Amber's Questions:
1. Nordstrom's is customer-driven instead of customer-focused. What does that mean to you?
2. What is our product and how can we ensure the highest quality?
3. Working from the list of words in the staff room, choose 5 words that create our core values and five words that represent our procedures. (Here is the list of words: dedication, helpfulness, innovative, customer-oriented, quality, enthusiasm, sense of humor, cheerfulness, curiosity, training, perceptive, compassion, fairness, teamwork, diversity, thoughtful, commitment, education, courteous, kind, adventurous, prudent, visionary, honesty, integrity, service.)
4. As a staff, come up with a list of decisions that could possibly be made on the spot and ones that need to be bumped up to higher authorities.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
January 2012 Staff Meeting
Homebound Program – Lindsey is the primary contact and Susan H. is the secondary contact for this program. A binder for each participating organization is kept in the galley closet. Applicants complete a regular library card application form and a reading preference form. Give the completed forms to Lindsey/Susan to make the library card. Deliveries are made by Friends volunteers, who call in advance to let us know when they need materials for a particular site.
Facebook and Blog Entries – In an effort to get more staff input for the Facebook page and library blog, a folder called BLOG-FACEBOOK has been set up on the Z drive. When you think of something that should go on either site, write it up and put it in this folder. Kris will add storytime information. Jan will add tax information.
Best Seller List – Susan H. will take over the weekly preparation of this list.
In-Service Day – Friday, February 17 from 8:30 to 5 we will hold a staff in-service. Steve Ohs will be presenting a workshop on digital devices. We will clean computers and learn the tasks on the “things everybody should know” list.
Items Returned with Missing Parts - Check all returned items before discharging them to be sure all pieces are present, i.e., correct number of discs. If pieces are missing, DO NOT CHECK THE ITEM IN. Call the patron and tell them what is missing, that the item cannot be checked in until all parts are received, and that there may be an overdue fine. If the item belongs to another library, hold it here for up to a week. If the missing pieces are not returned, contact the owning library to see what they would like us to do.
Emergency Closures - If there is no power iin the morning, the library will not open. If the power goes out during the day for an extended period, we will close. Post “Closed” signs on the doors and lock up. In the event of inclement weather, Amber will contact each staff member by phone. She looks at other libraries and the school district before making a decision. Closings will be announced on WTMJ. We can call the Police Dept. non-emergency number to determine if we need to close early.
Supply Ordering will be taken over by Cynthia, with Susan H. as backup.
Amazon bill goes to Janice for reconciliation before Amber gets it .
Book orders will soon be through Brodart instead of Baker and Taylor. We will be having mylar jackets applied by them.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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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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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Friday, October 28, 2011
October 2011 Staff Meeting
Guest passes for computer – Be sure to enter the patron’s name and save the record. This enables us to look people up by name to see if they’ve had previous guest passes or to reactivate the guest pass for someone who has a balance on their print account. Someone needs to write up a procedure for preparing a guest pass.
Reports – We reviewed the list of reports Steve Ohs set up for us. Some require action on our part.
Cheryl will take care of the Old ILL report, which runs on the 1st of every month.
The Claims Returned and Notify Via reports require staff action. These can be printed out and left at the service desk to be worked on during quiet times.
Staff Room – Everyone should clean out their shelves so shelf space can be reassigned to give new staff room for their munchies. Also, the food items on the program shelf and in the refrigerator need to be gone through and anything expired, dried, mouse-munched, or yucky thrown away.
Design for name badges – Lindsey volunteered to design name badges for us. They will be printed on cardstock, laminated, and a fastener attached.
Program Committee – Will meet Tuesday, October 25 at 4 p.m. to plan programs for January through May 2012. The Program Committee members are Amber, Sue, Cheryl, and Lindsey. If you have any ideas, let one of them know. Patrons have asked about the Stuffed Animal Sleepover which has been canceled twice, so that will be one of the winter/spring programs.
