Staff Meeting Notes, 11-30-16

11:15 – 11:45 AM, Break Room

1. Welcome New Staff: Kitty (Acting Manager); Norma (PT-CSC); Antoinette (PT-CSC for Collier); Victor (Assistant Manager, starting 12/12).
2. Updates (Karen):
1. Cell Phone Use at Public Service Desks
1. When you’re working at a public service desk, you’re paying attention to our customers and you’re ready to respond to their needs.
2. OK--library activities, such as demonstrating Overdrive, checking wireless connection
3. NOT OK--personal activities, such as checking social media, texting, shopping.
4. Phone should be set to silent mode in public areas.  
5. No personal phone calls at the desk. If it’s an emergency, find someone to cover the desk and take the call in a non-public area.
2. Closing Issues
1. Last week the following were observed after staff had finished closing the floor: lobby lights on; conference room blinds not opened; extra chairs in study rooms; drive-up window not locked; self check and TV screens still on; phone not forwarded; front door not locked.
2. Review opening and closing checklist so you know what you’re responsible for doing.  Work with your colleagues on the floor to complete these tasks.  Don’t leave the floor until everyone is finished.   
3. Leave the building together--there’s safety in numbers!  If you leave before everyone else, we won’t be able to respond if you should need help.
3. Safety Issues: Kick Stools
1. Two kick stools are stored under the desk on the 2nd and 3rd floor; 1 is stored under the Lobby desk.  Extra stools must be kept in the workroom--if you bring one out to use, put it back in the workroom when you’re finished.
2. We don’t want any customers (especially young children!) or volunteers hurting themselves by tripping over or falling off a kick stool.,

Quick Notes

1. Tag Arriving Holds:  All incoming holds must be tagged if they aren’t already, especially Central items.  This speeds checkout and supports your team members at the public service desks!  
2. Float Items: Check out items to be floated to the KEN-FLOAT account before you put them in a floating bin under the sorter. This account will hide the item from view in the catalog until it’s checked in at its receiving location.  
3. Sorter Tasks at the End of the Day:  Clear Outgoing Holds and Bin 9 Exceptions every day. They haven’t been checked in yet and need to be cleared the same day they were returned so the customer doesn’t get a fine.  
1. Outgoing holds get labeled and go into a Delivery bin ASAP--someone is waiting!  
2. Bin 9 Exceptions need to be checked in, then tagged, floated, or returned to Central.  
3. Turn around items waiting to be tagged the same day.  The catalog shows them as “Check Shelf”--ready to be checked out--and we need to get them on the shelves as soon as possible.

Upcoming Events

• Friday, December 2: Last Day of Pay Period; Staff Training--Alice on Business Reference
• Monday, December 5: Last Day to complete Cigna Health Assessment (and save $$!)
• Tuesday, December 6: SW Managers Meeting (Karen, Kitty)
• Friday, December 9: Payday!; Youth Services Meeting (Jasmine, Leona, Shanti); Staff Training--Alice on Business Reference
• Saturday, December 10: Staff Holiday Gala
• Friday, December 16: Customer Experience Managers Meeting (Karen, Kitty, Melinda)
• Friday, December 23-Monday, December 26: Library Closed for Christmas
• Sunday, January 1-Monday, January 2: Library Closed for New Year’s Day

Staff Meeting Notes 11-2-16

11:15 – 11:45 AM, Break Room

I. Updates (Karen):

1. Quick Notes
2. Floating Collection:
3. Safety Issues: Kick Stools; Reduce Slips, Trips and Falls Poster--the #1 source of accidents at HPL
4. Holiday Gala decorating challenge
5. Upcoming Holidays: Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11); Thanksgiving (Nov. 24 & 25); Christmas (Dec. 23-26), New Year’s Day (Jan. 1 & 2).

