New Classics

We have just received a very large shipment of paperback classics.
We now have many new copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, etc.

There are new classics that may not be considered classics by some, but we have them classified there.

The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
I know why the caged bird sings - Maya Angelou
Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Black Like Me - Griffin
Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingslover
Stranger in a strange land - Heinlen
Complete Persepolis - Satrapi
Book Thief - Zusak
Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson
Confederacy of Dunces - Toole
Chinese Cinderella - Mah
The things they carried - O'Brien
Three Cups of Tea - Mortensen
Kite Runner - Hosseini

Days Off Calendar and Blog Changes

All,

For the New Year, I've made a few changes on the blog that you should know about.

First, I've combined the "Circulation" and "Reference" links into "Stella Link Staff". We are one team who already cross over to the "other side of the desk" regularly, so I think this reflects that reality and the growing trend.

The first link in this section is the "Days Off Calendar". Full-time staff, please add here any days that you will be off other than your regular Friday off and whether you are taking it as vacation, float, personal, etc. If you are coming in late or leaving early, please add that as well. Fridays and Saturdays are already marked as to which team is working and which is off. You will need to log in with a Google account (such as stestaff) in order to edit. If you would like access to this document from your personal account, please let me know.

Thanks to everyone for a great year in 2009. All the best to everyone in 2010.

Thanks again,
John

ILL under ref desk

There is a large cardboard box ILL that is under the Reference desk for Fairly. Just letting everyone know in case he comes looking for it.

Patrick

Recycling bins

All,

We have put out the recycling bins throughout the building. Please remember to put paper in the small green bins and the tall ones with the slit opening. Paper towels, tissue and food wrappers are not recyclable.

Plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans can go in the bin with the round opening on the main floor or the bin in the staff lounge.

Of course we've been recycling here for some time, but this new system should make it easier for everyone.

Thanks,
John

DVDs

Please do not shelve DVDs that are missing covers. The case could be on the repair shelf. I have found some that are still checked out or listed as on the shelf at another branch or in transit. Put them on Renee's desk and I will find the right case. Same goes for DVDs & CDs that have torn up covers or cases falling apart. Also, make sure you check case to see if the cases are empty before you put them on the rack to be shelved.

Thanks
Renee

Volunteers

Good Morning,

On the whole, I think the volunteers do a great job and really make our job a lot easier. There are those occasional instances though where the volunteer may make mistakes. We must remember that these volunteers are young, more than likely have never held a job before, do not have the experience in the library that we have and simply are not going to be perfect. I think we have to make it a team effort when trying to ensure that the volunteers are shelving books in the proper place.

Each and everyone of us should, first, be thankful for the volunteers. They do a tremendous job of helping out with the numerous jobs that we have to get done. Secondly, we need to all try to observe them whenever we can. If you see them coming out with a cart of books and they look a little lost, take the time to stand up, walk over to them and direct them to the right place. Even if they don't look lost, it would not hurt to take a walk over there every once in a while to check up on their work, particularly the newer volunteers.

It is impossible for one person to supervise each and every single volunteer. The only other alternative would be to just have the volunteers stop coming completely, but that would really increase the workload, particularly on the shelving side of things.

We may notice the volunteers more when we find a book shelved incorrectly, but they are quietly doing a lot of good at the library.

Thanks
Patrick

Holiday Celebration!

All,

Here it is December already! How 2009 has flown!

It's time to start thinking about our annual Stella Link staff holiday celebration. We have a few people taking time off the week of Christmas, so I propose we have our celebration on Thursday, December 17th.

Last year we did a very low-cost Secret Santa gift exchange. If everyone would like we can do that again.

And, yes, I will be glad to bake some Toll House Cookies for the occasion! :)

Thanks,
John

Driving Record Requests

HR has asked everyone who drives on City business to fill out a form so that they can get a copy of our driving records. Do not sign the "signature of requestor" line at the bottom (HR signs there). There will be a stack of forms on the table outside my office. Please fill it out and put it in my red mailbox no later than Tuesday.

Thanks,
John

December Volunteer Orientation

Pre-Happy Holidays!

I will not be holding any volunteer orientations during the month of
December.

Thank you,

Miranda :)

Snowpeople

Hello all. You should all have a "snow person." This is for the children's bulletin board. Please decorate your snow person as you see yourself. An example is shown below. This will be an interactive bulletin board, as if a child/teen can correctly guess who each snow person belongs to, they will recieve a prize. If you have any question please ask! Thanks.

Headphones

All,

To repeat yesterday's e-mail:

Effective immediately, headphones may not be worn while working in the staff workroom.

