Open Discussion Notes 10-19-16

Break Room, 11:15-11:50AM
Moderator: Trish
Recorder: Leona
Present: Alice, Alisa, Chris, Iffat, Jasmine, Karen, Kathrine, Leona, Melinda, Nina, Pam, Trish, Valentin.

1. Pumpkin Carving Contest at CMC Fall Festival at CEN on Friday, Oct. 28.  $5 entry fee, ideas welcomed.  We have two pumpkins--one ugly one, one beautiful one--plus assorted smaller pumpkins to attach/decorate and other supplies.  The carving should be ready by Thursday evening so Karen can deliver it when she goes to the CE Managers Meeting Friday morning.
2. Staff Development Day was a win according to the KEN staff.  Esp. popular--gift cards and other prizes, presentation from HEB, info about lending hotspots, location at JIB, seeing colleagues from other locations.
3. Work at giving great customer service, as talked about in the HEB session at SDD, esp. the element of surprise and random acts of surprise.
4. Remember all books with yellow labels are not to be discarded.  Please p ut them in the float bins.  These are leased items and need to be returned when we don't need them or they're in poor condition.
5. Classics that are cataloged can be put on the the shelves with other cataloged items.  Non-cataloged classics still go on the designated shelves by the restrooms.
6. Please log all "orphan" items (those belonging to non-HPL libraries).  Do not put them in the Lost & Found bin.
7. When pulling items to float, please discharge them first to make sure there are no holds and they're off the customers' accounts.  Check the condition too--items in poor condition should be discarded, not floated.
8. When the picture book bin on the sorter fills up, the overflow will go into Bin 9.  If you can scan the book on the RFID pad, it doesn't need a new label. Karen is going to see if we can get Bin 9 changed to an overflow bin for picture books.
9. Pam asks us to save all small empty water bottles for her New  Year's Eve kids party--she's using them to make noisemakers.  She'll put a bag in the break room for collection.

Staff Meeting Notes 8-10-16

11:15 – 11:45 AM, Break Room

1. Updates
1. Staff Changes (Karen)
2. July CE Managers Meeting & CItizenship Institute (Karen)
3. SRP Wrap-up (Leona, Jasmine)
4. New Jungman (Alice, Temeka)
5. Customer complaints about smell (Karen, Temeka)
2. Training: The Correct Way--Lost Cards & FLIP Kits (Karen, Alisa)

Quick Notes

• Tag all incoming items:  Be a good team member and tag all incoming items without tags (except ILL).  This includes items from Central and other locations and it will save everyone a lot of time since we’ll handle them again when they’re checked out and when they’re returned.
• Don’t erase room reservations (accidentally) by scanning a barcode into the spreadsheet.  If you do, click on the Undo arrow to restore the previous version.
• Sorting ADU DVDs:  Non-Fiction DVDs on cart, Fiction DVDs in orange bin (to be scanned and loaded in AllCirc). Put JUV DVDs on the Juvenile cart, not the Adult cart.
• Donation Slips: Put them in the manila envelope marked “Donation Slips 2016“ on the Time & Attendance desk.  Don’t leave them downstairs.
• Deposit Slips:  Don’t save the data you entered in the Excel deposit slips when you’re finished.  We want to start each day with a clean slip.
• Clear Outgoing Holds and Bin 9 Exceptions each day: Outgoing holds are waiting for labels and need to go into Delivery ASAP--someone is waiting!  Bin 9 Exceptions need to be checked in first, then tagged/retagged  While these items are waiting to be tagged, the catalog shows them as “Check Shelf”--ready to check out.  Let’s get them on the shelves as soon as possible.  
• Labor Day is September 5.  Labor Day is a City of Houston holiday and HPL will be closed on Sunday, 9/4, and Monday, 9/5.

Events

• Thursday, August 11: Lunch with CE Administration @ WAL (Alice, Kathrine, Pam)
• Friday, August 12: Last Day of Pay Period
• Friday, August 12: Youth Services Meeting @ PAR (Jasmine, Leona)
• Friday, August 12: Staff Training, Green Group (Karen, Alisa, Nina, Temeka, Trish)
• Wednesday, August 17: Farewell Party for Albert, Doug, Rita & Nagma
• Friday, August 19: Pay Day
• Monday, August 22: Sunday Streets Planning Meeting @ KEN (Karen, Jorge Sanchez)
• Wednesday, August 24: Staff Training with EAP Counselor--Dealing with Difficult Situations
• Friday, August 26: CE Managers Meeting @ VIN (Karen, Shanti)
• Friday, September 2: Pay Day
• Monday, September 5: Labor Day

