Ahoy mateys,
well despite the title of this blog its not really the end of Summer reading as we have a new August display to highlight the "dog days of summer" for lots of lazy reading. There are a few non-fiction titles, as well as many works of fiction including mysteries, large type and science fiction, all with dogs somewhere in their pages so keep that display in mind if you are searching for titles on your pulls list.
I have put big colored paw print stickers on the spines to differentiate this collection so if you are shelving please be on the lookout for those and return those items to our display. There are a few childrens books on the back side of the display, also about or starring dogs but these have not been paw printed since we can easily refill any empty spaces with more dog books from our j collection without doing any major searches.
The summer reading program has now come to an end so should anyone ask the days to collect those dollars are over and now its time to go out and spend them. There is also NO summer reading or story hour for the month of August so do let patrons know, should they inquire. Story hour will start again, mid-September.
The sand box will also be retiring, or actually returning to where we borrowed it from, Rancho Cucomonga Library down in Southern California. Its apt that they should own it, as if you ask me, anyone who thinks sand in a library is a good idea might just be "Cucomonga"!. I am glad our patrons enjoyed it so much but I doubt any of us staff will miss sweeping up the sand twice a week and I suspect our poor janitors will do a jig of joy when they see it is gone.
I will put out some easier to deal with playthings like the giant legos and foam blocks later in the week so the kids don't go into withdrawals but I will also put out a large tub that we can toss them in when they aren't being used. This should be easier to clean up then the sand and if not I might reconsider and send everyone outside to the park.
Its a new month on Tuesday so do remember to pull off any #2 orange or yellow spine stickers you see on "new" books that are no longer new.
I hope you are all enjoying these last weeks of summer!
Cappy Dick
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER??! SOME DAYS YES, SOME DAYS NO!
Ahoy all,
well, our busyness factor seems to be as unpredictable as ever, what with one day we are swamped, the next day slow as cold molasses... but at least there are no new dramas to report. It appears that things are running pretty smoothly no matter how many people pass our threshold so you are all doing a great job.
Only a couple of reminders/heads up this week: firstly we have received a whole new crop of music cds. Barbara has put out the appropriate dividers for what we have gotten so far but if you find you are trying to shelve in a section for which there is no designated divider, look on the workroom shelf directly below the back issues of Baby Bug and you will find a whole box of divider choices to help you do your job.
We are also getting leased books which may say CMS inside but are designated for Capitola. Fear not, just shelve them with our new books even though they don't have a new date sticker. We don't want to interfile them with our regular titles as we will have to send them back after they have been in the branch for awhile and I don't want to have to hunt them down. (They are easily recognizable by the red LEASED B&T sticker on the lower spine.)
And speaking of new titles, I am noticing that a number of our new titles with the date spine labels, are being shelved with our regular (non-new) titles. Please be watchful when you are shelving so that the new books get spotlighted with our new items.
(just to add to the confusion: new large print titles and new adult graphic novels should be displayed with the rest of those collections.)
I have been weeding the branch over the last few weeks so there should be LOTS of room in the collection. I have been finding an inordinate amount of books falling behind other books so please when you are shelving tighten up the collection by using book ends (we have plenty now on the counter above the cash register) and not leaving big spaces between the books. I know that it has been the practice to leave open spots for easier replacement of what is checked out but it makes our shelving so loose that things are "falling through the cracks", as it were and with all the weeding many of those titles might not ever be coming back
Overall, I think the branch is looking good so you should all be proud of your hard work. It shows!
Thanks
Cappy Dick
well, our busyness factor seems to be as unpredictable as ever, what with one day we are swamped, the next day slow as cold molasses... but at least there are no new dramas to report. It appears that things are running pretty smoothly no matter how many people pass our threshold so you are all doing a great job.
Only a couple of reminders/heads up this week: firstly we have received a whole new crop of music cds. Barbara has put out the appropriate dividers for what we have gotten so far but if you find you are trying to shelve in a section for which there is no designated divider, look on the workroom shelf directly below the back issues of Baby Bug and you will find a whole box of divider choices to help you do your job.
We are also getting leased books which may say CMS inside but are designated for Capitola. Fear not, just shelve them with our new books even though they don't have a new date sticker. We don't want to interfile them with our regular titles as we will have to send them back after they have been in the branch for awhile and I don't want to have to hunt them down. (They are easily recognizable by the red LEASED B&T sticker on the lower spine.)
