Staff Suggestion Box

Post your suggestions, comments, complaints, or solutions here. All suggestions can be made anonymously.

New Credit Card Machine Information

HITS (Houston Information Technology Services) is rolling out new equipment to add to the existing TeleCheck machines to allow for the new chip technology in credit cards.

 The installation will be conducted by a contractor, not a City of Houston employee. 

-       They will need access to the TeleCheck machine and access to the Network/IT closet.

-       They will be adding a pin pad to the TeleCheck machine and a device to communicate to the pin pad.

o    Once the new pin pad is installed staff should use the new pin pad to either insert or swipe all credit cards and follow the on screen instructions.

-       Locations with Self Check and credit card capabilities (Stanaker, Kendall, Frank, Bracewell, Robinson-Westchase, Oak Forest, and Walter), the Self Check functionality and hardware will not change. The contractor though will work closely with HPL IT staff to connect Self Checks to a new network. Please report all Self Check issues to the HPL IT Helpdesk.

-       If they have any issues during installation they should contact the HPL IT Helpdesk either via email (HPL.HelpDesk@houstontx.gov) or phone (832-393-1570).   

After installation, if your location has any issues with this equipment, please contact the HPL IT Helpdesk either via email (HPL.HelpDesk@houstontx.gov) or phone (832-393-1570) or contact Customer Experience Administration via phone (832-393-2707).

=====

Both PLE and Tut have this scheduled to be installed on Tuesday December 22nd.

I will be out that day so any questions that arise at installation need to go to Drew first and the NL Office at 3-2707

Thanks,
Brandon

Staff Meeting December 2015

The meeting was held at the Tuttle neighborhood library Friday, December 04, 2015 at 8:15 AM.

I.                    Brandon began by covering staffing changes at HPL

a.       Staff changes discussed included welcoming Rodger “Drew” Alvey to the Pleasantville/Tuttle branches as well as noting the new hires of Alexandra Drake (HEI) and Jenny Phengdara (ROB).

b.      Brandon also introduced Parent Resource Library’s new manager Beck Gorman, who also manages the FLIP program.  She can be reached at 713-535-7254 or bgorman@cmhouston.org

c.       Shammi Gill is retiring and Melcher Assistant Manager Michelle Perry is also leaving us to join the team at United Health Group Insurance.  It was also revealed that Kallie Benes is expecting her second child, due in June.

d.      Lastly, Brandon announced the new hire of Jennifer Snoddy, our new fulltime CSC at PLE/Tuttle who will begin on December 21^st. Brandon will be on vacation at that time so Drew Alvey will begin her orientation procedure.

II.                  Brandon moved on to old business

a.       The no smoking signs that we are expecting are being delayed and hopefully will be installed after the holidays. The concrete needs to be power washed so the adhesive will stick and the signs will reflect the new city policy banning smoking on city properly entirely.

b.      Staff who may be going through tough financial times that they can apply for the Julia Ideson Fund.  You can find the application on the intranet under the Forms tab in the Human Resources section: https://hplnet.houstonlibrary.org/forms/JI-Fund-Guidelines.doc andhttps://hplnet.houstonlibrary.org/forms/JI-fund-form.xls. It can be used if a car is damaged while at work as well as other personal hardships. 

c.       Brandon discussed the improvements made in making the IT department more open and responsive and invited staff to reach out to them if they had any issues they needed technical support with.

III.                Brandon moved on to reminders about existing policies and best practices.

a.       Brandon encouraged staff to promote our system programs more, like Season’s Readings, Children’s Book Celebration, etc.  Display the flyers advertising the programs at the service desk or appropriate shelves that have items related to the topic. Talk to customers, share the information with your civic groups, and place a bookmark or flyer in the books your customers check out. Brandon encouraged more of this type of point of sale marketing.

b.      Brandon reviewed the Cell Phone policy and reinforced that customer service comes first and called for everyone to be more vigilant in keeping their cellphones in the back or failing that leaving it in their pocket until they are on break.

c.       We discussed the importance of gathering accurate statistics as we answer reference and directional questions throughout the day as well as for program attendance and pulled or processed holds. The staff discussed it and said that their biggest obstacle was simply remembering to input the stats. One solution suggested that we decided to try out was to print a statistics sheet for each terminal and combine them at the end of the day so both people working the service desk could write down the information without having to get up.

IV.                Brandon covered important Policy Clarifications

a.       The repeal of HERO was discussed in relation to Executive Order 1-50. The distinction being that HERO was passed with the intention of extending the rights already afforded to city employees and civilians on city property were already protected under Executive Order 1-50 included protections for city employees and civilians to use bathrooms that reflect their gender expression. The repeal of HERO removed these rights outside of city property but did not effect EO 1-50.

b.      The Severe Weather Policy 7.1.2 and 7.2.3.6 was reviewed to clarify that that staff can make up missed time or use accrued paid leave time when they can’t report to work due to legitimate severe weather conditions.  Staff should stay in contact with their supervisors during these severe weather situations. If a staff member will be late or is unable to report to work due to severe weather, the staff member is still expected to notify their supervisor in advance of their reporting time just as they would if they were going to be late or out on any other day. The weather alerts that John Middleton sends via email are informational in nature not free passes to not report to work. In instances where the Mayor has declared an emergency and asked only staff of a certain tier to report to work, those staff who already had scheduled time off will not be entitled to the disaster time pay (Section 7.2.3).

                                                               i.      Brandon emphasized that severe weather conditions would be taken seriously by management and that he would not put staff at risk to cover a shift.