Open Discussion Notes 7-27-16

11:15-11:45, Break Room
Moderator: Albert
Recorder: Karen

1. Sort Machine:  At end of day do not turn off--just pause, close screen.  Reconnect bins after unplugging.
2. Credit Card Machine:  Use little machine to start credit transactions, then enter rest of info in large machine. Process credit card payment before finishing in Smart Money (to make such charge is accepted before crediting customer).
3. DO NOT turn off printers at workstations.  This creates problems (workroom printers are still not working correctly).
4. We're currently waiting for toner for the workroom printers.
5. Customer Service: the security guard changed a flat tire for a customer on Tuesday, July 26.

Staff Training May 6 & 27

Kendall Staff Training

E-resources 5/6/16

Presented by Jasmine Zelaya

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Overview: Navigating e-resources on the HPL Website

E-books

We offer thousands of e-books including fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels and comic books for all age groups through Overdrive, Axis360, Hoopla, ComicsPlus, Ebsconet and Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Audiobooks

Listen on your computer or on your mobile device. New titles are added regularly or explore classics. Available through Overdrive, Axis360, Hoopla and OneClickDigital.

Music

Freegal and Hoopla offer a wide selection of songs that include latest hits, classics, world music and more.

Video

Stream (or download) films, TV shows, documentaries, instructional and educational videos from Hoopla and Overdrive.

Mobile apps are available for Overdrive, Hoopla, Freegal and OneClickDigital. These and ComicsPlus are available on the HPL app. Check your app store or marketplace for more info. All apps available for free.

Get the complete handout.

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Practice/Assignment (due in two weeks):

1 Create an account with one of the ebook/ eaudiobook hosts.

2. Check out one item.

Staff Training Notes April 1 & 8

Kendall Staff Training

Hidden Gems                                                                                                             April 2016

Presented by Alice Dooley

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Overview:  Presenting “Special Collections,” archival and research materials available through the HPL website.

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Description:  The Houston Public Library website under the tab, “Research”

1.    The African American Library at the Gregory School

2.    Clayton Library for Genealogical Research

3.    The Foundation Center Funding Information network Partner

4.    Greenburg Collection

5.    Government Documents

6.    Houston Area Digital Resources

7.    Houston Metropolitan Research Center

8.    Houston Oral History Project

9.    The Texas and Local History Department

10.  The World Languages Collection

Hidden Gems

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Practice/Assignment (due in two weeks):  April 15^th

As a way to introduce you to Digital Collections, the Houston Public Library, Houston Area Digital Archives, Smithsonian Libraries, library.si.edu/color, New York Public Library, nypl.org/publicdomaindigitalcollections.nypl.org, the Portland State University Library, http://library.pdx.edu/color-our-collections-february-1-5/ and other libraries, have made available pictures that are in the public domain that you can color.

Your assignment is to choose a picture(s), color it, and then put it in my mailbox.  A displayed of your artwork will be put on display somewhere in the workroom. 

Staff Meeting Notes 3-16-16

March 16, 2016, 11:15 – 11:45 AM, 3rd floor conference room

1. News from February CE Managers Meeting and SW Managers Team Meeting (Karen): 

• CE Managers Meeting, 2/26/16: FY17 Budget Update; Open Carry Signs for School Events; Staff Appreciation Funds; Mileage Reimbursement; new PC reservation system being tested; online registration process in development; HPL mobile app displays library card barcode; Customer Service Review program (training by Lauren); see CE Manager Meeting Notes & handouts for complete minutes.
• SW Managers Team Meeting, 3/1/16: When doing daily deposit, prepare the deposit for your drawer, then swap with your colleague doing the other drawer to verify that the correct amount is being sent as the deposit and the correct amount remains in the drawer.