And speaking of new titles, I am noticing that a number of our new titles with the date spine labels, are being shelved with our regular (non-new) titles. Please be watchful when you are shelving so that the new books get spotlighted with our new items.
(just to add to the confusion: new large print titles and new adult graphic novels should be displayed with the rest of those collections.)
I have been weeding the branch over the last few weeks so there should be LOTS of room in the collection. I have been finding an inordinate amount of books falling behind other books so please when you are shelving tighten up the collection by using book ends (we have plenty now on the counter above the cash register) and not leaving big spaces between the books. I know that it has been the practice to leave open spots for easier replacement of what is checked out but it makes our shelving so loose that things are "falling through the cracks", as it were and with all the weeding many of those titles might not ever be coming back
Overall, I think the branch is looking good so you should all be proud of your hard work. It shows!
Thanks
Cappy Dick
Friday, July 13, 2012
MIDSUMMER DAYS WITH CAPPY DICK
ZOWEE!! WE had a record breaking program on Friday the 13th with the wonderful Carnival of the Animals Marionettes. I had no idea we could squeeze that many people into our building. No one alert the fire marshal! For those of you who missed it, it was quite amazing and I think our little branch has reached a new notch of popularity with a lot of the summer parents looking for ways to keep their kidlets entertained.
Apologies to all you aides who have to clean up the shelving mess. I think we might do some extra shelf reading in the children's area this week if you get a chance.
As you all have probably heard, Capitola is getting 6 more open hours starting Sept. 10th and we have been requested to survey our patrons on which of two open schedules they would prefer. The ballots are on the front desk and if anyone gives you a completed one there is a basket near the cash register to deposit it. We will be running the survey until July 28th.
There is a new policy on backdating returns that come in while we are closed. Please backdate only to the last day the branch was open.( Previously we had backdated two days from the last day the branch was open, but no longer.) This should be less confusing and problematic.
You will all be so sad, I am sure, to know that the Archie and Veronica comics in the revolving rack in the children's area, have been withdrawn due to low circulation and poor condition. If you get any in the returns please withdraw them, black out the barcode and stamp them discard inside the front page (or you can leave them on my desk and i will take care of them) and put them outside in the free magazine pile. Hopefully they won't return via the bookdrop over and over again....
There is an e-book class taking place here on Thursday, July 19th at 3 pm if anyone you know needs help learning how to check out and download library e-books on to their e-readers.
OK, that's all folks. The branch is looking great despite it high usage and that is due to all or you, so Thank you and have a wonderful week!
Cappy Dick
Apologies to all you aides who have to clean up the shelving mess. I think we might do some extra shelf reading in the children's area this week if you get a chance.
As you all have probably heard, Capitola is getting 6 more open hours starting Sept. 10th and we have been requested to survey our patrons on which of two open schedules they would prefer. The ballots are on the front desk and if anyone gives you a completed one there is a basket near the cash register to deposit it. We will be running the survey until July 28th.
There is a new policy on backdating returns that come in while we are closed. Please backdate only to the last day the branch was open.( Previously we had backdated two days from the last day the branch was open, but no longer.) This should be less confusing and problematic.
You will all be so sad, I am sure, to know that the Archie and Veronica comics in the revolving rack in the children's area, have been withdrawn due to low circulation and poor condition. If you get any in the returns please withdraw them, black out the barcode and stamp them discard inside the front page (or you can leave them on my desk and i will take care of them) and put them outside in the free magazine pile. Hopefully they won't return via the bookdrop over and over again....
There is an e-book class taking place here on Thursday, July 19th at 3 pm if anyone you know needs help learning how to check out and download library e-books on to their e-readers.
OK, that's all folks. The branch is looking great despite it high usage and that is due to all or you, so Thank you and have a wonderful week!
Cappy Dick
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Crazy Summer Days
WHOA ALL,
More Changes as of Tuesday, July 10th:
We are getting leased books so please shelve them with our new books.
Adult playaways have been moved to the back window sill opposite the adult graphic novels.
It appears that Summer is the busy time for our little branch by the sea!! We continue to have record crowds but you are all doing a fabulous job of keeping up with work flow, in spite of our short staff in the height of summer (pun intended, but no reference to our overall stature! In my book we are GIANTS!)
And we are lucky to have Carolyn Bryks joining us as a much needed replacement for the bulk of Gina's aide hours. She has worked in the system for a number of years as an on-call and now she will also experience the thrill of being a library aide to pad up her resume! Welcome, Carolyn!