A common radio or Internet radio may be played for all to hear, but it must be kept to a reasonable volume and be kept on something that will be acceptable to all listeners.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
John

Volunteer Orientation

Hello,

There will be two volunteer orientations for November:

Tuesday November 10 at 5

Sunday November 15 at 3

Thank you,

Miranda :)

PS Anyone who is interested in volunteering but cannot attend these sessions, is welcome to contact me directly.

Reference CDs

All the CDs found in the back of any reference books will be kept at the reference desk in the top drawer on the left side.

Thanks
Renee

Election Day

Polling places for the November 3rd election may be found at the Harris Votes Web site. Just click "Find your Election Day Poll and View Voter Specific Ballot." Remember that voters must vote in the precinct on Election Day. We are not a polling place. Precinct 175 votes at Twain and precinct 232 votes at Pershing.

Thanks,
John

Native-American Heritage Month Children's Display

Hi everyone,

On the top of Aisle 5 I have placed a display of juvenile books for Native-American Heritage Month. These items include biographies, craft books, native folk tales, and books on various tribes. If a patron is wanting something related to Native Americans, look here first.

Thanks!
Carol

Leaving Work Area Clean

Good Afternoon,

Let's try our best to finish whatever jobs we start. If you have printed out a bunch of holds cover slips, don't leave them there printed out without putting them around the books. If you have finished others and have a bin full of books that need to be sorted in the back, please do that before you move on to the next task. If you do pickup, don't leave a cart full of books against the wall that are unsorted. If you receive an ILL return at the reference desk, please finish the entire process. If this requires you to take the item to the back, then that is ok as well, because the ILL stuff is all on google docs and can be accessed from any computer.
It is not fair for someone else to show up to relieve you, whether it be circulation or reference, and find a half finished job waiting on them.

Keep up the great work.
Thanks
Patrick

Yeeehaw!!

For your viewing pleasure, the dadgum best, rootinest, tootinest library staff west of the Sabine!

Laptop check out forms

Please highlight the part of the laptop check out form that states fines are $25. Then have the patron initial in the margin right next to this statement. Hopefully this will eliminate the overdue problems.

Thanks
Renee

Suspensions

Hello everyone, if you should have to "write" a teen up, please look to see if they have a suspension log in the binder first. The more offensives they do, the longer they are suspended for. Thank you!

Reviewing Rules

All,

There's been some disagreement about some of the house rules for customers on the floor, particularly for after school. This is what we have right now:

* One person to a computer. Exceptions will be made if students are collaborating on a project, but they must be actively working on the project.
*No one may sit on the window sills or in any window. I was allowing one person at a time, but it seems to be abused.
*The tree in the middle may have five sitting on each side, for a total of 20 persons.
*The number of people sitting at a table should match the number of chairs that "belong" to that table, usually four, but sometimes three.
*The rule for the Toddler Area: You must be a toddler or with a toddler.
*Similarly for the Adult Sitting Area (near the magazines): You must be an adult or with an adult.
*No inappropriate touching.
*Sports equipment (e.g., basketballs, skateboards) should be stored behind the reference desk, if brought in at all.
*Students must keep backpacks, musical instruments, etc. attended at all times.
*Students may not loiter on the sidewalk. The may wait inside the building for their rides.
*Students (middle school and up) must have a student ID with them at all times.

Exceptions may be made occasionally, on a case by case basis, preferably in consultation with manager, assistant manager or librarian in charge.

Please see me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you all for your cooperation as we enforce these rules.

John

Book Club and Movie Club.

FYI,

Book Talk:

November: "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson
December: "The Bonesetter's Daughter" by Amy Tan
January: "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

Movie Club:

October: "Out of Africa"
November: "Citizen Kane" (Orson Wells)
December: "The Philadelphia Story" (with Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart)

Thank you,

Miranda :)

Floating Holiday

All full-time employees receive one floating holiday per calendar year, which must be taken no later than December 31st. It normally must be approved by one's supervisor 30 days in advance. If you have not yet taken your 2009 floating holiday, please see me and we'll arrange a date--first come, first served.

Thanks,
John

Door Count

Hi everyone!

It's great to be back! Please note that Door Count begins Sunday, October 18th, and runs till Saturday, October 24th.

Thank you for all you do,
John

Halloween!

Howdy pardners!

We'll be having our Second Annual Halloween Dress-Up Day on Thursday, October 29th. This year's theme will be cow persons (cowboys and cowgirls). I look forward to seeing everyone's Western wear.

John

Scary Story Contest

Hello Guys and Ghouls,
In October we are having a short scary story contest. The stories can be up to a page long (hand written or typed), and need to be turned in by Wednesday ............ October 28th. This is open to anyone under 18. The prizes will be gift cards, music downloads, books and more. The winners will also have their stories read at the Scary Storytime which will occur on Thursday October 29th. This story time will be for older kids (6 and up) and will have special effects.
I will have a folder in the bottom drawer by the printer to keep stories that get turned in. Thanks!
*Insert scary laugh*

Staff meeting

I would like to have our regular monthly staff meeting this Thursday, September 24, at 11:20 a.m. Please let me know if you have anything for the group.