Summer Library Program Review –
Good things:
Amber Stuff – Amber talked about using Mail Chimp for e-mail marketing and about getting a slat-wall literature display to mount on a pillar near the adult service desk.
Reports – We reviewed the list of reports Steve Ohs set up for us. Some require action on our part.
Cheryl will take care of the Old ILL report, which runs on the 1st of every month.
The Claims Returned and Notify Via reports require staff action. These can be printed out and left at the service desk to be worked on during quiet times.
Staff Room – Everyone should clean out their shelves so shelf space can be reassigned to give new staff room for their munchies. Also, the food items on the program shelf and in the refrigerator need to be gone through and anything expired, dried, mouse-munched, or yucky thrown away.
Design for name badges – Lindsey volunteered to design name badges for us. They will be printed on cardstock, laminated, and a fastener attached.
Program Committee – Will meet Tuesday, October 25 at 4 p.m. to plan programs for January through May 2012. The Program Committee members are Amber, Sue, Cheryl, and Lindsey. If you have any ideas, let one of them know. Patrons have asked about the Stuffed Animal Sleepover which has been canceled twice, so that will be one of the winter/spring programs.
Summer Library Program Review –
Good things:
- Different participation levels for different ages
- Recording information on the registration cards instead of just a spreadsheet
- Consistency - having a definite day for each type of program
- Advertising events on the reading record
- Reading sheets should have kids’ names on them
- All registration cards should be in one box
- Too complicated - random format of record sheets/passports made tracking hard and having multiple forms for the passports was too staff-intensive
- Requiring program attendance and not offering evening or weekend programs
Amber Stuff – Amber talked about using Mail Chimp for e-mail marketing and about getting a slat-wall literature display to mount on a pillar near the adult service desk.
Friday, September 16, 2011
September 2011 Staff Meeting
1. Library Cards for Homeless at Men's Shelter - Applications must be approved by Father Myrick before we can process them. The profile type is RESTRDLVN, which allows the card to be used only at APL and only for 2 items. Set the expiration date to May 31.
We also discussed some behavior and personal hygiene issues that sometimes occur. Amber suggested we have a card (similar to the cell phone zone card) reminding patrons of our clothing and hygiene requirements. She will find out what wording Beloit uses on their handouts. We also may refer patrons to Walworth County Health and Human Services if there are continuing hygiene issues.
2. Truant or Suspended Children in the Library - If we suspect a child in the library is truant or subject to in-home suspension from school, we should ask which school they attend, then call the school to report they are at the library. The school may not be able to release information about the child's status, but will contact the appropriate family member or authority to deal with the situation.
3. Staffing - Amber reported that two new staff members, both retired teachers, will begin work next week: Susan Hammerly and Kristin Gleason.
We will have a VIP employee beginning Monday, 9/19. Colin will be trained to discharge and shelve materials, and possibly to check in the van items. He will have a job coach with him his first week.
Kelly has given notice that she will be leaving. October 7 will be her last day. Lindsey has offered to help with storytime and to lead the teen book club, provided the meeting time can be coordinated with her school schedule. If anyone would like to volunteer to help with another children's or teen's program, let Amber know.
There will be a program committee meeting in October to decide how youth programming will be handled until a new Youth Services Librarian can be hired.
4. Things Everyone Should Know How to Do - Here's the list we came up with:
5. Other - Amber talked about the health insurance memo we each received.
As usual, if I forgot anything add your changes, additions, or corrections in the comments.
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We also discussed some behavior and personal hygiene issues that sometimes occur. Amber suggested we have a card (similar to the cell phone zone card) reminding patrons of our clothing and hygiene requirements. She will find out what wording Beloit uses on their handouts. We also may refer patrons to Walworth County Health and Human Services if there are continuing hygiene issues.
2. Truant or Suspended Children in the Library - If we suspect a child in the library is truant or subject to in-home suspension from school, we should ask which school they attend, then call the school to report they are at the library. The school may not be able to release information about the child's status, but will contact the appropriate family member or authority to deal with the situation.
