My Minions Join in the Roving

My minions (i.e., everybody else working at my Library) will be joining the roving once the new self-checkout stations are installed in about a week.

Well, actually, it will primarily be our circulation staff that will be roving around the library.  If you visit our staff web page, you'll see members of the circulation team are now called "RIS/Circulation Team."  What is this RIS, you may wonder?  I'm not certain what any official title might be, but Scowl-Face says that RIS stands for Roving (or Roaming) Information Specialist.  It's also the acronym for a computer medical patient database at Wishard Health Services, on which ol' Scowlly trained employees about 15 years ago.  (That was also abbreviated as RCIS.)  For us, it's staff rotating around the Library, looking for trouble patrons to assist.

Since most of our check-out stations will become self-serve kiosks, our RIS circulators (that has a nice sound to it) will move about the Library performing a variety of tasks, including this brief (but not all inclusive) to-do list:

• Providing reference assistance to patrons;
• Helping patrons in the computer lab;
• Discharging (i.e., checking-in) returned items that will not be processed by our new automatic discharge station;
• Pulling holds;
• Re-tagging collection items with new RFID labels;
• Shelf-reading;
• Reshelving;
• Performing special projects; and
• Whatever else Boss Lady tells them to do.

As for moi, I'll be happy to teach my minions the finer points to this roving game.  After all, I've been official feline roving reporter at MPL for over two years.  Come to think of it, I can simplify matters.  Here's what our new RIS circulators should be doing:

Just Saying

Works for moi.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  "The Roving Kind," by Jessie Cavanaugh & Arnold Stanton, was most famously recorded by Guy Mitchell (1950), although folk legends The Weavers recorded an earlier version (reprised on The Best of the Decca Years [1996]). It was adapted from a traditional English folk tune. Mitchell's version reached #4 on Billboard's pop charts.  Let's compare it with the Weavers' rendition (below).