Staff Meeting Notes, 8/15/14

1. Updates
1. New Deputy Director (Karen)
2. Staff Schedules for August & September & Holiday Requests (Karen): New WAL/ SWX blog and Staff Schedules spread sheet for August and September are in progress. Staff emergency contact list update.
3. Karen’s Schedule at WAL/SWX (Karen): Tuesdays & Thursdays.
4. Who’s in Charge when the manager is away? (Karen)--see Quick Notes below.
5. Meeting Room Reservations (Karen): Conference room is an open study room only, effective immediately--anyone can use it for quiet study/ reading.  Starting Sept. 1, the large meeting room can be reserved for party of two or more, one reservation per customer at a time. The reservation form must be completed and signed in order to reserve/confirm the reservation; tentative reservations can be taken over the phone but are not confirmed until the form is filled out.  Karen will discuss the rules and updates on reservation form with NL team leader.
6. SRP Wrap-Up (Christy): This SRP season, WAL/ SWX registered more than 1,000 children and provided more than 27 SRP programs,  in addition to our weekly Story time and Teen games. Thanks to all staff and volunteers for working diligently this summer.  SRP free prizes will be rewarded to SRP participants as long as supplies last at the end of August. We had ordered free books a few time, however we were out of free books again in July, HPL programming advises staff to give away Chipotle Coupons, if the library is out of free books.
7. USA IDs (Holly): Recently a few customers at SWX presented USA ID, purchased online (see the web link on  the hand out) as proof of photo ID. Staff should not accept the UDA ID as proof, as it is not a government-issued ID.
2. Staff Training
1. Review Updates to Circulation Policy (Christy); Holds- A customer can request 30 holds with one library card. Holds will be held for 7 days.Temporary Resident card- Customers can register on line to have access to the databases and check out three items. The online registration temp card is good for 30 days only. Customers registered online will need to fill out the applications for their full service library card in person. Renewals- 5 DVDs maybe checked out on a library card at a time for 3 weeks. No renewal for DVDs; Most items may be renewed once; no items may be renewed more than once. Some items are not eligible for renewals when there are holds. Staff should 
2. Staff/Customer Safety & Evacuation Routes (Karen) [postponed until September meeting]

Quick Notes

• No more discards boxes in the meeting room--hurray!
• No food or drink in the public areas--only water in a closed container (see Library Rules)  Food should be eaten only in the break room to avoid attracting bugs and other pests in other parts of the workroom.
• We have been asked to stop weeding until the Friends warehouse has more room but we should always continue to weed items based on condition (see handout--Physical Condition Guidelines); store the condition discards in the last row for moving shelves in the workroom.
• Who’s in Charge (applies to both locations):
• When the manager or assistant manager are not available, who will be the supervisor-in-charge if there is a problem or an emergency?
• Christy (Librarian I)
• Baldemar (Library Service Specialist)
• Emma (Customer Service Clerk)
• We will try to have a designated supervisor-in-charge at each location during public hours.
• Meeting Room Reservations: We want the meeting rooms to be available to all customers on a fair and equal basis.  
• 1 reservation per customer at a time.  When a customer is here for a reservation, the next one can be made.  
• Reservations are tentative until the Meeting Room Request form has been filled out and signed.
• NEW: The Conference Room is an open study room for anyone to use for quiet study/reading unless it has been reserved by a group.  
• ALL meeting room events must be free and open to the public--no private parties or meetings.
• Library meeting rooms cannot be used to sell goods or services.
• Reservations must be entered in the Outlook meeting room reservation calendar.
• Unattended Child Policy: See HPL website: http://www.houstonlibrary.org/unattended-children (handout)

Upcoming Staff Events

• Friday, August 15: Staff Meeting; Last day of pay period.
• Friday, August 22: Pay day.
• Thursday, August 28: NL Managers Meeting
• Friday, August 29: Last Day of Pay Period.
• Monday, September 1: Labor Day holiday, Library closed.
• Thursday, September 4: Civic Engagement meetings at Walter (6-7PM) & Southwest Express (7:30-9:30PM)
• Friday, September 5: Payday; August statistics, facility reports, and drafts of monthly reports due.
• Wednesday, September 10: Kick-off press conference for Library Card campaign with HEB
• Friday, September 19: Staff Meeting + Training