Thanks,
John

Changing passwords

When a customer comes up to have their password reset, please take a moment to enter/scan their card in MilCirc and verify their name.

Thanks,
John

Suspension Log

Just a reminder, when you fill in a suspension log sheet for a student, please hole-punch it and put it in the proper place in the binder immediately.

There will be a separate sheet to record names of students who are suspended. Erik has offered to keep track of these and make copies to send to the school, if applicable.

Thanks!
John

HPL to Go! - Updated 09/09/09

All,

With the recent publicity, we expect there will be a lot of questions about HPL to Go.

To review:

*HPL to Go is only available for items the customer has already placed on hold and has received notification that they are ready to be picked up. We cannot pull items off the regular shelves.

*They must give their library card number over the phone.

*We ask the customer to give us at least 30 minutes before they arrive.

*When checking items out for an HPL to Go customer, remember to print out two (2) receipts.

*When they arrive and call us, please take the items to their car and check their library card number or ID. Have them sign one receipt. Keep the signed receipt and give the customer the other.

*Please place the signed receipt in the HPL to Go receipt envelope on the desk.

*For returns: We are not advertising a return service, but if a customer hands you some items to return, just drop them in the bookdrop on your way in (DVDs and CDs being the exception: Check those in by hand or through Bertha).

*HPL to Go will primarily be a Circulation function, but Reference may be asked to assist. Most certainly, Reference staff members should be prepared to take phone calls inquiring about the service and to take requests.

*If customers wish to pay fines, they must do so in the building or online. No money should be exchanged.

*ILL items may be picked up or dropped off also; however, in order to get an ILL receipt, the customer must let us know when they call that they will be returning the item(s).

If you have any questions, please ask me.

Thanks!
John

August Stats

August Stats are going in this morning. If you have any stats that you need to add to any of the stats spreadsheets on the blog, please do so in a timely fashion.
Thank you for your cooperation. (/robocop)

Children's Programs

Hello everyone,

I'm awaiting the arrival of the children's calendars from the print shop. If patrons ask, the children's programs resume as follows:
Sept. 8 Toddler Playgroup
Sept. 9 Storytime
Sept. 12 Saturday Storytime (every other Saturday from this point on)
Sept. 14 Babytime

Thanks!
CR

"Books on the Bayou"

Hello,

HPL has asked our book club to read "Their eyes were watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston instead of the book I picked for October. This book selection is part of the annual system-wide programming series, "Books on the Bayou". We will continue with my selections in November.

Thank you for your assistance,

Miranda :)

PS I would love to hear any opinions from those who have read this title previously.

Volunteer Orientation.

Hey there,

The next volunteer orientation will be Saturday September 12 at 11 am. Applications can be found in the bottom passenger side drawer of the reference desk. Teens must be bring the completed application and a parent to the orientation. Adult volunteer applicants must fill out an application, attach a resume, and submit it before attending an orientation.

Thank you for your assistance,

Miranda :)

Stats

Just wanted to thank everyone for doing such a wonderful job of staying on top of all of the various statistics. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of them with all of the help everyone is providing.

Patrick

Monthly Meeting

Hi everyone,

We'll have our monthly meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19th at 9:20-ish. Heidi Daniel will speak to us about After School Zone. Just a reminder: School starts Monday. Back to the old grind. Look out, here comes Voldemort! ;)

John

Patron holds/wrong wrappers

There was another instance of books being wrapped in the wrong wrapper this morning.
The barcode appearing on the slip, in theory, should make this possibility completely impossible, but it's not working.
We MUST check every single book barcode against the barcode on the slip whenever we are wrappin holds.
Otherwise, we are going to need to quit stacking slips entirely.
If you're going to stack, then you have to verify each and every barcode as you start wrapping.

Thank you
Patrick

New Holds Stats Definitions

Holds definitons:

Received: The number of holds that come in delivery for your customers

Paged: The number of holds that appeared on your daily paging list/slips that you looked for on your shelves (whether you find them or not)

Cancelled: The number of holds that have expired and you pull from your hold shelf when you run the “Clear the Holdshelf” report or that you visually see as being expired based on date.

YA magazines

Hello all. I have moved the back issues of all YA magazines to the YA section, so they may be checked out. Most people don't know that they can check the back issues out, so I think this will bump up YA stats more. These magazines are treated like all YA items. Once checked in, please place them on my cart. Thank you!

Book Talks for the Fall of 2009.