2. Training: HPL Customer Service Review Program (Lauren); PowerPoint presentation

Quick Notes

• PINS:  Please ask customers what PIN they would like to use.  Do not automatically give them the 5-digit number assigned by Sirsi or the customer’s phone number.
• Holds/ILL: Please do not check out holds/ILL items with another family member’s card because Workflows will continue sending copies to fill the hold until it is checked out on the original customer’s card.   
• Staying vs Going:  Make a habit of automatically separating holds that are staying from holds going to another location when you are doing paging, clear holds, or exceptions.  Once a hold is labeled, it’s easy to put it the “staying” pile or the “going” pile.  The benefits: 1) saves time; 2) sends the hold to the right place; 3) makes customers and colleagues happy.  
• Old Newspapers:  When you check in newspapers, remove the oldest ones on the shelf--we keep two weeks of daily newspapers and 4 months of weekly papers (Barrons’s, Houston Business Journal).  Put the discarded issues in the paper recycle bin in the Print Center.
• NEW: Suggestion Box: See a problem? Got a solution?  Suggest it here: KEN Staff Suggestion Box (upper right corner of Kendall blog pages).
• Money to Spend:  Lauren and Karen need your help deciding how to spend private funds we received for staff appreciation (like the monthly birthday parties).  We need to spend $200 by the end of April.  Snacks?  Cookies for staff meetings?  A pre-SRP pizza party?  (Sorry, no gift cards.) Submit your suggestions at What should we buy?.

Upcoming Staff Events

• Friday, March 18: Pay Day!
• Friday, March 18: CE Managers Meeting at CEN (Karen, Lauren)
• Friday, March 25: Last Day of Pay Period
• Wednesday, March 30: Programming Meeting
• Friday, April 1: Staff Training Meeting (Blue Group)
• Friday, April 1: Pay Day!
• Tuesday, April 5: SE Managers Team Meeting (Karen)
• Wednesday, April 6: Open Discussion Meeting
• Friday, April 8:  Youth Services Meeting (Jasmine, Leona, Nina, Shanti)
• Friday, April 8: Staff Training Meeting (Green Group)
• Friday, April 8: Last Day of Pay Period
• Wednesday, April 13: Staff Meeting

Open Discussion Meeting Notes 10/21/2015

In Attendance: Lauren, Albert, Jose, Iffat, Alice, Janalyn, Doug, Alisa, Nina, Temeka, Kathrine, Shanti, Pam, Leona, Trish, Karen

Note Taker: Trish
Moderator: Lauren

- The sorter will be fixed.  The barcode scanner will be removed as well as the receipt printer.  The sorter will now read RFID tags and any items that are not tagged will go into the exceptions bin.  There will be no voice!

- Blinds must be open at night.  If the blinds are not functional, just leave them open as much as possible.

- Holds are still being put on our shelf that belong to other branches.  Please pay close attention when shelving holds.  Keep items going to other branches separate from KEN items both when you are paging and when you are doing delivery/exceptions.  Expired holds must be cleared first thing in the morning and we should be checking the holds shelf for old holds just to be sure they are being sent out as necessary.  There have been issues with the clear holds list, LMS is aware.

- A-Z webinar is asking for a $25 payment and we can't pay for it, so do not take the most recent A-Z webinar.

- Please make sure customers in the meeting rooms and study rooms are leaving 15 minutes prior to closing.  Make announcements at 30 minutes, 15 minutes, and at closing and make sure the people in rooms are aware of the closing time well in advance.

- Make sure to give customers the new room reservation guidelines when they reserve a room.  Customers may make up to 6 reservations in a 90-day period, but they must fill out a separate reservation form for each reservation.

- Make sure to make tallies on the stats sheets!  This week is door count week, so it is very important but we should always be diligent about making tallies and keeping track of our activity on every floor.

- Jose went above and beyond in customer service with a customer on Monday.  Go Jose!

- Iffat did 3-tier work on Monday night, taking care of delivery, exceptions, and the sorting room.  Go Iffat!

- Name That Book contest is very intense right now.  Leona has a list that will be on 3rd floor and in the sorting room to make locating these items easier.  You can also print out a list for customers by going to the HPL kids page.

- CMC team still needs help with the festival at Central on Friday, October 30th.  Let us know if you'd like to participate.

Staff Training Notes, October 2 & 9

The Art of the Reference Interview
Presented by Alice & Leona (Karen on 10/9)

Slides and Handout provided by the Idaho Commission for Libraries, 2010 at libraries.idaho.gov/page/able (under ABLE Courses, scroll down to Public Services Sequence, 1. The Reference Interview).  If you missed the training, you can complete the online version and submit the certificate of completion to Karen for credit.

NOTE: All ABLE courses which you take online are pre-approved by HPL Training for training credit.  Go to training.houstonlibrary.org/online-training for details. 

Open Discussion Notes 9-23-15

Workroom, 11:15-11:50AM

Moderator: Lauren; Recorder: Karen

Attending: Lauren, Albert, Karen, Janalyn, Alice, Jose, Alisa, Doug, Trish, Jasmine, Pam, Temeka, Leona. Absent: Evin, Iffat, Nina, Shanti (notes in mailbox).