II. Quick Notes

1. Floating Holiday:  Floating holidays must be requested 30 days in advance and used by the end of the calendar year (Dec. 31)--the deadline is fast approaching!  If you haven’t already used your floating holiday, submit your Kronos request soon--they’ll be approved on a first come, first served basis.
2. Floating Collection: Circ Admin is rolling out a new account to check out floating items so they can be accounted for during the float process (much like the KEN REFURB account for the FLIP kits).  This means all items to float are checked out and disappear from our holdings.  
3. Discard Items in Poor Condition:
1. If an incoming hold is disgustingly nasty, please don’t check it in--the customer deserves better!  Discard the nasty copy and place a hold for another one.  (If it’s the last copy, call the customer with options, including Interlibrary Loan and HCPL).
2. If an item to be floated is in poor condition, don’t float it--your colleagues deserve better!  Discard it immediately (items in poor condition are approved for immediate discard).  
4. Book Sale Donations:  We smile and accept all donations.  
1. If some of them have to be discarded due to condition, take care of it later after the customer has left.  
2. If the customer asks your opinion about the saleability of items, you can offer “We don’t see much demand for this” or “We had some of these last month and they didn’t sell very well.”  People want to support the Library--we want them to know their effort is appreciated.  
3. If a customer wants a discount, let them know the books are donations and all funds raised support library programs.
5. Donation Slips: Put them in the manila envelope marked “Donation Slips 2016“ on the Time & Attendance desk.  Don’t leave them downstairs.
6. End of Day tasks:  Please clear Outgoing Holds and Bin 9 Exceptions each day--these items have not been checked in and need to be cleared the same day they were returned.  
1. Outgoing holds need labels and need to go into Delivery ASAP--someone is waiting!  
2. Bin 9 Exceptions need to be checked in, then tagged, floated, or returned to Central.  
3. While items are waiting to be tagged, the catalog shows them as “Check Shelf”--ready to be checked out.  Let’s get them on the shelves as soon as possible.

III. Upcoming Dates

• Friday, Nov. 4: Last Day of Pay Period; Youth Services Meeting at Central; Brainfuse webinar
• Tuesday, Nov. 8: SW Assistant Managers Meeting at Frank Express; Election Day
• Thursday, Nov. 10: Weeding Workshop at Johnson
• Friday, Nov. 11: Veteran’s Day--Library closed; Payday!
• Wednesday, Nov. 16: Open Discussion Meeting
• Friday, Nov. 18: CE Managers Meeting at Central; Last Day of Pay Period
• Saturday, Nov. 19: Energy Corridor Recycling Day
• Thursday, Nov. 24: Thanksgiving--Library closed
• Friday, Nov. 25: Day after Thanksgiving--Library closed; Payday!

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 9-7-16

11:15 – 11:45 AM, Break Room

1. Updates (Karen):
1. Welcome Melinda!
2. ROB holds/ ALI reopening
3. Bin 9 exceptions
4. Floating

2. Training: (Karen): New Learning Link with HISD; handout.

Quick Notes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Donation Slips: Put them in the manila envelope marked “Donation Slips 2016“ on the Time & Attendance desk.  Don’t leave them downstairs.
5. 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.
6. 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.  .

Staff Meeting Notes, 11-20-13

1.     Floating Updates (Alice)
o    Adult overflow has been cleared finally; Leona and Regina sending JUV and YA items too.
o    Mancuso staff is taking our overflow and distributing it to other branches
o    Overflow items—perfect condition; don’t change status to missing or repair shelf
o    Return overflow items sent by other locations and add a note that we don’t take overflow--we have enough already. 
o    If overflow items have been requested, ask that they be sent to your attention, or we will send them back.

 2.     SirsiDynix Updates (Nina)
o    Symhony continues to be super slow at different times of the day
o    When should we go offline?  How long should we wait before switching to offline mode?   Will the software automatically upload any offline work?  What’s our back-up plan if the system is down for an extended period of time?
o    New accounts: look up customer first by name (last, first only) and ID# in browse search; use child’s birthday instead of ID search.
o    Google docs (esp. schedule and room reservations) not accessible, esp. in Chrome, limited/sporadic access in IE.  Room reservations spreadsheet has been saved in Excel on 2R computer (left side); refer all reservation requests/questions to this desk.  Schedule is updated and paper copies distributed to each service desk and workroom as changes occur; check header for most current version.