V.                  Brandon covered the following new Information

a.       The Library Information Sheet is now available for the staff to review. Brandon encouraged everyone to take a look as it contains valuable insight into changing trends and statistics at our library as well as how our branches compare to other branches in HPL. He reminded staff that these are internal documents only and are not to be shared with the public.

b.      Covered the Open Carry Law which goes into effect January 1^st.  The law permits those citizens that have a license to carry a concealed hand gun to openly carry their weapon in a holster.  We must assume that those individuals that come in to our location sporting a gun in that way hold a license to carry.  If a customer does anything in a threatening manner while carrying, we should dial 9-1-1, not approach them.  We chose “can you grab the blue folder in back” as a signal with staff to let them know they should dial 9-1-1. The law stipulates that customers can’t openly carry their gun at school sponsored events, like if a class goes to the library for a research project however the After School Zone is not considered a school sponsored event.

                                                               i.      Staff members raised concerns about people with guns turning suddenly violent and frustration that they had to keep their own guns in their cars. Brandon emphasized that this is a developing situation and that groups are making efforts to change the law to exempt libraries and that HPL is developing strategies and training for dealing

with armed customers.

c.       Announced that Financial Services has replaced Paypal with Pro-pay for their online payment system would should resolve a number of recurring errors in the system, however customers will now be charged a .50 cent transaction fee for each online payment.

d.      Announced that TriStar Risk Management is now in charge of overseeing Workers Comp. This will have no direct impact on the staff. Brandon took the opportunity to remind everyone that if you are injured on the job it is best to immediately tell him so he has the most up to date and accurate information to submit in a report.

e.      The floor was opened to suggestions for new After School Zone programs as well any other programs the staff would be interested in adding, changing, or removing.

                                                               i.      Some staff felt that the middle schoolers were left out from the After School Zone programs and suggested switching out the game systems for the exclusive use of the middle schoolers. Others felt that the middle schoolers were not interested in our game selection at all, due to the fact that our selection is restricted to Teen and under which eliminates a number of the most popular titles. We agreed to brainstorm new programs geared towards the middle school kids which we will discuss throughout the month and at the next staff meeting.

                                                             ii.      Also suggested was a baby-lap-sit scheduled story time for when we begin our planned Early Literacy Story time. It could take place before a more toddler focused story time. This was included in Drew’s notes on story time planning to be implemented at the first of the year.

VI.                The staff meeting adjourned with a staff potluck.

Axis360 training

The recorded Axis360 webinar is now available at http://training.houstonlibrary.org/Axis360. 

This training is required for all front line staff by December 18^th. 

Once you have taken this training, please let me know as soon as possible.  I will need to get each person to sign in for it so that they are correctly given credit.

Once again, this is a *mandatory* training!!!

Thanks,
Brandon

Biometrics

Please be aware that this is the last week to put in your biometric information in order to get the insurance discount!

This must be done by Friday.

Thanks,
Brandon

Laptop checkout

Important policy note:

If a parent wants to use a child's library card to check out a laptop, this is permissible IF the child is present.

If the child is not with them, then they have to use their own card.

This came up today at PLE and Tula was able to get confirmation from Central Circulation that this was the policy for HPL.

Thanks,
Brandon Pope

Please use these signs for Closed or delayed opening.

Closed Sign
Delayed Opening sign

Brandon

New Meeting Room Policy

I checked the internet today and discovered that the new Meeting Room policies are live.

Please start enforcing them now.

Thanks,
Brandon

Training video

Please go to the following link and watch the training video on Voter Registration.

http://training.houstonlibrary.org/tutorial-videos

Update on the coupons and leftover prizes from SRP! ---

Hello team,

Summer is officially over! Time to send back any leftover Scholastic prize books you have. Please send them to Central Programming: ATTN: Tiffany Wise so that we can have them ready for next year.

If you have certificates left over, you should save them for the luchador mask craft (or any other cardstock-requiring craft you might want to do in the future).

If you have any other coupons left over, please shred them!

Have a great day!

Sara Pope, MLS

Youth Services Supervisor

-Tula

P. S. 

Leftover Raising Cane's cards need to go back as well, according to an email from Jennifer Schwartz dated 08/13/15. 

Hello,

Wanted to updated everyone that YES Prep does have early dismissal EVERY Wednesday. I could not get an accurate confirmation as to what time this was for the Fifth Ward Branch, but I will try to contact them directly tomorrow to find out. I believe the students get out at 12:30 though. So do not be alarmed if you see students coming in on Wednesdays with YES Prep attire on before the curfew lifts.

Tula

Tuttle Backroom

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all their hard work getting the Tuttle backroom in shape.

We were able to get rid of a lot of the detritus that accumulates over time in a library.  Additionally, IT has already come out and picked up a lot of the outdated technology that was filling the back shelves.

I have contacted other managers in the system to see if they need any of our 100s of bookends.

If you find anything else that you don't recognize, please let me know so I can update our salvage forms and hopefully get it taken away.

Thanks!
Brandon

This was just sent out about the SRP. - Tula

Hi all,

Summer Reading Club officially ends August 1st. Please remember that you should continue to hand out prizes during the month of August. The customers will no longer be able to log books but you can log for them.

Thanks for a great summer!

Sandy Farmer, Manager

Staff meeting Notes

Staff meeting notes for 7/2/2015 (June meeting)

Due to staffing issues, holiday closures, various training sessions, and the ALA conference, it was not practical to have our usual meeting the Friday after the Manager’s meeting this month.  Instead we used a different format.  The staff meeting was held in two parts, the first part was held at PLE at 9:30 with Ashley McGill, Jeremy George, and Brittany Moore attending and was led by Brandon Pope.  The second half was held at 11:15 at TUT with Neisha Brewster, Wendy DeWalt, and Nadine Arrington attending and was also led by Brandon Pope.  The same agenda was held at each meeting and care was taken to give the same information.  Tula Gorden, Rosa Fernandez, and Courtnie Penson will have access to the notes and I will talk with them in detail when I return from vacation.

