Great Review in Houstonist

Greetings all,

Check out what Houstonist had to say about all our hard work at Central.
http://houstonist.com/2008/07/25/houston_public_library_central_bran.php

Mike VC

At Closing

Greetings,

I would like to ask all staff that if you are off the desk the final hour we are open, you come to the public floors at 30 minutes before closing. This way we can have all hands on deck to ensure customers are able to find someone to help them so that we can close the building as close to on time as possible.

Thanks,
Mike VC

Security Issues - Update

Greetings,

Sondee Weiss and Amy Taylor will be attending the Security Meeting along with me. If you have additional concerns along these lines please let one of them or me know.

Also, I wanted to share Frederick's response to the suitcase issue. I think his advice about calling the security office when we see a suitcase violation should apply to all violations.

"I had a chance to speak with Captain Lawson concerning the rule on oversized and excessive items being brought into the building. As you know Central has a number of new security officer some that are temporary pending more permanent staffing being assigned. In our efforts to provide the best security possible we appreciate your support in this timely transition.

Since the old security desk is no longer at the front entrance, the security staff is having to make a judgment call as to the correct size and types of items. To help us address these types of situations, can you have the HPL staff members call the security office and ask for a supervisor to come to the floor where a person may be seated with the items in question. This will help expose security to these types of situations as well as address any individual perception as to the size of an item. In addition, I am asking Captain Lawson to document these situations on an incident report form, so we can compare and make any needed adjustments"

Closing Announcements

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

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

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

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