Staff Meeting 11/27/2013

Stella Link Staff Meeting Agenda

Wednesday 11/27/2013

• ·         Kronos – I need an e-mail for any punch I have to alter.  Also, no riding the clock.
• ·         Signatures needed in everyone’s email moving forward.  Will have the template on the wall to look at how to create those.
• ·         Bookdrop/Others – Remember to try and get those cleared whoever is on it at the end of the day.
• ·         Accrued Holiday – Need to use it.  Goes for any Comp time as well.  City does no want to pay that out.
• ·         G Drive – Not everyone will have access.  Those parts of the Skills test, I can log in under my name and you can show me how.
• ·         Benefits – Your insurance premium will go up unless you fill out the health assessment by the end of the year AND get the other 250 points you need by the end of March.
• ·         Workroom- Keep it neat.  No rubber bands left on tables.  Clear out the books from your station when done.
• ·         Renewals – We can override the too many renewals with a “Renew as Seen” assuming there are no holds. 
• ·         Holiday Books – We have overflow in storage closet of the large meeting room.
• ·         Flip Kits – Overflow inside the doghouse.  Key in drawer at desk.

Staff Meeting 11/20/2013

Stella Link Staff Meeting Agenda

Wednesday 11/20/2013

• ·         Chantel – Thanks for covering the story times again.
• ·         Candace – Thanks for covering the desk yesterday for us.
• ·         Allie – Thanks for picking up your co-worker and bringing them to work.
• ·         Edgar – Happy Birthday
• ·         Headphones – We have more now for sale.
• ·         Passports – Do not answer any questions unless you have been trained.  Works both ways.  If you have been trained, do not expect the untrained person to be able to relay the information to the customer.  Agents should take the phone call personally.
• ·         Sink – Do not leave anything in it.
• ·         Microwave – Try to not leave anything in there for more than a few minutes past when it is done.
• ·         Intranet – Need you password to get holds lists.  Need it for skills test.
• ·         Renewals – We can renew items at the machine.
• ·          Kronos – No clocking in off site, on cell phone, clocking in then eating lunch, etc.
• ·         My comp time today, for coming 45 minutes early yesterday.
• ·         After School – everyone empowered to keep the kids in line.  Do not need to get me necessarily. 
• ·         Collection HQ up and running – Allie, Renee and Jesse.  Get back in there a little bit and see if you can unearth anything important relative to your collections.  Do not have to turn in on monthly report every month, but every once in a while you may want to throw it in there so that I will know you are using it.  We pay a lot of money for this resource, and it has helpful information.
• ·         Staff computer out front – Lock whenever not physically using it.  Do not log off, lock it.  Logging back on takes longer than merely unlocking it.
• ·         Adults in teen section is OK before school lets out.  Teens get out at about 3:45.  Do not assign a teen computer to an adult after 2:30 or so, because then they will have the full hour which would cut too close to teen hours. 
• ·         Teens and children can be in adult computers if they are doing homework in the after school time frame.  If not, and the computers are getting all filed up, then they should go to the computer lab, kids computers or teen computers.

Service Innovations Team Meeting

Good Afternoon,

We discussed some items that may be of interest to us here at Stella Link in our meeting today.

We are still thinking about purchasing, for a pilot program, one of the handheld Sirsi circulation systems to use when roving.  The devices are not cheap, so much thought will be placed into this before making a decision.

We may still be getting fax services for this library.  The logistics will need to be worked out with Coin Copiers and us to make it happen.  This could also go hand in hand with us getting scanning services as well.
The HPL mobile app should be working correctly now.

We have to stay on top of the tagging to make sure no untagged items get through so that the security gates can function properly.  I think we are doing well in this area.

We are still looking at the possibility of having a tablet of some sort to carry around during roving to help people with catalog searches and possibly other functions.

We should be receiving the circulation statistics soon.

Keep up the good work.

Patrick

Health Assessment

Dear HPL Team,

Have you completed your Cigna health assessment? According to this week’s status report, 42% of HPL eligible staff have not successfully completed a health assessment.

PLEASE complete your health assessment now. We encourage eligible HPL team members to complete your assessment by Wednesday, November 27^th. This way you can have peace of mind that your obligation is complete before the Thanksgiving Holidays!! The absolute deadline for all COH employees is Dec. 31^st but do yourself a favor and don’t wait.

REMEMBER the health assessment is the required 2^nd step of the 3-step plan for earning a discount on your medical plan contributions. For full details please visit www.houstonwellnessconnection.org

Two Steps to Completing Your Health Assessment:

1. Get biometric numbers for: blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol, weight, height and waist circumference.

2.    Go online to mycigna.com, click on "My health assessment" under the "Manage my health" menu. Click on "Take my health assessment again." Complete the assessment  as soon as possible but not later than December 31, 2013.

Tips for completing health assessment:

o        Go to mycigna.com to access the health assessment.

o        Forgot your username or password? Call 800-284-8346.

o        Use actual biometric measurements that were obtained no earlier than January 1, 2013.

o        Do not choose vague answers like “I'm not sure.”

o        Do not use the drop down box for cholesterol.

o        Be sure to go all the way to the end of the assessment.

o        Not sure you completed it correctly? Click here for an example.

For any questions or general inquiries, please contact HPL Wellness Coordinator, Gwen Walter at 832-393-1679 or COH Wellness Connection staff at 832-393-6124 or via email at wconnection@houstontx.gov

 

Wishing you good health,

Ophelia R. Cespedes, SPHR

Deputy Assistant Director – Organizational Development

Houston Public Library

Office:  832-393-1343

Cell:  832-969-7740

Fax:  832-393-1342

Email:  ophelia.cespedes@houstontx.gov

The Houston Public Library is a vital member of a dynamic and diverse local, national, and global community.