I.                    PCAP

Brandon Poe attended training on Administrative Policy 3-7: Positive Correction Action Program.  He went over their NEO power point presentation with the staff and discussed how it was different From the last system we used with employees. He also explained why the change was made.

II.                  Announcements from the manager’s meeting

Brandon went over his notes from the manager’s meeting on June 19^th. 

A.      Staff was told about the new Public Services Cluster in HR and was shown the new org chart.

B.      Tomika Price has left the system and Leroy Robinson is managing her branch until a replacement hire is found.

C.      The new Youth Services Advocate has been hired and will be having a meeting with the Youth Staff from each branch.  Ashley McGill and Neisha Brewster will be attending this meeting and will share what they learn at the next staff meeting.

D.      HMRC got a $3000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support a Latino exhibit.

E.       Michelle Gorman has a new Executive Assistant.  Her name is Leah Frasier and she will be starting next week.

F.       The library has a new Assistant Director of Digital Strategies.  His name is Ricardo “Rick” Paralis and he was mentioned in an email from Dr. Lawson dated June 10^th.  He has already started working for HPL.

G.      The Solicitation Policy was gone over and staff were again told that with certain rare exceptions, people were not allowed to sell stuff in the library or on our property.  Exceptions would be determined with assistance from Roosevelt Weeks’ office.

H.      The Phones have all been updated for all public lines.  The message should be appropriate for the general greeting, the closed greeting, the busy greeting, the alternative greeting, and the holiday greeting.  Furthermore, the phones at both locations have been set to an alternative greeting telling people about the closures on the 3^rd and 4^th.

I.        Staff was reminded to keep detailed records of when Johnson Control is called with an AC problem.  This has not been an issue in the past few months for the branch.

J.        Disaster Preparedness guides and the Emergency Preparedness Brochure were shown and everyone should know where to get them if they do not already have one.  Additionally, the Red Emergency Binders were shown to staff again and staff was alerted that material would be updated within the binder by the SPACES group.

K.      The way the library closures on the 4^th were going to be reported in KRONOS was again gone over with staff to make certain that everyone understood what was going on.

L.       The Recommended Label design for the new holds system was shown to the staff

III.                 Brandon’s Schedule was gone over with the staff to make sure they all knew he would be out of touch from this evening until he retunes to work on July 13.

IV.                Dr. Lawson’s email from June 26^th about the Charleston SC shooting was gone over and all staff was made aware of how they could sign the card and/or contribute if they wished to do so.

V.                  Jeremy and Neisha went to training on SIRSI last week.  The staff was told to expect one on one training with them about what they learned and that this would be a regular expectation from them each quarter.

VI.                Suzy Benton’s email about the mandatory training on LeanSix Sigma Yellow Belt Certification was explained.  Staff is aware that the training is online, mandatory, and needs to be completed by December 1^st.

At the Tuttle meeting, Wendy DeWalt  asked about the man who habitually smokes outside the main doors and what we should do about it.  Brandon referred to Dr. Lawson’s email from 7/23/2014.  Staff are instructed to ask customers to not smoke on library, or city, property.  However Staff are not encouraged to go out and confront people smoking outside the building.  SPACES is planning on putting up signs and once that happens, enforcement of these rules might change.

With no further questions, both meetings concluded.

The following was sent out from Jennifer Schwartz about the Dynamo/Dash tickets. The important info is that Raising Cane's wants all theirs gone by the end of summer.

Team,

Apologies again on how long it is taking to receive the Dynamo/Dash passes. The latest update is that the Dynamo has finally created the voucher and is now in printing process. I am really hoping for this week. In the meantime, please feel free to substitute with any of the prizes from the programming incentive pack (Rockets, Raising Cane’s,  Zoo). Raising Cane’s especially wants all of their cards distributed, with none leftover after the summer. We still have a big supply of those, Chipotle, and Circus (and of course we print Zoo and Rockets in-house). So, if you need any replenishment, let us know.

Best,

Jennifer Schwartz, MLIS

Programming Manager

Houston Public Library

500 McKinney Street

Houston, TX 77002

(O)  832-393-1652

(C)  713-775-0868

-Tula

Hello, 

Brandon and I were talking and we realized that we had forgotten to go over the SRP incentives. These are the prizes we give out to those who have completed the reading logs (online or on paper) and attended the STREAM programs and activities. 

Once a child is registered for SRP and they will be awarded the prizes as follows: 

5 books/hours = A certificate and a Houston Dash ticket (has yet to arrive). 

10 books/hours = 1 free book and a Dynamo ticket (has yet to arrive). 

20 books/hours = a chipotle coupon, 1 free book, and a Circus coupon. 

30 books/hours = a Children's museum ticket and automatic entry in the drawings. 

Now, if that child, or any child, has read at least 5 books and attended at least 5 library programs; Which can include arts & crafts, CAMP STREAM, or by completing a Wonderopolis (only substitute this for 1 program) activity online, (must provide printed proof of the Wonder Cards) or any of the special events the library is hosting, etc. 

The prizes for that are: 

Houston Zoo ticket voucher

Houston Rockets ticket voucher

Raising Cane's gift card. 

Please understand that while we may have a lot of tickets or prizes especially towards the end of the Summer Reading Program, we need to make sure that the prizes are being accounted for. Please do not just hand the prizes out to anyone, unless the child is registered for the SRP. 

