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 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!

Open Discussion Notes 6/11/14

Workroom, 11:15-11:45AM, Recorder: Karen, Moderator: Alice

1. Introduced Shanti from JUN, who will be here for 1 yr while JUN undergoes renovation.
2. Reviewed procedure (handout) for on-the-fly library card registrations during the summer only at KEN when lines are huge:
1. mark with small flags
2. application must be complete and signed
3. enter:
1. name (FIRST, LAST)
2. ALT ID (for adult cards)
3. location code (HOU-KEN)
4. profile (already entered with barcode)
5. birth date (XX/XX/XXXX)
6. address (ADU) or address & parent name and ID (JUV)
7. Notify via (EMAIL/PHONE)
4. put Post-It flag on the application
5. pick up all applications at the end of the day and bring them to the workroom so the on-the-fly applications can be completed before we open the next day.
6. applications must be fully entered before we open the following day.
7. applications must be legible and complete (esp. since the customer won’t be able to answer questions); you can write clearly near the illegible info.
8. handout applications must be
3. How do you convert an online card/application?
1. Two options:
1. No Holds: delete the profile and create a new card
2. Holds: go into Modify User to update; don’t forget to change the expiration date!
2. Take application back to workroom.  PDF of application marked as well.
3. Trying to get portable workstation for lobby

Collection

4. Don’t float stuff we’re getting from other locations, esp. Teen and Juvenile fiction, beginning readers
5. Way to get last of new Teen books for display--all getting shelved because they’re not marked.
1. change display to something maintainable, discuss further at future meeting
6. Need barcodes for holds you can’t find on the shelf when customer comes to pick up so we can send to Circ Admin to investigate.
7. When putting items in bins, please stack them neatly.  Don’t dump in the bin--it wastes space--or overfill the bin because items get broken when the bins are stacked (esp. AV).
8. When loading a cart from bins, put the stuff in order so it’s ready to shelve (including AV, graphic novels, audiobooks).
9. Don’t just dump DVDs on the shelf.  On the 2nd floor, they’re in alphabetical order by letter or by Dewey number (100s).
10. Also sort adult items with adult, juvenile with juvenile, etc. or they end up on the wrong floor.
11. If you don’t finish the cart you’re shelving, don’t leave a partially-finished carts on the floor or downstairs--move the remaining items to a similar cart in the sorting room so they can get shelved on the next cart.

Holds

12. When clearing holds, check the shelf for expired items that were overlooked.  Workflows has already cancelled the expired hold and sent the item on to the next person.  It’s our job to take the item off the shelf and send it on it’s way.
13. In order to extend a hold for a customer (someone who can’t pick up the hold in time), use the “Modify Hold” wizard.  Don’t just write the new date on the wrapper--the software won’t know and will expire the hold anyway.

SRP

14. SRP Updates---supplies are low, exp. coupons, books.  Waiting for restock for prize books, logs.
15. Use the Ready 2 Open time--15 minutes before opening--to restock SRP materials and  to make sure everything is turned on.
16. Not enough time to pick up at night.
17. SRP registration not available on catalog computers--reported to IT Help Desk.
18. No zoo tickets yet.  Need more FLIP coupons too--only sending us 10-15 every week.
1. Can they bring the evaluation form to CMH and get the passes there?  Not sure.
19. Registering groups--do one group registration
20. Keep desk clear for SRP stuff.  Put holds on the shelf behind the desk.
21. Gaming equipment--shut down Wii players on Saturday and remove the disk.  Let them rest over the weekend!

Open Discussion Notes, 9/4/13

11:15-12:50 a.m.

Moderator/Recorder: Meg

1.       Counting holds processed.

o   Reminder to staff to count/mark ALL holds processed, including those that come across the desk as check-ins, exceptions, etc. These can be tick marks on the stats sheet or entered into the holds form online.

2.       Pros and cons of assigning shelf-reading areas discussed.

o   Staff decided that each staff member should shelf-read while shelving any section of the library that needs to be shelved. (No sections assigned.)

3.       General Reminders:

o   Sirsi tips:

§  Double-check for patron records that were created online. Please have the customer complete an application form, move any holds from the temporary online account (if necessary), and delete the temporary account. (NO)

§  Try searching by DOB if you can’t find a patron’s record with name or Alt ID. (TD)

o   Exceptions cart: When assigned to the lobby/drive-up, please check in the Exceptions cart during quieter time. (AEB)

o   SmartMoney:  Please be careful to select “Book Sale” instead of “No Sale” when conducting a book sale transaction. (NO)

o   Workspace: Be respectful of others and keep your work area clean when on the desk, and leave it neat for the person(s) relieving you. (AEB)

o   Lost and Found: Please take lost and found items that you find on the third floor downstairs to the first floor. (RL)

o   Sorting room: Remember to place items neatly in the bins so we can maximize our space. Please don’t just throw items in the bins. (JK)

o   Shelving: Check with Regina if you are unsure on where certain YA items are to be shelved. (RL)

Open Discussion Notes 2-20-13

11:15 – 11:45 AM, 3rd Floor Conference Room

Moderator: Alice

Recorder: Leona

1. Stats
1. Record program attendance numbers as well as all directional and reference                       questions on weekly stats sheet.
2. Record outgoing and incoming hold stats on any sheet  (don’t forget clear holds)
2. IRS forms and instructions- What we have is on the table inside the entrance to the    building. Customers can print out forms or instructions on irs.gov website or check back to see if we have received additional forms. We have information on our blog.
3. Door count- Will be held again in April.
4. Patrons first at any desk, then help with other tasks
1. When you are at any desk, the patron comes first over whatever you are doing.  
2. But when you have no patrons at the lobby or driveup, remember that you can keep busy by sorting when there is no sorter, doing exceptions, tagging or even help shelve holds.  Take the initiative to start on anything that is needed to keep the floor clear.
5. Sorting
1. When being in the sort room, pay attention to patrons bringing back items.  Do not turn off the sorting machine to raise bins while  patrons are walking in and trying to return  items.
2. At busy times, stop only one bin at a time by unplugging it.
3. Help patrons when they have problems with the sorter or the voice keeps  sounding
4. Do not turn off the computer for the sorter at the end of the day during the week.  Only turn it off on Saturday night.
6. Safe
1. The code for the safe is [see Logins/Passwords on Equipment page].
2. Make sure all the bags that are in the safe are sent in with delivery. (Good idea to double check in the safe in case there is more than one bag.
7. Items with missing pieces -Put a note the item and its account when a piece in missing and put it on the repair shelf.
8. Notes on items
1. For discards, change to “Not in use”.
2. For missing item or overflow book,, change to “repair shelf”
9. Adult books
1. Keep only 2 copies of adult fiction on the shelf (pull another branch’s copy first)
2. Keep only 1 copy of any adult nonfiction titles.
10. Place topics for open discussion on topic suggestion site on blog
11. Use the counterfeit pen on bills $5 and up.
12. Only be courtesy to patrons.
13. Help keep books in the right section. Watch for adult books in the kids section or  adult graphic novels in teen.