonging moment by moment, person by person.”
• Partnership
  • Makes others’ work possible
  • Build bridges that make research, teaching, and belonging possible.

Dean Pressley’s most memorable quotes for me are:

• “Strategic stewardship builds trust, resilience, and the institutional scaffolding that makes everything possible.”
• “Leadership is not a position. It’s a practice. It’s a way of showing up in the world.”

Thank you, Dean Pressley for “showing up” and shining a light on all that we do in Public Services.

Over the course of the two days at this event, their were a total of twenty-four sessions offered, with each day ending with an hour of lightning talks. Needless to say, the two days were jammed pack. As much as I desired to, I could not attend all twenty-four sessions. Below is a synopsis of three (out of six sessions and two lightning talks) that I attended.

Elevating the Experience: Blending Traditional and Modern Customer Service Strategies for Library Employees

• Quality is remembered long after “price” is forgotten (we are not a for profit industry, but the idea of memorable quality still resonates)
• Is ‘service with a smile’ really the best customer service?
  • Others ways to “smile” are listen patiently, acts of kindness, being as helpful as possible in answering questions
  • a smile without any of the above is no smile at all
• “Nice Myth” isn’t really so much about being nice
  • Bullies count on customer service “niceness”
• Being Leaders: practice your hero stance/power pose/work persona
• Have a little faith in your patrons
• Out of all the ways to do their work, patrons still come to the library and the public service department plays a large role in that reason.
• Interaction (vs Transaction) can be transformative for some students who visit our desk
• Don’t absorb negativity: doing so can be draining and lead to feeling hopeless, as thought we can’t effect change

At the Desk of Well-Being: How Access Services Supports Student Health

• Students often view libraries as safe-low-risk environments
  • We intentionally create a student centered space
  • Create belonging and inclusion (Lauren Pressley mentioned)
  • Curating book displays of well-being, diversity, ect.
  • Wellness collections
  • Some libraries have decompress rooms with everything from yoga matts and puzzles to exercise bikes and treadmills (that allow students to study while they exercise)
  • Create cultural activities, such as an international food day for student employees

Leadership & Collaboration: The benefits of a Student Supervisors Working Group.

ZSR Library has in the past year began it’s own Student Employee Supervisory Group, and what I heard in this session was very similar to the things our group has talked about. The session leader said they have been building this group for a few years, and have worked out a timeline for their meetings, based on the who, what, when and why- in other words, they didn’t all meet every single month- which was very similar to how our team is moving forward.

The things I did learn, that were new ideas for me, were more about some of the work they have added to their 80+ student employees (across four libraries) for the benefit of growing their job experience, such as cross-training across their different libraries for specialized training and more equitable support and discipline.

Final Thoughts

Some of the other sessions I attended were heavily focused on the uplift of their student employees career development- giving freedom to choose a work project, having them submit a work profile with interests and skills, take online customer service, first aid, and de-escalation workshops, and help write relevant to student employment policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs). One quote stood out to me from this session: “Student workers gain familiarity and confidence with additional responsibility.”

On the last day of the event, during the last hour there was a Closing Session that hosted an Open Discussion. I was pleasantly surprised how many of the attendees stayed until the end. The discussion during this final hour, where mostly everyone shared tips on how to improve the student employee experience, proved to me that I am not the only who loves the academic library’s Access/Public Services Department and cares for the people who populate the building.

From my time at this conference, I learned that Public/Access Service employees are all heart, who are inquisitive problem solvers, always searching for ways to improve the many and varied services for the experience of all who come through the library doors. It is through their intensive efforts to locate best practices and services that they establish themselves as the expert leaders in the field of customer service; and their efforts in this work places them into the rank of professionals known by the prestigious name of researcher.