Tampa Bay Computer Society Job Description

Position (being referred to - is it elected, appointed, or volunteer?):

Resource Center Coordinator (elected/appointed)

Name of Person (submitting information):

Michael Armstrong / Louis Calden / Chris Walters

Primary Duties (actual regular duties performed and their frequency):

  1. Maintain a computerized inventory, on the Resource Center PC, of all the software at the Resource Center.  This is updated as necessary, when new software is donated or old software is discarded.  The inventory should contain:  vendor, software name, version, date, media type, and ID number.  Additionally, all parts of each software package should be logged - boxes, manuals, disks, papers, etc.  Titles should be sorted by vendor and then product.  All software should have “Property of TBCS” stickers affixed to each box, manual, and software envelope, with a unique ID number sticker affixed to the box or manual spine.  Software Manual ID numbers begin with an “M” followed by four digits.  The Secretary should be continually furnished with the updated inventory to maintain a backup copy on the Office PC.
  2. Maintain a computerized inventory, on the Resource Center PC, of all the tapes at the Resource Center.  This is updated as necessary, when new tapes are donated or old tapes are discarded.  The inventory should be separately designated as either audio or video, and contain:  vendor, title, date, and ID number.  Titles within vendors should be sorted by date or product and date.  All tapes should have “Property of TBCS” stickers affixed to both the case and the tape, and a unique ID number sticker affixed to the spine.  Tape ID numbers begin with either an “A” or a “V” depending on whether they are audio or video, then followed by four digits.  The Secretary should be continually furnished with the updated inventory to maintain a backup copy on the Office PC.
  3. Maintain a computerized inventory, on the Resource Center PC, of all the books at the Resource Center.  This is updated as necessary, when new books are donated or old books are discarded.  The inventory should contain:  subject, title, author, date, and ID number.  Titles within subjects should be sorted by date or product and date.  All books should have a “Property of TBCS” sticker affixed inside the cover and a unique ID number sticker affixed to the spine.  Book ID numbers begin with a “B” followed by four digits.  The Secretary should be continually furnished with the updated inventory to maintain a backup copy on the Office PC.
  4. Maintain the Resource Center collection of TBCS newsletters / Bits & Bytes magazines.  Each month add the most recent publication to the collection.  The Secretary also maintains a complete set in the Office as part of the historical records of the organization.
  5. Prepare and maintain procedures for the proper use of all Resource Center equipment.  This is ongoing.  Procedures should be simple and straightforward, and placed next to the Resource Center equipment.  They should include power on and power off steps as well as other general usage information.
  6. Recruit TBCS members to serve as Resource Center librarians.  This is done as necessary.  Resource Center librarians are expected to open the Resource Center for use by TBCS members at regular times each week.  Librarians are expected to supervise all Resource Center activities during their open times, and should be known to TBCS members and judged reliable and trustworthy.  Make sure the current open library times along with librarian names and phone numbers are published in the TBCS newsletter and available on the BBS and Web Site.
  7. Establish and maintain procedures for Resource Center librarians and ensure that they are aware of these procedures.  This is ongoing.  These should be general procedures for the supervision of the Resource Center during open library times, including:  making sure attending TBCS members fill out the sign-up sheet, and how to fill out the check-out sheets to check out books and tapes from the library.  These procedures are in addition to the equipment procedures discussed in #5 and the PC usage procedures discussed in #9.
  8. Maintain the Resource Center library check-out book.  This should be reviewed at least monthly.  Follow up with any TBCS members who have checked out books or tapes and not returned them by the allotted time (no more than 1 month allowed).  Software and the manuals associated with it cannot be checked out - only books and tapes.
  9. Establish and maintain procedures for the installation of software on the Resource Center PC and ensure that Resource Center librarians are aware of these procedures.  This is ongoing.  These procedures should clearly indicate what logical drives software should be installed on, naming conventions to be used, directory (folder) structure requirements, and requirements for the organization of the operating system desktops (the desktop and start button program list in Windows 95, the program manager in Windows 3.1, etc.).  Different logical drives should be used for the various applications than are used for the operating systems.  It is recommended for easier management that no application be installed directly into the root directory of any logical drive - directories (folders) should be created for each SIG and the Resource Center librarians into which the various applications can be installed.  Along these same lines, each individual application should not have its own group (in the Windows 3.1 program manager) or be individually listed (on the Windows 95 program list) - as on the drives, there should be groups / folders created for each SIG and the Resource Center librarians into which the various applications are placed on the desktop.  These two policies will make it instantly ascertainable, whether looking at the drives or the desktops, who is responsible for every software application on the PC.  It may also be desirable to maintain a log book next to the PC of all software on the PC and require all users to record any newly installed applications.  The details of these procedures should be worked out in cooperation with the SIG Coordinator, who is responsible for ensuring that the SIG leaders are aware of and follow them.
  10. Maintain the integrity and efficient operation of all the operating system environments on the Resource Center PC.  This is a continual process, but should be checked at least monthly.  Maintain the configuration files for boot-up and loading the various operating systems.  Coordinate with all PC users if there is a problem requiring an operating system to be reinstalled.  The most frequent task involved in this responsibility will be ensuring that there is enough free space on all the logical drives.  Any software application that has not been logged or does not clearly belong to a SIG leader or Resource Center librarian should be deleted.  Also, if space becomes limited, it may occasionally be necessary to remove other software applications.  If so, work with the SIG Coordinator to contact SIG leaders and Resource Center librarians to determine likely candidates for deletion.  It may be useful to install some system logging or application tracking software to assist with general oversight of the Resource Center PC.
  11. Establish a backup procedure for the Resource Center PC.  The backups should be performed monthly.  The backup should consist of all boot files, configuration files, and drivers required for system startup, as well as initialization files, registry files, and group / folder desktop configurations for the various operating systems.  This is just to preserve the general integrity of the system in case of a failure.  It is not necessary to back up any actual software applications, as they can be reloaded at will.  SIG leaders and Resource Center librarians are responsible for backing up any needed data files they may create during the use of their software applications.
  12. Prepare a Resource Center Usage Report for submission to the Board of Directors.  This is done monthly, prior to the BOD Meeting.  The purpose of the report is to keep the Board of Directors informed as to how and when the Resource Center is being utilized.  The report should contain averages of how many TBCS members attended the Resource Center during open library times each day of the week during the prior month (approximately 4 week averages) as well as a comparison to a running average of earlier months.  The information is gathered from the daily Resource Center sign-up sheets.  This report along with the SIG Attendance Report prepared by the SIG Coordinator should give a total picture of usage of the facility.
  13. Chair the Resource Center committee.  This is ongoing.  The Resource Center Coordinator is not required to personally attend to each of the duties assigned, but can recruit volunteers to assist in the effort and be delegated various tasks.
  14. Prepare an Activity Report of all major activities undertaken to fulfill the duties of Resource Center coordination.  This is done monthly, for submission at Board Meetings.  All other Board Members are expected to prepare similar reports of their activities.  This makes sure that all TBCS activities get into the written record and reduces the necessity for lengthy discussions.
  15. Update the Job Description and Procedures for Resource Center Coordinator and Resource Center Librarian to keep the TBCS Procedures Manual as up-to-date and complete as possible.  This is done on an ongoing basis, as required.

