Kashmere Gardens Delayed Opening Days

From Customer Experience Administration, 9:14 AM:

Kashmere Neighborhood Library will be delaying opening until 2 PM on the following days:

• Tuesday, April 25^th  
• Wednesday, April 26^th
• Thursday, April 27^th

We apologize for any inconvenience.

NOTE: Teresa will be there working on the tagging/inventory project. KL

How to Handle Subscription Plan Books

From Sara Karow, 1:44PM:

Today I received a box filled with 12 damaged Subscription Plan books [books with yellow call number labels, leased from Baker & Taylor--KL].  There was no indication which NL they were coming from and no condition notes.  All of the item barcodes had been already been checked out to a Discard account and had been removed from Sirsi as well , so I can’t determine where they came from that way either.

Since I have no way of knowing who in particular to contact to review our procedure for handling these items, I’m sending this as a general reminder. We’ve also had a few incidents where staff have stamped damaged Subscription Plan items “Discard” recently too, so a review is in order to make sure everyone is on one the same page.

The instructions below are part of the “Processing & Sorting Weeded Items” that was updated and distributed last summer. NL/Express/CEN Managers – please review this with your teams.

We have been receiving Subscription Plan items for about a year and a half, so now is a good time to walk your shelves and check for multiple duplicates copies of older S-Plan items that may no longer be needed at your location and send them in to us for possible floating or returning.  You may be able to free up some shelf space for newer items that are in higher demand. As with anything you send to the LMS Float Team, please remember to check them out to your “xxx-Float” account so they don’t show in the catalog as being on your shelves.

  

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SUBSCRIPTION PLAN Items – Return to LMS

Subscription Plan (S-Plan) books are easily identified by their bright yellow spine labels.

NOTE: **NEVER stamp Subscription Plan books and DO NOT check them out to CEN or an NL unit’s “xxx-Discard” account in Symphony Workflows (wet/moldy/bugs exception: see pg. 3).

• Send all surplus and damaged S-Plan books directly to the LMS Float Team.
  • Attach a brief note to individual copies regarding any damage (wet/moldy/bugs exception: see pg. 3).

• When pulling surplus copies of titles that HPL has both as regular HPL copies (white spine labels) and S-Plan copies for possible withdrawal, it is preferable to send in S-Plan copies first rather than regular HPL copies if condition is comparable. The Float Team may redistribute surplus S-Plan items rather than withdrawing and returning them to the supplier, depending on system-wide needs.

LMS Division staff will handle ALL S-Plan withdrawal tasks for damaged items and surplus copies being returned to the supplier (wet/moldy/bugs exception: see pg. 3).

Problem Accessing Learning Link Pages

From Marianne Lorio, 1:36PM:

I’ve heard reports that we’ve been getting calls from teachers stating they are having issues accessing the Learning Link webpages. After talking to the HISD Tech Support it is obvious that we are going to need to get more details before we address the issue. If a teacher having this issue contacts you please get the following information:

·         What browser is being used? If possible, what version of the browser is it?

·         When exactly are they having the issue? Can they get to the student hub? If not what is the address of the webpage they are on (including http:// or https://)?

·         Are they physically in a school?

·         Are they using a school issued device or a personal one?

If possible please also get their name and e-mail so that I can contact them if necessary. Please send the information in an e-mail to me and copy the IT Helpdesk. Your assistance and patience is appreciated?

Posting to Youth Services Blog

From Rebecca Denham, 12:08PM:

I’ve had some questions about how to post to the YS Blog, so I thought I’d send a quick reminder since many of you do not post regularly.

How to submit a post?

1.      Send me (Rebecca.Denham@houstontx.gov) an email following these guidelines:

a.      Subject Line: Blog Post from “NL Abbreviation”

b.      Body of email: Write the post as you would like it to appear on the blog.  If you just have pictures from a display or event that you want to share make sure to let me know what display/event the images are from.

c.       Images

                                                              i.      Please use this file format to name the image – LOC.EVENT.YEAR.IMAGE NUMBER

1.      EXAMPLE: CEN.ReadAcrossAmerica.2017.5

                                                            ii.      Attach images to email

1.      If you have more than 4 images, please send them in a following email with subject line of Blog Post from “NL Abbreviation” Pt. 2

What can I post?