1. At Closing--Teamwork and Customer Service.  Don’t forget to:
1. Forward the phone, 2nd floor (this morning answered call from customer with fine problem because phone not forwarded).
2. Record the gate count, 1st floor (power went out overnight and we lost yesterday’s visitor count).
3. Don’t leave bins unplugged overnight, 1st floor (it creates more exceptions the next morning when items mis-sort).
4. Label outgoing holds so they can go out in Delivery in the morning, 1st floor (this morning labelled three bins of outgoing holds which missed Delivery and will sit until tomorrow to go out).
2. Sorter Problems:
1. Books sorting to wrong bins but looks okay to TechLogic when they check logs.
2. Copy Fred, Jeff, and Patrick on emails to Helpdesk or TechLogic about sorter problems to keep them in the loop.
3. Wait a few seconds after green light before sending next item through because books are stopping on the belt--given them enough time to clear.
3. Deposit:
1. When bagging money at the end of the day, don’t just throw it loose in the bag. Loose bills get stuck in the bag and make it more difficult for the person doing the deposit the next day.  
2. The coins should be in the correct bag and the bills wrapped around the coin bags with a rubber band.  
4. Sorting Room:  
1. Please don’t dump books on carts, especially when they’re mixed up.  Items are going on the wrong carts, which creates extra work for a colleague.  
2. If you don’t have time to put books on a cart in order, dump them in the correct bin for someone else to sort.
3. When full bins are stacking up (especially when there are 4 or more), take the initiative to unload them and put the material on a metal cart in order, so it is ready to be reshelved.  
4. Don’t leave ½ full carts in the sorting room--it wastes carts and takes up space.  Add the books to another cart already underway.
5. Send languages not at Kendall (we have Spanish, French, Japanese and Russian) in the float bins to LMS; they will send to locations with those languages.  
5. Blank (Unscheduled) Hours:
1. There’s plenty of shelving to do--use your unscheduled time to help us clear shelving every day.  
2. If shelving is done, then shelf read. Most staff have Shelf Reading as a SMART Goal; for a 3, you should be averaging 1 hour/week.  
3. When you’re on the clock, you should be using unscheduled time for work duties.  Limit personal activities to your lunch hour and 2 15-minute breaks.
6. Delivery/ Holds:
1. Don’t put tems on the holds shelve which are supposed to be at other locations  (this week removed 60+ items on hold shelves for customers at other locations).  This is careless when items are clearly marked and unfair to customers waiting for their holds.
2. When handling paging or Delivery, always separate items for KEN (staying) from items going to other locations (going).
3. When checking in holds/delivery, use the following Sirsi functions:
1. Labeled: use Receive Transit (doesn’t print label
2. Not Labeled: use Discharge (prints label)
3. Bookdrop: use Discharge or Bookdrop Backdate (prints label)
4. This will keep the Spool WIzard from filling up with unprinted labels.  Also, make sure to clear the Virtual to Print Wizard before you leave the computer.
4. The MaxStick Label paper is in demand.  Albert is ordering it regularly so we have enough on hand but don’t waste it (for example, don’t print labels for non-hold items going back CEN--just put them in the CEN bin).
7. Book Drop:
1. Empty both bins each time.  Don’t let material pile up in the second bin.  It’s not fair to customers who have returned items to not check them in promptly.
2. The door to the second book drop is not opening/closing easily.  This should be reported so it can be fixed.
8. Desk Supplies:
1. Leave tools such as staplers and tape dispensers at each public service desk (and the workroom).  If you borrow them to use somewhere else, return them when you’re finished.  (Apparently the 2nd floor stapler is missing because it was taken by a customer.)
2. If customer want to borrow scissors or a stapler, let them use it at the desk.
9. Laptops:
1. Don’t leave laptops at the public service desk overnight.  They need to be locked in the charging cabinet so they can recharge and vulnerable to theft.
2. The public laptops are charged in the right-side compartment of the charging cabinet--that’s were the chargers are.  (The left side is empty.)
10. Coin Copier
1. The Coin Copier technician says to flip the copier paper over if it is wrinkling during printing.  (Or fan it when reloading the paper tray.)
2. Use the bypass login to help customers with printing problems--charged but not printing, wrinkled paper.  Use the abandoned print cards for customers with change or money problems.  Refer customers with frequent printing problems to call Coin Copier for refunds.  Use your discretion to help customers with printing issues.
11. Above and Beyond:
1. When you provide extraordinary service to a customer, ask them to fill out a comment form.  We appreciate the acknowledgement
2. Thank you to Alice for preparing the schedule Monday morning.  We all pitched in to get things done!