FOOLING WITH THE SHELVING FOR APRIL FOOLS

Well Cappy Dick is going to take a week off  so this week's blog is extra long since next week y'all will have an information reprieve:
  Jonell is also taking the week off (what a coincidence!) so David is the big wig in charge of All while I am away. If you are going to be absent, call in as per usual, and if you have questions direct them to him if they are pressing, or you can hold off until I return on Tuesday, April 10th.

   Also, we will have a number of different on-calls filling in hours on the circulation desk so please introduce yourselves and offer them whatever assistance they might need as far as where things live in our collection, branch procedures, etc.

   We have a couple of staffing changes in April. On Mondays, Sandra Zamora (who also aides at Aptos and La Selva) will be working a shift at Capitola as well (Welcome, Sandra!), and Gina, who has been away for a month of Fridays will be back on her regular shift (Welcome back, Gina!). Thank you, Emily for filling it that shift in her absence.

   Since its been an entire week since we re-did the check in area, it seemed time to shake things up and change a few other things in the branch, so with that in mind: 

The J audiobooks on CD are now housed in the blue revolving rack that also houses the J music Cds. They do not have to be in any particular order as there are not so many that we can't easily find them, should we need to. However, do try and keep them in the same rack section as the J music CDs, and should you notice them drifting over to the board book section, please retrieve them.  We are expecting an influx of new board books in the near future.

        The J audiobooks on cassette are now directly above the readers on the top of the bookshelf. Please do keep these in order.

        The JPic+  books are now above the jeasys on the display counter.
     
        The read to me kits are shelved just before J fiction.
       
         This change, proposed by Barbara P, frees up the JPC collection, which was getting overcrowded, as well as puts our audiobooks more front and center.  Thanks Barbara for a great suggestion. I think that this will increase the circulation of all these collections!

   
     And not to be left out, Riley also suggested it would be easier for the seniors to get to the Large Print collection if it had more room and wasn't shelved on the lower most shelves, so he has moved the PBC collection around to free up more shelving for LP.  There is currently a bank of shelving for LP Fiction and a bank for LP Mysteries with non/fiction and biographies at the end.  The PBCs have changed around,
(Westerns are at now at the bottom of the the Science Fiction PBCs and the PBC classics are now shelved above the regular Science Fiction collection) and the Romance, Fiction and Mystery PBC shelving is clearly labeled.

   Also new: the Adult graphic novel collection (which is currently about 6 titles) which has until now lived behind the circulation desk, is now on display directly above the Audiobooks on Cassette.  This will allow patrons to see these books and it is placed nearer to the ever popular YA Graphic Novels. If you have patrons inquire about graphic novels, please direct them to both of these areas.

      There is a new display for the month of April. Although it should really be April Fools, we are going to go with the more traditional National Poetry Month. For this display I am put ting out poetry from both the adult and J collections, as I think we have a wonderful but often overlooked poetry collection in our Children's room and I would like to highlight it, so if you are looking for poetry books and not finding them on our shelves, check the display. Also if you check in poetry books that you feel are worthy, J or Adult, please add them to the display. This is usually a pretty popular theme and we have many local poets who frequent our library.

Okie Dokie, I wish y'all a wonderful April Fool's and may you all fool everyone but not be fooled yourselves!  See you in a week,
  Jonell

HAPPY SPRING!!

It appears that Spring has sprung (a leak, judging from the weather) and the changes just keep happening here at the Capitola branch. Hopefully they are all for the better.  We now have a new crop of book carts which should improve the lives of all who shelve, as they are skinny enough to enable you to push them down the book aisles instead of hauling a couple of books at a time to shelve. We will be getting a couple more so hopefully we can retire our double sided carts, but we will keep them on reserve just in case, parked in the staff break room.
  We will now utilize separate carts for fiction/genre fiction/large print/ paperbacks
 and  non-fiction/ oversize, YA, media and magazines.  Oversize can now go on the top shelf of the non-fiction, as it can stand up instead of having to lay flat, and it will be easier on everyone to have the heavier stuff of the upper shelf. YA should go at the end of the non-fiction and media and magazines can go on the bottom of the non-fiction cart.
  As for the fiction cart, you can separate it into genres if you prefer, but you might find you don't have that luxury, depending on what amounts of what are coming in.
  We will still keep the Flat carts for the Juvy items. There is a spare flat cart should you ever need one, parked in the staff break room as well.