·         Program ideas (if sharing a craft idea please provide an image of the finished craft)

·         Book reviews (Juvenile or Teen only)

·         Displays

·         Pictures of an event

·         Interesting articles/research related to youth services

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

SRP Prize Books

From Michelle Johnson, 9:22AM:

On Monday I put the first of the Summer Reading Books into delivery. I’m sending 6 boxes out per day so I don’t overwhelm the delivery guys like I did last year. So be on the look-out.  The first branches that I sent a box to are SMI, FLO, MEL, CAR, BLU, PLE so by now those branches should have received a box.

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THESE BOOKS AWAY AS PRIZES YET.

Look for more details from Kallie, Sara, and Rebecca about SRP and when Registration is and when to start awarding prizes

The goal is  to get each location two  boxes of books before May 1. For locations that do a lot of SRP registrations, (Alief, Kendall, Stella Link, Collier, Lakewood, Bracewell, Heights, Park Place, Jungman, and Kashmere) expect  three or four boxes of books before May 1.  Central also is a high volume location, but for obvious reasons, those books won’t go into delivery.

This is just a startup. There are A LOT OF BOOKS and the hallway at Central is FULL of boxes.   So I will send out more boxes throughout the summer.

I’ve averaged out  the numbers of SRP registrations for each location for the past 4 years and I’m sending you books based on that number. But you know your location best, so if you need more, don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll gladly send more.

Helping Customers with Overdrive Issues

From Marianne Lorio, 4/3:

Recently patrons have had a couple of issues with OverDrive so I just wanted to provide some “insider” information. Frankly most issues with OverDrive aren’t really “fixable” either the cause is unknown or it is due to operator error. However, let the patron know that we will look into the matter. 

If the patron is willing to provide their library card number, e-mail address, and the title and format of item involved we will make sure the next available copy goes to their account. Please e-mail this information, as well as a description of the issue, to the IT Helpdesk and me.

Staff Meeting Notes 3-31-17

9AM-11:30 AM, MEETING ROOM

STAFF MEETING AGENDA

1. HEAR Training Plans & Training Options (see below)
2. Outreach Update
3. Updates from March CE Managers Meeting
4. Issues to Discuss

IMPORTANT DATES THIS MONTH

• Friday, March 30: Staff Training & Meeting; Pay Day!
• Tuesday, April 4: SW Managers Team Meeting @ FRA (Karen)
• Friday, April 7: Tech Specialists Meeting @ YOU (Derrick, Karen); Outreach at Lansdale Community Center (Ivy); Last day of pay period
• Monday, April 10-Friday, April 14: New Employee Orientation @ CEN (Patricia)
• Tuesday, April 11: Outreach @ Clarewood House (Derrick)
• Friday, April 14: Youth Services Meeting @ Carnegie (Irene, Ivy, Kayren); Pay day!
• Monday, April 17: SLAMS Meeting @ CEN (Alexandra)
• Tuesday, April 18-Thursday, April 20: Supervisor Basics Training @ CEN (Christy)
• Friday, April 21: Last day of pay period
• Wednesday, April 26: Service Providers Meeting @ Baker-RIpley Center (Christy); Volunteer Appreciation Party @ JIB (Christy)
• Thursday, April 27: Collection Management: Weeding Training @ SMI (Christy, Holly, Ivy, Sonia)
• Friday, April 28: Customer Experience Managers Meeting @ Fifth Ward MSC (Christy, Karen); Pay day!
• Friday, May 5: Staff Meeting & Training

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STAFF TRAINING AGENDA

Google Drive with Derrick

NOTES:

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OTHER TRAINING OPTIONS:

1. Tech Training:  Thuy has updated all of the materials on the training portal for the new Overdrive interface;  Her tech training classes have a fairly small audience size, but the portal has a wealth of information on tech topics.  She has added a page called Technology Training and Resources (under Learning Resources or Technology) that has Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Publisher, Mac/Windows, Internet and more.  The links include free resources to just learn skills as well as courses where staff can get training credit (Lynda and Gale Course—soon to add web-based courses on TMS).  Employees should always discuss what they want to take with their supervisor before taking a class for credit.
2. TMS (Talent Management System) has also added “soft skills” web based training to the catalog.  These 1 to 2 hour courses are similar to the in-person classes but they are free for anyone to take.  Some of the included topics are:  Anger management, stress management, business writing, effective telephone skills, communication strategies, creative problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, time management (and more!).  
3. New Employees Onboarding Series: HPL Training holds this series every other month; managers register their new employees for the 5 half day sessions through the training calendar on the Training Portal.

When employees are doing training they will only get credit for training that is 30 minutes or more.  If someone is taking Lynda.com classes, they should submit the certificate for the entire course and not all of the individual video