We have a special marionette show coming to our branch on Friday, July 13th @ 11. I have heard good things about it so let your friends and family know if they are looking for some free entertainment that morning. I suspect we will have a full house!
New branch hours will be coming in September and I will keep you apprised of any staff changes that occur over the next couple of months, but so far all I know is that we will be open 6 more hours a week starting the week of Sept. 10th. We are supposed to get a new 20 hour staff person to help fill the shifts that will create but I don't have any details as of yet, or what our actual open hours will be. I don't forsee huge changes to any of the aides work schedules beyond a possible bit of tweaking so fear not! You may end up with extra hours if you like...we shall see.
We have a slew of new bookends donated by the other branches so if you see ANY areas that could use tightening up, go for it. They are parked above the cash register and come in RED as well as ubiquitous bone. Use them freely!
IMPORTANT: The Adult Language CD's have been moved to the END of the non-fiction audios! They now have a separate shelving area. This makes them easier to find as well as giving our non-circulating non-fiction cds a chance to get some attention.
The pull date for July is 1 so do remember to pull off any labels with that number on the spine, and don't forget we now have a NEW BOOKS display for YA as well as for our new Large Print.
Continue to "market" any interesting titles you see in the stacks by placing them cover side out when there is room but do remember to keep them near where they would regularly be shelved so we can find them when we do our sends list. Patrons continue to comment on how much they like this kind of display so they must like our taste!
I am going to leave up the READ LOCAL DISPLAY at least through July so continue to put incoming books about Santa Cruz County on those shelves as well as local authors.
I will continue to weed so you should have more shelving room but let me know if you find areas that are too packed and I will concentrate there first.
If you need to order items from downtown (new routing slips, brochures, etc.) do remember to use the system supplies address: syssupplies@santacruzpl.org rather then sending e-mails to individuals, as they may not be around to fill the requests.
CAPPY SAYS BE HAPPY, and thanks for all your hard work.
CD
More Changes as of Tuesday, July 10th:
We are getting leased books so please shelve them with our new books.
Adult playaways have been moved to the back window sill opposite the adult graphic novels.
It appears that Summer is the busy time for our little branch by the sea!! We continue to have record crowds but you are all doing a fabulous job of keeping up with work flow, in spite of our short staff in the height of summer (pun intended, but no reference to our overall stature! In my book we are GIANTS!)
And we are lucky to have Carolyn Bryks joining us as a much needed replacement for the bulk of Gina's aide hours. She has worked in the system for a number of years as an on-call and now she will also experience the thrill of being a library aide to pad up her resume! Welcome, Carolyn!
We have a special marionette show coming to our branch on Friday, July 13th @ 11. I have heard good things about it so let your friends and family know if they are looking for some free entertainment that morning. I suspect we will have a full house!
New branch hours will be coming in September and I will keep you apprised of any staff changes that occur over the next couple of months, but so far all I know is that we will be open 6 more hours a week starting the week of Sept. 10th. We are supposed to get a new 20 hour staff person to help fill the shifts that will create but I don't have any details as of yet, or what our actual open hours will be. I don't forsee huge changes to any of the aides work schedules beyond a possible bit of tweaking so fear not! You may end up with extra hours if you like...we shall see.
We have a slew of new bookends donated by the other branches so if you see ANY areas that could use tightening up, go for it. They are parked above the cash register and come in RED as well as ubiquitous bone. Use them freely!
IMPORTANT: The Adult Language CD's have been moved to the END of the non-fiction audios! They now have a separate shelving area. This makes them easier to find as well as giving our non-circulating non-fiction cds a chance to get some attention.
The pull date for July is 1 so do remember to pull off any labels with that number on the spine, and don't forget we now have a NEW BOOKS display for YA as well as for our new Large Print.
Continue to "market" any interesting titles you see in the stacks by placing them cover side out when there is room but do remember to keep them near where they would regularly be shelved so we can find them when we do our sends list. Patrons continue to comment on how much they like this kind of display so they must like our taste!
I am going to leave up the READ LOCAL DISPLAY at least through July so continue to put incoming books about Santa Cruz County on those shelves as well as local authors.
I will continue to weed so you should have more shelving room but let me know if you find areas that are too packed and I will concentrate there first.
If you need to order items from downtown (new routing slips, brochures, etc.) do remember to use the system supplies address: syssupplies@santacruzpl.org rather then sending e-mails to individuals, as they may not be around to fill the requests.
CAPPY SAYS BE HAPPY, and thanks for all your hard work.
CD
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)