Changes to TexShare Databases

From Marianne Lorio, 11:18AM:

I’ve just finished updating the TexShare databases on our website. There are some new resources: Credo Complete Collection, Disaster Recover Reference, Sustainability Reference Center, Consumer Health Complete, Chilton Library and Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Please take a moment to go to the Research webpage, read their descriptions, and check them out for yourselves. Other databases were updated with slightly different names such as MAS Complete instead of Mas Ultra and Newspaper Source Plus instead of Newspaper Source. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Staff Meeting Notes 8/27/18

Monday, August 27, 2018, 9:15-9:45 AM, MEETING ROOM

  Staff Meeting Agenda

1. Celebrate SRP Success--Southwest #2 in registration, Walter #4! 

2.  Staff Changes:

·         Araceli transferred to Heights (extended hours location), 8/20.

·         Rene resigning to work in Spain, 8/31.

·         Jon’ Sha Robinson-Kennedy is transferring from Carnegie to replace Ivy, 9/4.

·         Ivy transferring to Stella Link when it reopen in late 2018-early 2019.

3. HEAR Attendance and Punctuality Metric for FY19

 .              Attendance and punctuality are equally important.  To get a certain you must meet both metrics.

• Staff are expected to start and end work according to their schedule.  Punctuality includes both clocking in late and clocking in early.
• Tardiness will be defined at clocking in more than 3 minutes after the scheduled time to start work.
• Supervisors will adjust an employee’s schedule at the beginning of the pay period if it deviates from their pattern in Kronos.
• Remember work week is Saturday - Friday.    
• The first week of the pay period is the one with payday on Friday; the second week ends with the approval of timecards on Friday (the pay period close).
• If you want to take off the Saturday you are schedule to work, please find someone to swap with (full-time staff).  Part-time staff can take off 4 Saturdays in a calendar year.  See Guidelines for Saturdays, June 2014 on blog.
• HPL FT & PT HEAR Attendance Metric Revised Policy (handout).  Please read the policy, then sign the acknowledgment sheet in Karen’s or Christy’s office. [Updated 8/27 @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f-nx2vC6H8chlIph9gMCBYm0GsG6FFdJrcnAkSpykTM/edit?usp=sharing.]

Important Dates this Month

• Friday, August 31: Payday; Regional Youth Services Meeting @ ALI (Irene, Ivy)..
• Saturday, September 1: SW Multi-Service Center and Southwest Express closed for Labor Day holiday; all staff work at Walter.
• Sunday, September 2, and Monday, September 3: Houston Public Library closed for Labor Day holiday.

How to Contact Digital Strategies

From Edgar Fuentes, 11:59 AM:

Jennifer Myers created a tip sheet for contacting Digital Strategies. Feel free to share with your staff at the next staff meeting. In case you are unable to view it, I’m including the information below:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital Strategies 
Hours & Contact Details

Hours 
Monday – Friday | 8am – 6pm
Saturday | 9am – 6pm
Sunday | 1pm – 5pm

Contact Details

• Call *31570 with specific information, including G #s when applicable. 
• E-mail the HelpDesk at HPL.HelpDesk@houstontx.gov with specific information, including G #s when applicable.
• Use the LogMeIn Rescue Calling Card available on staff computers.
• ServiceNow is not a preferred contact method as HITS is updating. Trainings are being developed for this program.

After Hours: If there is an after-hours emergency, please contact 713-742-3978. Emergencies include the loss of WorkFlows, the building server is down, or an issue that affects location operations.

Database Update

From Marianne Lorio, 8:34 AM:

This is reminder that the database Pronunciator has been dropped by TexShare. We no long provide access to this resource, which has been removed from the website. Please direct patrons to Mango Languages as an alternative.