Hello,

The Books for our Book Discussion Group:

Monday September 21: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society" by Shaffer and Barrows
(Please place holds)

Monday October 19: "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Monday November 16: "Three Cups of Tea" by Mortenson and Relin

Happy Reading......

Miranda :)

New Percy Jackson & the Olympians Paperbacks!

Today we received 2 copies each of the first three books in the series: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan's Curse. I have put them with the new books on top of aisle 4.

Carol

Scenic Painting camp

August Children's Programs

Hello everyone,

There will not be any children's programs during the month of August; i.e., storytime, babytime, toddler playgroup, etc. Programming will resume the Tuesday after Labor Day - September 8. We will then have Babytime at 11:00 on Mondays, Toddler Playgroup at 11:00 on Tuesdays, and Storytime at 11:00 on Wednesdays. There will only be ONE program per day.

Carol

John's obligatory vacation note

Hi all,

I can't go away without leaving a note.

I'll do my best to bring some of the cool Boston weather home with me. Patrick is in charge till Monday and then Carol takes over till I get back on the 24th.

Thanks again for all you do to make Stella the coolest library in explored space.

John

Laptops

David from IT says we need to shut down the laptops properly and it should help with their performance. When someone returns a laptop, it may be because of a dead battery, so the laptop did not get shut down properly. We need to start checking for that and if the laptops are still on, instead of just holding down the power button, we need to go into the start menu and shut down from there.

David also advised us to hold down the power button for 7 seconds when turning on the laptop before we give it to the customer.

Two Things

We now have Downtown Aquarium tickets!! Please give each child two tickets since we no longer have the circus tickets.

Next Week's craft on 7/21: We will make jellyfish, starfish, and decorate some fish. Ages 2 - 7

Carol

New ILL receipt form

All,

I've added a new Google Docs version of the ILL Receipt form. The link is right under the ILL log link. All you'll need to do is copy and paste information from the ILL log. You may need to make a minor correction for formatting. It will be much faster and easier than writing all that out.

Thanks,
John

Summer Reading Prizes

Downtown Aquarium tickets are on the way. Today I received about 40 Astros tickets as well as some James Coney Island tickets-- we won't get any more. The circus tickets are gone, and no more will be coming. We still have a large number of Whataburger coupons.

I realize some patrons are upset, but we had a limited number of incentives to begin with. Thank you all for your help and patience-- we're on the downhill slope of SRP!

Carol

Research Reservation Kiosk

I think it would be in our best interest, for the time being, to leave the sign on that research reservation kiosk and do all of the reserving from the reference desk. It inevitably messes up at some point every single day and we end up with 4 or 5 people on the reservation list that it will not assign to an open computer. We are then stuck trying to find where these people are and informing them we are going to have to delete their reservation. This usually results in angry customers and makes the library look incompetent in a way.

ILL logs

When entering ILLs in the log, please designate the type of item (CD or DVD) after the title if applicable. Also, check inside the case to make sure the disc is there.

Thanks
Renee

Statistics

For clarification on the stats we need to track...

These stats all go into the Holds count, Volunteers and P Count spreadsheet that can be found on the blog under reference on the right hand side.

The p count needs to be taken every morning and put into the blog before we open.

The volunteer stats should be broken into adult and juvenile volunteers. There are columns on the stats spreadsheet now reflecting that.

The clear holdshelf numbers should be tracked everyday as well. Place this into the spreadsheet on the blog as well. This number should be found on the end of the printout whenever you do the clear holdshelf. The number will be next to the line that says "to be removed from holdshelf entirely."

The paging list books that we find that are checked in and fulfilled a hold for here also must now be counted. The ones on the paging list that are not found, no longer have a hold on them or are set in transit are not to be counted.

Thanks

Holds Counts, Volunteers and Visitors

I have sent an e-mail to everyone about the holds counts. There is a spreadsheet on the blog now to track how many holds we process as well as how many holds we pull for the paging list.

Please use this daily.

The spreadsheet will also have a place for volunteer information. We must now keep track of the volunteers we have each day as well as the total daily hours for all volunteers. If you can keep track of this part for me Miranda.

Lastly, we can now put the p count number on the spreadsheet.(Tim and Nina)

This will make it easier on me to plug in all of the monthly stats.

Thanks

Patrick

OCE log

I have updated the OCE problem log for 2009. Please log any and all problems since Regina Stimmer wants a record. There is a link for the log on this blog.

One more thing, the repair man said if the scanner has to be unplugged to reset, please unplug from black box on the floor.

Thanks
Renee

Holds Shelf

Remember to continue shifting books as you put them onto the holdshelf. Tim has noticed that some of the shelves are packed in like sardines, while the shelf right below it only has 8 or 10 books on it and plenty of room to shift. Try to keep an eye on the volunteers as well, because some of this may be due to them not knowing.

