September 2010 Staff Meeting

Pocket Talker/I-Vu:  Amber demonstrated the Pocket Talker, a personal amplifier with microphone for use at the Circ Desks to help hard-of-hearing patrons.  
We also own two i-vu units.  i-vu is a battery-powered digital magnifier for patrons to use in the library for reading small print.  Each will be barcoded and a patron wanting to use one will check it out; however, the unit may not be taken out of the library. 
The library has received a Kindle for which we purchase newspaper subscriptions.  This, again, will be for use only in the library.  
Further instructions on the Kindle and i-vu will be distributed when they are ready for public use.

Text Message Notices:  Aram PL is a test site for text message delivery of hold notifications.  Beginning next week, the Text Message option may be designated as the method of notification. We need to find out from Jim how this is to be entered into the "notify via" field.  Patrons who choose text message notification will have their cell phone number entered in the SMS field on the Address tab.

Juvenile New Fiction:  Kelly has set up an area for new juvenile fiction books.  The first 2 shelves at the beginning of the fiction section will display new juvenile fiction.  When cataloging these books, the home location will be listed as FICJ-NEW.  After 3 months, the new sticker will be removed and the home location changed to FICJ.   This area will not be used for new picture books, easy readers, or nonfiction books.

December Holiday Pay:  Amber answered questions about the Paid Vacation Holidays in December and January.  A vacation request form must be completed for the day you want to take your Paid Vacation Holiday.  It may be listed as "Other" on the form, or write in "PVH."  You may take the whole day off, but will only be paid for 3 hours unless you combine the PVH with vacation or your float day.

Damaged Materials on Van:  A reminder that when materials belonging to other libraries are received on the van in damaged condition, do not receive them.  Check them out to the owning library's problem card and send them to the owner to be repaired.

Technology Update:  Jim Novy will be here Monday to complete the network repairs.

Workflow Analysis:  Steve Ohs, Library Development Coordinator for the LLS, will visit our library Tuesday, September 28 to perform a workflow analysis.  This is a survey done to identify ways to make our work processes more fluent and productive.  He will probably be talking with staff about our work procedures.

Coffee Pot:  The coffee pot, after being turned off overnight, seems to have corrected its heating problem.  Sue will put the phone number and contact info for FilterFresh in the Rolodex upstairs.  The instruction book for the coffee machine is on the shelf with the condiments.

Charge History Rule:  A field for "Charge History Rule" has been added to the patron data base.  This is where patrons can have a list of their previous check-outs saved.  Amber will check her LLS meeting notes for instructions.  (I turned my history on by going to Modify User and selecting ALL CHARGES in the Charge History field.  When you look at my record in Display User and click on the tab that says Charge History, there's a list of things I've returned.  The same list also shows up when I access MY ACCOUNT through the catalog. --Sue)

Note:  I will update the Patron Registration Form to include Text Message and Charge History as options. I'm also going to put the parental release of information form on the back.   --Sue

AMBER'S TREASURE HUNT:  Each staff member must submit to Amber  in wriing by next Friday (9/24):

1. Instructions for logging on to Rosetta Stone.
2. How to check the toner on the Ricoh B&W printer.
3. How to access the Staff Training Blog.

Powerspeak:  There is now a link to the Powerspeak language learning program on our web page.  Amber, Ginny, Oscar and Sandi have attended training on this program.