Additional Smoking Ban Information

For HPL, the No Smoking Zone rule goes into effect on Thursday, July 24, 2014 at our downtown properties -  the Central Library and the Julia Ideson Building.  Signs will go up on the downtown properties tomorrow. All other HPL properties will become smoke and tobacco-free by Tuesday, September 2, 2014 (the day after Labor Day).  Signage announcing the change to our customers will be posted as required by City ordinance, during the month of August.

Customers and staff who wish to smoke should move to areas off of library premises, which in most cases is the sidewalk portion of the property.

HPL staff are asked to enforce this smoking ban in the same manner as any other rule – upon seeing someone smoking, the customer should be asked to extinguish the product or leave the property. If the customer refuses, he or she will be subject to suspension from HPL premises, following existing policies and procedures.  

Please note that I do not expect you to go outside the building and confront a customer or staff member who is in violation of this rule.  Instead, I would encourage you to mention the rule to the customer or staff member when they return to the building, so that they can abide by the rule in future visits. 

Additionally, the posting of signage on our properties will allow HPD to issue a citation if they see someone violating the no smoking ban. Your supervisors will be speaking with you about this new rule and will be available to answer questions you may have about this important change.  

Smoking Ban starts September 2nd for us

Good afternoon managers and supervisors.

I wanted to let you know that this afternoon Mayor Annise Parker announced a new policy that bans smoking and the use of other tobacco products at all Houston Public Libraries and Parks and Recreation facilities.  As you know we currently do not allow smoking in or within 25 feet of our properties, but this new policy extends the zone further out, now including all Library premises and mobile units including any plaza, walkway or green space around a Library building. This designates all HPL locations and mobile units as No Smoking Zones.

This new policy goes into effect at the Library's downtown properties (the Central Library and the Julia Ideson Building) on Thursday, July 24th, and at all other HPL properties by Tuesday, September 2nd.  Signs will be going up during the month of August.

Dr. Lawson will be following up this email shortly with an email to all library staff with additional information.  Please note that all managers and supervisors should contact my office for additional information.

Thank you and I appreciate your support with helping share this message with all Customer Experience staff, especially those who will be directly impacted by this new policy. It's highly likely staff will come to you for additional information, so please read Dr. Lawson's email thoroughly in order to answer any questions staff may have.  I will also be working with our Communications department to develop additional talking point to share with staff shortly. 

Thanks,

Michele

Door Count July 2014

Monday July 21 is the first day of door count for the quarter and will run until the end of the day Saturday July 26. During this time we will count the number of patrons that enter the building at the beginning of each hour and the number of items (in-house materials) used inside the library, but not checked out during the course of the day. It is important to collect these numbers for statistical purposes.

To obtain the number of patrons, we will enter the P-number from the front gate. The middle barrier will have a window towards the bottom. Three numbers will flash on this screen (I=P: 39770, O=P: 40100, and _=P: 79001). Only the number that shows a blank=P: 79800 needs to be recorded. This number shows the total. The I= is the number of patrons entering the building and O= is the number leaving the building.

The number of in-house materials used will be taken during pickup. Please keep a count of items that picked up pickup and ask volunteers if they pickup items.

The numbers can be entered on a printout at the front desk or online on the spreadsheet included as a tab on the Daily Stats under "Door Count July 2014."

If you're scheduled for the desk or roving at 11:00, for example, please go check the count from the front door before you get to the desk and enter the number. It is OK to check and enter a number at 11:10 or so if it is forgotten at 11:00.

Thank you for your assistance in this season's door count and all the hard work.

Tim

Kronos

Good Evening,

Excellent job everyone on their Kronos for this past period that ended today.
We were about as close to flawless as one could possibly expect.
Thank you for being diligent about signing in and out on time and reporting any issues.

Have a good Saturday.
Patrick

Phone Upgrade

The City will be moving all current VoIP phones to an upgraded VoIP system.  During this time, outgoing calls will be able to be made but there will be no incoming calls.  There will be periods of time during the upgrade where no phone service is available.

Monday, July 21, 2014 between 5:00pm and 6:00am on Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Current Cisco VoIP phone system

All Department’s with the exception of HAS and HPD

The City is upgrading the Cisco Phone system.  This upgrade will allow us to expand the service to new locations and keep us supported by the manufacturer.

To make an outgoing call during this time, users must dial 9# and then the number.

Camp Stream Reloaded

Hello HPL!

The Houston Public Library’s Community Engagement Team is proud to present Camp STREAM Reloaded! 

Camp STREAM Reloaded is an abbreviated version of our recently presented camp session at Central and is being offered at a few additional library locations in response to the valuable feedback provided by you, our fellow team members and our valuable customers. This free week-long summer day camp will allow students from Kindergarten to 8^th grade the opportunity to participate in activities relating to Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Math during the month of August. Listed below are the library locations and week offerings:

·         August 4-8, 2014

o   Collier

o   Park Place

·         August 11–15, 2014

o   Henington-Alief

o   Scenic Woods

Each camp participant will enhance their team building and critical thinking skills, learned through innovative and interactive daily activities.  There is also a chance for the participants to receive daily awards. For more information please review the Community Engagement section on HPL's website (http://www.houstonlibrary.org/camp-stream). Supplemental print materials are also available at each library location.  

