Manager's Meeting 6/26/14

New circulation policies and procedures:

• 30 holds maximum now.
• Reordering a place in the hold queue - Designated staff only
• Text message alerts are not available yet for hold pickups- will be coming soon.
• Unfilled holds are now cancelled after 365 days.
• Holds on the hold shelf expire after seven calendar days.
• Consular ID - Good for ID, not for address verification
• No photocopy of ID unless arrangement are made with a group such as school.
• Temporary Resident Card - Good for 30 days, only check out three items at a time.
• Staff Cards - Need an address in the information and must fill out form like regular customers.
• Texshare - Application is on blog
• Patrons can now check out as many CD's as they want up to the total item limit of 50
• Do not give out pins over the phone
• If they return a DVD disc with no case, just check it in and do not charge them for the item

Other Info:

• Pop Up Library is different from the Summer Reading Program books. Make sure you use the correct books.
• Friends warehouse is full again - limit to weeding by condition until they reopen.
• Michelle Gorman, from Charlotte, NC, will be starting July 7th as our new Deputy Director of Customer Experience. She may be in town and stopping by at different locations to see for herself what the locations are like.
• Customer comment form - Give out the most recent version.  It is located on the blog. Write down a staff response and then pass it along to manager.
• When someone has a complaint that you are having difficulty explaining to the customer, see if manager or person in charge can satisfy the customer right there and then so it doesn't go any further.
• Customers insist that they would like to call someone to complain, give them the 3-2707 number for administration.  If they insist on talking to the director, give them the 3-1300 number
• Language Access Committee - A committee to ensure equal access for those that might not speak English as a first language.  The city has 311, which we can use as a translator.  They subscribe to a language program.  There may be customers coming in with cards with them that explain what their first language is, at that time, we will try to help them either with 311 or the best way possible. Flyers and cards should be delivered in the future addressing this.
• We will start tracking every time we help a customer that involves a foreign language interaction. The daily stats sheet will be revisited to accommodate this new statistic which will start July 1st.
• Staff asked or would like to be on a committee must let the manager know ahead of time.

Keep up the excellent work!!!

Pedro

Manager's Meeting Notes 5/22/14

Hey Team,

Sorry for this late post but these are the notes from the managers meeting in May:

• Lift Off Houston commences 7/11/2014 - This is a program where citizens create a business plan and present to the city and the winners receive funds to begin a business
• Camp Wonderopolis- Kids go online to do activities and print out a badge to bring to the library as proof to receive a STREAM sticker.
• Pop Up Library- The box is at the front desk. It contains instructions and the book prizes. Contact Kapila if supplies are needed.
• Substitutes - We have no more money for substitutes - Administration is looking for funding
• LMS Training System - If you have trouble logging in, remember to always use Internet Explorer.
• Give'm a Pickle training is still on the staff training portal and new staff are able to view it as they are hired.
• Do not use personal email for work, such as sending in training certificates to Leilany.
• FLIP kits - There are 13 new titles. To redistribute, kits must be sent back to CHM and they send to HPL processing. All must be refurbished after we receive them back.
• We can ask for more CMH passes by emailing Kallie at kbenes@cmhouston.org or 713-535-7254. Let them know how many passes we need. 
• All training must be approved by the branch manager.
• EB Cape is now called the Learning Development Center
• Whoever is in charge of the building, should make staff aware if they are leaving the building or going to be somewhere difficult to find. Always look at the schedule to find out. If you cannot find me you may call me on my cell.
• Three part phone greeting - Every time
• Greeting customers is not just a customer service but also for safety. Pay attention to your surroundings, even in the staff workroom.
• We have to get better at the five expected behaviors of good customer service.
• Greet Customers
• Smile
• Make Eye Contact
• Use Their Name When Applicable
• Acknowledge Them As They Leave

Keep up the good job you are doing and always look towards improvement.

