- The schedule is currently going through a revamp at the moment. Some of the changes include having the schedule be more transparent. There will be new coding added to show what tasks are to be done. Marcos will be asking everyone about the preference for lunch hour. Weekly staff work schedule will no longer be copy and paste from week to week. The schedule will be changed from week to week to allow each team member to do different task at different times during the day/week. The schedule is a living document (it is not set in stone). There may be changes to the schedule once we are opened for the day, but Marcos or Nhu will inform you personally if it affects you.
- Empowerment was a topic at the Manager Boot Camp. We are all empowered to make the decisions ourselves and to carry through with it. We all know the rules and policies of HPL. We should be confident in using our best judgment when assisting patrons or solving an issue. There will be situation where you will feel unsure about how to go about assisting the patron or fixing the issue. Please do ask for help from a team member or from Marcos or Nhu. If at all possible, do stick around and see how the matter gets taken care of. If you’re unable to do so, please ask the team member you asked for help from how they went about solving the issue. We do not know everything, but each one of us knows something. We can learn from each other.
- Laurie Covington is the Senior Manager of Neighborhood Libraries. Among many other things, she is also in charge of the hiring process. The hiring process is a partnership between HPL and the City of Houston. Some parts of the process are handled by HPL while others are handled by the City of Houston. Altogether the hiring process can take up to 60 days. If you apply for a job with HPL, please let Marcos or Nhu know so they can let Laurie know of your interest. You can also let Laurie know yourself if you like.
- Thuy Vo has revamp the HPL Training Portal. The site is www.training.houstonlibrary.org . Please take a look.
- Please remember to do documentation on Sirsi. Documentation on patron’s account when there are issues can aid HPL staff (no matter which location the patron goes to) in assisting the patron. Always check the patron’s account for the extended notes section when the patron brings up an account issue with you just in case another staff member has already addressed the same issue with the patron. Always end your notes with your initial and branch initial.
- If the patron brings up an A/V issue and the item is still on the patron’s account, please check the extended notes because Mark may have the item on his A/V shelf. The patron may have forgotten to return a disc, etc.
- If a patron brings in a disc, but say they cannot find the case. It is okay. There is no need to charge the patron for the lost case.
- According to the City of Houston policy Executive Order 1-28, we cannot accept any gifts (food, money, items) from patrons. Please thank them for their gesture, but assure them that it is a City of Houston policy if they are persistent. Do not hesitate to ask Marcos or Nhu for assistance in the matter if needed.
- Marcos has passed out the Family Sick Leave form. Please fill it out and return to Marcos as soon as possible. If there are changes to the status of your family members, please update the Family Sick Leave form when needed.
- We no longer need to use the Lost Card Wizard in Workflows when issuing a new library card to a patron. Now we can go straight to Modify User and replace the old library card barcode with the new library card barcode.
- James will be leaving to Collier on Monday.
- Lederius will be taking over serials.
Thank you everyone for your continuous hard work.
Staff in attendance: Ade, Lederius, Carol, Jesse, Doria,
James, Marcos, Demonesha, Tim, Shanell, Mark, Nhu, Peter, Mo, Ray.