3.     Program Deadlines Updates (Meg).  Copy of program deadlines for 2014 distributed to mailboxes.

4.     Incident Report Practice (Karen); Handout and practice report will be distributed to mailboxes.
 

Upcoming Staff Events

●      Nov 21:  NL Managers Meeting, 9:15-12 Noon (Karen, Meg)
●      Nov 28-29: Library Closed for Thanksgiving
●      Dec 5: Service Innovation Team Meeting, 9:15-11:15  (Karen)
●      Dec 19: NL Managers Meeting, 9:15-12 (Karen)
●      Dec 20: Youth Services Meeting, 8:15-10:15 (Leona, Regina)
●      Dec 20, HPL Staff Holiday Party, 11-1:30; RSVP to e-invite.
●      Dec 24-25: Library Closed for Christmas
●      Jan 1: Library Closed for New Year’s Day

Remaining November Programs

ADULT PROGRAMS
●      Intermediate MS Excel, Thursday, November 21, 10:30 AM – 12:30PM, 2^nd Floor Conference Room
●      Kendall Bee Quilters, Monday, November 26, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, 1^st Floor Meeting Room.

TEEN PROGRAMS

●      Teen Video Game Time, Wednesday, November 20, 27, 4:00 PM-6:00 PM
●      Teen Movie Time, Tuesday, November 26, 3:30 PM-5:30 PM

KIDS PROGRAMS

●      Babytime, Thursday, November 21, 11 AM – 12 PM
●      Babytime: Baby Yoga, Friday, November 22, 2:30-3:00 PM

Open Discussion Notes 1-23-13

Open Discussion Notes

11:15 – 11:45 AM

Moderator: Regina

Recorder: Katherine

Topic for discussion: various topics

1. AARP Tax Help:  begins Feb 2:  Saturdays, 10am-2pm, and Wednesdays, 12-4pm, 1st floor meeting room.
2. Regina gave out a floor map of the YA section and made labels for the YA Graphic Novels
1. Old Comics ie:  Marvel and DC - they are split up and right next to each other on the shelf.
2. New Comics - Medium Graphics
3. Staff only need to make sure ie:  Superman Graphic Novels go with the Superman Graphic Novels - Batman with Batman, etc.
4. Regina will handle the title order and the other details.
5. The only graphic novels that are not included on the YA Floor Map handout are the MANGA Graphic Novels.
3. Floating Items:
1. If there are more than 32 of the same title--FICTION ONLY--these items need to be sent to Friends of HPL.
2. If there are LESS than 32 of the same title--FICTION ONLY--these items need to be sent to other HPL Branches that do not have the title             on their shelves.
3. After an item is scanned- and it says "In Transit Too Long"  It's not in the system - Please Delete It.
4. IF the system says:  No record found- Please Send the item to Friends of HPL.
4. Name That Book / Lone Star List:
1. The Name That Book List is in the Sort Room- above the Picture Book Truck and The Juvenile Fiction Truck.
2. As soon as you get off the elevator on 3R- the shelf right in front of you- the Loan Star List is on that shelf.
3. This shelf includes:
1. Teen Books
2. A Few Juvenile Books
3. One Adult Book- it's a book about Steve Jobs.  There were a bunch of these books- but these books are very popular and are checked out very often.
5. Transferring calls:
1. If transferring call to another person on another floor- please call the person on that floor to let them know there is a call and what that call is about and whos calling.  Then transfer the call up to the appropriate floor.
2. To make informational calls to patrons:  Please use x31880 to make these calls.
3. ALL 3 FLOORS answer phones AND Transfer calls.
4. IF you DO NOT know the information - Please ASK!
6. For customers wanting to reach the Community Center: Use Extension 31897 to connect callers to the Community Center.
7. Making Change: When a customer gets angry when we tell them we cannot make change:  Please let them know that the printer holds print jobs for a couple of hours- during that time they can go get change.
8. For Patrons needing to take exams on-line:
1. If the patron cannot access the website for some reason- IT needs to be called to UNBlock/Override the filter.  The customer fills out the Misclassified Web Site Comment form (on the Intranet under “Policies & Procedures: Collection Development: 4.8 Internet Usage Policy”): “Customers who believe a web site is filtered or unfiltered incorrectly may submit a Misclassified Web Site Comment Form [Exhibit 4.8 (1)].  Adults 18 or older who need unfiltered access for any lawful purpose may request it from a staff member, CIPA Disable Filter Log [Exhibit 4.8.(2)]. Unfiltered access will be granted on a per-search basis.”
2. More time can be added to a patron’s computer time if the patron is taking an online test lasting 2-3 hours or more.