At the end of the program, all remaining left overs should be sent back to Central Youth Programming, unless otherwise notified. In the past we have had a couple of the vouchers being counted and matched up with actual awarded prizes. 

Staff members can sign their children up for the SRP but must follow the prize guidelines as well. 

Also, remember there is an Adult SRP and Staff SRP as well. I have not seen flyers about the Adult version of SRP yet, but please let the parents and other adults know about this wonderful opportunity to win prizes just for reading and logging in their books. 

If you have any questions, please ask Brandon or I. 

Thank you, 

Tula

Smart $$ update

Update on using telecheck.

When it asks for the Clerk ID number, please enter the last four digits of your Employee ID Number.

This is different than what some of you were taught at Smart$ training.

Talk to Tula or Brandon if you have any questions.

Meeting Notes

Staff Meeting

June 5, 2015

Place: Tuttle

Attendance: Brandon, Tula, Jeremy, Neshia, Rosa, Ashley, Nadine, Wendy, Brittany, Courtnie, Shinetra, and Pedro.

1)      Julia Ideson Fund – the Julia Ideson Fund was started by the very first director of the Houston Public Library. This is Fund is for all employees, part-time or full-time, and is to help them if they have experienced a financial hardship or unexpected expense that can be a burden. Your job title does will not prevent you from qualifying for the fund. There is a limited amount in the funds and only so much of it can actually be used, so the funds are handed out based upon need and availability.

To apply, the applicant must submit the completed form online via email and ONLY correspond with the committee through email. If an applicant makes contact with a committee member in person or by other means, it will be an instant disqualification.  

Only the applicant and the committee will know they applied, no one else will need to know nor will the information be shared.  It is completely confidential.

Because Food, Utilities, and Housing (rent, mortgage) can get high there is cap off limit on how much a person can receive. This does not mean those are the only things a person can apply for money for; although, the following items will denied assistance: telephone bills (luxury), car notes (luxury), bounced checks, tuition and daycare.

The money that is granted is a gift and not a loan. This does not have to be paid back.

The form and the guidelines can be found on the intranet under Forms -> Human Resources -> Julia Ideson Fund Form. 

2)      HOLDS – the new holds label printer will be ready for distribution in July. The size of the machine itself will be slightly bigger than the Star printer we use for check-out receipts already. The new label will be a sticker and it will make send and receiving holds much easier for all staff members.  When the printers are installed, there will be a training if you are not scheduled to work that day, that is fine, the rest of the staff will pass the information on.  One thing to keep in mind though, is deciding which computer to place the printer at. Wherever the printer is at the holds MUST be done at that station, no exceptions. 

3)      Quality Management System – This is the project  that Michelle Gorman has been mentioning a lot lately at meetings. You may have recalled previously, a few months prior, Brandon going around asking for input on what we do on a daily basis (basic procedures); get the holds, check the bookdrop, open the doors, open the gates, etc.

The idea is that eventually we are going to have a folder that is going to have all the procedures that is done by HPL staff and the exact method to complete that procedure. This way when you go to another location if someone asks you to do something, you know exactly how to do it, because it is done the exact same way at your location. This is not what is happening right now; what happens is that you visit a location and you find out that their procedures and methods are completely different from your procedures.  

Michelle has asked for a committee to come together and help input their knowledge of the procedures into the QMS. This type of work is not possible from a top to bottom mentality; she wants input from staff members in all areas. If you are detail-oriented, have an eye for detail, or  if you know that you are familiar with a particular procedure (i.e. serials, applications, meeting room requests, etc.) then please, do not hesitate to help out. You can email Brandon, Tula, Pedro, Michelle or Laurie if you are interested in helping out. This process of the QMS is not going to be done overnight, it will take time and the more people that help out the better. Also, do not be afraid that you might be doing a procedure wrong, you might have found an easier way and no one else knew about it. With this collaboration, procedures might become simpler and more effective because someone shared that secret shortcut.

The committee does not meet in person, it is completely online and is amended in real-time, so there is no worry about having to travel. Just think about it and let us know!

4)      Manager’s Meeting Information –

One quick thing, there has been a change to the Correction Action Program. The biggest change is that if you get a reminder 1, it will no longer be a formal written reprimand, it will be a verbal action. It also changed some of the language. If you get a chance, please look over it if you are interested, so you can understand what’s going on. 

a)      Volunteer Program (Wendy) –  One of the biggest goals for the 2016 Fiscal/Volunteer Year, is for all the branches to fully participate in the volunteer program.  Now, this doesn’t mean volunteers can just come be walk-ins; they have still have to apply through the website and talk with Andrea Lawrence. The background check still must be completed and so on. In the past, libraries could have the option to say yes or no if they needed a volunteer, but now, if the volunteer has passed the screening and is requesting to work at the location, then the library must obliged.

Volunteers don’t just have to do shelving, they can do discards, SRP, crafting, etc. but the things that they are restricted from doing (circulation, patrons records) is the same.

b)      Contact List for LMS –  Since the reorganization of LMS has taken place, people may not know who to contact about certain items or questions. This list will help you with who is in charge of what area. This list will be emailed out, posted on the blog and posted in the workroom.

c)       Branding – One of the big things about branding is NO TAPE. Recently, they sent out samples of tape alternatives. Try using these to see if they work or not.

i)        Survey – With those came a survey, complete it and turn it in by the end of the day (Friday, June 5^th). 

ii)      Email Signatures – This is the next step. They want all our signatures to look the same; that way if someone sends out an email to an outside liaison, the person will know it is from an HPL employee. They have adapted a signature that will work in the Outlook Web Access version as well, so everyone will be able to see the signature no matter from what version of Outlook you are using.

