November 2011 Staff Meeting

Vacation schedule – Amber would like to have time-off requests for half of our vacation time turned in by January 31. Vacation requests turned in after January 31 will have to fit in around the pre-scheduled ones. Two people at a time can have time off.

New time-off request form – The library will be using the same form used by the City to request time off. We will have them printed as two-part forms.

Multiple DVD sets – According to the SHARE cataloging committee, Delavan and Lake Geneva are the only libraries still circulating TV series as individual discs rather than complete season sets. Since original cataloging for individual discs puts a burden on the cataloging staff at Racine, we’ve been asked to consider keeping DVD sets together. Beginning today, we will keep multi-disc sets together. Sets with 3 or less DVDs will circulate for 7 days (item type DVD7DAY). Sets with 4 or more DVDs will circulate for 14 days (item type DVD-14DAY). Sandi will check with Ann Lininger on how to set up the records so we get circ counts for the total number of discs in the set.

Merchandising workshop – Janice shared some ideas from the Merchandising Your Collection workshop. We decided to try separating science fiction and mystery from the general fiction in the new books area. Books will be kept on the “new” shelf for 6 months. We will look for removable genre or subject labels (or removable labels we can use to print our own) to use on new nonfiction books.

Professional collection – We talked about having a basic professional collection for staff training and reference purposes. Amber suggested continuing education be a regular part of our staff meetings. We decided to begin with the Nordstrom’s customer service book in 2012, reading and discussing a chapter or two for each staff meeting. Amber will buy the books.

Magazine processing – Kate reviewed the magazine processing procedure. Date labels on the front of magazines correspond date of the issue and the frequency of publication – monthly magazines will list month and year (DEC 2011); combined issues will list both dates (DEC 2011/JAN 2012); weeklies will list month, day and year (DEC 14, 2011). Jan Olson is the primary cataloger for magazines. If you have questions about the date format, check with her.

Value Line – Our subscription to Value Line has been renewed for 2012. It is no longer necessary to record use in the front of the binder.

Other Stuff – We will weed paperback romances. Paperback romances will be taped only on the front edge and over the spine label. We talked about moving the Friends sale items over near the coffee pot or setting up a separate display area for them. The circulation desk is getting too cluttered with signs and handouts. Amber is looking for a slat wall display to hold brochures and handouts.

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