CE
Managers Meeting
11-20-15
Compiled
by Yolanda Anguiano
CE
Update:
(Michele Gorman) Michele welcomed new Assistant Managers Rodger “Drew”
Alvey (PLE/TUT), Alexandra Drake (HEI) and Jenny Phengdara (ROB). This
was also Johnson Assistant Manager Iona Joseph’s first meeting. Michele
also introduced Parent Resource Library’s new manager Beck Gorman, who also
manages the FLIP program. She can be reached at 713-535-7254 or bgorman@cmhouston.org. Michele added that we are
losing two staff members on November 30th. Shammi Gill is
retiring and we are holding a farewell celebration in the Concourse Meeting
room on that day from 9AM-11AM. Melcher Assistant Manager Michelle Perry
is also leaving us to join the team at United Health Group Insurance. It
was also revealed that Kallie Benes is expecting her second child, due in June.
The
no smoking signs that we are expecting are being delayed and hopefully will be
installed after the holidays.
Michele
asks that you remind staff who may be going through tough financial times that
they can apply for the Julia Ideson Fund. You can find the application on
the intranet under the Forms tab in the Human Resources section: https://hplnet.houstonlibrary.org/forms/JI-Fund-Guidelines.doc and https://hplnet.houstonlibrary.org/forms/JI-fund-form.xls. Please make sure
that your staff members are aware of this fund especially if they have a
need. It can be used if a car is damaged while at work as well as other
personal hardships.
Managers
need to encourage staff to promote our system programs more, like Season’s
Readings, Children’s Book Celebration, etc. Display the flyers
advertising the programs at the service desk or appropriate shelves that have
items related to the topic. Talk to customers, share the information with your
civic groups, and place a bookmark or flyer in the books your customers check
out. Michele wants more of this type of point of sale marketing. We
have to sell the programs in the branch, community and on a system level.
We cannot expect that a customer will see a flyer in the midst of many other
flyers.
Michele
discussed the repeal of HERO, the equal rights ordinance that included civil
protection of an individual’s expression of gender identity. Houston
citizens no longer have this type of civil protection, but we as City employees
do. The language is included in the Executive Order 1-50. As a City
entity, our customers are also protected. Section 7.1.13 indicates we or
a member of the public can’t impede someone access to a restroom facility on
the basis of that person’s expression of gender identity. Michele wants
you to discuss this with your staff, and she asks that you make sure they take
the mandatory E 1-50 training by Monday, November 30th.
Janna
Hoglund and the Southwest Express team were congratulated. Thursday
(11/19) they hosted a naturalization ceremony for 73 immigrants from countries
ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe. They signed up for library cards and
were given passport application information and the opportunity to register to
vote. Michele also recognized Laurie, Tim and Dominick for participating
in the City sponsored Veteran’s Job Fair on November 6th at Moody
Park. They spoke to veterans about library job opportunities.
Michele even received a compliment from an HR official regarding their
efforts. HPL also had a great presence at the Maker Faire on November 14th.
We had plenty of volunteers and out of 3,500 attendees, 750 of them stopped to
make something at our booth. Michele added that she wants to be informed
if you have a successful program like these, so she can showcase them.
Please let her know via email.
Digital
Strategies:
(Rick Peralez, Emmanuel Merenini & Saima Kadir) Emmanuel wants feedback on
if we should continue to offer two different operating systems for the MacBook
Pros: Windows and iOS. They asked how effective is the HP laptops versus
the Apple versions. Managers said the HPs work fine as long as they’re
charged in-between check outs. Customers like the MacBook Pros, but use
the Windows operating system most often. Preference also seems to be
influenced by age. Those older prefer Windows/HP and those younger prefer
the Macs. Managers agreed that they would like more updated HP
laptops. Rick said that is in the plans. He also really wants to
phase out having two operating systems. A pilot was suggested of those
locations that offer Macs. For three months, staff will ask customers who
check out the Macs if they want to use the iOS (Apple) or Windows operating
system, keep track of the preferences, and report the results.
The
Coin Copier contract has expired. Rick’s team is looking at other
vendors. They asked the group what they thought of Coin Copier, and
managers replied that their equipment was less desirable but their customer
service and service calls were great. Managers want this new contract to
include equipment that accepts coins and debit cards and have scanning and
faxing capabilities. Additional features like color printing and mobile
printing were also on the wish list. Change machines were also mentioned.
Rick’s
team is in the process of looking for a robust reservation system. He
invites staff to come up with questions for the new vendors vying for the
contract. If you have suggestions, please forward them to Senior Manager
Patrick Atkins. He serves on the committee in charge of finding an
alternate vendor.
Saima
asked for feedback on the emails that are being sent out from the IT Helpdesk
making staff aware of system wide problems. The Virtual Library team
wants to be more pro-active. Mangers said they appreciate the emails,
especially those that follow any HITS emails alerting staff of problems.
They appreciate that our helpdesk communicates how those system-wide problems
affect the Library directly. Emails regarding the new website suggestion
form were also well received.