ILL Service Down for Maintenance

From Rick Peralez, 5:20 PM:

Due to required maintenance, our online interlibrary loan service is temporarily unavailable.  We expect service to restored in the next 24 hours. This information has been posted on our website and mobile app.  We will provide an update once service is restored.  If you have any questions please call the HPL HelpDesk at 832-393-1570.

UPDATE: Via Paty Bustamante, 8/24: Interlibrary Loan online will be unavailable until Monday, 8/27.  During that time customer may submit interlibrary loan requests to E-Mail Reference online and it will be forwarded to the Interlibrary Loan staff; or they can wait for the ILL online to resume service. 

Mobile Printing at SWX & WAL!

Team,

I'm happy to report that mobile printing is now available at both of our locations!  Robin Cabrera turned on Walter's connection yesterday afternoon, although the link has not yet on the Walter web page.

With mobile printing, customers can print from their personal laptops or smart phones by using the link on the location's webpage or emailing their document to a specific email address--see the directions below.  There's also an app customers can download to their phone, PrinterOn, which will send a print job from their device to a mobile printer.

Another great feature of mobile printing is that you don't have to be in the library to use it and you can send it to whichever library with mobile printing you choose.  (Of course, you still have to go to that location to pay for and pick up your print job.)

The mobile print jobs are retrieved at the print release station with the email address the customer used to identify the print job, so it's important to remember what was entered.

I encourage you to practice by sending a few print jobs from a staff computer or your phone.  

This will be a tremendous service for our customers, just like scanning and our new mobile hotspots!

Karen

Problems Accessing Overdrive

From Marianne Lorio, 11:13 AM:

Just as a further update, there seems to be a complication anytime someone wants to access their holds or checkouts from the catalog if the titles are checked out from OverDrive. If anyone reports any issues dealing with OverDrive in the catalog, the best work around is to have the patron go to the OverDrive website via the library’s website or, if they have a smart device, to use the OverDrive app. The overall issue is being worked on.

 

Changes to RB Digital--Updated

From Marianne Lorio, 8/14:

In an effort to both save money and generate more usage, we are making some changes to what we offer through RBdigital starting September 1^st. Here is what you need to know:

•  We are switching to an unlimited simultaneous use plan that will offer fewer titles, but will include the most popular RBdigital audiobooks.
• We will start adding titles that are available exclusively through RBdigital to the collection. These will include titles by Danielle Steel, Fern Michaels, and Alexander McCall Smith among others.
• We are also reviewing the titles checked out from RBdigital for the past year for titles we need to add to the new collection.
• These added titles will not be unlimited use, but library customers will be able to place holds on the audiobooks that are checked out.
• The resulting collection will be smaller but more unique.
• Since I know someone will ask, some authors will have titles in OverDrive, but OverDrive can’t provide all of their titles. For example, Alexander McCall Smith’s juvenile titles are in OverDrive. However, the adult series he is best known for, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, is provided only by RBdigital.
• After September 1^st, it will take a couple of days for the records in the catalog to change to the new subscription.

From ML, 8/28: I just updated the description on the Research webpage to include a notice about this change. Please let me know if you get any questions you can’t answer or have any questions of your own.

From ML, 8/29: We’ve just found out that it is important for anyone who currently has an audiobook checked out from RBdigital to download it to their device before September 1^st. Otherwise their access to the audiobook will be impacted when our subscription plan changes beginning September. I have added this information to the description on the Research webpage, but anything you can do to spread the word will be appreciated.

