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

Don't Use Internet Explorer!!!

From Laurie:

Homeland Security has issued warning to not use Internet Explorer

As a result of Homeland Security’s warning, IT has asked us stop using Internet Explorer and to discourage customers from using Internet Explorer.  Your public and staff computers should have Firefox or Chrome on them.  Please use those browsers instead of Internet Explorer.  If you do not see them, please contact the HALAN Helpdesk to ask for them to be installed.  

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.

Accounts in Collections

From Fred:

Although collections submissions for accounts with $25.00 or more in lost/long overdue item bills continued after migration, it has taken a while to set up reports to also submit accounts with other types of charges totaling $25.00 or more.  Those reports are now in place, and we will send notices to the first file of customers who have owed $25.00 or more in bills for overdue fines and other charges for 60 days or longer. Notices will inform the customers of the total owed on their accounts and request that the outstanding balance be paid within 30 days to avoid further collection activity.

If your receive a call or a visit from a customer who receives one of these notices, please assist him/her with settling the outstanding charges just as you would any other customer.  If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Circulation Administration at 832-393-2222 (option 3).  

PF

Staff Meeting Notes 4/29/14

Hello Team,

The staff meeting notes for 4/29/14 are now under staff notes. Make sure you read over them and ask if you have any questions.

Thanks,
PF

Polite Greetings

From Laurie:

Polite greetings to customers can make the whole call go much easier and is the first part of the customer interaction.  You never know who might be on the other end of the phone.  Here is the official Houston Public Library Three Part Greeting.

Three Part Telephone Greeting for Public Service Telephones

1. Thank the caller for calling the Houston Public Library System.

Thank you for calling the Houston Public Library System.

2. Follow with the name of your branch/unit.

This is the Heights Neighborhood Library.

This is the Discovery Green Express Library.

This is the Scenic Woods Regional Library.

3. Offer Assistance.

How may I help you?

In addition, remember to ask permission before you put a caller on hold.  If you transfer a call to another desk or location, please make sure that the intended recipient is there before you complete the transfer.  

PF