7/1/16 meeting notes

Smith and Young Neighborhood Libraries

July 1 2016

8:45 AM-11:00AM

Smith NL Meeting Room

Notes

I           Greetings and snacks

II          CE Manager Meeting announcements 05-27-16 Compiled by Yolanda Anguiano

Even though Michele is now gone, we will continue with the forward momentum of Customer Experience.

·         CE Managers and Assistant managers will continue to meet together every month

·         Youth Services meetings will continue

·         Improved communication will continue

·         The lunch and conversation chats will now be with Customer Experience Administration with Liz, Laurie and Mary attending. 

·         Staff members are still being asked to limit the time spent working at those locations that are closed to the public on Mondays.  It is a priority of the Mayor’s to ensure that we have city services available and if customers see cars and staff inside the location on the day they’re closed, they begin to question why they need to be closed in the first place.

HPL is becoming a partner in education.  The first step is the Learning Link initiative and it is close to being launched.  Preparations are ninety to ninety-five percent complete.  The final steps of data transfer are being worked out.  The proposed launch will be in August.  All HISD students will have a Learning Link library card.  Their student ID will be their card number.  They will be able to borrow up to 10 books and will have no overdue fines.  Students will be responsible for lost or damaged items.  A virtual Learning Link card will be issued to HISD staff.  It will provide them with access to our electronic resources.  The staff’s employee ID number will be their Learning Link card number.

Youth Services meetings will continue during the summer with various training components. Training on Camp Wonderopolis will occur in June and how to deal with gangs from an HPD expert will occur in July.  Every location or grouping needs to ensure they have at least one person who can attend these meetings. The August 12^th meeting will be mandatory due to the Learning Link training.  All locations are to send their youth services staff to this meeting.  Similar training will take place at the CE Managers meeting that month.

Mayor Turner’s first City budget has passed unanimously and the library was one of only three departments that did not see budget cuts. Mayor Turner’s message to city employees was: “It’s working. I am proud to report that our city government is functioning in ways we have not seen in modern memory. Today, our city council passed a budget unanimously, one month ahead of schedule. Republicans and Democrats came together to send a clear message to the credit agencies that Houston has its fiscal house in order. We closed a $160 million budget deficit that averted massive layoffs, preserved city services and saw the independent Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones agree to contribute revenue back to the city – a major first. And that’s just weeks after seeing our city departments come together in an unprecedented way to address the number-one complaint when I took office: the condition of our streets. Since the inception of our new program, we’ve filled 23,213 potholes – and 95% of citizen-reported potholes were filled by the next business day. Our critics – the ones who complain that city government never works – said it couldn’t be done. They were wrong. They should never underestimate the power of Houstonians. I believe in our city employees and elected leaders and in the Houstonians they serve. I am proud and grateful to lead this great city. Together, we can make great things happen. Thank you.” - Mayor Sylvester Turner

Managers still need to complete their four hours of required outcome based training.  You should already have two hours credit due to training during the CE Managers meeting a few months ago.  You will receive information about the other two hours via email next week.  You will need to watch the webinar and make a substantive comment to receive credit.

Leadership Institute Program has concluded. Patrick Atkins, Melissa Ryans, Kallie Benes, and Edgar Fuentes were among the graduates.

Updates:

·         Park Place Manager Dena Melvin had her baby girl, Parker;

·         Robinson Manager Chris Arrowood graduated with his MLS;

·         Former Kendall Assistant Manager Lauren Wilcox has transferred to Virtual Services. 

·         Clayton’s Sue Kaufman and Melissa Hayes have worked to get Ancestry.com help videos on the training portal.  Sue has been cleared to offer 2 hours of staff training on basic family history.

·         Gregory School staffs have been working on doing outreaches to area schools and using UH Downtown and Texas Southern University students for help with archival projects.

·         HMRC was mentioned in Sunday’s Houston Chronicle about the Kaye Marvins Photography studio collection they are receiving.

·         Central is focusing on bringing community organizations to the library as part of their outreach efforts.

