Whenever someone wants to check out a study room, you will need to use two systems: Alma & LibCal. As you know, Alma is the system we use to check loanable items out to patrons. LibCal is the system that manages study room reservations. Patrons and library staff both have access to LibCal and can use it to reserve study rooms.
The patron side of LibCal looks like this:
The staff-side of LibCal looks like this:
If someone approaches the desk and wishes to check out a study room, follow these steps.
1. Select the boxes that match the preferred room and time in LibCal. That will bring up this box:
2. Ask them if they would like the full 3 hours or a shorter booking time. If they would like a shorter booking time, adjust it under the “End/Due Date.”
3. This will bring up the following form:
4. Fill in their first and last name and email address.
5. If they are booking the room for a future date, be sure to select “Send confirmation email to user.”
6. Click on “Submit Times.”
Next, you will need to check the patron into LibCal before you check out the key to them. This will mark change the red booking to gray. We check the patron into LibCal for a few reasons.
1. It is a visual sign that the patron has already picked up their key.
2. We need the stats on our study room usage (how many bookings are made vs. how many students actually check them out).
3. You will want to get into this habit sooner rather than later! As study room bookings pick up, it becomes confusing to try to track down keys during the busy season if people are overstaying their bookings and you need to kick them out.
When a patron comes to pick up their key, you should check out the key to them as you would any other item in Alma, and also make sure to check them in to LibCal. To check someone in to LibCal, follow these steps:
1. Click on the red booking to bring up the details.
2. Scroll down to see the booking details.
3. Under Under “User Showed Up?” select “Yes.”
4, This will automatically change the booking from red to gray to indicate that the user picked up their key. Check the item out to them in Alma, and make sure to tell them the end time of their booking as the due date (in the above example, that would be 4:30 pm).
When to cancel a booking
We have a policy that if a patron does not show up to pick up their key, we will cancel it after 30 minutes. This is because during peak use times (finals and midterms), study rooms will be booked solid and not every patron who wants a study room will be able to get one. We want to ensure that as many patrons as possible have access to study rooms, and that the rooms are not sitting empty when someone wants to use one.
If a patron does not show up within 30 minutes of their booking time, you may cancel their booking and give it to another patron.
To cancel a booking, follow these steps:
1. Click on the booking.
2. Scroll down as though you are checking the patron into LibCal.
3. Select “Cancel All” That will bring up the following form.
4. Enter a message to let the user know why you are cancelling:
5. Select “Cancel Booking” to finish the cancellation process and send the user the email.
When Completing of Booking a Study Room
When finishing completing a reservation or canceling a study room. Go to the Patron Statistics tab to log in the statistic. It helps keep tracks for the library personal statistics. The library and LibCal both have different ways of tracking statistics.