As I have shared in the past, we do not have a PA to do building-wide closing announcements. We had hoped to get around this by using the Fire Panel PA System. However, it has been decided that we cannot do this because it is for emergencies only and using it for regular announcements would cause problems for folks who are hearing impaired and desensitize staff to the flashing lights and cause a bigger life safety issue. I am working on getting a PA for the building but this is a high priced item and do not anticipate it happening soon.
In the interim, staff on each floor can make announcements at appropriate intervals (15 til and 5 til) that we are closing. Here is some quick text that can be used:
"May I have your attention, please. The library will be closing in X minutes. Please bring any items you wish to borrow to a check-out station on the first floor. Again, the library will be closing in X minutes. Thank you."
CLOSING: Thank you for visiting Houston Public Library's Central Library. The Library is now closed. We will reopen tomorrow at X."
mvc
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Magazines and Newspapers
Greetings,
I agree that the Periodicals area is a mess and needs attention. There are plans. There have been magnets with paper inserts ordered for this area. These will have the name of each magazine on them and be placed on the display unit behind where the title should be shelved. This should make it clear where each magazine should go. As per PFD, we cannot use permanent signage or tape (or otherwise adhere) signs on these display because the magazine collection will vary from year to year. This approach has been used with great success at several of our Neighborhood Libraries. Once we get these items in and have time to print them up and arrange the collection, maintenance of this area will be much easier.
As far as who is to sort this area, this should currently be a shared task between LST and reference. Once we have our 11 new LST members, this will be something that can be put on their schedule on a regular basis. Even then, they will need help from reference staff to keep things organized. Again, I think this will be much easier once we have the signs in place. I worked on it some last night and it felt like a losing battle because there was no defined location for many of the titles.
mvc
I agree that the Periodicals area is a mess and needs attention. There are plans. There have been magnets with paper inserts ordered for this area. These will have the name of each magazine on them and be placed on the display unit behind where the title should be shelved. This should make it clear where each magazine should go. As per PFD, we cannot use permanent signage or tape (or otherwise adhere) signs on these display because the magazine collection will vary from year to year. This approach has been used with great success at several of our Neighborhood Libraries. Once we get these items in and have time to print them up and arrange the collection, maintenance of this area will be much easier.
As far as who is to sort this area, this should currently be a shared task between LST and reference. Once we have our 11 new LST members, this will be something that can be put on their schedule on a regular basis. Even then, they will need help from reference staff to keep things organized. Again, I think this will be much easier once we have the signs in place. I worked on it some last night and it felt like a losing battle because there was no defined location for many of the titles.
mvc
Saturday, July 5, 2008
IT Problems
Please make sure to submit all IT problems to the IT Help Desk as soon as possible. I have added a link on the right-hand side of this page to the IT Problem Log.
Please use this to let other staff know when a problem has been reported and what the status is.
In order to get IT issues resolved as quickly as possible, it is incumbent upon all of us to submit requests to the Help Desk as soon as we notice them. As with Incident Reports, it is extremelt important that we are proactive in getting this done.
Thanks,
mvc
Please use this to let other staff know when a problem has been reported and what the status is.
In order to get IT issues resolved as quickly as possible, it is incumbent upon all of us to submit requests to the Help Desk as soon as we notice them. As with Incident Reports, it is extremelt important that we are proactive in getting this done.
Thanks,
mvc
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Staff Appreciation
Greetings,
Meller Langford, Deputy Director of Public Services, would like to express her and the administration's gratitude to all Central Services staff for their hard work by hosting a party in honor of everyone's hard work. Any ideas for what kind of food or party we would like? Post some ideas here and I will pass them on.
Thanks,
mvc
Meller Langford, Deputy Director of Public Services, would like to express her and the administration's gratitude to all Central Services staff for their hard work by hosting a party in honor of everyone's hard work. Any ideas for what kind of food or party we would like? Post some ideas here and I will pass them on.
Thanks,
mvc
Suggestion Box Blog
Greetings,
In response to Katie's comment, I am reviving the old Central Ideas blog and christening it the Central Issues and Suggestion Blog. You can go here and log in as indicated on the side bar. Please post any concerns, issues, problems, suggestions, etc. that we encounter at Central. What is posted here can serve as discussion points in the debriefing session. I--or anyone who knows--can feel free to address concerns on the blog as well.
Mike VC
In response to Katie's comment, I am reviving the old Central Ideas blog and christening it the Central Issues and Suggestion Blog. You can go here and log in as indicated on the side bar. Please post any concerns, issues, problems, suggestions, etc. that we encounter at Central. What is posted here can serve as discussion points in the debriefing session. I--or anyone who knows--can feel free to address concerns on the blog as well.
