New Chipotle Coupon Instructions

From Jennifer:

Although our SRP registration numbers and reading levels are at an all-time high for the Summer Reading Program, the new program incentive piece is not being redeemed at the level we had hoped.

Chipotle wants to ensure that the meal coupons are getting into the hands of customers and they have requested that we start distributing them at programs. I do understand that there will be some concern with running out when it comes time for people to redeem them for their 5 program completion, but we do have 10,000 of them, so I request that you all go ahead and just start using the Chipotle coupons as program giveaways.

I do have plenty more in stock here, so if you need more, please let me know.

If you are out of Scholastic books and want to give away Chipotle coupons as an alternative, please do. Feel free to be liberal in the distribution of these. Chipotle is tracking redemption and the numbers are far below where they should be, and they just want them given out! Thanks!!!

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.

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"

SRP Read Down Your Fines

From Sandy:

Fred Shumacher and Thuy Vo have made a training video for the Read Down Your Fines program this summer. Please watch the video as it includes vital information on coupon handling. This will be necessary for a smooth summer. If you are a manager, please have your entire staff watch the video.

https://sites.google.com/site/hplstafftraining/learningresources/libraryfunctions/read-down-your-fines

I have also received word that coupons should begin to go out by the end of next week. Remember: the child qualifies for a coupon just by registering for SRP,  so please remember to add a note that the child did NOT receive the registration coupon in the notes field of the child’s Summer Reader record. Once coupons are available and they have been disbursed it is very important to go into the child’s record and DELETE this note.

This is a great opportunity for all the children of Houston to have the library freely available to them this summer. Every book read is an another opportunity for a child to succeed. Please encourage your customers to participate.  

PF

Monday, May 19th!!!

Hello Team,

I have sent everyone an email about Monday. Please read it. The last managers meeting notes I posted has some good information about the Summer Reading Program in case you have not read it.

Thanks,
Pedro

Please remember to award the Registration Prize in Evanced!

From Sara Pope:

Good afternoon team!

Please make sure you and your staff are awarding the Registration Prize in Evanced! This is very important (as is awarding all prizes in Evanced) because it is how we keep track of the number of prizes awarded, which is important for our funding.

When a customer comes in to register for SRP, after you enter them into Evanced and click on Save, you need to go back and find them through a search, then click on the red gift icon.  The Registration Prize is the last lines on the screen, and you can either type a “1” into the Prize Eligibility box and click on the red gift with the green plus sign on it, or click on the Award All Prizes button at the bottom. Then let the customer select his/her Rosen book. If a customer has already signed up himself, you will simply search for them and award the prize in Evanced the same way.

Since we don’t yet have our $5 off fines coupon for Reading Down the Fines, please put a note in their account with the date that says something to the effect of “Has not received $5 coupon for registration” with your location and initials. You can save time on new registrations by entering this note upon customer sign up (the notes field is the last box) if you are awarding the Rosen book to them then. If you need to add the note on an already existing customer, or if you forget to enter it when you do the registration, edit the account by clicking on the little person icon, and add the note. After the note has been added, the person icon will now have a pencil on top of it, that means there’s a note there which should be looked at before you award them any more prizes! When the customer comes to collect their 5 book/hour prize, or if they come in for their coupon after we’ve received them, please give them the coupon and delete the note from their account.

If you have any questions about the process, feel free to give me a call, and I will be happy to walk you through it. Sandy Farmer is also a wealth of Evanced information, and remember, she will come to your location to train your staff in Evanced if you ask!

I’m very pleased to see that we already have a lot of kids signed up for SRP! Keep up the good work!

MR

SRP Sign Up

From Sara:

Very important message about awarding the SRP Registration Prize:

When someone signs up for SRP at your location (or signs themselves up online and comes in to collect their Registration Prize), go ahead and award the prize in Evanced, and give them their Rosen books. Since we don't have the $5 off fines coupon yet for reading down your fines, please make a note in the customer's account in Evanced that says "Has not received $5 coupon for registration" with your location and initials, so the note should look like: Has not received $5 coupon for registration OAK/SP

VERY IMPORTANT: After we receive the coupons, and the customer comes in to collect the coupon (perhaps when they come in to collect their reading prizes), give them the coupon and DELETE THE NOTE by editing their account. This is standard procedure for when we don't one element of a prize level, since you will already have awarded the other item in the registration prize (the Rosen book).

