Mandatory Beanstack Training

From Christy, 5/26:

Per CE Manager meeting yesterday, Mary Wagoner requested that all front line staff members need to be able to assist customers on the 2018 SRP registration and prizes (NOT JUST THE YOUTH SERVICES STAFF). 

It is mandatory for all of us to take online 2018 SRP Beanstack training ( see the training link below) for 10 min and use additional 30 minutes to ganin hands on practice in order to get familiar with the program before June 1. 

I added 1 hour SRP TRNG time for all staff on this week schedule. Since this the second year of using the Beanstack for SRP registration, it should be much easier for us this time.  Once you completed your 1 hour training, please report ot Karen or me know by May 31 for your credit. 

Thanks, Christy 

---

---

From: Chang, Christy - HPL
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 5:43 PM
To: SWX/ WAL list
Subject: Fw: Beanstack Training

 

Hi team,

SRP registration staff login username and password set up by the Youth Services staff

Walter- Username: WAL, Password: library

SWX- Username: SWX, Password: library

Please do not change the username and password! 

See Mary's email for more SRP training information. The SRP registration has started,  if you have time please get familiar with the 2018 SRP registration.

Thanks Christy

---

From: Wagoner, Mary - HPL
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 4:33 PM
To: HPL - NL & Express Managers
Cc: HPL - Youth List; HPL - Special Collections Managers; HPL Training
Subject: Beanstack Training

 

Good afternoon!

We are looking forward to Block Party! and what promises to be the best summer reading program ever!  This is Houston Public Library’s largest program for families, therefore all staff are involved in its success! 

 

All staff at Neighborhood Library and Express locations are required to learn about the Summer Reading Program in 2018.  Of course, staff will receive training credit!  Please share with your respective teams the links below that are on the HPL Training Portal.  You can do this together at your staff meetings!

 

1. Training portal homepage (New Training Materials section): http://houstonlibrary.libguides.com/training-portal
2. Library Functions page (Summer Reading Program 2018 section): https://houstonlibrary.libguides.com/library-functions

 

These are quick tutorials on how to register participants, log reading and activities, reset passwords and award prizes.  It is only about 10 minutes long!!!

It is important that all staff know how to do this since Summer Reading Program starts June 1^{st .} The preference is for staff to have completed training by May 30^th.  If someone needs an extension, please email me.   Thank you!

 

New Digital Fluency Program

DATE: Monday, April 23, 2018 TO: All HPL Employees WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS TO SHARE ON THE NEW HPL DIGITAL FLUENCY PROGRAM!

Dear HPL Team,   Would you agree that technology skills are essential to serving our customers at HPL as well as for our own personal lives? The need to continuously evolve, learn and grow in the use of digital technology and fluency are important factors for HPL as a customer-focused organization. The HPL Organizational Development Team, along with the Digital Strategies Team, has developed a Digital Fluency program to assist HPL staff in enhancing the organization's technology skills. This program is designed to help HPL evolve with the continuous evolution in technology, which ultimately helps us continue to deliver exceptional customer service to our internal and external customers.   What is Digital Fluency? What is the goal of the HPL Digital Fluency program?  Digital Fluency is the ability to use technology to achieve desired outcomes. The goal of this program is to gain an understanding of our organization's digital fluency and identify where to provide learning opportunities for staff. HPL staff will have the opportunity to demonstrate their current level of digital fluency through an online assessment tool called NorthStar and use it as a guide to improve or gain additional digital fluency with online resources, training modules and individual training. Our priority is to provide each and every one of you with technological skills development and learning opportunities.   Digital Fluency Assessments - April 23 - May 20, 2018 The NorthStar online assessment tool offers six (6) special assessments. These assessments will kick-off the Digital Fluency program and provide a comprehensive understanding of HPL's digital fluency level. All six assessments will be available starting on Monday, April 23 and must be completed by Sunday, May 20 (at end of day). Every HPL staff member is required to take the online assessments. You must achieve at least an 85% passing rate on each assessment. Assessments may be re-taken to achieve the passing rate during the assessment window. Thirty (30) minutes of training credit are given for each assessment. This is a skill building process! We encourage everyone to review the HPL NorthStar Resource Guide before taking or retaking the assessments. How to access the online assessment tool Visit the Digital Fluency Resource Page on the HPL training portal. You will find instructions on how to get started. Attached is a “How To” guide to help as well. HPL supervisors and managers will be able to assist you with questions. You may also contact the HPL OD Training team at hpltraining@houstontx.gov or the Digital Strategies Team at hpl.helpdesk@houstontx.gov. This program is designed to support HPL staff in maintaining or gaining the Digital Fluency necessary to serve HPL internal and external customers. The goal is to provide all staff with the best learning and training opportunities and is not designed to be punitive.

