Profile: Michele Walsh, Acquisitions Receiving Assistant

What began as a temporary position for Michele L. Walsh in the Ball State University Bookstore led to a full-time position with the University Libraries as Acquisitions Receiving Assistant.

Michele orders and receives books, unpacks shipments of print and non-print materials and places them in the proper place to be handled by those in Collections Development, Cataloging, and Educational Resources Collection.

Michele enjoys the variety of duties associated with her job, as she currently completes her tenth year. She also enjoys talking to vendors regarding orders.

“I like the different tasks and that I’m not always doing computer work,” she said.

Technology is the biggest change in the past 10 years, Michele noted. The type of software and the databases used to order material has changed three times in Acquisitions from Innopac to Classic Workflows to Java Workflows.

“Michele is an enthusiastic and valued member of Acquisitions Services,” said Michael Twigg, Assistant Head of Acquisitions Services. “She constantly strives to learn new things and adapts well to our varied work environment.”

Michael estimates that, during the past 10 years, Michele has received about 130,000 new items to add to the Libraries’ collections--books, DVDs, CDs, maps, CD-ROMs, kits, slides, puppets, 3D models for study, games, and costumes.

As our only print and non-print monograph receiving assistant, Michele is responsible for receiving between 1,000 and 1,500 items every month.

Michele and her husband, Dave, have two grown sons and a playful 10-year-old cat, Reggie. The Walshes enjoy nature and taking long walks.