5)      Float Discussion and Weeding – Tuttle says they are getting too full in the audiobooks area.  Brandon can contact the person on the LMS sheet in charge of floating to let them know about the audio books. As for floating out stuff, we can float out up to 3 bins per week to LMS. Try to float out duplicate copies before we float out anything else.

Weeding, this month we can and next month we can only weed and discard Juvenile books. The Friends of the Library are getting ready for the September Children’s booksale and they will be able to pick them up in August. If you box up any adult books, please keep them separate from the children’s boxes.

NOTES: Mr. Jim has brought a message back from GSD requesting that we start being careful about the food in the workroom and around the circulation desk. When the pest people come out to spray, they see the food in the trash cans around the front area and simply say it is because of all the food in the trash that is attracting the bugs. If you eat at your desk or drink at the circulation area, please throw the trash away in the kitchen, to limit the food trash to one area.

Also, you may want to store your food in the fridge or in a Ziploc if you keep in a drawer, because if they spray around the desk area, you don’t want the chemicals or bugs to get on your food. The little bit we can do to help minimize the crumbs, will minimize the bug problem.

Last thing, service animals, there is a man that has been coming at Tuttle with a dog, he says it’s a service animal and has offered to show the paperwork. The paperwork is not necessary and it is meaningless. Remember that HPL goes by the ADA policy and only dogs and miniature horses are allowed. This dog is well-behaved and stays right by the man’s side, he is not a bother to anyone and is under control. As long as the animal remains under control by a leash, harness, hand signals or voice command, it is fine.

If people complain about they have allergies or they are afraid of dogs, this is not library, city, or state regulations; this is Federal ADA compliance. If they are just complaining about the presence of the dog alone, we just say it is ADA compliance, if is because “the dog peed on my bag” that is different, we can confront the customer and say something, but this has yet to be the problem.

Questions: Wendy asked if she had a right to tell the kids to go to summer school, if she knew they had to be in summer school.

Answer: Pedro replied that since it was the summer, it is up to the parents to make sure their children are attending summer school. We are only concerned with truancy during the regular school year where the school hours are between 9 and 2:30. Now, if you know the parents and you know the kids, and if you have the parents number, then give them a call, if you know the parents would be concerned about where their children are at. But, you are not responsible for their schooling.

One final thing, remember we are not the police, the incident at Tuttle with the man having his phone stolen. He can’t just request to have the footage pulled, there is a process that has to be done in order for the footage to be pulled. We do not even get to see the footage either so if people ask we can honestly say we do not have access to the camera feed. If something is stolen or if any trouble arises call the police and if you are unsure, get Brandon or Tula to assist. 

This is the link for the Quality Management System. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email me. You can also contact Laurie Covington for more info.

https://sites.google.com/site/dailyprocesses/home

- Tula!

Today for Arts & Crafts at Pleasantville, we created No Bake Play-Dough with glitter! It turned out to be a great success for all the kids and teens and HUGE mess!!! But you wouldn't know now after staff cleaned it up like no tomorrow.

Email Signature

Just to repeat what we went over in the meeting.

There will be a standard for email signatures.

In July, the Branding Liaisons will be given specific training for this.

Until then, please consult the following link for a template for your email signature.

http://houstonlibrary.org/hpl-brand/visual-style-guide/photography

Weeding Correction

Today at the staff meeting I said that we were limited to 30 boxes.  I made a mistake.  We are actually able to send 50 boxes of weeded materials.

Meeting notes

Apologies for the lateness of these.

if anyone has any questions, please let us know,
Brandon

Staff Meeting

May 08, 2015

Place: Tuttle

Attendance: Brandon, Tula, Jeremy, Rosa, Ashley, Nadine, Wendy, Brittany and Courtnie.

Absent: Neisha

1)      General Information: Rosa, Tula and Brittany will be out on Wednesday for a meeting with the Deputy Director. Jeremy will go over to Pleasantville to help with coverage.  Brandon asked if anyone was having trouble with the signing in or out of the new Kronos system. Just keep documenting what is happening or what messages are showing up, if any, so Brandon can make sure your time is accurate.  

a)      Tier Designation Form – Email from Laurie Covington about the tier designation system needs to be completed. Tier 1 is for emergency responders, medical personnel, etc. Tier 2 is what they call support personnel; Tier 3 is relief staff. We are all considered Tier 3; this is for when emergencies happen (i.e. Ike). Basically in the case of an emergency we are still evacuated but in the aftermath, we may be called back to work at Central or other locations to help out.

b)      Staff Development Day feedback –  Some felt that the speakers were too long, possibly a break was needed between the two afternoon speakers. One of the breakout session speakers was good and should have been the main speaker. Some mentioned that the breakout session should have been longer to gain more information.

c)       Centralized Floating – As of Monday, there will no longer be float hubs. Anything that we get floated into us will be coming from central and will be coming specifically for us. If you think we are getting stuff we do not need or getting too many copies of, let Brandon or Tula know so that a note can be made. Continue to weed based on condition, if it is really old, let Tula or Brandon know. Continue to follow the 2/3 full or 20lbs limit on the boxes for the Friends/Discard boxes. As books come in, please do not forget to check it in; same thing for the new books as well. If it is a Biography, the dated books can be weeded as follows: If the person is living then the publishing date needs to be less than 5 years old; if the person is dead then the publishing date needs to be less than 10 years old.