3. Staffing - Amber reported that two new staff members, both retired teachers, will begin work next week: Susan Hammerly and Kristin Gleason.
We will have a VIP employee beginning Monday, 9/19. Colin will be trained to discharge and shelve materials, and possibly to check in the van items. He will have a job coach with him his first week.
Kelly has given notice that she will be leaving. October 7 will be her last day. Lindsey has offered to help with storytime and to lead the teen book club, provided the meeting time can be coordinated with her school schedule. If anyone would like to volunteer to help with another children's or teen's program, let Amber know.
There will be a program committee meeting in October to decide how youth programming will be handled until a new Youth Services Librarian can be hired.
4. Things Everyone Should Know How to Do - Here's the list we came up with:
- Order copier supplies
- Change printer cartridges
- Change register tape
- Transfer phone calls
5. Other - Amber talked about the health insurance memo we each received.
As usual, if I forgot anything add your changes, additions, or corrections in the comments.
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Monday, September 5, 2011
August 2011 Staff Meeting
1. Policy Quiz - Amber will be conducting random quizzes on policy and procedure issues that we encounter frequently. This is an opportunity to refresh our knowledge and discuss our questions or make suggestions for improvement. The quiz today covered child safety, patron behavior, and meeting room use.
2. Change of Hours - One of the suggestions offered for our library by the UW-Parkside strategic planning team was that we consider being open on Sundays. Their rationale for this was that, as the only Walworth County library open on Sunday, we would draw students needing homework help and working parents looking for family activities. The library board suggested we survey our patrons to see if there is community interest in using the library on Sunday. The survey form offers two options: (1) our current hours; (2) reduced weekday hours and Sunday afternoon hours during the school year. The survey is being taken at the library and has been sent to the DD school district for inclusion in school newsletters.
3. Volunteer Binder - Cheryl, as the new volunteer coordinator, has prepared a binder containing all forms and information about the volunteer program. The binder will be kept at the service desk in the Youth Services Dept. Amber will continue to interview candidates looking to serve court-ordered community service, VIP referrals, and work-study students. All other volunteers should be sent to Youth Services to fill out an application.
4. List of Staff Responsibilities - Amber will email each of us the revised list. This will be changing again as new employes are hired and trained.
5. Library Card Sign-up Month (September) - We decided not to run any promotions in September this year. We will take food for fines in November, and anticipate reinstating read-off-your-fines in January 2012 with a revised form, clear instructions, and a strict policy as to what reviews are acceptable.
6. Other Stuff -
2. Change of Hours - One of the suggestions offered for our library by the UW-Parkside strategic planning team was that we consider being open on Sundays. Their rationale for this was that, as the only Walworth County library open on Sunday, we would draw students needing homework help and working parents looking for family activities. The library board suggested we survey our patrons to see if there is community interest in using the library on Sunday. The survey form offers two options: (1) our current hours; (2) reduced weekday hours and Sunday afternoon hours during the school year. The survey is being taken at the library and has been sent to the DD school district for inclusion in school newsletters.
3. Volunteer Binder - Cheryl, as the new volunteer coordinator, has prepared a binder containing all forms and information about the volunteer program. The binder will be kept at the service desk in the Youth Services Dept. Amber will continue to interview candidates looking to serve court-ordered community service, VIP referrals, and work-study students. All other volunteers should be sent to Youth Services to fill out an application.
4. List of Staff Responsibilities - Amber will email each of us the revised list. This will be changing again as new employes are hired and trained.
5. Library Card Sign-up Month (September) - We decided not to run any promotions in September this year. We will take food for fines in November, and anticipate reinstating read-off-your-fines in January 2012 with a revised form, clear instructions, and a strict policy as to what reviews are acceptable.
