Sirsi Update

Hello TEAM!

A little update about filling out Sirsi information for children.

Please place the parents birthdate in the extended notes field.

Thank you,

PF

Movie Licenses

Good morning,

Before showing any movie, staff should use the Movie Licensing USA Public Libraries website to see if the movie can be shown in the library as a public performance: http://library.movlic.com/

This website is also a great resource for programming ideas, so please utilize it when planning what films to show at either location.

Thank you.

Melissa

ESS Personal and Emergency Contact Info

Please review your Personal and Emergency Contact Information in the Employee Self Service system to verify that it is accurate and up to date.  The ESS link may be accessed on the home page of the Library’s Intranet website or click on  https://cohapp.cityofhouston.gov/ESS/login.aspx.  The employee may make any necessary changes here which will update immediately.

Please ask if you have any questions.

PF

Juvenile Applications

From Fred:

This is a reminder regarding data entry when creating youth accounts in the Symphony system.  When filling in the Address tab in the registration template, staff members fill in only the parent name (last name followed by first and middle name) in the CARE/OF field.  Do not add Texas Driver License, Texas Identification Card or any other ID or date of birth information to the CARE/OF field. Info in the CARE/OF field prints out on notices, and we do not want the ID info sent out on the notices.  The parent ID information should be put in the PARENT_ID field provided following the standard data entry format (T plus the Texas Driver License number for Texas Driver Licenses, I plus the Texas Identification Card number for Texas Identification Cards or X plus the number for all other forms of photo ID accepted in accordance with Library policy).  Parent date of birth information may be placed in an appropriately labeled NOTE field on the Extended Info tab.

Pedro

Please note the parent date of birth in bold above.

Thank you.

Offline Circulation

From FRED:

This is just a reminder to check and reset session settings each time you use Offline Circulation.  It is especially important to make sure that the Default due date setting is set to 3 weeks from the date of the transaction for checkouts.  You should also make sure that the Current date and Current time settings are accurate, as they will affect any Discharge transactions conducted during the session.

Step by step instructions for setting up your Offline Circulation session properly are found in Appendix A of the SirsiDynix Symphony Circulation Manual posted on the Staff Training Portal.  Here is the link: https://5c0b00f5-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/hplstafftraining/test-page/Sirsi%20Circulation%20Offline%20Procedures%2006-27-2013.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cpkI_h-MvQTaNvM96G0TEK_TQUnkijGEPfI0NdBWgDRsm2Wxa6aUdb4vvl7DXgN9d6JRgs6ba8O2Gya8ntHTMacmaRtNifTd2o7XwOZUOFtnBKrkk_jMxzDtxlU8MZQxkuXJylfx6E8WAMcqBslNRTXXn-2AMX8Y56CHW4S8g0MC1sUcmAyJxIOzrwsoKi5xqXQ94bc_9cq4KzOiAkmMH3UXR0nhFtX3wo_JKSq7sPy29Q4A7IPDbpvqKNmshWbYS1tt73M8tQUI5I2FqfgZfB2PPOjOg%3D%3D&attredirects=0

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this message, please do not hesitate to contact the Circulation Administration Department at 832-393-2222 (option 3) or at circinfo@hpl.lib.tx.us.

Pedro

HOOPLA

Below is the link to HOOPLA for those of you that need refreshers on how it works.

Please remember to update Customer Service Substitutes about new services, such as Hoopla.  Since we are currently not providing retraining sessions for Substitutes, it is critical that you continue to conduct ongoing on-site training.

At the beginning of your Substitute’s next shift, please ask them to show you how to use Hoopla.  If they do not know how, please take them to the Training Portal: https://sites.google.com/site/hplstafftraining/learningresources/libraryfunctions/hoopla

Please provide a follow up assessment to gauge their understanding of the service, and retrain if needed.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

Pedro

Request that registration forms be sent weekly

From Fred Schumacher: 

Greetings all.

The Circulation Administration Department requests that completed registration forms be sent in for permanent storage by the end of the week (Friday) after they are received.  We hope that this will reduce the opportunities for registration forms to go missing, and increase our ability to respond to requests for signature checks and other types of disputes involving newly created accounts.  Additionally, it will assist us in getting the completed registration forms permanently stored and properly indexed in the OnBase Document Management system for quick retrieval when needed.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact the Circulation Administration Department.

For anyone needing clarification: Applications from Saturday to Friday are to be sent to Circulation Administration by Friday of the following week. An example: applications dated Saturday, February 15th to Friday, February 21st are to be sent to Circulation Administration by Friday, February 28th. - Melissa Ryans, per Sarah Ortiz in Circulation Administration.

Logging in to Symphony - Check the the Host IP every time

From Fred Schumacher:

Hello all.

This is just a reminder to everyone to make sure that the IP Address in the Configuration box is set to halan.sirsi.net every time you log in to do business.

If you find that the setting has been changed to something else, simply type halan.sirsi.net into the IP Address box, and click OK.  That will change the setting back to what it needs to be.

If you not already in the habit of checking this setting every time you log in, please make that a part of your regular routine.  As always, if you have any difficulty or concerns with these instructions, please feel free to contact the Circulation Administration Department at 832-393-2222 (option 3) or at circinfo@hpl.lib.tx.us.  You may also contact the HALAN Help Desk for assistance.