2)      Manager’s meeting information:

a)      HPL Stories – Keep an hear out for more HPL stories, either from your own experiences or from a patron’s. The library really wants to hear more about them, how they have linked people to information or books, computers, etc. Brandon shared a few stories that was mentioned at the manager’s meeting, how the library has affected people over the past few years.

b)      Sprockets – Mary Hughes had come to the manager’s meeting and talked with us about how to do a sprocket. We can just continue to do how it is (make sure though that you are detailed about the information, e.g. if it is a leak, where, for how long, how much, any damage, etc.).  Also, be sure to not keep submitting sprocket reports on the same issue. If it is something that is not getting fixed, then let Brandon know so that he can contact SPACES, Pedro, etc. to find out what can be done. Also, keep in mind that GSD and custodial staff are not part of the HPL staff.

c)       Training Portal – The new portal is up and running, please get on it and check it regularly, to see what can be beneficial for your training. It will be to everyone’s best interest to become familiar with LMS, that is possibly the way HEAR may be conducted in the future.

d)      Survey – Dept. Director, Michelle Gorman, will be sending out a survey in the near future. It will be anonymous and unless you make it obvious who you are (i.e. as a large red-headed man, working at the TUT/PLE grouping…), they won’t know who sent it. The survey is just to see how people feel about the changes that have taken place within the past few months and how they see the future.

e)      New Managers- Johnson/Mancuso is officially split. Tamieka Price is over Mancuso and LeRoy Robinson is still over Johnson. Each of the branches will have their own manager but they will still work together and share staff conservatively, when needed. This is a pilot program, if it works this might be the first steps to getting the libraries back to individual managers. There are two new ones Vanessa Gimpes at Frank/Meyer and Dominic Spirelli at Smith/Young.

f)       Robbery Suspect – They caught the main suspect who primarily hitting all the libraries. He has been given 2 years in prison, we are still waiting to hear back about the lights so continue to keep them on until further notice.

g)      Youth Services Librarian – The interview process is coming to a close and we will have one in time for SRP.

h)      Quality Management System – This goes back to the unification of the way things are done procedurally at all the locations. If anyone wants to be involved with this process please let Brandon know so he can let Michelle Gorman know. The process will be done virtually and they are looking at how do we do things, what is the best way to do things, how to streamline the process.

3)      Nuts and Bolts:

a)      Statistics – Last month we have gotten pretty lax about how many books were being brought in or sent out for delivery. Also, we have been letting the count slip on how many questions were asked throughout the day. The reason statistics is important is that this is how they determine staffing levels so we need to be as accurate as possible.

b)      Training on Library Security – 5 things to do maintain security in libraries. 1) complete incident reports, which we do. 2) Keep the Rules of Conduct posted in a public area. 3) Behaviors are more important than profiles. 4) Peace is more important than justice. 5) Chain of command or not, if you feel threatened, you are all empowered to call the police. You need to keep yourself and your coworkers safe, you do not need to wait for the manager to get help, if things are escalating out of control. If someone is getting upset and they are being difficult but they have a good relationship with a fellow coworker, let that coworker possible see if they can calm them down in a gentle way. We have to work on our acting skills; some of us may be introverts but when we are on the floor, we have to be extroverts with the public. We have to be able to enforce the consequences, to keep things from getting worse. Language to keep in mind is to Introduce, Explain, and Ask; this will give the people the choice to either leave or stay and obey the rules. Also, come up with code word or phrase to refer between your coworkers to signal when 911 needs to be called. Remember when calling 911 to be as specific as possible. Brandon has suggested to use the phrase “purple folder”.

c)       Summer Vacation and SRP  -  People have already requested the end of June and start of July.  If you plan on taking a vacation this summer, go ahead and request it on Kronos, if you have trouble with the new Kronos, send Brandon and email. If you are not familiar on how to sign up the kids with SRP, please get with any staff member who is familiar with the process to ask for help. Registration started May 1^st, but prizes cannot be claimed until June 1^st. We are not the book police though so it is not our job to decide whether they actually read the books or not.

d)      New Hire –  We have a new hire, Shinetra Castillo, who started May 11^th. She was a substitute for HPL and has been hired as a PT CSC. She will be at both locations so make her feel welcomed!

e)      Tuttle door – The back door to Tuttle lately has been found unlocked during lunch time. It is because some people may think the door locks automatically just like at PLE but it does not. You have to turn the key back around the opposite way in order to lock it once you opened the door. So just double check it, especially before you leave the building for lunch or the night; so far no one has come in the morning to find the door unlocked.

Also, be aware that the notes from the manager’s meeting are available to you for reading so you won’t be left in the dark. Feel free to read through them and if you have any questions just ask Brandon or Tula.

Training Part 2

Please make sure that you have confirmed with Tula or I that you can go to a training before you sign up for it.

This will make sure that we don'[t run into any scheduling snafus.

Thanks,
Brandon

Training

The new training system no longer automatically lets me know when you've signed up for training.

If you sign up for something, please make sure you also send me an email letting me know so I can approve it.

Apparently, this is why several people arrived at Defensive Driving and were not on the roll.

If your training is coming up, and you still haven't heard from me, please let me know again so we can be sure you get the credit you deserve.

Thanks,
Brandon

In coming Floats

Centralized Floating is going to be gradually ramping up in the next few weeks.

As part of this, we *may* be receiving items as floats without float labels on them.

These items have been floated out by our collection development team, and that we do not have the option to send them back.

Keep them, check them in, and shelve them like normal.

Thanks,
Brandon

Meeting Notes

Staff Meeting

April 3, 2015

Place: Tuttle

Attendance: Brandon, Tula, Jeremy, Rosa, Ashley, Nadine, Neshia, Brittany and Courtnie.

Absent: Wendy

General Information: Staff Development Day is May 1^st, remember that it is all day long and that part-timers will need to start talking to Brandon about arranging their schedule for that week. Also, no outside food or drink will be allowed in the GRB.

