Office Policies

Copier and Work Request Policies

The purpose of the administrative staff in the Department of English is to assist the chair and faculty in the department with specific administrative and professional tasks. Currently there are two full-time administrative staff members and one part-time work study student who work in our office. In addition to working with the chair and approximately 45 other faculty members in the department, the administrative staff greet and provide information to students and other visitors to the department (including telephone callers) and complete administrative requests from other offices across campus. Given these different demands, the administrative staff must rely on a consistent method for prioritizing and processing work and copier requests from faculty in the department. You can help us by following the policies and procedures described below.

Copier Policies

The copier is to be used for professional purposes only. This includes copying materials for courses you are teaching at West Georgia, for administrative responsibilities (such as committee assignments), and for professional development (such as the preparation of evaluation materials required by the institution or materials related to conference presentations or scholarly publications).

If you need to use the copier for personal reasons, keep track of the number of copies that you make and pay the administrative staff when you have finished. The administrative staff should not be asked to complete personal copy requests. The cost for personal copies is three cents per copy. Money from personal copies will be placed into the department budget.

Graduate students and undergraduates should not use the copier for work related to their courses or their thesis projects. Please refer students to the library or to one of the copy centers in town if they need to make copies. Graduate students may use the copier if they are working as Graduate Research Assistants or Teaching Assistants and are making copies related to research or teaching assignments you have given them to complete. If you are working with a GRA or GTA, please make certain these policies are clear.

It is acceptable to make copies of materials related to courses you are teaching such as a syllabus and course assignments; however, please refrain from making multiple copies of articles or essays to distribute to every student in the class. Besides possibly infringing on copyright laws, this dramatically increases our copier expenses. If you want to distribute a copy of an article for your class to read, consider one of the following: 1) place one or two copies of the article on reserve in the library; 2) post them to your hompage. This will allow students to have access to the article and make a copy of it if they choose to do so.

If you need to have something copied, you have two options (in both instances, plan ahead):

The administrative staff will be happy to show you how the copier works and answer any questions you might have about the copier. However, you should keep in mind that the copier is in high demand during certain times of the day. The copier might not be available when you need it, so plan ahead and do not wait until the last minute to make your copies.

If the staff is making copies, do not assume that they will interrupt their copying so you can complete yours. Chances are they are copying materials for another faculty member who submitted a request. Please do not ask the staff to interrupt their copying so you can complete yours unless it is a legitimate emergency.

2) Submit a copy request in writing and the staff will complete the copying for you.

Copy request forms can be picked in the department office. They should be filled out completely and attached to the materials that are to be copied. If special instructions are required, write them down on the request form or attach a separate sheet of paper.

Place all copy requests in the Copy Request Box located in the mailroom and in the workroom. DO NOT give copies or copier requests directly to the administrative staff. In the midst of completing other assignments, they might misplace them or forget what you needed. Placing them in the request box will allow the staff to prioritize copy requests and get them completed more efficiently.

If you have detailed or special instructions that you need to give the staff about copier requests, set up a time in advance to meet with them so you can go over the instructions together. Bring a written copy of the instructions to the meeting so the staff can attach them to the materials that are to be copied.

Please allow at least 24 hours (longer for bigger projects) to process copy requests. Remember: Plan ahead! Do not wait until the last minute to make or request copies.

Once a copy request has been completed, the staff will place it in your faculty mail box.

A laser printer is located in the department mailroom. It is networked to all of the computers in the TLC offices. We are working to purchase a printer for Pafford Hall as well.

Because we have so many faculty, the printer gets used a lot. The printer should only be used to print out copies of materials related to your professional work in the department, such as syllabi and class assignments. Do not use it to print out emails or copies of long articles, unless these are related to your professional work.

DO NOT USE THE PRINTER TO MAKE MULTIPLE COPIES OF A DOCUMENT! Make one copy and then use the copier to make additional copies.

In addition to copier requests, the staff is available to assist you with other work-related projects and administrative assignments, including the following:

· Office, classroom or other facilities / equipment requests.
· Requests for teaching or office supplies.
· Sending out mail related to official department business.
· Formatting documents from computer disks and/or printing documents on the printer located in the department office.
· Assistance with budget-related items or requests.
· Assistance with administrative work (such as department committees).
· Using the fax machine in the department office for official department business.
· Assistance with preparing department-related brochures or in-house journals for publication.
· Assistance with locating or filling out department or university forms.
· Assistance with locating student information for purposes of advisement.
· Coordinating book orders with the university bookstore.

If you are not certain who should help you with a work request, simply contact the department office. They will help you determine who should receive the request.

The administrative staff will not do the following:

· Type documents (including course-related materials), take dictation or write letters and/or memos for faculty. All faculty in the department have computers in their offices or have access to computers in the humanities lab, so the staff should not have to perform these secretarial duty. Faculty may use the typewriter in the office if they are not familiar with computers / word processing, or faculty may hire someone (at their expense) from outside the department to do their typing. Once a document has been placed on disk or typed, the staff will be glad to assist you with final formatting, printing and copying.
· Personal work for faculty such as moving office furniture, cleaning faculty offices, transporting faculty or running errands, or formatting/printing documents not related to the professional work of the faculty member.

All work requests should be submitted in writing. Exceptions include genuine emergencies such as water or electrical problems.

Work request forms can be picked in the department office. They should be filled out completely and placed in the Work Request Box in the office. Do not place them in the administrative staff member's box or the chair's box. DO NOT give work requests directly to the administrative staff. Since each administrative staff member has different responsibilities, placing work requests in the request box will allow the staff to prioritize work requests, give them to the appropriate person, and complete them more efficiently.

If special instructions are required, describe them on the request form or attach a separate sheet of paper. For larger projects, it may be necessary to schedule a meeting with the administrative staff to go over the instructions together. Bring a written copy of the instructions to the meeting for the staff to use in completing the assignment.

Please allow at least 24 hours (longer for bigger projects) to process work requests. Please keep in mind that many work requests must be forwarded to other departments on campus and will require additional time.

Once a work request has been completed, the staff will place a notification in your faculty box in the lounge. The staff will also notify you if work requests cannot be completed or will take additional time.