6. Other Stuff -
- New employees to be hired are two 20-hour-per-week Library Assistants (one for Ginny's position, one for Kate's) and one 15-hour-per-week page.
- Exceptions to the restrictions on fees and tutors in the meeting room may be granted to government agencies, including Delavan Parks & Rec, and Literacy Council tutors.
- The Library Board has formed a new committee to look into forming a foundation for the purpose of fund raising.
- Ordering will be out-sourced to Racine PL. Item selection will still be made by Amber and Kelly, but the actual ordering will be done by Racine (which will include on-order records for our items). Shipments will still come directly to APL.
- We are doing a program exchange with Racine -- we will do 2 programs there, they will do 2 programs here.
- We will undergo a trial period of receiving books from Baker & Taylor with mylar jackets already applied.
- DVD labels and cataloging will be changed to reflect the separation of TV series and anime from the balance of the DVD collection. Colored labels have been ordered and we have a volunteer coming in to switch them out.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
July 2011 Staff Meeting
My notes this month are kind of sketchy, so feel free to add or expand upon anything!
Staff duties list: Amber has updated and will distribute
Volunteer jobs and patron privacy concerns: We talked about how much access to patron records volunteers should have. Volunteers are not to discharge materials, receive in-transit items, or perform any other function that allows them access to patron records. Cheryl will take over the volunteer coordinator position. We talked about having an application form and a list of jobs volunteers can do.
Patron requests in Workflows should be marked “Replied” and the date of the reply entered after they are taken care of.
Circ room errors were discussed. We need to be sure to label everything so others will know what needs to be done.
Kelly asked that the disc cleaning machine be moved from her office ASAP. She also reminded us not to use her office as a hallway. If there isn’t a program or meeting, go through the meeting room instead of Kelly's office.
Policy binders were updated.
Kelly stressed the importance of keeping the website calendar updated.
Amber is keeping the staff schedules online at Google docs. We are all able to view them and make changes.
Prioritizing tasks: Desk duties, including shelving, come before projects.
Public disc cleaning service: We discussed charging the public to clean their personal discs. There were questions about who is going to do this, how this fits into our scheduled duties, and how much to charge. We have also had problems with the disc cleaning machine. Staff felt this project should be put on hold.
Questions: Can a library card be issued to a child whose parent is blocked with a major fine? Yes.
Can we give refunds for printing? Only on guest accounts.
DVDs are going to be divided into sections: TV Series, Feature Films, Anime, and Nonfiction.
Information about homebound services should be given to Lindsey.
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Staff duties list: Amber has updated and will distribute
Volunteer jobs and patron privacy concerns: We talked about how much access to patron records volunteers should have. Volunteers are not to discharge materials, receive in-transit items, or perform any other function that allows them access to patron records. Cheryl will take over the volunteer coordinator position. We talked about having an application form and a list of jobs volunteers can do.
Patron requests in Workflows should be marked “Replied” and the date of the reply entered after they are taken care of.
Circ room errors were discussed. We need to be sure to label everything so others will know what needs to be done.
Kelly asked that the disc cleaning machine be moved from her office ASAP. She also reminded us not to use her office as a hallway. If there isn’t a program or meeting, go through the meeting room instead of Kelly's office.
Policy binders were updated.
Kelly stressed the importance of keeping the website calendar updated.
Amber is keeping the staff schedules online at Google docs. We are all able to view them and make changes.
Prioritizing tasks: Desk duties, including shelving, come before projects.
Public disc cleaning service: We discussed charging the public to clean their personal discs. There were questions about who is going to do this, how this fits into our scheduled duties, and how much to charge. We have also had problems with the disc cleaning machine. Staff felt this project should be put on hold.
Questions: Can a library card be issued to a child whose parent is blocked with a major fine? Yes.
Can we give refunds for printing? Only on guest accounts.
DVDs are going to be divided into sections: TV Series, Feature Films, Anime, and Nonfiction.
Information about homebound services should be given to Lindsey.
###
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