Mike VC
Thursday, June 5, 2008
More Staff on The Way and Thank You
Greetings all,
I know things have been tight this first week and will likely continue as we accommodate days off for Grand Re-Opening next week and then attendance at ALA the week after that. Thank you all for working so hard.
There is some good news on the horizon. There are two vacant positions that will be filled in the coming two weeks and three more positions that should be filled within the next month. In addition, we will have at least one employee returning to Central this month. All totaled, this will equal 100 to 120 additional weekly hours of desk coverage once everyone is trained, which should allow cutting back most staff to 3 to 4 hours of desk time a day instead of the current 4 or 5.
Thanks again for all your hard work and your impressive commitment to delivering exceptional customer service as we acclimate to the new Central Library. I have been sincerely impressed with every single person on our staff over the last five or six days. Thank you all!
mvc
I know things have been tight this first week and will likely continue as we accommodate days off for Grand Re-Opening next week and then attendance at ALA the week after that. Thank you all for working so hard.
There is some good news on the horizon. There are two vacant positions that will be filled in the coming two weeks and three more positions that should be filled within the next month. In addition, we will have at least one employee returning to Central this month. All totaled, this will equal 100 to 120 additional weekly hours of desk coverage once everyone is trained, which should allow cutting back most staff to 3 to 4 hours of desk time a day instead of the current 4 or 5.
Thanks again for all your hard work and your impressive commitment to delivering exceptional customer service as we acclimate to the new Central Library. I have been sincerely impressed with every single person on our staff over the last five or six days. Thank you all!
mvc
One Card
I am reposting this information which was posted here back in November 2007 and sent out to staff from Fred Schumacher about the One Card initiative.
Here is the link to the original post from November. I am also copying the text of Fred's e-mail again so we are all on the same page. Please pay very close attention to the area in boldface. I will ask Sylvia to update us on where CEN is on this.
Greetings all.
As you may have heard, HPL and HCPL have been working toward implementing a one card solution that will allow customers of both systems to use one library card to access both their HPL and HCPL accounts. We are excited about being able to offer this service enhancement to our customers, and we anticipate that it will be well received by customers who use both library systems. As an added bonus, the enhanced service will also allow us to check in HCPL items mistakenly returned to HPL branches and HCPL will be able to check in HPL items mistakenly returned to one of their locations. I hope you agree that this will be welcomed by our customers. As a first step toward system-wide implementation of this enhanced service, the Horizon ILS circulation client has been installed at Bracewell, Stella Link and Park Place branches, and the service enhancement will be implemented at each of these locations beginning Monday, November 5th. Please be aware that customers choosing to access their HPL accounts using their HCPL Knowledge Card barcodes may do so at any HPL location from that day forward.
You may expect to have the HCPL Horizon shortcut installed on workstations at your branch at some point during the next two weeks. Once the shortcut is installed, please contact your LA Supervisor to arrange for training for staff to implement the service enhancement at your branch. Our goal is to have the service enhancement implemented system-wide by the end of November.
Please let me or your LA Supervisor know if you have any questions.
Thanks.
Fred Schumacher
Circulation Services Manager
Houston Public Library
Here is the link to the original post from November. I am also copying the text of Fred's e-mail again so we are all on the same page. Please pay very close attention to the area in boldface. I will ask Sylvia to update us on where CEN is on this.
Greetings all.
As you may have heard, HPL and HCPL have been working toward implementing a one card solution that will allow customers of both systems to use one library card to access both their HPL and HCPL accounts. We are excited about being able to offer this service enhancement to our customers, and we anticipate that it will be well received by customers who use both library systems. As an added bonus, the enhanced service will also allow us to check in HCPL items mistakenly returned to HPL branches and HCPL will be able to check in HPL items mistakenly returned to one of their locations. I hope you agree that this will be welcomed by our customers. As a first step toward system-wide implementation of this enhanced service, the Horizon ILS circulation client has been installed at Bracewell, Stella Link and Park Place branches, and the service enhancement will be implemented at each of these locations beginning Monday, November 5th. Please be aware that customers choosing to access their HPL accounts using their HCPL Knowledge Card barcodes may do so at any HPL location from that day forward.
You may expect to have the HCPL Horizon shortcut installed on workstations at your branch at some point during the next two weeks. Once the shortcut is installed, please contact your LA Supervisor to arrange for training for staff to implement the service enhancement at your branch. Our goal is to have the service enhancement implemented system-wide by the end of November.
Please let me or your LA Supervisor know if you have any questions.
Thanks.
Fred Schumacher
Circulation Services Manager
Houston Public Library
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