 On a different note: I have noticed a disturbing new trend and this is one time I really don't want us to be trendsetters.  Many patrons have been calling or coming in and claiming they have returned items at our branch which are still showing checked out to them, and upon investigation the items have been on our shelves but not checked in properly. Some of these items also belong to other branches. And I have also found a number of media items with missing parts on our shelves.  So I beseech you all, PLEASE WATCH THE SCREEN when checking items in. I know that transit turtle takes a million years to load (thus the turtle icon i suppose) but be sure that you see that the item you are handling is really checked in, and put in the correct crate or on a cart, as well as really check the media items to make sure all the discs are accounted for.

You may notice some incoming books marked CMS in the right hand corner where the branch location usually is, inside the front cover. These are part of a floating collection so they will remain in our branch for a designated amount of time. If you see them, they should be shelved on the New Book Shelf. We can affix new items date stickers to them the same way we do our other new items. Eventually they will go back to CMS.
  And speaking of new items, please remember to remove the date stickers for the older items. The pull  # for this month, is 9 and you can check the sticker on the counter outside the check-in office if you forget.

  The theme this week for story hour is appropriately enough, RAIN, so if you need any of those books for the pulls list or patrons, check in the usual spot above my desk.

Overall, it appears that despite all these changes we are keeping up pretty well with the shelving and the branch looks tidy, so keep up the good work and as always, a HUGE THANKS! You are all a pleasure to work with!
    Over and Out,
Cappy Dick

 

Boy Howdy...  By now you probably have noticed a change at the branch, but if not it will become self-evident on your next shift. We have moved the check in station from the front desk to the previous branch manager's office (this goes to show who is REALLY important at this branch!).  This move puts us in accord with the service model which calls for library aides to be responsible for the lion's share of check ins, while leaving David and myself to do circulation and reference on the "single point of service" desk.  The immediate effect will be evidenced in the fact that there will be more shelving piling up while the checking in is being done. We are supposed to be relying on our shelving volunteers to help us keep up so if it becomes evident that we need to recruit more of them we will see if we can get more.   Barbara and Gina have helped configure the discharge area but feel free to make recommendations should you see anything you would like changed or supplies that need to be added. And if the current configuration of bin vs carts doesn't work for you personally, everything is on wheels so you can adjust it to your liking during your work shift. I realize the table is a bit low and i am asking for a hydrolic adjustable table similar to what they have downtown, but that will all depend on next year's budget allowances. In the meantime we will have to make do with what we have on hand or can get our hands on. All the supplies have been moved to the new area (the extra routing slips are on the lower shelving at the end of the table). Remember to use the flat cart for the Capitola juvenile collection and the divided cart for the Capitola adult collection. The material flow should be : let the book drop out front fill up and we will wheel it to the back (or you can come and fetch it), and replace it with the empty bin that is there. Between emptying the book drop, take time to shelve, but the priority is discharging.  You might be able to give yourself 30 minutes discharging, 30 minutes shelving, depending of course on how busy we are. I will leave it to you to gauge and if you are off shelving and both book drops are overflowing David or I will let you know.      I do ask that you gauge your work time so that you have ample time to clean up your workspace at the end of your shift. That means replace full carts with empties, make sure all the books in  transit to other branches are in their proper crates, random scraps of paper are disposed of, and generally things are ready for the next person to begin their shift.   The donations now go in the blue plastic bin in the workroom, and any overflow of empty crates can go under the window near the reference shelves. On another note, after doing some research I verified that batteries Can be recycled by anyone in the Capitola,Soquel area. I would prefer that we not take patron's batteries to recycle since i don't have a bunch of baggies on hand, so please tell them that they can do it themselves by placing the batteries in a plastic bag and putting it on top of their recycle or greenwaste bins.        The story time subject this week is Spring, so look on my desk if you are seeking springtime books for patrons.             And lastly,  I have been shelf reading in the juvenile section (non-fiction) and I am noticing that there are a lot of books mishelved. I know that the juvy section is notorious for NOT STAYING IN ORDER but what I am finding is large clumps of dewy #'s correctly  shelved but in the wrong place (ie: many different sections of 791.43 far apart from each other) which tells me that probably one of our staff or volunteers, not patrons,  is shelving at least some of these and then some other staff is finding that shelving and adding more books.  Basically the cure is to please please check the areas around where you are shelving to make sure you are in the right place and pull any books you see mishelved. It is also a good idea to run mishelved books (particularly those far from where they should be shelved) through check in. I have found at least 4 titles marked missing in one shelf read session.   I will also go over the look around you technique with our shelving volunteers. And if you do find yourself with time on your hands (?) please take a turn at shelf reading. Hope y'all found that elusive pot of gold on St. Patrick's day and that those pesky leprechauns didn't make you drink too much of that green beer.  And Happy Spring, starting on March 20th! Let there be wonderful weather soon! Best, Cappy Dick Click here to Reply or Forward

