GRU Libraries’ faculty and staff have been busy learning about generating reports about the Libraries’ holdings through Voyager and honing their writing skills.
On April 21 and 22, University Libraries’ staff completed customized training on Voyager (GIL) Access reports. The Libraries’ Voyager Integrated Library System contains a wealth of data about the information resources held by the libraries. The key is knowing how to pull this data system. Voyager uses Microsoft Access as a tool for creating queries and reports. A variety of prepackaged or canned reports come installed with the Voyager clients. These prepackaged reports are relatively easy to run; however, more advanced query and report creation requires the user to design custom reports and have some knowledge of the Voyager table structure.
The target audience for the Access Reports training was library staff whose responsibilities involve reporting on different types of data found in the Voyager system. Participating library staff represented both libraries and various departments (Content Management, Systems, Access Services, and Government Information). Staff attending the training gained a basic understanding of how to run Voyager reports and learned the foundations for more advanced query design.
On June 6, GRU Libraries hosted the writing workshop, “Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Writing,” facilitated by Larry Verburg, a seasoned technical writer for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. This workshop covered both grammar and style. Participants engaged in both discussion and hands-on activities to sharpen their writing skills. Mr. Verburg encouraged participants to remember that “no one is born a writer, not even Shakespeare,” so everyone can improve their writing with practice. Mr. Verburg offered several suggestions to improve participants’ writing skills, including creating “informal reading groups” for feedback and using active voice when appropriate. Detailed handouts extended the learning by providing additional writing instruction and support ranging from sentence clarity to useful websites for writing reference.