If you need instructions on how to add and delete notes, remember that Sandy Farmer has offered to come to your locations to do Evanced for SRP training, and she can show you how. Youth staff that attended the April youth meeting/training should be able to do this as well.

We are hoping to have the coupons ready to go for June, and we don't usually have too many people signing up in May.

Please share this information with your staff. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask either myself or Sandy Farmer.

PF

Manager's Meeting Notes 4/30/14

Hello team,

• Summer Reading Program:
• Sign up begins May 1st.
• They will have a badge log booklet, that we give to them, with the first sticker. After 5 badges they get a book bag and Chipotle coupon. 
• At registration, the child gets a "Rosen" book, a "Registration" badge and a $5 "read down your fine" coupon to pay down late fees. The coupon will be given out at sign up and after reading 5, 10, 20 and 30 books. So they may receive 5 coupons.
• The coupons can be used by anyone.
• If they owe less than $5 in fines, we still take the coupon and they simply lose out on the rest.
• The coupons can only be used once, and then we send it in with the deposits.  The extra coupons that we have not given out will be guarded as if they are money.  The fine payment will be paid down in Sirsi, much like a "forgiven" except there will be an option for "Coupon".
• They CANNOT pay collections fees or lost books.  Only overdue fines.
• The coupons expire at the end of August.
• The "Rosen" books are to be kept separate from the other giveaway books.
• Please order more supplies from Tiffany Hoover.
• There is a video on the staff training portal talking about the SRP.
• When signing people up for the meeting rooms, please ask questions and let them know what is and is not allowed according to policies.
• Pop Up Library: Grant-funded program that HPL goes to low-income areas to have a program and give kids a punch card that they punched when they come to programs at any library.  Once they get 3 punches, we give them a book.  Then at 6 punches another book, then we take the card and turn it in.  These books are separate from the SRP books.
• The Friends of the Library:  Please check out their website and learn what they do for the library.
• They sort through all the discard boxes we send in.
• They have book-sales in different areas of Houston. The next book sale is June 12-14th near the Heights area. Please give out the push flyers.
• They give the library thousands of dollars a year. They help pay scholarships, TLA visits and many other items.
• This year they also purchased two new vans for the Community Engagement team.
• They have volunteer opportunities for middle school kids and up at the warehouse. You may even participate.
• Communications is working on getting our programs from EVANCED to create the fliers and calendar.
• Saturday Guidelines Draft:  Some key points....
• I will email everyone a copy of the draft.
• Use telephone reference as a back-up when you need help answering a question.
• Administration wanted to re-emphasize using the formal telephone greeting. "Thank you for calling the Houston Public Library system.  "This is the Kashmere Gardens Neighborhood Library  How may I help you?"
• Engage all customers in a friendly, polite and welcoming way when we are Greeting/Roving. Greeting is an active pursuit, not a passive one. Welcome them in and ask if they would like assistance with anything.

SRP Registration and Books

From Jennifer Schwartz:

Dear All,

We have a few exciting new incentives to this year’s Summer Reading Program. We will be sending out a detailed breakdown, as well as offering training at the next Youth Meetings.

One of the incentives is that a generous donation from Rosen Publishing will allow us to give a book to every child who registers for the summer reading program. That’s right! In 2014, every child who signs up will receive a book just for signing up. We will still offer scholastic books for reading incentives at the same levels as last year, as well.

We will need to keep the Rosen books separate from the Scholastic books to ensure that we are giving out a Rosen book with registration, and a Scholastic book for reading incentives. We do apologize for this, but it is important that we honor the stipulations of this very generous gift.

Our first shipment to you will be the Rosen books, which you should anticipate receiving over the next few weeks. We will make sure your boxes are clearly marked “Rosen,” and these will be the books that you will give out upon registration. We will try to include a good variety of ages and subjects in each box. It will work very similarly to the Scholastic books. If you are running short of a particular type of book, let us know, and we will replenish your supply. 

MR