A few things

Hi everyone!

A few notes:

*Ja'Naye has made some very nice placards to be used for our designated parking spaces. Please join me in thanking her. A reminder that if our spaces are full and there are no spaces in our lot that Mark Twain's lot is available through the summer.

*I would like to have our June staff meeting at 9:30 on Tuesday, the 30th. We'll keep it brief.

*Please let me know your deployment choices if you have not yet done so. It's still a while off, but we want to have everything ready to go when it happens.

Thanks again for all you do to make this such a fabulous place to work!
John

Sunday Schedule

The Sunday schedule is posted on the intranet. You can view this by going to HPLnet from the blog and clicking on Sunday work Information then schedule.

Everyone here is scheduled to be in the Sunday schedule rotation.

Tickets for Gymboree on Tuesday, June 23

Important: There is a limit of 30 children. They must be between the ages of 0 - 4 years. If a patron has a child who appears older, please politely inform them of the age limit. The tickets are in the drawer; we will give them out only on the morning of the program.

Thanks!
CR

New ILL Log

Hi!

Erik has devised a new ILL Log to replace the Access database for new ILLs. It is a Google Docs spreadsheet. The link is on the reference list here on the good ol' blog. It is accessible from any work station. As old item come in, please continue to use the old database, but please enter new items on the spreadsheet.

From IT

All,

IT has given us these instructions to prevent the public computer server from crashing and to keep it going when it does.

*Do not use the "add/edit" function on the reservation screen.
*When the reservation server does crash, do not reboot the server in the back. Instead, please call the IT Help Desk or the after hours number and have them release it.

Thanks!
John

Meeting Rooms in August

All,

For the time being, please do not take any meeting room reservations for August. Although we don't have a firm date for closing just yet, I think it's wise not to take any reservations.

Thanks,
John

ILL Receipt Form

I have saved the template to both desktops at the reference desk.

Runescape

Hey all, this week is the week of the multi-library system Runescape hunt. The list of items are at the ref desk next to the Teen SRP calendars. Thanks.

Tickets for Tuesday's Program

For Reference Staff:

The tickets for tomorrow's performer, Texas Snakes, are in the "driver's side" drawer of the reference desk. PLEASE do not give out any tickets until tomorrow morning. Give each patron a double ticket. We will collect the part that says "Ticket" at the door tomorrow when they enter.

Thanks!
CR

ILL Procedure

Good Morning,

We are to immediately begin giving receipts whenever someone turns in an ILL.
We are going to either find a receipt book or make up one on the computers at the reference desk. The original will be given to the customer while we will make a copy for our own records.

The receipt must include the following:
1. Customer's name
2. ILL Transaction #
3. Item Title
4. Date of Return
5. Staff Member Signature

If they return it in the bookdrop then make up a receipt and keep it.

Patrick

Deposit Procedure

A few things about the deposit:

From now on, the money needs to be counted at closing. There is a form in the blue deposit notebook to record the amount of checks, bills and coins each separately. It will go faster if 2 people count it.

Everyone that does the deposit needs to sign the new deposit rules. Please see me about this. I will go over the deposit procedure and new forms with you.

Thanks
Renee

Scenic Painting Camp

Hello all. The Scenic Painting camp apps are in the same drawer that the volunteer apps are in. (Inside a folder). There are 12 spaces in the camp and it is for ages 10 - 18. Registration is required. There is also a waiting list inside the folder as well. If needed I created a spanish app if you think that it is needed for the customer. The camp has also moved to the week of July 20 - 24. Thank you everyone.

Adult Summer Programs

The calligraphy class for June 25 at 6 is canceled. I am waiting for a confirmation on a replacement. Will post it as soon as I know.

Our SRP for July is: July 6 - Dollar Origami
July 30 - Image Consultant

Sorry, my earlier post about Image Consultant being canceled was incorrect.

Thanks

Summer Volunteers

Hello,

The summer volunteer program is full until further notice. Please do not give out any new applications.

Thank you (:

Miranda

Babytime Cancelled June 1 and June 8

Hi everyone,

Since I will be out June 1 - June 8, I am cancelling babytime on these Mondays. I have previously told the "regulars," so they know not to come. I am posting signs this evening around the library. I just wanted everyone to know in case patrons are asking. Thanks!

Carol

Congratulations, Carol!

Please join me in congratulating our fabulous children's librarian on her promotion! Carol will be Librarian II, effective May 30th! Yay! Huzzah!

Volunteers.

Hey group,

The SAVE summer voluteers have been asked to drop in to either:

A. MTuWSa 10:30- 12:30 or 1-3 pm

B.ThFSu 1-3 pm

My hope is that the afternoon teens will then attend teen programming at 3 pm. They have also signed up to help Erik with specific teen programming. I will let you know if I need to cap the number of teens in the program. A quick reminder though, our year long volunteers or adult volunteers, can volunteer when they are available.