1)      Manager’s meeting information:

a)      Changes @ LMS – the department is being rearranged and in the future there will be no more Float Hubs; it will eventually become more centralized. Also, Fred Schumaucher is no longer the person to call for circulation admin, he is now the Administration Manager for LMS; you will need to contact Esther Reyes if you have any questions about circulation.

Hold labels will be changing sometime in the future. They are eventually going to be printed out on sticker labels that can be fixed onto the item and sent through delivery easier with the patron name already on the label. This will be eliminate the need for rubber bands and easier for labeling the items.

b)      SPACES – RFID tags/scanners are going into place at 5 more locations by the end of the year. The locations have not been named but eventually this is a process that will be put into all the locations over time.

Service Animals –Only miniature horses or dogs are allowed, according to the ADA, to serve as service animals. If someone comes into the library with either one, staff are only allowed to ask two (2) questions: Is this animal required because of a disability?  … and …. What work or task has this animal been trained to perform? Please read over the ADA information sheet about service animals, of course if you are unsure of anything, you may ask Brandon or Tula to help.

c)       Weeding-Pilot Program – the pilot program is to see if they can get a more organized system of weeding and discard box pickup established. Right now, select locations are given the go ahead to weed not only by condition but by last check out. Tuttle and Pleasantville have until April 3^rd to finish their discards and update the tally sheet on the G drive. The idea is that select NL locations will be given 2-3 weeks to weed their collection. Following that, Central will weed for 2-3 weeks and the cycle will continue back and forth. During special booksales (i.e. Children booksale) the weeding may be more specific the weeks leading up to that, where children books will be weeded.

i)        Weeding by condition – Apparently, there have been books found in the Friends boxes that are discarded but seem to have little damage to them. If you are weeding by condition and you feel like the item may be questionable (i.e. a stain, or torn page/ cover, reference copy), let Brandon or Tula see it first.

If the items are from another library and being returned to our location and it is damaged, then you are allowed to discard it. It does not have to be sent back to the home location to be discarded. The only ones that is excluded from this are items that come from the “Closed Stacks” location. When these are checked in there is a pop up that says “closed stacks”. These items were more likely damaged by age and condition, long before they were sent out for a hold. Closed stack items can tend to be the last copy in the system or just really old books, so if you think the item might need to be reviewed for discarding, attach a note to the book before sending back to central.

If the items are severely damaged then you send it to Discard. Friends items still need to be sellable condition. Also, remember that the boxes should not be filled completely; keep them half full or less, so that the delivery drivers aren’t lifting boxes that are too heavy.

d)      Changes in Positive Performance – changes are coming soon but it may not actually affect us too badly.   The change will actually occur to the wording and phrasing of the procedures and bring the library in line with other city departments.

2)      Nuts and Bolts:

a)      Reconsideration form vs. Comment form – If you have a patron that comes in complaining about a book or item in the collection or if they say they want the library to reconsider the item for the collection; please offer them the reconsideration form. Comment forms are for general comments, whether they are good or bad about the library staff, service, etc. The reconsideration form is more specific and will ask specific questions of the patron about the item. This form will then be forwarded to LMS where someone will review the item in detail. If a patron fills a comment form about a book being in the system, then it will take a lot longer for the process to begin. The forms will be printed up and kept up at the front desk at both locations. Keep in mind that unlike the comment form, the reconsideration form cannot be filled out online through the HPL website; we have to give them form directly.

b)      In-house flyers -  If you want to print up your own in-house flyers for an event, then you need to use the pre-approved template, but you must not use the clipart that comes with it. The flyers have to fall within the guidelines of HPL. Of course if you give enough notice, you can design the flyer you want on the template and send it to the print-shop who can print it up for you.   These need to be seen by Brandon before they are sent in.

c)       Scheduling – Please remember to follow the schedule exactly. If there is something that you need to do that day or during the coming week, let Brandon or Tula know so that the schedule can be updated accordingly. Also, everyone needs to be on rotation for operational duties. No person needs to be doing the same opening/closing procedures every day.

d)      New Notice to Users – the wording within the library rules have changed in a few of the lines and some of the rules have moved from being prohibited inside the building to prohibited on library premises altogether.  Key changes to remember is the line for  “No Smoking within 25 feet” is now “Smoking of any type”. Also, use of any tobacco products of any type is prohibited, yet this does not include e-cigarettes, those do not involve tobacco and the City of Houston has not officially banned those yet. If you have any questions about what other changes have occurred to the notice, do not hesitate to ask.

e)      Open Enrollment ENDS APRIL 15^TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have questions or need assistance ask Brandon.

*One last thing, please remember to refrain from counting the money until after the doors to the public are officially locked. This is for all of our safety, if you are concerned with the time you have to count the money, remember that you can print up the sheets and count the money in the morning when you have more time.

   The Pleasantville/Tuttle grouping finally completed the wall in time for Wild Rumpus Day! Thanks to everyone for the teamwork for making this possible. The teachers and kids have already been complimenting it.

Our next artwork will be for the summer with them based around "Back to the Future". Any ideas or suggestions will be welcomed.

Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment for benefits started on Monday March 16.

This is an active enrollment system.  Every full time employee must log on and make the decisions they would like.

 NOTHING IS CARRIED OVER FROM LAST YEAR!!!

Please check your email for this important matter.

Thanks,
Brandon

Next week

A reminder -

I will be unavailable from Saturday through Wednesday of next week.  I will be back at my regular time on Thursday.

If you can wait for an answer, please send me an email and I'll respond when I return.  If it is an emergency, either call Tula, Pedro, or if neither is available, call the Neighborhood Library Administration line.