Registration for this event is currently open and time is of the essence, as there are limited spaces available and applications will be processed in the order of receipt.

For additional information or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Community Engagement Team at 832-393-1533 or by email: (hpl.mobile@houstontx.gov).  

We look forward to seeing you there!

Regards,

My'Tesha Tates and the Community Engagement Team

Meeting with new Deputy Director

Good Morning,

Michelle Gorman, the new Deputy Director of Customer Experience, is coming to our location on 7/23 which is on a Wednesday.  She will be here at 11 am.  This will take the place of our staff meeting that week.

I would like everyone to be there at 11 am sharp.  If you normally come at 11:15 am, please take the 15 minutes on Thursday by coming at 9:30 am.  

Please arrive promptly on that day.

Frances, you  may have to take an hour and 15 minutes for lunch or sign out at exactly 8pm that night.

Thanks for your help with this.

The meeting will be in the large meeting room.

Nhu and I will not be in the meeting.

Thank you.

Patrick

Reference Count

Good Morning,

Please remember to track your reference and directional either on the stats sheet online or with Nhu personally.  Preferably, on the online stats sheet.

Patrick

Teen Room

Good Afternoon,

The teen room is for teens all day everyday in the summer.
No adults or children in there for any reason.

Thank you
Patrick

April Statistics

We got the April system-wide stats in on HPLnet.

Some highlights:

• Stella Link had 24,000 visitors, 1st among Neighborhood Libraries(CEN had 43,000)
• We had 30,000 circulation, 1st among all libraries
• We had 124 programs with 2,599 in attendance; first in attendance among all libraries
• Our self check % was at 90%, 1st among all libraries

Keep up the outstanding work.

Patrick

Lift Off Houston Program

Mayor Annise Parker Announces Liftoff Houston! 2014 Register today! Mayor Annise Parker recently announced the second year launch of the "Liftoff Houston!" 2014 Business Plan Competition. Sponsored by Capital One Bank and in partnership with the Houston Public Library and the Office of Business Opportunity, the competition engages and empowers Houstonians seeking to start a new business in Houston by providing them with access to essential information, resources and support necessary to develop a sound business plan as a first step toward realizing this goal. To be eligible, businesses must have been in operation for less than one year, have revenue of less than $10,000 and be located within Houston's city limits. Capital One Bank is the key sponsor for this event providing cash prizes totaling $30,000. The competition will take place in four stages - orientation, workshop, mentoring, and presentation, over a 5 month period. Applicants will participate in a myriad of workshops ranging from business plan basics to access to capital, as well as information sessions on essential City of Houston business resources available through the Houston Public Library (HPL) and the City's Office of Business Opportunity (OBO.) The goal is to enable individuals to successfully research and develop their business plan.  Applicants will also receive additional support from professional mentors from SCORE Houston and Capital One Bank to further refine their business plan for submission. This year there will be three award categories: Product, Service, and Innovation. A winner from each award category will receive a $10,000 cash prize along with in-kind prizes. $10,000 - Awarded for top "Product" Based Business Plan (Retail, resale, merchandise, etc.) $10,000 - Awarded for top "Service" Based Business Plan (Food, labor, consulting, etc.) $10,000 - Awarded for top "Innovation" Based Business Plan (Software, Hardware, inventions, new market businesses, etc.) Mandatory orientations will be given to provide interested individuals with detailed information about the competition including rules, resources, and the process to compete. Multiple sessions of the orientation will be offered at designated Houston Public Library locations citywide. Timeline of Competition: RSVP for Orientation Session: June 11, 2014 - July 31, 2014 Orientation: July 12, 2014 - July 31, 2014 For more information or to register, visit www.liftoffhouston.com or call 832-393-0954.

Staff Meeting 7/2/2014 Notes

• Please take 15-20 minutes out of your day to do some shelf reading. Give yourself time to do a quick browse through the collection for misplaced items. At this time, volunteers are doing almost 100% of our shelving and they sometimes forget the differences between YA, JUV, Large Print, Classics, etc.

• Please finish your Cyber Security Training I today.

• Thanks to Carol for redoing the labels for the Adult Fiction. On that note, the Adult Fiction has been shifted so that the far wall can now be the Adult paperback fiction. We are getting rid of the spindle racks.

• Please remember to take your lunch on Friday between 11:45am-12:45pm to give yourself time after lunch to prep and transition to library’s opening time at 1:00pm.

• Please let Mark know when you put missing discs in his box. Just give him a heads up that you’re dropping something in the box. When you do drop an item in the box, please attach a note with the date and a quick message of what’s wrong with the item.

• Mo has space on the back shelf for items that needs labeling.

• When you get the chance, give Comic Plus Library Edition a run through. The ComicPlus can be accessed on the catalog page…scroll to the bottom. Creating your own ComicPlus account and playing with it can help you assist patrons and answer their questions.

• Keep up the great job everyone!