DOOR COUNT: October 25, 2015 - October 31, 2015

Hello,

Please be advised that the second Door Count week of FY16 will take place next week and will run from Sunday, October 25th through Saturday, October 31st. The information gathered from Door Count helps the organization understand what the busiest times are at each HPL location during a week and how much our in-house materials are used. Please assist in the following ways:

1. Provide an hourly count of visitors during the hours the library is open by recording the P-count hourly.

2. Manually count all in-house materials used.

Thank you,

MR

COH Policy: Email Business Lifecycle & Severe Weather and Other Emergency Conditions Policies

Hello,

Please review the following COH policies:

1. AP 8-10, Email Business Lifecycle Policy: http://www.houstontx.gov/adminpolicies/8-10.pdf

2. AP 2-3, Severe Weather and Other Emergency Conditions: http://www.houstontx.gov/adminpolicies/2-3.pdf

Thanks,

MR

UPDATE: Learning Link Cards for NCAA Read to the Final Four

From Fred Schumacher:

Hello everyone.

HPL recently delivered 7,214 Learning Link Cards to HISD for distribution to 3^rd graders at the 63 elementary schools participating in the NCAA Read to the Final Four program over the next year.  The list of participating HISD schools (includes school name and number) is attached.  We are excited to participate in this program by providing each of the participating 3^rd graders with a free Learning Link Card with the following privileges:

• Full access to HPL’s collection of electronic resources.
• Check out of up to 10 physical juvenile items at one time.
• No fines, no fees
• No parent signature required for card replacement

There are a few limitations on the Learning Link Card that are different from other cards:

• Laptops and gaming equipment cannot be checked out on the Learning Link Card.
• Adult and Teen physical items cannot be checked out on the Learning Link Card.
• No more than 10 physical items can be checked out on the Learning Link Card at one time.
• The cards will each expire on August 31,2016.

So here’s some information and a few guidelines  you need to know and follow when assisting one of our new Learning Link customers:

• This is a pilot. We are tracking data this year so that we can make a case for expanding the program next year to all HISD pre-K-3^rd grade students. This is one of the many reasons we need staff to adhere to the guidelines of the pilot and be careful about who gets replacement cards. Also, we want to make sure the cards are not being abused by parents or siblings so it’s incredibly important not to override anything (item limits, JUV materials only, laptop or gaming checkout availability) because that will negatively impact the data and potentially impact the future of this program for all students.
• Learning Link Card accounts all have the HOU-HISD as a user profile name.  This profile is only assigned to 3^rd graders at the 66 HISD schools participating in the NCAA Read to the Final Four program this year (the list of schools is attached).  The HOU-HISD profile is not and should not be assigned to other users.  HISD will update our user files regularly for students transferring into the participating schools.  Cards will be created for those students as we receive the files.
• Replacing a lost Learning Link Card does not require the completion of a registration form or the signature of a parent or guardian.  If a third grade child from one of the participating HISD schools requests a replacement card, you need his/her name and student ID number in order to look up the existing record in the Symphony system.  If there is a Learning Link account in the system for him/her, you may simply issue a new card to the child by overwriting the User ID with the new card number and saving the change.  You will not need to attach a Learning Link label to the replacement card.  Remember, this is only acceptable for Learning Link accounts already in the system.  Cards with other user profile types still require the completion of a registration form and the signature of a parent or guardian for customers under the age of 18.  Do not change the user profile in an existing account in order to issue a replacement Learning Link card.
• The Alt ID for each Learning Link Card is the student’s seven digit school ID number, preceded by the letter ‘S.’  So the Alt ID for a Learning Link Card will be S#######.  This format is consistent for all Learning Link Card accounts and should not be changed.  To find a student account using the Alt ID, go to the User Search widget in either Display User or Modify User, do a Keyword Search on the Alt ID index in the Search Index field and input S plus the seven digit student number in the search box.
• The default PIN for each account was set to the last four digits of the student’s HISD Student ID number. 
• The Group ID for each Learning Link card will be the three digit school number + a dash (-) + the three digit homeroom number provided by HISD.  000 is assigned as a homeroom number on accounts for which no homeroom was provided in the data set.  Additionally, each account includes a note field in which the school number and school name is recorded.  Please do not alter the Group ID or the note fields with school number and name in any way.
• You should not override the block to check out a laptop, electronic device or any non-juvenile materials to the card. 
• You should not override the block to check out more than 10 physical items to the account.
• No fines assess to the account when overdue items are returned.
• The accounts will not be sent to collection for unreturned material.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Learning Link cards, please do not hesitate to contact Circulation Administration at 832-393-2222 (option 3), Fred Schumacher at 832-393-1567 or fred.schumacher@houstontx.gov, or Kallie Benes at 832-393-1428 or Kallie.Benes@houstontx.gov . Any of us will be glad to help in any way we are able.

Thanks.

MR

Scream-In: Paperwork

From Kallie Benes:

Hi everyone,

Customers may be coming into branches to turn in their paperwork for the Scream-In. If a customer turns in paperwork at your branch, please send their paperwork via in-house delivery to:

CEN Teen Space
Subject: Scream-In
Attn: Rebecca Denham - Teen Services Coordinator

If customers have questions about Scream-In registration please refer them to Rebecca Denham at Rebecca.Denham@houstontx.gov or 832-393-1691.

MR

REMINDER: Health Assessment

Hello,

This is a reminder for all staff that currently have COH health insurance:

In order to attain the $600 annual discount on the 2016 medical rate, employees must 1) complete the health assessment on mycigna.com by October 31, 2015 and 2) complete one wellness option by March 12, 2016.

To complete the health assessment, you will need your biometric measures (height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, total cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol) obtained between January 1, 2015, and October 31, 2015.

Thank you,

MR

HPL Scream-In

From Rebecca Denham:

Attention staff with tween and teenage children! 

Youth ages 11 to 15 are invited to experience Houston Public Library's first ever Scream-In and Haunted Library Ghost Walk at the historic (and haunted) Julia Ideson Building!

Highlights:

• Costume Contests
• Prizes (including a GoPro camera)
• Relay Races
• Crafts
• Zombie Make-up 101
• Haunted Library Ghost Walk (to take place at HPL’s very own haunted JIB)

Details can be found here - http://houstonlibrary.org/learn-explore/library-events/scream

Space is limited to 40 participants and everyone must have signed permission forms to attend.

If you have questions please contact Rebecca Denham at Rebecca.Denham@houstontx.gov.

MR

NOTICE: Intranet and Other Websites Down

From IT Helpdesk:

Greetings HPL Team,

Due to hardware issues, one of our servers is down this morning. Our staff is working diligently to resolve this issue.

Please note this impacts the following websites:

• Inside HPL, our intranet
• Special Collection websites (Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Gregory School and Clayton)
• Friends of the Texas Room
• Material Suggestion form
• HALAN websites

You may access Kronos here: https://coh.kronos.net/wfc/navigator/logon

MR