Holds due to expire from the Holds Shelf during holiday extended to 12/29

From Fred Schumacher:

Hello all.

This is just a quick note to let you know that available holds with Pick up by dates of 12/26-28 will be extended to 12/29 to offset the additional days closed for the holiday.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks.

MR

Due Date Extension

From HPL IT HelpDesk:

Greetings HPL Team,

Due dates were extended for all checked out items to January 11, 2016, to adjust for holiday closures. Customers who have placed holds on these checked out items may have questions about the extension. You may use this explanation to answer customer inquiries.

MR

2015 Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement; Form 1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage

From COH Payroll Services:

Please be aware that the 2015 Form W-2 (Wage and Tax Statements) will be provided to all employees in paper hard-copy. An electronic (online) W-2  will also be provided to all current employees via the Employee Self-Service (ESS) website at https://portal.houstontx.gov/irg/portal.

It is anticipated that for the calendar year 2016 (which means in January 2017), employees that select to "opt-in" to receiving electronic-only copies of Form W-2 will not receive a hard-copy.

Finally, please be aware that all employees will also be receiving a Form 1095-C (Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage). This report reflects your City of Houston-provided health benefits coverage for calendar year 2015 for you, the employee, and any dependents on your plan. It is required in order for you to complete your 2015 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. A paper hard-copy of this report will be provided to each employee via US MAIL. No electronic access to this report will be available for calendar year 2015. The Human Resources Department will provide details regarding interpreting the Health Benefits participation information included in the report. It is imperative that all City employees verify their current mailing address in ESS and update it, if needed, before January 1, 2016, in order to avoid any delays in receiving your Form 1095-C.

The statutory deadline for distributing or postmarking Form W-2 and Form 1095-C to employees is February 1, 2016. Payroll Services will strive to beat this deadline by at least a week. Additional communications will be sent as more definitive distribution and online access dates are determined.

MR

KAS: Flash Drive Found

Hello,

A flash drive was found in a front-facing port on public station 08. It was found by me at 5:48pm.

I placed the flash drive in an envelope and provided more of a description of it on the front of the envelope. Please know that it is in Lost and Found behind CSD in case the customer returns to retrieve it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

MR

Adele's New Album

From Marianne Lorio:

Hello:

Arguably the hottest news in the music industry right now is the success of Adele's new release, an album titled 25. We were excited because the album would be available using the library music service Freegal. However, it was announced by the album's producers the day before the album was released that the album would not be available for streaming. The album is still available through Freegal but not as part of the streaming service. It is only available through the option of downloading three songs a week. There are eleven songs on the album so it will take a month to listen through all the songs on Freegal. While this is not ideal it is still an advantage for library customers since none of the other streaming services can provide access to this album at all. Unfortunately, this seems to be a growing trend with new releases so we will probably be hearing about similar situations in the future. Please let me know if you have any questions.

WORKFLOW: Items Stuck in INTRANSIT Status

Hello,

There has been an update to the Workflow Procedures section of the blog in regards to how to correct items stuck in INTRANSIT status:

Items Stuck in INTRANSIT Status

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further clarification.

Thanks,

MR

NOTICE: New Credit Card Installation Schedule (PCI Equipment Deployment)

Hello,

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.

A few points:

• The installation will be conducted by a contractor, not a COH employee
• The contractor will need access to the Telecheck machine and access to the Network/IT closet.
• The contractor will be adding a pin pad to the TeleCheck machine and a device to communicate to the pin pad.
• 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.

If the contractor has 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 our locations have any issues with the equipment, we should 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).

Below is the schedule for installation at Kashmere and Lakewood NL. We are scheduled to have ours done on Monday, December 28, 2015. Please keep in mind that the TeleCheck machine at Kashmere is inoperable at this time. Financial Services is aware of the issue. As soon as more information is forthcoming, I will let you know.

MR

UPDATE: Items with Yellow Protector Labels

Hello,

This is an update regarding the books that are arriving with the yellow call labels:

Chris Hu from LMS is requesting that we DO NOT discard these items via the regular procedure. Since they have been leased, copies in bad condition can be returned to Baker and Taylor. Copies in bad condition should be sent to the Float Team (Sara Karow - LMS).

A note should be included with the book indicating the issue with the item.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.

MR

HITS: Suspicious Email Notification

Hello,

HITS is requesting that staff delete any suspicious emails containing a Word Document attachment. In particular, users are receiving an email with a subject heading similar to: "ICM - Invoice #2393".

They are requesting that staff DO NOT open the attachment and delete the email immediately.

If you have already opened the Word attachment and chose to allow Macros to run, please contact the Help Desk at 832-394-4487.

Thanks,

MR