Special Activities (any additional duties or jobs performed and their frequency):

  1. Make copies of the Resource Center software, tape, and book inventories available to TBCS members on the BBS and perhaps on the Web site.  This will let them know what’s available to them, and encourage greater check-out of the books and tapes and more usage of the software in the Resource Center.  The copies should be updated as the inventory changes.
  2. If storage space is exceeded, it may become necessary to discard some Resource Center items.  Age is the primary consideration in selecting what to remove, although this can be overridden by a judgment of TBCS member interests, or if something has particular historical value.  Discarded items can be offered to TBCS members for a nominal charge at a table at TBCS General Meetings.
  3. The software library is limited to use inside the Resource Center.  Cabinet keys can be issued to Resource Center librarians and SIG leaders at the Resource Center Coordinator’s discretion to allow access to the disk envelopes and use of the software library.  Arrange with the Secretary to issue keys and update the key list.  This is done as necessary.
  4. Make recommendations to the Board of Directors for the acquisition of new hardware or software for the Resource Center.  This is done as necessary.
  5. Oversee the installation and configuration of any new equipment that may be acquired for the Resource Center.  This is done as required.  There are currently some unused PC’s and peripherals that may be able to be set up to be used in some way - if not, they should be discarded and offered to TBCS members for a nominal charge.  Investigate the feasibility of setting up a small network of PC’s.
  6. Observe the highest standards of ethical conduct.  As an agent of TBCS, you are not acting on your own behalf, but on behalf of TBCS.  Ensure that controls are in place to protect all TBCS property in the Resource Center such as furnishings, equipment, computer hardware, computer software, books, and tapes.

Additional Information:

Not all the software, tapes, and books in the Resource Center library are currently tagged and labelled, and the computerized inventories of these items do not contain all the required information.  In addition to those things already mentioned generally in the guidelines above, the following are some specific projects which need to completed:

  1. All books, tapes, and software manuals that do not currently have “Property of TBCS” stickers and unique ID number stickers attached to them should be so prepared, and if ID numbers have not been assigned, they should be, and then added to the inventory.
  2. The disk envelopes for the software packages, like the boxes and manuals, are sorted by vendor and then product.  All envelopes that do not currently have “Property of TBCS” stickers and contents stickers attached to them should be so prepared.
  3. All software packages should have all their various parts added to the inventory, including boxes, manuals, disks, papers, or other items.  The Resource Center Coordinator is responsible for knowing if anything is missing from the Resource Center, and therefore needs a COMPLETE inventory to know what is supposed to be there.

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