Thanks, and have a great day.

Fred Schumacher

Circulation Administration Manager

MR

League of Women Voters Info

Hello,

The League of Women Voters–Voter Guides are now being distributed to all HPL locations.  All locations will receive 100 English guides and 50 Spanish guides. 

If you do not receive your shipment by Wednesday 2/19/14, please contact the HPL Print Shop at hplprintgraphics@houstontx.gov to request them.

If you have more guides than you need you can return extras to the HPL Print Shop.

The guides are also available electronically at the following websites:

English Version: http://lwvhouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/VG14-Spring-English-WEBC.pdf

Spanish Version: http://lwvhouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/VG2014-Spring-Spanish-WEBC.pdf

Early voting is 02/18 – 02/28

Election is 03/04/14 (7am – 7pm)

Thank you.

Vick Martinez on behalf of hplprintgraphics

ACE Scholarship Program

HPL Academic and Continuing Education (ACE) Scholarship Program 

The HPL ACE Scholarship Program provides financial

support for Houston Public Library employees to further their education. Scholarships are

available for continuing education workshops or for regular course work as part of a degree

plan. Eligible applicants are full-time and part-time employees, in good standing, with one or

more years of continuous employment with the library.

Full-time employees may be awarded up to $1000.00.

Part-time employees may be awarded up to $500.00.

Applications are available on the intranet at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/personal.html

Application Deadline:

Monday, March 17, 2014

How To Submit Your Application:

1. Click on Open Form. Save the electronic form to your computer.

2. Fill out form electronically.

3. Attach completed form to an email and send to: 

HPL ACE Scholarship Program Administrator

Andrea.lawrence@houstontx.gov

Customer Service Substitutes

From Yolanda:
Good News! We’re extending the deadline for accepting new Customer Service Substitute applications until the 22nd.  Please keep your signs on display for the extra week and then return them to me at the NL Managers Meeting on the 27th.

If you have any inquiries about the position, you can direct them to me at the hpl.substitutes@houstontx.gov address not Human Resources.  They don’t handle this posting, since it is only a contract employee job.  Please do not give out my city email address.

PF

Mail from Wells Fargo Bank

FYI: any mail from Wells Fargo Bank (including mail sent to the attention of Isis Mathoslah) should be sent to Dimitri Revada in Financial Services.

Thanks,

Melissa

Kashmere: Broken Garbage Disposal

Good evening,

GSD visited the branch today to work on the garbage disposal. It is broken and leaking, and GSD stated that it might need to be replaced. In the interim, staff should refrain from using the left side of the sink (the one containing the garbage disposal). The right side of the sink seems to be fine. GSD stated they will continue to work on the problem.

A sign has also been posted in the staff lounge near the sink as a reminder.

Thank you,

Melissa

Update to Kashmere's Evanced Form

Good afternoon,

An additional location has been added to Kashmere's Evanced profile. Staff can now select "McCrane-Kashmere Garden's Children's Area" as a location when inputting programs into the software. Please use it for those programs that will take place on the public floor in the children's area.

Thank you,

Melissa

Book/AV Donation Slips

From Syma:

This week in Delivery you will be receiving an initial supply of new Book/AV Donation slips. These are used when a customer requests a receipt for books or AV items that they are donating. The customer receives the white copy and we recommend that you retain the yellow copy for at least year should questions arise.

Please discard any older forms you may have. Additional slips are available from the Supply Room.

New 3M Machines & Software at Lakewood

Good morning,

Yesterday, new 3M machines were installed at Lakewood. These machines work, so if you follow proper procedures, the gates will not beep when patrons exit the building with checked out items. There are a few things that need to be mentioned, though, to ensure that staff is properly circulating items and using the machines correctly.

First, this is how the machine looks:

The handheld scanner to the left of the 3M machine is to be used for SmartMoney. Do not use the 3M machines to scan barcodes into SmartMoney.  

Second, this green arrow light should always be on this side of the machine:

Do not switch the settings on the machine. For some reason, books do not scan/demagnetize when the machine is switched to the setting on the right. To switch circulation modes, staff will have to use the 3M software installed on the desktop. The orange lights on the right side of the machine indicate the circulation settings (check in and check) the machine is on, and they will go back and forth when staff is using the software on the desktop.

To start the 3M machine in the mornings, click on this icon located on the desktop of both CSD terminals:

This will launch the 3M software, which looks like this:

The icon loads in both the task bar and as a dialog box that will remain open and accessible at all times. Please do not close the dialog box, as this will close the program, and you will have to once again start the software. You can, however, minimize the dialog box when it is not in use.

The modes in the 3M software are as follows:

Check In

Check Out

As stated, the dialog box will remain open and at the forefront of all other programs, including Sirsi. Since you switch modes in this box, it is imperative that it remains open or is maximized when staff is circulating items at the CSD. And again, switching modes in this box will switch the circulation modes on the 3M machine.

The dialog box can be arranged as so, but you are free to arrange it however you like so long as you can access it quickly to switch modes:

Thank you,

MR