Thank you,

Miranda

Teen SRP

Hello all, notes about the teen SRP.
The information sheets for the runescape tournaments will be available on the day of the tournament. IT will have the items that are needed.

The Acting Camp and the Scenic Painting Camp will require parent release forms.

The Scenic Painting Camp will only have 15 slots. Everything else is open to everyone.

Monthly Meeting

Hi all,

We'll have our usual monthly meeting Thursday, the 21st, at 11:20. Please let me know by the end of Wednesday if you have any items for the agenda. If you can't make the meeting, please see me afterwards and I'll fill you in.

Thank you all for the awesome job you all do on a daily basis.

John

Book Club for June

FYI

The book club title for June 18 is....(drum roll) "The Last Lecture"
by Randy Pausch.

Baby Pictures needed

Hello Everyone, please remember I need baby pictures for any staff that wants to be apart of the contest (See prev post) I will scan the picture so I do not need to keep any pictures. Thanks.

Video on laptop

Hola a todo,
On the SRP laptop, I have placed a video that plays in Media Player as an advertisement for our SRP. This is also so that the laptop does not go into snooze mode. All you have to do is minimize the program, or click to the Internet Explorer to get it to the Summer Reader page. Thanks. E

Tickets for Summer Children's Programs

Hello,

The following programs are limited to a certain amount of people (see below). NO ADVANCE TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE BEFORE THE DAY OF THE PROGRAM. Patrons can get tickets at the reference desk the morning of the program. EACH person receiving a ticket MUST be present when we give the ticket out. (One person can't come up to the desk and ask for 3 tickets unless the other two people are present.)

June 16 - 11:00 Texas Snakes (70 total)

June 23 11:00 Gymboree (30 children ages 0-4 plus parents)

July 7 11:00 Jungle Jim (70 total)

July 8 11:00 Gymboree (30 children ages 0-4 plus parents)

Babytime on Mondays and Storytime on Wednesdays will continue as they are currently.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Thanks,
Carol

Just a Note Before I Go...

Hi everyone!

A few reminders before I take off on vacation:

*First, the news from the managers' meeting: No layoffs and no change in service hours! Many other cities have it much worse. We're still working out what the particulars of the new Sunday scheduling are and our designation as a World Languages Hub, but we will know more soon.

*From today's staff meeting: On Monday, we will begin staffing the circulation desk with one person, with one person on the floor assisting customers with self-service. Please refer to this area as check-out and not self check.

*HPL to Go! is our new curbside checkout service, which we hope to start here and at Looscan on June 1st.

*Sheltering Arms has designated ten spaces for Library staff use. These are the spaces just to the right of the entrance to their lot. I have made some temporary signs for your dashboards, but I'd like to have a contest among our staff to design what our permanent parking tags will be. They can be signs for the dashboard or hang-tags. Please make your design while I'm on vacation and we'll determine which design we'll use upon my return.

*I'll be in Florida visiting my folks for the next week. Patrick is in charge till I return. Go easy on him.

Thank you all for being the best staff in HPL!

John

Volunteers.

HI,

I just wanted to pass on some information about the volunteers at our branch.

I. Summer Volunteers:
a. Summer youth volunteers (ages 12-16) are part of a program called SAVE which runs from June to the end of August. If they volunteer a minimum of 50 hrs, they will be recognized.
b. SAVE volunteers have separate applications which are available at the Ref Desk. (In addition to the normal volunteer applications).
c. SAVE volunteers will attend an orientation, which will run Saturday May 23rd at 11 am and continue every second Saturday until further notice. They must bring their application and parent to the orientation.
d. These volunteers can drop in to either an am or pm shift Mon- Wed and Sat. or a pm shift Thursday , Friday or Sunday. These shifts will be 2 hrs at a time and volunteers will be expected to volunteer for at least 30 minutes- 2hrs. The hours will be determined and passed on to you at a later date.
e. Volunteers will be expected to check in with staff in the backroom for instructions as well as at the ref desk staff.
f. Carol and Erik- if you need these volunteers for summer programming, let me know.

II. Adult Volunteers:

a. Adult Volunteers must undergo a criminal background check. They may not attend an orientation until their check is completed. They will be contacted when this is done.
b. Their applications should be passed on to me and I will forward them.

III. Volunteer Gifts:

We have be given gifts for our volunteers. These gifts consist of pens, agendas (available at the ref desk) and bags (located at my desk).

IV. Our regular volunteers.

Youth do not have to part of the SAVE program and can continue volunteering as in the past. Adult volunteers can volunteer when available.