Sincerely, Ophelia Gomes | Rick Peralez Digital Fluency Sponsors

First Staff Meeting of 2018

From Karen, 10:44AM:

Our first staff meeting of 2018 will be next Monday, January 8, from 9:15-9:45, at Walter.  

Please plan to start your day at Walter next Monday.  We'll start and end promptly so staff can get back to Southwest Express in time to open.

In order to find more time for staff training, I would like to try having our monthly staff training meetings on Saturday mornings from 8:30-9:30--you would attend on the weekend you're normally scheduled to work.  The January trainings will be Saturday, Jan. 13 and Jan. 20.  Future dates will be February 10 & 17, March 10 & 17, and April 14 & 21.

Derrick and Pam are working on topics for future trainings, including Intermediate and Advanced Word and Excel.  Now is a good time to brush up on your basic Word and Excel skills by attending one of the public classes or taking a Lynda.com or other online class.  

Here's the upcoming schedule for Basic Word and Basic Excel at Walter and Southwest Express:

Basic Word

Walter: Jan. 30, Feb. 13, March 7

Southwest: Jan. 16, Feb. 13, March 13

Basic Excel

Walter: Jan. 16, Feb. 6, March 14

If you want to attend one of these classes, let me or Christy know so we can add it to the schedule.

NBC Learn Training Now Online

From Marianne Lorio, 11:52AM: 

I’ve had a chance to review the recording of the webinar for NBC Learn and it is ready for viewing. It’s been sent to the Training Department to put on the Training Portal and I know they will get to get as soon as they can. In the meantime I want to make it available to everyone as per my previous e-mails. The trouble is that the video is too large for an attachment. Therefore I am attaching only the PowerPoint for the presentation. However, in order to get credit for attendance you must watch the recording of the webinar which is the link in the sentence below.

The recorded session can be downloaded via Dropbox here.

To watch the video you do not have to sign in with a Dropbox account. You must download the video before you start to watch it. Otherwise you will only see the first 15 minutes of the webinar.

If you are front line staff you are required to have either attended one of the live webinars or to watch the full recording by February 28^th. If you are not front line staff you have the option of watching the recording to get training credit. Also attached is a Sign In form. Please wait until everyone who needs to watch the webinar at your location has done so. Then have the staff fill out the sign in form and send it to the Training Department. (Please note: If you have already turned in your name to the Training Department there is no need to do so again.)

I will send out an e-mail when the webinar is posted on the Staff Portal. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Updating your Lynda.com Login

From Laurie Covington, 11/30:

For the SD Week training that is through Lynda.com, staff will need to have a library card to access Lynda.  

If they had previously set up an account with Lynda and they cannot remember the password, they can reset the password by calling Lynda at 888-335-9632 Monday--Friday, 8 am to 7 pm, or Saturday--Sunday, 9 am to 6 pm.   You will need to be prepared to re-set the password on the phone call.

Check Your Lynda.com Password

From Marianne Lorio, 12:52 PM:
Since Lynda.com will be part of our upcoming staff development training I am sending out this e-mail to remind everyone that if they have forgotten their password it can be reset. Just call Lynda at 888-335-9632. This number is also under the description of Lynda.com on the Research webpage. 

If you have not already created a Lynda account be prepared to create one using your library card number when you access the resource for the first time.

Bluebonnet E-Books

From Sally Bates, 11:50 AM:

Due to the generosity of Baker & Taylor and several publishers, we now have multiple additional copies of Bluebonnet e-books (and some e-audio books) as well as some of the more popular Lone Star titles, on Axis 360.  As you know, these titles are also included in the Name That Book contest. 

Please encourage your customers to check them out! 

If you have questions about Axis 360, there is training material on the Staff Training Portal, and we are also happy to answer what we can.

Training Opportunities & Reminders

From Suzy Benton, 10/11:

For those seeking training opportunities, please be reminded that there is an Approved Online Training Opportunitiespage on the training portal that provides information for FREE trainings from vendors that are pre-approved for training credit. Some trainings may require you to create an account to register for an offering. Please follow the registration instructions per vendor. Send certificates of completion to hpltraining@houstontx.gov and include your name, employee ID, title of training, date taken and number of training hours.