Thanks!
Brandon

Friday, March 6 staff meeting Notes

 Staff Meeting

March 6, 2015

Place: Tuttle

Attendance: Brandon, Tula, Jeremy, Rosa, Nadine, Wendy, and Courtnie

Absent: Brittany

1)      Manager’s meeting information:

a)      Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO)- We cannot stop someone from using the restroom based upon their outward appearance of gender. Anyone can use the restroom of their choice to which they identify with. If another patron starts to become disruptive about someone using a restroom, then we need to call security or police on the one causing the disruption. If someone wants to question or bring up the fact that the ordinance is in the courts then staff are encouraged to use the Executive Order 1-50, this order is not in the courts and it also is about non-discriminatory restroom use.

b)      Staffing – Ashley is starting on the 16^th of March. We are also getting a full-time staff person from LMS on the 18^th of March. We are still going to be getting a part-time replacement for Lori’s position but that will be at a later date. When the new staff start, Ashley will go to PLE and the LMS person will be primarily at Tuttle along with Jeremy, to help jump start the Juvenile program.

c)       Shelving consistency – The CE wants all the NLs to shelve the books identically. Right now they are starting with the concept books (shapes, colors, ABCs, 123s); they will need to be interfiled with the regular picture books. As of right now, Holiday books and other special sections, can stay separated until further notice.

i)        Quick Note: Josh Norris has resigned from GSD security. If he does come into the library, please remember to treat him courteous and just like any other patron. He just is no longer a City Employee.

d)      Incident Reports – I, Tula, will start to pass out training guides for incident reports. I will send a scanned copy of what an incident report should look like. It is requested that anyone who witnesses an incident should make a report; do not just delegate it to the highest person. Since most of the staff isn't used to writing incident reports, I will come up with a weekly example and send it to everyone which then people will write up a mock report for me and Brandon to see only as practice. This way when something does happen, you will all know what to do and can simply send it in; especially if we both might be out of the office for a few days.

e)      Comment Forms – all the previous comment forms that are printed up and stored at the front desk(s) need to be recycled. The new and updated comment forms can be downloaded and printed from the reference guide on the intranet. When filling out the forms be sure the “Staff Comment” portion is filled out. Find out from the patron if they want to be contacted and if so how; this information is what you would put in the staff portion, yes, they want to be contacted; no, they do not want to be contacted. Forms need to be viewed by the manager first unless they are out on vacation will not return in a timely manner, then they can be sent on to admin. Comment forms can be scanned and emailed to Pedro, if you send it into CE then please send it to Yolanda and label it as Comment Form on the envelope; otherwise it will remain on the desk unopened for a while. Also remember that if the comment is about IT, then you can call IT immediately and just find out if something can be done or not; it does not have to wait for an admin. This would also go into the staff comment area, information about what you did to help remedy the situation. 

2)      Customer Service Minute:

a)      Attitude @ the Desk – Everyone is doing a good job, haven’t heard of a compliant about anyone being too mean or rude to customers.

b)      Eye Contact – Just remember that eye contact is important. Making eye contact with a patron means you are paying attention to them and hearing them. When it comes to answering the phones, where you cannot make eye contact, remember that the tone of your voice can be your eyes. If you sound pleasant and cheerful they will probably be too. If you sound harsh or speak with an uninteresting tone they will probably think you are not wanting to help them. So even if they can’t see you smile when you are talking, even on the phone, it can be heard!

3)      Nuts and Bolts:

a)      Timing of Future Staff Meetings – Managers meetings have switched to the 4^th Friday of the month. So the staff meeting will be held the Friday after. Be aware of this when scheduling doctor appointments. Also, the managers meetings have started to include assistant managers as well, so Tula will now also be attending so that two people will be able to hear the news and report back what is going on.

b)      Missing Item List –Not all NL has been doing this, but is requested that all NL should start to do this if you are not already doing so. You can retrieve the missing list each Friday from the Reference section of the Intranet.

c)       Reshelving Project @ Tuttle – (Follow the guide that was handed out at the meeting)

d)      Shelf reading assignments – Once the shifting is completed and new staff have become adjusted, then assignments may change.

e)      Sick/Vacation/Dr. Appts – Just send in the requests on Kronos. There is a section for a message where you can leave Brandon a message if you need to explain in detail what you want to do about your hours or what is going on. You do not have to send in an email first to get permission to send in kronos.

f)       Cleaning up workrooms – Thanks to Nadine for cleaning up the safe room at Tuttle. Next is to start on the work areas and get those organized. Just remember to put things back where they belong so everything isn’t cluttered.

g)      Training – You may take Gale courses but they will not count the full 24 hours. You will only get 6 hours of training towards your total hours. Also, the all-day Staff development day training is mandatory for both full-time and part-time employees. This will take place on May 1^st, so start  to let Brandon know about schedules so it can be worked out.

h)      Flip Kits – Only one coupon for the CMH can be given out per survey per kit. If someone checks out 20 kits and returns 20 DIFFERENT surveys then they can receive 20 coupons. If someone checks out 1 kit (ex: for a daycare) and the person returns with 20 surveys for that 1 kit then they cannot get but 1 coupon. Remember that when a Flip Kit returns from checkout, that they must all be returned back to CMH no matter what. If it happens to have a hold on it for another branch, please tape the receipt to the side of the label without the barcode and send it off to CMH. They will replenish it and then send it to the proper location.

i)        FYI -  If there is ever a shortage of $10 or more in the cash drawer, the police have to be notified. Do not lose the credit card receipts that the patron signs; and if someone wants to make a payment over the phone, we do not offer that service BUT WE CAN transfer them to CIRC ADMIN and they will take the payment.