Appointments

[Sonja Bagby <sbagby@westga.edu>]

Dear WCenter Friends:
My center has grown so much that I have questions about a good thing--too
many writers for the number of tutors.

In the past, we have allowed mostly drop-ins, but now we find the need to
encourage appointments.   We have some unhappy procrastinators, but we
manage better when we DO ask people to make appointments by phone or email
or when we must turn them away.

The questions:
1)Do your centers insist upon appointments?  Why or why not?

2)Do you mostly have drop ins, or do you balance the two?

3)And do you hire someone simply to "person" the desk and control the ebb
and flow of humanity?

4) Hhow do you handle the panicked, the frantic, the upset, the angry, the
hurried and the harried?
We end up trying to fit people in because they "didn't know" they needed an
appointment.

5)Will people eventually accept this change?  Is this just a growing pain
or a mounting problem?

6)And if we do change to appoinment only, how can we spread the word most
effectively?

I really need your input for this thorny challenge.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sonja

Sonja S. Bagby
Director, University Writing Center
College of Arts and Sciences
State University of West Georgia
Carrollton, GA 30118
sbagby@westga.edu
770-830-2258