Thank you,

Miranda

New contest photos needed

Hello all. A new contest we will be doing for the summer, as suggested by other staff members, is a photo matching contest in which the public will try to match our baby pictures to today's pictures. What does this mean? I need a baby picture from everyone that wants to be in this by the last week in May. It will be a poster that will be in the foyer, much like the "survivor" contest of last year. Thanks. E.

YA grows up to a cart...

Hello all, just so everyone knows, YA is no longer to be placed in a basket once it is checked in. It is to be shelved on a cart like the other books, in the same place, but on a cart. I, Melissa and Brian are the ones that will shelve it. Thank you all for your help in this.

YA shifted

Hello all, YA has been fully shifted. The current Lone Star Books are now in front of YA fiction. The paperback series are now were the paperback classics once were. Also the paperback nonfiction has been moved next to the graphic novels, and have different catagories now. Thank you.

New "Career" section

I have created a Career section on the top shelf above the Study Guides. Only books on resumes and cover letters go there. The resume books go on the left and the cover letter books go on the right.They have a red mark on top of them like the green mark on the study guides. If you are not sure where to shelve a book, please ask.

Thanks
Renee

Laptops.

HI ALL!

I went to Circ training yesterday with Fred and he mentioned that he needs us to keep forms for those customers incurring fines from late or missing laptops.

I put together a folder for such forms which is located at the ref desk in the bottom drawer (with the other forms).

Fred also suggested that at the close of the business day, we ensure that all laptops have been returned by following this procedure:

In MilCirc click "Search/Holds" button then select "TitleBrowse" and enter "laptop equipment(unit location)", make sure all items show "Check Shelf".

Bye for now (:
Miranda

April meeting

Folks,

I know some of our team will be unable to attend, but I'd like to have this month's staff meeting Thursday at 11:20.

Please let me know if you have any agenda items.

Thanks!
John

YA DVD's

The YA DVD's have been moved next to the JUV DVD's.
Soon the YA music CD's will be moved next to the Adult Music CD's.
We are YA, resistance is futile, stand to be assimilated. Erik

Paperback Classics

Hello All,
The PaperBack classics have been moved to the end of biographies. (Next to reference). This has been done so that YA can have more room. We are YA, resistance is futile, stand to be assimilated. Erik

Lemonade day

Hello all,
Here is the scoop on Lemonade Day. If someone comes up, about lemonade day, please refer to them me. If I am not here; there is a box at the ref desk that has the applications, and backpacks inside.

If someone completes an application, or comes in with an online registration, please make sure all is completed on it. (Parents signature and our branch name is very important).

After that give them a back back, but make sure the back pack has sugar, fake sugar, 2 lemonade sticks, and some reading material.

Please put the completed applications inside the envelope thing, as I have to send them in every week.

Thank you for your help, and I would like to say "Thank you" to Miranda and Tim for helping with this.
E

Laptops

I think we can all use some reminders about laptop checkout. Please also share this with our Sunday afternoon guest stars:

*Make sure each laptop form has the time checked in and out, your initials, the date, the customer's card number and the last three digits of the laptop's barcode.

*When a customer asks to renew a laptop, please have them fill out a second laptop form. Check it back in and then check it out. Please also change the battery.

*Even when a customer returns a laptop late and there is a fine, please return their ID.

Thank you!
John

Music CDs

The JAZZ CDs have been moved to the POPs section. We needed more room for them. They are now in 2 columns at the end of the POP CDs. Many thanks to Carol Wu for shelving,organizing and keeping straight the music CD collection.

Program spreadsheet

Folks,

I've tweaked the program spreadsheet a bit. It includes a space for "number of programs" space where you can enter the number of children's or YA or whatever programs offered that day. In the attendance spaces, please enter the combined total for all such programs that day. In the description column, you can list what the particular programs are.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

John

Congratulations, Trish!

Please join me in congratulating Trish on her promotion to Senior Library Assistant at Central, effective April 4th. Although we'll all be very sad to see her go, I know we all celebrate this wonderful opportunity for her.

Thanks, Trish, for all your hard work and have fun at Central!

John

Staff meeting

I would like to hold our monthly staff meeting Thursday, March 26th, at 11:20 a.m. Please let me know if you have anything for the group.

Thanks,
John

This week

All,

As I'm sure you've heard, I've been called to Boston for my grandfather's funeral. I'll return to Houston on Thursday and will be back to work on Friday. Patrick is in charge in my absence.

Please also welcome the newest members of our team: Carol and Melissa. They will both be a tremendous asset to the Stella Link staff.

Thank you all for all you do every day for our customers, the Library and one another.

John

Babytime - Two Separate Programs on Mondays

Hello everyone,

First, Toddler Playgroup, then Storytime... and now, we're busting at the seams in Babytime! We will now have two Babytime programs -- one at 10:30 and one at 11:30, effective Monday, March 16.