Staff Meeting Notes, 8-6-18

 SOUTHWEST EXPRESS / WALTER GROUP STAFF MEETING

Monday, August 6, 2018, 9:15-9:45 AM, MEETING ROOM

 Staff Meeting Agenda

1. Celebrate SRP Success--Southwest #2 in registration, Walter #4!  Horray, cupcakes and presents for everyone!
2. New Hours and New Staff Schedule (handout)

1. Remember work week is Saturday - Friday.  Make up hours the week after working Saturday to have a day off.  Don’t make them up the week before--that’s overtime :( 
2. The first week of the pay period is the one with payday on Friday; the second week ends in the pay period close.
3. Please check the two-week pattern and make sure your schedule is correct and let me or Christy know ASAP.
4. If you want to take off the Saturday you are schedule to work, please find someone to swap with (full-time staff).  Part-time staff can take off 4 Saturdays in a calendar year.  See Guidelines for Saturdays, June 2014 on blog.
2. City of Houston Executive Order 1-18: Policy on Use of Social Media (Jan 4, 2011).  Please read the policy, then sign the acknowledgment sheet in Karen’s or Christy’s office
3. Introduce Edgar Fuentes, new Senior Manager for Southwest Region.

Important Dates this Month

• Friday, August 10: Last day of pay period; timecards approved after 5:30 PM.
• Friday, August 17: Payday; Regional Youth Services Meeting @ ALI (Irene, Ivy).
• Saturday, August 18: Araceli’s last day before moving to Heights.
• Friday, August 24: Last day of pay period; CE Managers Meeting @ CEN (Christy, Karen)
• Monday, August 27: Staff Meeting, 9:15-9:45 AM.
• Saturday, September 1: SW Multi-Service Center and Southwest Express closed for Labor Day holiday; all staff work at Walter.
• Sunday, September 2, and Monday, September 3: Houston Public Library closed for Labor Day holiday.

Changes to E-Book Subscriptions

From Marianne Lorio, 8/2:

I apologize for not spreading the news better, but starting this month we will no longer be offering e-books and audiobooks in the Hoopla collection. The reasons for this difficult decision are budget cuts and the costs of these titles in Hoopla compared to the cost in OverDrive. The key factor is that Hoopla charges per checkout of any item. Whereas we pay one price for access to an OverDrive title. When we compared the cost and the usage of both services Hoopla was costing significantly more than OverDrive and getting only a fraction of the usage. If we had kept the availability as it was, it is forecasted that Hoopla would have grown to be over 10% of our materials budget, which is much greater than the percentage of total usage Hoopla provides. We are planning on funneling some of the money that we are saving on Hoopla into buying additional copies and titles for OverDrive. We are working towards reducing the wait time for OverDrive holds to be fulfilled.

As a side note, the remaining formats in Hoopla, music, movies, and comics, have cost us significantly less than e-books and audiobooks. The content of these collections is also, generally, unique to Hoopla, which is why we are maintaining them for the foreseeable future.

From Marianne, 10:46 AM:

As you know by now, budget cuts are leading us to review all our renewals very carefully. The subscription we had with Rbdigital was rather expensive, especially considering that the number of library customers using it was relativity low. Therefore we changed the subscription plan to one that has fewer titles (the top 250 titles) and costs less.

We will be taking some of the money that is saved to purchase audiobooks titles that are exclusive to Rbdigital, including Daniel Steel and Alexander McCall Smith. Please note that these title will be one copy/one user, which means that if all the copies are checked out you will be able to place a hold on the title. This change will take place at the beginning of September. Please be patient with us as we build a smaller, but more unique collection.

Back to School with Brainfuse

From Mary Wagoner, 9:52AM:

It is back to school season! This is the ideal time to promote Brainfuse [Homework Help, Adult Learning Center, Job Now] to your community. As you attend; or offer back to school programs, please mention the free online tutoring available through Houston Public Library.  

For parents, the JobNow graphic is focused on building a resume. Brainfuse has OptimalResume, a resume building software with over 500 sample templates to help build a resume. The Brainfuse Resume Template are Word documents designed to help patrons draft a resume.

Pronunciator Access Ends August 14

From Marriane Lorio, 8/1:

Due to budget cuts the Texas State Library has chosen to drop Pronunciator from the databases they offer through TexShare. We will no longer provide access to this resource after August 14^th. Please direct library users to Mango Languages instead.

NOTE: Customers using Mango Languages outside the Library should use this link instead. Karen