Saturday, March 17, 2012

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






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