Manager's Meeting 6/27/2013

Good Morning,

I attended a manager's meeting this past Thursday.  The following was discussed.

Promotional new hires will receive a HEAR from their new supervisor if they have been at their new position for 90 days as of June 30th.  Outside new hires will receive a 5th month HEAR at the 5 month mark from date of hire.

Promotional material must be approved by the manager.  Priority is given to HPL material, then government publications, disaster relief information, safety information, voting information, community awareness information, continuing education material and community newspapers.  We cannot put the material about studies being done, needing volunteers.

Edgar will give us a demonstration some time soon concerning the new HPL catalog.

July 3rd through July 10th, we will be in Sirsi offline.  We can still use Smart Money for booksale, passports, etc., but not for fines.

Computer use cards will be sent out to us, they are already pre-made, and we will be using these to give to customers.  We will not be able to create new ones.

We cannot discard any books until July 11th.

HPLnet, in the staff training module, is where you can find the entire Sirsi circulation training manual.

Some features with the new catalog.  You can bring up all DVD's that we own at once.  You can put holds on multiple items at once.  You can create lists of items, and then later come back and use that list to put holds on items.  The catalog will have some spell correction capabilities.  It will also look more like Amazon, where you have the choices on the side of the screen to narrow down your selections.

We are having a fundraiser for the tornado victims in Oklahoma.  An envelope will be sent to the branch here in the next week.  If you have a few bucks or some spare change, whatever you want to donate.  We will donate that and then give it to the victims.  It is obviously not mandatory that you do so and no one is keeping track of who did or did not donate.  Only do it if you want to.

Keep using the 32707 line on Saturdays if you really need help.

Do not forward invitations that you receive from administration.

Pedro Fonseca is the acting manager of Oak Forest and Acres Homes.

Laurie Covington and Theodora Ume-Ezeoke are your new team leaders.

Collier is now slated for a July 15th opening.

We will be replacing our public computers at some point in the near future.

There will be some mandatory customer service training coming down the pike.  It will be for all staff.  This starts in August and goes through September.

Thanks.
Patrick Atkins

SRP Update

Hey everyone,

Please read the following email from Jennifer Schwartz regarding the Astros tickets. I am requesting some Rockets tickets to give out at the 20 book level in mean time.  Hopefully those will arrive soon.

Thanks, Allie

Hello,

I am writing to reach out one more time to let you know that we understand that the absence of Astros tickets is making things very difficult out there. I wish that we had a way to get them sooner, but as I mentioned in the earlier email, they have firmly informed us that they will get them to us as soon as possible. Since this communication did not come through until after our incentive levels were confirmed, there is little we can do to fix this for SRP 2013. We will certainly ensure that dates are firmly agreed upon  for SRP 2014, however.

On the good news front, The Rockets were kind enough to offer us some certificates for free tickets, even though they are not an official partner. Let me know if your location would like some. Perhaps we can offer these as either an alternative incentive, or as a “while you wait for your Astros ticket” incentive.

Best,

Jennifer Schwartz

Manager of System Wide Programming Initiatives

Houston Public Library

500 McKinney

Houston, TX 77002

832-393-1652 office

713--775-0868 cell

jennifer.schwartz@houstontx.gov 

Staff Meeting 6/19/2013

Items covered include the following:

• Overages on Kronos must be made up before the end of the work week.  No going home early on Thursdays to start the weekend early.  
• No public laptops at your desk.  Bring your own or use the computer lab.
• Pickups should be very thorough, do not worry about re-shelving, run through Bertha
• Kronos mistakes all play into your HEAR evaluation.
• Punctuality includes not being late and also not being early.
• Expired holds - run them through Bertha
• Sirsi offline coming July 5th.  We will have no way of checking accounts or paying fines.
• All check ins and outs are in Sirsi offline for that period through July 10th.
• We have no way of knowing if customer has duplicate account or fines, etc. 
• Once we go back online after July 10th, if customer has made a temporary account online, do not check out items on that account.  Make them an official account.
• We are to no longer hand place books into the Bertha bins. All books should be run through Bertha outside.  We are finding too many items with transit slips from delivery in Bertha or in the bins that need to be tagged.  Should not be in there.
• Go into your e-mail and approve your HEAR plan
• Scores on the HEAR are a little different than EPE.  Would not compare the two.

Thanks.

Patrick

Vision and Mission Statement

Reminder to learn the vision and mission statement.
It is mandatory that everyone learn them.
I may quiz you at some point in the future, so be prepared.
Patrick

HPL’s New Vision Statement

HPL is a vital member of a dynamic and diverse local, national and global community.

HPL’s New Mission Statement

We link people to the world.

Sirsi Tutorial

There will be a link on the blog with Sirsi tutorials.  You will have to log in for access.

User name: ste@houstontx.gov

Password is the same as the google password for stestaff.

Once logged in, click on SirsiDynix Mentor on the right side of the page.

The one we should focus on in the training is the one listed as:

100 -SDS Essential Skills & Search Strategies

I will set aside two hours for each staff member here to go through the self-paced training.  The training is about 38 minutes long, but there is some interaction involved that could take it out closer to an hour or slightly more.

Whenever you see Sirsi tutorial on your schedule, click on the link on the right hand side and take the training by logging in with the above information.

Thank you.

Patrick

Kronos

Good Morning,

Just so we are all on the same page on this, because it has come up at least a half dozen times over the past month...

Whenever you accidentally clock in late or early, we have to make that up before the end of the last day of the work week.
If you had to come in early for a program or meeting or work another day that you are usually off, then we can definitely schedule you to just go home a few hours early on the last day of the work week to get an early start on your weekend.

All accidental Kronos issues of too much or too little time will need to be taken care of before such time that it would have you leaving early on the last day of the work week.

I could see a scenario where people would then be more relaxed about fixing the Kronos if it meant that it would ultimately lead to an early start to the weekend, and that is not what we want to have happen.

Again, if it is something that is planned beforehand, we can definitely take the comp time to get started on an early weekend.

Thank you.
Patrick

Monthly Reports

The monthly reports that you are writing up and sending to me should be turned in some time within the first week of the following month.
Since this is the first time we are doing this, I will extend that out through next Monday.
You can simply write an e-mail to me.  It does not need to be fancy and formatted or anything.

Just say what you did for the month.  Any training you went to.  any displays you made.  Any special projects you worked on, etc.

Thanks.
Patrick