Thanks!

Carol

Meeting Room Use

Folks,

A few reminders from the Library's Policies and Procedures regarding meeting room use by the general public:

1. Eligibility
Any group may use a library meeting room designated for use by the public. Meeting rooms may not be used for "personal" use such as birthday parties, baby showers, etc.

2. Public nature of Events:
Meetings must be open to the general public. Publicity statements must not imply that attendance is limited to group members.

3. Admission charges:
None are allowed.

4. Reservations:
b. Branch Libraries: Meetings rooms in branch libraries are available for use by the library staff and the general public on a space-available basis. A meeting room request form (Exhibit 1.3(1)) must be submitted for each event in accordance with procedures.

5. Violation of Rules
The library may withhold use from any group or organization, which violates any of the established rules regarding meeting room use.

6. Solicitations for Funds:
Solicitations for charitable or religious purposes are allowed as long as a "donation" is not required for admission to the event.

7. Sale of Goods or Services:
The sale of goods or services is not allowed at the Library.

If you have any questions, please ask me.

Thanks!
John

Wednesday Storytime

Due to the increased attendance at Wednesday Storytimes, we will now have two separate programs beginning March 11. The times are 10:30 and 11:30. There will be a 60 PERSON total (not child) limit both programs.

Thanks!

CR

Public Copier

The public copier is smoking whenever it is turned on. The guys from IT have called the copy company and they should be on their way to work on it at some point in the next few days. We have removed the plug from the copier so that no patrons will try to plug it in on their own. The plug is in the bottom drawer on the right side of the reference desk.

Thanks,
Patrick

Promoting the online survey

Folks,

During the month of March, we're being asked to promote HPL's online survery on Wednesdays. Please hand customers a survey bookmark when they check out or at any other appropriate time on Wednesdays.

Coraline Movie collector cards

Hola todo, We are now doing a trivia contest for collector cards from the movie Coraline. (Supposely these things are worth real money. )If a teen turns a trivia thing in, please refer them to me. If I am not here, please direct them to Trish. Thank you!

Vendor sign in sheets

I have made a vendor sign in sheet that will be kept at the reference desk on a clip board. It is located where the meeting room sign in book is kept.

Thanks
Renee

Tax Forms

The tax forms have been located and are now in the lobby next to the public printer.
We have all 1040 forms and only schedules A & B. All others can be printed out.

Thanks
Renee

Bertha

As per Bertha's doctor, please do not put anything on top of this machine. It stresses the joints and can cause sensor misreads.

Thanks
Renee

TAX Forms

Tax forms and booklets have been ordered and hopefully will arrive end of week or next week. We have received 2008 reproducible tax forms that are located on top of isle 2. Patrons can either make copies or we can print them out from http://www.irs.gov/.

The 2007 reproducible tax forms will be kept at the front desk till the end of tax season.

Tax instruction booklets have just arrived :). They are located next to the public printer in lobby.

Tables in Meeting Rooms

All,

Under most circumstances, I think it would be better customer service for all persons involved if, as a general rule, we don't move tables from one meeting room to another. Exceptions will be made for Library-sponsored programs and on a case-by-case basis otherwise.

Thank you all for your cooperation,
John

Media organization

I have organized and labeled the DVDs. The non-fiction is in order on the top. Classics and foreign films are on the second shelves with classics on the left. The rest are on the bottom shelves.
Also, I am adding more audio book shelves to accommodate our large collection.

I have also made a shelf in the middle of the wall for oversize music CDs.

New Classics

Hey guys and gals

There are new copies in the classics section of "100 Years of Solitude", "The Kite Runner", "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", "Speak"(by Laurie Halse Anderson) and "Life of Pi." So if you happen to get a request for one of these, some may seem too recent to be classics, but they are over there in the classics section.

Tax Help

It's getting toward tax season and many of our customers will be asking where they can get assistance filing taxes. We will not have tax help volunteers here (good heavens, where would everyone park?).

The nearest site is the West U Community Center at 6104 Auden. AARP will be there Fridays from 10 to 2 starting February 6th.

Karen Luik has prepared a Wiki with all area tax-help sites. You can also search the AARP Web site for their locations.

I've added an extra box on the right side of the page with both these links.

Thanks!

John

Sheltering Arms Event on Wednesday

Sheltering Arms will be holding an open house on Wednesday, January 14th from 10 to 2. They expect that their parking lot will be quite full and, as we know, ours probably will be as well.

I recommend that everyone plan on staying in for lunch that day, so we don't lose our parking places. We may have to refer folks to nearby street parking (a few blocks down Aberdeen as well as across Stella Link). Thank you in advance for your patience.

John