YAWN.....

Cappy Dick says WOE IS US, we had to SPRING FORWARD this week...so we are all excused if we spend this week in a fog and Cappy Dick is also excused if this blog is sort of lame.
  Here's some things to exercise your brain cells:  We have moved things around in the branch a bit.
Tax Forms are now directly inside the front door on the red cart.
Barbara P has utilized her marketing skills and has made excellent displays for the Shonen Jump, Baby Bug, Muse, Kids National Geographic and Sport Illustrated Kids.  Shonen Jump is now by the kid's graphic novels and Sports Illustrated Kids is shelved by the J 790's. 
Baby Bug, Muse and National Geographic Kids still remain where they were parked before, above the Jeasys, but much more visible.
 We are hoping this increases the circulation of these periodicals. There are back issues in the workroom as well, should anyone wish to check them out.
  
Overall I think the branch is looking pretty fine, but we are always open to suggestions should any of you see areas that could be improved. There is a rumor that this week we will get Heather's old office space turned into a proper area for discharging so that the Aides will be doing more discharging while David and I provide front desk customer service, and the volunteers do more shelving. This is in accordance with the service model, but we shall see if that rumor comes true. We are waiting for the maintenance crew to come and disassemble and reassemble that room for us.
 
There is still an opening starting in April for a 3 hour aide shift during our closed hours on Mondays. This is a flexible shift (any 3 hours of the day) so if you are interested or know an aide who is, please let me know.
 
Let's have a wonderful week,
Cappy Dick

WHICH DAY OF THIS MONTH IS ALSO A COMMAND?

Do you give up?
March 4th!!!   And that's gonna be our motto all this week!!
So, other then bad jokes what does Cappy Dick have to say? Well, for one thing, since we have a new Women's History display for the month of March, be on the look out when you discharge or shelve for any interesting books about women in history,( including current times) to add to our display. We don't have any way of knowing when the display books are returned so its up to you guys and your eagle eyes to keep the display replenished as you see fit.  And if you see any of the previous display books with the hearts on the spines, go ahead and shelve those as per usual. You don't have to remove the heart stickers, they will eventually fall off on their own, but in the meantime, we will just treat them as staff favorites.

   The story hour this week is Trains so remember to look on my desk if you need train books for the pulls list.
There are tons of Train books in our collection so I am only pulling some of them, since they are immensely popular, and I don't want to deprive all the non-story time attending kids.

  We had an incident this week wherein the volunteer for the Tales to Tails program showed up, but the person in charge of the program did not and there was some confusion, so for future reference, should you find yourself in this situation there is a posting on the bulletin board in Heather's old office (soon to be the discharge station, keep your fingers crossed, maybe next week!) which has contact numbers and instructions on what to do when difficulties like this arrive with the Tales to Tails program.

Starting in April, there is a shift for an aide on Mondays. The hours are flexible as we are currently closed but we need someone to come in, empty the book drop, do route-ins and the pulls list and shelve as time allows. See Jonell if you are interested or pass it on to any of the aides you know out there who looking for a few more hours.

That's it for the enthralling news of Capitola Branch Library.  Thank you all for all your hard work. It shows in how smoothly things are going!
   Ciao for now,
Cappy Dick