Wednesday, December 21, 2011

I promise I won't continue to write novels on these blogs but to get us started out there a gazillion details I want you to have access to, so bear with me.
  Most of you already know each other as you have been former pages at Capitola, but we have a couple of newer faces, including my own. Along with me, we will also be adding Barbara Pasternak back to our staff as a library aide. Many of you probably already know her as she has spent time working there as a clerk, and will be coming back out of retirement to lend us a hand, and make a few extra bucks. And Chicory Roth, who has worked in Capitola previously as a page, will also be in once a week on Wednesdays.
 David Sidle will be coming in as an LA II from his previous position as a Library Assistant at the downtown branch. He has been a pro at juggling many page schedules downtown and so I have asked him to continue with that at Capitola as well as approve your Kronos time sheets. The current schedule is set up to run through March, while we assess material flow and staffing needs. He will also be joining me on the front desk doing circulation and reference tasks.

  The new staffing plan calls for 8 hours a week of volunteers who are supposed to be helping with shelving, since as library aides, most of you will be responsible for discharging returned items, routing in items in transit to the branch, and shelving. Since we only have one library aide scheduled on the floor at at time, it seems doubtful that we will be able to accomplish this without volunteers, and currently we have none trained and in place. So to meet this challenge I think I would like to ask that if you are a library aide, you check in with either David or myself to see where you are most needed once you take care of your opening tasks, check the blog for updates, etc.
  If of course you are on a shift before we open, please do the regular opening tasks, and then if time allows do the pulls list, but do give discharging and shelving precedence over the pulls list.

It may be that the route-ins have to sit, or the pulls list doesn't get finished, while we take care of discharging and shelving. We will have to see how this plays out.
It will be challenging but I am sure we can find a way to make it work as smoothly as possible if we all remain flexible. And hopefully by February, we will have volunteers who also can help with those tasks.

There are a lot of other things that need to be taken care of in the branch and I will include that list in an upcoming  blog so if there is something you would really like to do, or excel at, I will be happy to give you the opportunity.  David and I would also like to see you all trained to do basic circulation with the patrons, as its helpful as support to us, as well as an opportunity for y'all to learn new library skills and polish up those resumes so you can climb that library career ladder. I started as a page, myself, and here you are already stepping up as library aides, so there really is room for growth should you desire to go that direction.  It is my hope,  that once we have some volunteer support, David, who is an excellent trainer, can teach you some circulation procedures.

Until the next blog,
and HAPPY NEW YEAR,
Jonell

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