           We link people to the world

If you would like to receive periodic emails from Mayor Annise D. Parker on topics of interest to you and your neighborhood, please go to www.houstontx.gov and register with CitizensNet.

Programming Survey & New Scratch Program in December

Survey:
I have put a 1/2 page programming survey at the front desk right in front of the blank forms. Hopefully, this will give us more feedback about what programs customers will attend. Please put the filled out forms in the blue basket under the desk on the passenger side. Let me know if we need more. Try to encourage members to fill them out. I will also put a few at the self check outs.

Scratch Programming for Teens coming Tuesdays and Thursdays in December at 4:00:
With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community. Teens will create their own short project in class.
Go to About Scratch  to learn more.

Renee

Lost Cards and Statistics

Statistics look great for October.

Overall, program stats are up over 10% from last October.  With the same number of programs, we had over 2,700 in attendance this year, compared to just over 2,300 last year in October.  Juvenile saw the biggest jump, going from 1,383 to 1,699.  Keep up the tremendous work guys.  

Procedure for lost cards:

If someone comes in and is getting a replacement.  

You want to go to User Lost Card wizard(under the "Special" tab on the left hand side), put in their old number(after you have looked it up using their license) in the top field of the Wizard and then scanning in a new card in the bottom field for their new number.  Once you have done that, go back to modify user and update their account just like you would if they had their old card still.  We do need them to fill out the paperwork though.

If they are not getting a new card at the time or they are on the phone, you want to go to modify user, go to privilege, change status to "lost card", enter the override and you are done. 

When they come back to reinstate their card, once they have found it or they get a replacement, you will have to go back in and change the status back to OK.

To do that, you will first have to change the status to "Barred" and enter override and save it.

Then, go back in and change status to "reinstate user" and override and save again.

Now, the status should be back to "OK" when you next look at their account.

Thanks

Patrick

Staff Meeting 11/06/2013

Stella Link Staff Meeting Agenda

Wednesday 11/06/2013

• ·         Tim – Good Job fixing the ASZ sign.  Looks good
• ·         Ade – Thanks for taking over the computer lab program
• ·         Kronos policy – Sign and turn in to my desk.  I need by end of day today.
• ·         Kronos Policy is posted by bookdrop room door.
• ·         Keep an eye on the schedule.  Bookdrop/Others is important to do when scheduled.  Especially on Saturdays.
• ·         Only count personal Delivery stats for SMART goal purposes  when you are scheduled to do delivery.  Hand those sheets in to me at end of each month.
• ·         Difference between “Customer Comment” “Request for Reconsideration” and “Suggest a Purchase”
• ·         When you take bookdrop out to the public floor, do not leave it alone.
• ·         Do not put tape on any items for transit purposes and such
• ·         Do not place anything into Bertha bins by hand.  Always run them through.   The lone exception being Associated Materials items that will never sort out correctly.
• ·         The middle self-check does not support CC payments at this time.
• ·         The self-check “E-Mail Receipt” does not work properly
• ·         If someone is not getting notices, get their name and card number and tell IT.
• ·         Make sure the daily mail gets to Tim’s blue bin when bringing it to the back.  We do not want any of that to get misplaced.
• ·         When stapling newspapers, always three or four staples in upper corner of paper.  Come and ask me if you are not clear.  This will be on Skills Test.
• ·         ILL gets slow and times out in our busy hours.  If this happens, just let the customer know that you apologize and they might want to try before 11am or after 5pm.
• ·         Make sure to close out your holds wrapper when done with delivery.  Next person open their own.
• ·         Statistics sheets – Pulled is only the paging list, only once per day.  Processing  is everything else.
• ·         Put computer lab stats on the sheet in there, even if no one showed up.  Put date, class and number of students.
• ·         Tim will start a hanging file for everyone’s applications.  We want you to go back when not on the desk and double check the apps for accuracy.  Gives you a chance with less time pressure on you to get it right before Tim looks at them for evaluation purposes.
• ·         We need to immediately get those apps off the front desk and under the desk when finished with the apps out front.  Do not want to lose confidentiality of customer’s information.

STE - BLU Floating Hub Meeting Notes

Stella Link Float Captain is Candace. Weekends when she is not present will be Sharise.
Please refer to this blog posting and/or check with her if you have any questions.

Candidates for Float
• Dupes in excess when 3 or 4 is too many
• Far too many may be candidate for sending to Friends.
• Any material type including foreign language
• Untagged items
• Good Condition
• Conditional weeding still applies. Do not send anything which needs to be weeded. Double check in picture books, refer to weeding guidelines handout if needed. If you are still unsure, you can always get a second opinion from one of us.

When Shipping
• Do not change on shelf status on individual items
• If you have more items to float than planned, please contact your float captain at Blue Ridge prior.
• 1 box per day up to 5 gray bins per week

*Candidates for Friends
• Keep in mind bestsellers list and Bluebonnet / Lonestar lists. Refer to the blog for links to current listings at sidebar.
• Past bestsellers such as 10 copies of Patterson which have been orphaned at your location. Check through copies to discard any which apply and box up the rest for friends.

Do not hoard materials for floating. This creates problems in the future for shelf checks or paging. Try to send out floating shelf regularly so items can be found if patron requests them. If you see Yellow Labels for FLOAT are low, please request in excess.

If Candace is not present call Mary Stanton ex 31478
Blue Ridge Float Captain Joyce Adams or Marie ex 32377

Thanks!