The
Virtual Library team has been piloting advertising programs on social media
with Special Collections libraries. They hope to extend this feature to
other locations in the future.
Statistics
Dashboard:
(Mary Hammond) Mary’s work with statistics has enabled us to do more
data-driven decisions using specific program data. Her goal is to collect
information that is meaningful and accessible. Using the Daily Input
Sheet has proven successful. If your numbers look wrong, please send her
an email.
There
are two places to record your program stats in the workbook, by type and on the
programs tab. Both numbers from the Program by audience type and Program
by subject tab should match. Please remember to record your language
access numbers in the Language Access tab.
Your
stats roll up into a monthly report which you can find on the G-drive by month
and location. You can compare stats from last year. The Circ report
can also be found on the G-drive. It includes circulation numbers,
computer users, self-check & holds information. Mary wants to move
the system report to compare stats over a quarter instead of just last
year. She feels it will help identify trends.
Michele
and Mary went over the different stats listed in the System Report and what our
numbers look like now. Michele wants to use this information for outcome
based decisions. There are specific stats that we can control, such as
number of registered borrowers, open job lab or outreach participation.
So we should continue our part in promoting them.
Mary
said everyone should have received their FY15 Library Info Sheets by now.
Those who haven’t should let her know.
A
suggestion was made to begin recording the number of in house circulations we
have. Scanning items that are used in the library and keep being
re-shelved but are never checked out could prove useful.
Open
Carry Discussion:
(Roosevelt Weeks) The Open Carry Law goes into effect January 1st.
The law permits those citizens that have a license to carry a concealed hand
gun to openly carry their weapon in a holster. Mr. Weeks said that you
must assume that those individuals that come in to your location sporting a gun
in that way hold a license to carry. If a customer does anything in a
threatening manner while carrying, you should dial 9-1-1. Don’t approach
them. You should develop a signal with your staff to let them know they
should dial 9-1-1.
Mr.
Weeks stipulated that customers can’t openly carry their gun at school
sponsored events, like if a class goes to the library for a research
project. They also can’t carry at election sites. Training is
putting together a session on how to deal with these situations with
de-escalation tactics for next year. Managers asked if we could have
signage made alerting the public that a school sponsored or election event is
taking place at the library. Those staffs who have a concealed handgun
license can keep their weapon in their locked car in the parking lot.
A
handout was distributed consisting of notes on the Open Carry Forum, an FAQ
sheet and Executive Order 1-37 which will be revised once the Open Carry Law
goes in effect. He asks that you go over the information with your staff,
especially the FAQs. He reiterated that if you have a customer with a gun
that exhibits a threatening gesture, motion or statement, call 9-1-1. See
the Texas State Library FAQ: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/pubs/ocpublic.html
Zach
from GSD said that our security officers are still considered civilians and
don’t have the authority to verify if the customer holds a concealed hand gun
license. If there are out of the ordinary situations or patrons are
alarmed and approach staff, Mr. Weeks advises you to call 9-1-1. If you
have questions or concerns regarding this, please contact Michele or him.
Craig
Bertuglia also proposed that skateboards be allowed in libraries because they
aren’t usually used as weapons and we are alienating a group of
customers. Michele agreed and the policy will be reconsidered by the
Policy Committee in the near future.
Announcements:
Travel: Guidelines for
submission of travel documents were sent by Michele in an earlier email this
month. Be aware that the deadline for TLA & PLA submissions is
Tuesday, December 1st. There are no extensions, so if you miss
the deadline, you can’t attend on city business. You can find the travel
authorization form on the intranet under the Forms tab in the Business
section. Michele will resend her original email to all staff as a
reminder.
Youth
Services:
Kallie thanked all those staff that volunteered for one of her outreaches,
especially the Houston Urban League events. We have had some events
canceled or rescheduled, but Kallie said it’s important to continue to do these
outreaches because they occur in neighborhood schools where library staff can
connect with the community. Kids and their families become exposed to
library services and learn that we are more than just books. With the 13
outreaches that have already occurred, over 500 library card applications have
been processed.
Sprockets: Laurie asked
that all managers, assistant managers and those who are regularly left in
charge of the building review the Sprocket procedures. It’s important
that all are familiar with how to do one. If you need assistance, you can
call CE Admin. (x32707)
Greetings: Please don’t
forget to set your alternate greeting with the message that you will be closed
for Thanksgiving. Laurie will post the instructions on the NL blog.
Financial
Services:
We are no longer using PayPal for customers to pay their fines on line, instead
its ProPay. There is a $0.50 transaction fee. If you made an error
while processing a credit card payment, please void the entire transaction not
part of it. If you have a salvage form, please send it to Mary Tombiri in
Financial Services. She receives the documentation before it’s routed to
SPACES. Telecheck is in the process of switching out their machines and
replacing them with new chip technology. If you get contacted by them to
schedule the switch, please alert your Senior Manager and Dimitri in Financial
Services. (x31344)
Clayton: (Sue Kaufman) The
PBS program “The Genealogy Roadshow” will be taping a program at JIB this
Sunday. Customers can join the show audience. The program begins at
9AM. There will be limited parking.