There is also an Archived Webinars page on the portal that provides access to recorded webinars. Upon completion of any archived webinar, please be sure to provide meaningful comments in the Comments section and emailhpltraining@houstontx.gov to let us know that you have watched the webinar and provided comments. Be sure to include your name, employee ID, title of training, date taken and number of training hours.

For any trainings that require funding, a Funding Request Form must be submitted at least 2 weeks in advance. Funding must be pre-approved prior to registration – this includes the Learning Development Center (LDC). Please do not register for any fee-based offerings on the TMS until approval is provided by HPL Training.

As always, please seek supervisorial approval prior to taking any training and submit documentation to HPL Trainingupon completion of the training so we may update your training record accordingly. Please share this information with your team members as appropriate.

For detailed information re: training guidelines, please visit the Training Guidelines page on the portal.

2018 Cyber Security Awareness Mandatory Training

From Suzy Benton, 1:36PM:

You all should have received a message from HITS regarding Cyber Security Awareness Month and mandatory cyber security training. A follow-up email was sent on Monday, October 2^nd with a link to the actual training. Please click on this link to access this 45-minute training directly.

 

Upon completion, you will receive a certificate of completion. Please be sure to send this tohpltraining@houstontx.gov and include your name, employee number, title of training, date taken and number of training hours so that we may update your training record accordingly.

 

The training is mandatory for ALL COH employees. The deadline for completion is October 31^st. Please complete the training by this date to ensure that we remain in compliance with this COH mandate.

Office 365 Training

From Karen, 5:50PM:

The Learning Development Center, 4101 Leland, is offering Office 365 training on the following dates:

To register:
Check with me first so we can coordinate the scheduling
Then register by logging in to your TMS account at https://talent.houstontx.gov/Saba/Web/COH

UPDATE:  From Karen, 6/24/17: All of the classes listed above are full at this time.  I will look for other options.

Niche Academy Tutorials

From Suzy Benton, 9:56AM:

We have recently purchased a subscription to a new training tutorial center through The Niche Academy. This service provides short videos to help you become more familiar with all of our electronic resources. All tutorials are easy to use and available on demand as needed.  As an added bonus, Niche Academy tutorials are always up-to-date and include video instruction, printable text with images and a mobile responsive user interface.

To access the tutorials, please follow the steps below:

• Click on link to go to The Niche Academy page on the HPL Training Portal: http://training.houstonlibrary.org/niche-academy
• Click on the 
  button below the slideshow or click on the titles below to view the courses.
•  Log in using your city email address – for more details on how to access courses, please clickhere.

Note:  tutorials are informational and not considered for training credit.

Please feel free to contact hpltraining@houstontx.gov with any questions and/or concerns.

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STAFF TRAINING AGENDA

Google Drive with Derrick

NOTES:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

March 2017 Staff Meeting & Training

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2017

9AM-11:30 AM, MEETING ROOM

STAFF MEETING AGENDA

• Staff Changes: Welcome Patricia! Farewell (this month) Kayren! 
• Outreach Update: Scheduled in March: 3/1, New Horizons (AZ); 3/17, Fonteno Senior Center (DC); 3/23, Clarewood House (DC); 3/23, Sharpstown Civic Association (KL). 
• Updates from February CE Managers Meeting
• Tagging & Lost Cards: Tag all incoming holds and returned items without tags.  Mark lost/abandoned customer cards "lost" in account, then cut up; don't keep unattended library cards at the desk.
• Other training options (see below)
• Issues to Discuss: Guidelines for Saturdays and Procedures Regarding Notification of Tardiness or Absence.

IMPORTANT DATES THIS MONTH

• Friday, March 3: Pay Day!
• Tuesday, March 7: SW Managers Team Meeting @ FRA (Karen)
• Friday, March 10: Youth Services Meeting @ Monarch School, Wirt Road (Irene, Ivy, Kayren)
• Friday, March 10: Last day of pay period
• Friday, March 17: Pay Day!
• Friday, March 24: Customer Experience Managers Meeting (Christy, Karen)
• Friday, March 24: Last day of pay period
• Friday, March 31: Pay Day!
• Friday, April 7: Staff Meeting & Training (Google Drive Basics with Derrick)

 

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STAFF TRAINING AGENDA

E-Books with Derrick

NOTES: How to use Overdrive and Hoopla

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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.
4. 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 videos.