Re: Appointments

[Leigh_RYAN@umail.umd.edu (lr22)]

>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?
>We don't insist upon appointments, but we do make them.  We do so to assure
that students can see a tutor when they need to.  Typically, we are booked
1-3 days in advance, but we can usually work in "walk-ins" as sessions
finish early, as students cancel appointments, and as some people don't show
up for their appointments.
>2)Do you mostly have drop ins, or do you balance the two?
>Except for our busiest times (middle and end of the semester), things seem
to work out.  My asst. directors and I aren't on the appointment schedule,
so we can help with overflow when necessary.
>3)And do you hire someone simply to "person" the desk and control the ebb
>and flow of humanity?
>We got money to hire someone a year and a half ago.  It's wonderful!
Before that, things constantly slipped through the cracks.
>4) Hhow do you handle the panicked, the frantic, the upset, the angry, the
>hurried and the harried?
With patience and a sense of humor!  We just do the best we can.
>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?
>Yes, they will.  New students won't know that it was ever any different,
and your current students will adjust.
>6)And if we do change to appoinment only, how can we spread the word most
>effectively?
We distribute fliers telling students "To be sure of seeing a tutor, call
ahead for an appointment."  We also remind faculty to tell their students as
well.

Leigh Ryan
University of Maryland College Park
lr22@umail.umd.edu
>
>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
>