Severe
Weather:
(Liz Sargent) Liz wanted to point out several passages in the Administrative Policy 2-3
regarding severe weather and emergency conditions. Section 7.1.2
indicates that staff can make up missed time or use accrued paid leave time
when they can’t report to work due to legitimate severe weather
conditions. Staff should stay in contact with their supervisors during
these severe weather situations. If a staff member will be late or is unable
to report to work due to severe weather, the staff member is still expected to
notify their supervisor in advance of their reporting time just as they would
if they were going to be late or out on any other day. The weather alerts that
John Middleton sends via email are informational in nature not free passes to
not report to work. In instances where the Mayor has declared an emergency and
asked only staff of a certain tier to report to work, those staff who already
had scheduled time off will not be entitled to the disaster time pay (Section
7.2.3). Liz stressed that in time of severe weather conditions, managers need
to know what is happening at their location with regards to building condition
and staff. Ultimately, every manager is responsible for their
location(s). Please work with your staff to gather the information needed
from the location to ensure that we are making the best possible decisions
about the location.
Worker’s
Comp:
As of December 1st we have a new company managing our workman’s
compensation claims: Tristar Risk Management. To report a claim, you will
need to call the worker’s comp/safety hotline: 832-393-SAFE and choose Option
1.
Kronos: Due to the
upcoming holidays, deadlines for Kronos approval have been moved up.
Please see the handout given at today’s meeting. Be aware of Saturday’s
8AM deadline as well as December 19th‘s. If you will be
unavailable, please delegate your Kronos to other staff.
Lean
Six Sigma:
The deadline for completion of the Lean Six Sigma training is coming up:
December 1st. Please ensure that all your staff have completed
it. Assign time on your staff’s work schedule for that purpose.
Executive
Order 1-50:
Completion of training on EO 1-50 is due on November 30th.
Mileage
Reimbursements:
Please cash all your mileage reimbursement checks. The Financial Services
office is waiting to close out their books, and can’t do so until all checks
have been paid. If staffs have lost their check, please notify Financial
Services. They can reissue it. Please make note that there is a $30
charge we incur for stopping payment of a check. If this problem
persists, a limit to fund reimbursements will be revisited.
Discussion: Michele asked
managers to bring back a schedule of their 2016 staff meetings and turn them
into Liz at December’s meeting. This is so Liz and Senior Managers can
review them and see when they can attend one. For location groupings,
please work on the details with your Senior Manager. This is a direct
response to last month’s discussion on how to resolve staff issues.
CE
Admin will bring a schedule of CE Managers Meetings and Kallie will bring a
schedule of Youth Services Meetings for the next calendar year to December’s
meeting.
Also
for the next meeting, Michele asked that managers review a handout listing the
different problems and solutions facing HPL that were discussed last month and
commit to trying at least three solutions at their location(s) during the rest
of the fiscal year. Bring a completed commitment form listing those
solutions to next month’s meeting and turn it into Liz. Then over the
next 8 months, Michele will call on staff to report on their progress.
Every
location is getting an allocation of money to be used for staff
appreciation. The amount of money given was based on the number of staff.
Please follow the guidelines for petty cash that were included in the envelopes
and contact Celeste Diaz or Laurie Covington with any questions about
purchases.
In
attendance:
Chris Arrowood, Leonore Hu, LeRoy Robinson, Monica Siboldi, Brandon Pope, Drew
Alvey, Felicia Brisco, Jenny Phengdara, Tim Siegel, Nathan Stokes, Melissa
Ryans, Karen Luik, Kathrine Myers, Jennifer Myers, Shirley Singletary, Maggie
Sepulveda, Derrick Spearman, Craig Bertuglia, Richard Hurst, Mercedes Mayne,
Iona Joseph, Hellena Stokes, Michelle King, Alexandra Drake, Dena Melvin, Alma
Avina, Patricia Ogea, Lauren Wilcox, Beck Gorman, Janna Hoglund, Vanessa
Gempis, John Merullo, Tara Hornbeak, Melissa Gwinn, Dominick Spinelli, Sylvia
Espinosa, Laney McAdow, Michelle Perry, Kelly Patton, Edgar Fuentes, Diane
Doyen, Tega Zoma, Cylenthia Hoyrd, Christopher Patrick, Fred Schumacher, Tony
Goodwyn, Gary Lackey, Erika Cardoso, Jose Santoyo, Virginia Williams, Paty
Bustamante, Shammi Gill; Guests: Rick Peralez, Saima Kadir, Emmanuel Merenini,
Mary Hammond, Roosevelt Weeks & Zachary McMahon; CE Admin: Michele Gorman,
Elizabeth Sargent, Laurie Covington, Mary Wagoner, Patrick Atkins, Pedro
Fonseca, Djuina Hammett, Celeste Diaz, & Yolanda Anguiano
Next
CE Managers Meeting is on December 18 at 8:30AM in Central’s Program Place.
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