·         Robinson is offering programs for children for those families who are visiting to get their passports.  While the parents are getting their passports, the children will be engaged in other activities. 

·         Vinson is doing an outreach to a senior center on Mondays.  Seniors are reading a Harlequin Romance chapter a week. 

·         Alief has set up a program in which they will visit every Alief ISD Elementary School throughout the school year and perform outreach.

·         Carnegie and Moody have contributed to a Head Start kinder boot camp program.  They are working with Coop and Sherman Elementary kids. 

·         There is a task force being created to reimagine the space at Dixon.  Councilman Davis is looking to give money for improvements. 

·         Pleasantville/Tuttle has revamped After School Zone and we have seen a significant reduction in incidents.

·         Stanaker is working with Digital Inclusion and Community Engagement to provide computer and workforce training to the Open Door Mission.

·         Park Place and Smith have been piloting after-school food programs.

CE Announcements: (Laurie Covington and Fred Schumacher)

Mary Wagoner sent out congratulations to Tech Specialists for the increase in Open Job Labs.  Since the training in January, numbers have increased compared to last year.

When you have an overage/shortage with money in the deposit, please make a note on the deposit paperwork.  Financial Services needs to know that you noticed the shortage or overage and have tried to investigate.  It can be that you don’t know why there is a discrepancy, but you need to put a note.

Laurie reminded managers that you can only report temperature issues when the temperature is outside of the acceptable range of 74, plus or minus 2 degrees.  Don’t report that it’s too hot if it’s 75 degrees or too cold if it’s 73.  Please share the information with staff.

A new service begins in July at 13 locations: notary service.  More information about training will be forthcoming.  Passports at Collier will begin in July as well.

The summer interns from SER begin on June 13^th.  Celeste needs their immediate supervisor’s t-shirt size.

Fred Schumacher:  There is a new way of returning Flip Kits.  Refurbish accounts have been set up for each location.  Please discharge the returned Flip Kits to the refurbish account.  This is being done for better tracking.  Fred will send a power point on directions next week.

                                                                                                                 

III        CE Manager Meeting announcements 6/24

Customer Experience Updates and Announcements - Customer Experience Admin (Liz, Laurie, and Mary)

Helena Stokes is the new assistant Chief of Central, Daniel Wilson will be the manager of Gregory school.

An email like the one for Jungman will be sent out for Blue Ridge and Young.

              I.        Digital Strategies Update - Digital Strategies

When the new reservation system is up and running one of the features is that it will automatically extend time by 15 minutes if 2 computers are open

The system will use the library pin number as the password and there will be card readers that will scan the library cards

            II.        Dealing With the “Not My Job” Mentality - Christy Chang, Vanessa Gempis, Tony Goodwyn, Beck Gorman

           III.        Houston Public Library Foundation  - Phyllis Hodges, Philanthropy Coordinator

Asked that we visit charitynavigator.com and vote for the HPL

Also there is work being done to create a more interactive comment form.

          IV.        Youth Services Update  - Sara Pope, Children’s Services Coordinator

SRP participants can get an activity sticker for going to Wonderopolis.  Make sure you put in a note saying they got the sticker.  Also make sure you mark that the got the program prize it is in Summer Reader right under the user name.

           V.        Being Authoritative Among Different Generations And Personalities  - Laney McAdow, Jayla Parks, Tim Siegel

          VI.        Team Building Exercise - CE Admin

Generating ideas for individual and group rewards (no cost)

IV         Updates from staff on projects and committees

Norola finished scanning the YA graphic novels, Dominick told us about the service innovation team meeting, the new reservation station, Lawanda and Monique talked about the Staff Development Day committee, and Monique talked about the volunteers and intern projects.

V         Reminders

            a. Meeting rooms make sure you inform people of the limit of 6 programs in 90 days and all parts of the form are filled in food, media, what room and how many people.

B. computer forms make sure to fill out the form completely

C. stat sheet we are missing gate counts and some of the tally marks are not clear.

D. materials found lying around check in.  If it is something you are looking at check it out.  If it is something you are working with put a note on it.

VI        Questions or comments