Pedro

OVERDRIVE Issues

From Marianne Lorio:

Recently I’ve had a couple patrons with e-book issues directed to leave a voice mail with a very brief description of their problem and their contact information on my phone. While there is nothing wrong with doing this it is usually not providing the best customer service. The problem is that I am often away from my office. In the most recent example the patron left the message on Saturday, which is not usually a work day for me. I was sick on Monday, was only able to get through some of my messages on Tuesday and took a day off on Wednesday. I just got to the message today. Fortunately the patron was not upset that it took me so long to return her call. However, during this time no one was working on the patron’s issue. To be perfectly honest there is very little I can do to rectify an OverDrive issue. Mainly what I do is contact OverDrive. Since I can’t be available even all the hours the library is opened, HPL E-mail Reference has permission to contact OverDrive support also. The best thing to do when a patron has an OverDrive issue is to fill out the E-mail Reference form. Someone in that department will almost always get to work on the problem before I get a chance to read or listen to it. They also know to contact me if for some reason it looks like I can actually do something to fix the problem. You can contact me if you wish or if for some reason it is necessary. However be aware that it will probably mean a delay before the issue is dealt with so you probably want to give the patron a heads up.

From Saima:

I also agree with Marianne and would like to add that the email reference form was recently revised to better serve our customers with ebook, library account and catalog related questions. If you haven’t, please do check it out: http://www.houstonlibrary.org/emailref  

If you have any suggestions, please let me know. 

PF

Documenting Chipotle Coupons and Bags

From Sara Pope:

Good morning team,

I’ve heard from several of you about customers attempting to collect more than one book bag/Chipotle coupon at your locations. To address this issue, please put a note in Evanced that says “Bag awarded LOCATION/INITIALS”.  Make sure all staff knows to do this, and please check Evanced before giving a child a bag. Remember, the customer needs to have the log with him/her, and there needs to be at least 5 books read, and all 5 STREAM program stickers in the log.

The reason we don’t have a way to actually award in Evanced is because it confuses the system to have more than 2 criteria to track, and it’s already tracking number of hours and number of books read. Please continue to use the Google Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cuJSBaN7Sbjf-sygm3EhaTjdkk6QG-LUfi2_-ZkAo60/viewform to track the number of bags and coupons given away, in addition to writing the note in Evanced.

PACE Bags

Hello,

Karla dropped off four bags for those PACE graduates who did not attend the ceremony at the JIB to pick up at Kashmere. Each participant was contacted by Karla regarding picking up the bag sometime this week. The bags contain the name of the participant(s) and are located in the supply closet. 

Please confer with Dionne or Juan if a customer comes into the library and inquires about their bag. Please make sure that the name provided by the customer matches the name(s) in and/or on the bag.

Thank you,

MR

Unblocking a Website

From Syma:

If Websense (our Internet filter) blocks a customer from accessing a website, you can unblock that site on a temporary basis by following the procedures outlined on the Reference Page of the Intranet under CIPA FAQ: Disabling the Websense Filter:  https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/depts/neighborhood/CIPA-FAQ.pdf.  As noted in the FAQ, you will need to contact the IT Helpdesk for the override password.

If you or a customer feels that Websense is blocking a website incorrectly and that it should be readily available, please send that information to Lin Swalley (lin.swalley@houstontx.gov).  The Collection Development Department will review the site and determine if the website should be unblocked.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Pedro

Recording Chipotle/Book Bag Prize!!!

From Sarah Pope:

In order to track how many people are collecting the Chipotle coupon/book bag prize, there is a simple Google form to use. It can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cuJSBaN7Sbjf-sygm3EhaTjdkk6QG-LUfi2_-ZkAo60/viewform

I also put a link on the juvenile wiki (found on the HPL Blogs page of the Intranet). I’d recommend you bookmark it for easy use, and please make sure your entire staff knows about it!

When you give out a Chipotle coupon and book bag to the kids who have read 5 books and attended 5 programs, use the Google form to record it. If you can remember, you can just do it at the end of the day 1 time, but if you can’t remember, you should do it every time you give out a bag. All you need to do is select your location, and type in how many Chipotle coupons/bookbags you gave out.

A customer needs to have his/her log book to show that they have actually attended the 5 programs and read 5 books (indicated with 5 STREAM stickers and at least 1 reader sticker).

For the Wonderopolis component of the STREAM badges: Instead of attending 5 programs, a kid can attend 4 programs, and complete a Camp Wonderopolis activity. Camp Wonderopolis goes live on June 16^th. They must complete the activity, and print out and show you the Camp Card (what we originally called a badge in the promotional materials), or, if they do the activity in the library, they can show you the screen without printing out the Camp Card. Since a customer can only do 1 Wonderopolis activity to count as a program, we are going to make a note in Evanced on the customer’s account that says Wonderopolis and your location’s initials. We hope this will cut down on fraud. So, when a customer does a Wonderopolis activity, you will look them up in the SRP software, and click on the person icon to edit their account. You’ll write in the note field: “WONDEROPOLIS OAK” if there isn’t already a note about Wonderopolis there, and if there is already a note, you can tell the customer that they’ve already collected the STREAM badge for Wonderopolis, and to collect more badges, they can attend some of our wonderful programs!

If you have any questions about SRP, please don’t hesitate to ask! I’m going to update the Juvenile Wiki to show the important information about SRP all in one place.

Note:

Pedro has added this link to the blog under "SRP LINKS"

Pop Up Library Instructions

From Mary Wagoner:

The Pop Up Library box that is behind the CSD at KAS and in the work room at LAK contains Pop Up Library books, as well a hole punches, detailed instructions, punch card tally sheets and extra punch cards (in case a child loses one).   Please note that these books are labeled inside and are different from the SRP giveaway books.

The Pop Up Library has a punch card which participants can redeem for a free book after 3 punches.  There are 6 punches per card so a Pop Up Library participant can earn two free books at Central or their Neighborhood Library. 

·         Please use the standard hole punch. 

·         Please make hash tag for the books redeemed and share it with me with Kapila when you do your regular monthly report. 

·         Please forward any completed punch cards and surveys to Kapila at the end of each week.

·         Please ask children and parents when they are checking in books, signing up for a library card, or attending a program if they have attended a Pop Up event. 

o   If they say “yes”, please ask them to bring in their Pop Up punch card or survey so we can reward them with another free book for completing any three of the six activities on the punch card.  

o   We will distribute library card applications that will be stamped; or marked Pop Up Library or PUL.  We ask that you track the number submitted at your neighborhood library for us

Pop Up Library Program Manager Kapila Sankaran has booked Pop Up events at locations that attract families with young children, such as WIC Centers, Hermann Park Zoo (near the train), Multi-Service Centers and Houston Housing Authority sites.  When the Pop Up team conducts an event, they try to share your Summer Reading calendar and information about the next event at your site.

If customers and staff want to learn more about the Pop Up Library, please direct them to www.houstonlibrary.org/popuplibrary

Once again, please send your recommendations to kapila.sanskaran@houstontx.gov. Your support in making this program a success is very appreciated.  Thank you.

PF

Youth Services Wiki and SRP Information

From Sara Pope:

Hello team,

I have updated the Juvenile Services Wiki/Youth Services Wiki to include helpful and up to date information about 2014’s SRP! There you will find the link to the correct Performer Evaluation sheet to use, as well as the 2014 resource guide.

Please feel free to update the Youth Services Wiki yourself with helpful information, like storytime ideas or show off your beautiful bulletin boards! We can also create new categories for things that we think will be useful. What would you like to see on our wiki?

How do you get to the wiki? Here’s the link: http://tw.houstonlibrary.org/twiki/bin/view/HPL/JuvenileServices

Or, from Inside HPL>reference>HPL Blogs>Juvenile Services Wiki

Have a great day!

Please note that the link to the SRP performer evaluation form has been added to the blog under SRP Links. - MR