Arggh! Cappy Dick can't stand the idea of Back to school in August. Have mercy and let us all enjoy the last few days of summer vacation before the hecticity of school reports and exams kicks in....In fact I am going to take this week off just to lounge and try and enjoy the final tourist days in downtown Santa Cruz so you all are on your own. I know you can swab the decks and handle the riff raff with the best of them, and Galina has been here a couple of days so she knows whats what, and if not, I have assured her that the rest of you do!
Please be sure and have your Kronos done by Tuesday as Galina will be approving it in my absence (if the Kronos God will let her, otherwise subfinders and Gale Farthing will have you covered.)
The Back to School display is officially available to the public now. It is on the children's room table. Please re-shelve any back to school type books there as they are returned and direct any patrons there who are looking for that subject for their little ones.. We will keep the display for the month of September.
I have created a binder to record Read-To-Me kits that have been returned to our branch missing pieces.
You don't have to record anything there but this will allow you to check for information about a kit in the event that a patron comes in and wants to know why the kit is still checked out to them after they returned it. Generally if the kit is missing pieces it is not checked in but sent to Programming and they contact the patron, but as there is some lag time, the patron may have concerns. These kits do not accrue overdue fines.
In my absence you can put the returning Read to me kits on the programming shelves directly across from my desk. Remember NOT to check them in. I or a programming person will do so when we are available.
Donna Barber will be joining us on Saturday, Sept. 1st to begin working here as a part-time LAII. She has worked here as an on-call and I know she will be a wonderful asset to our already excellent staff! The patrons are gonna love this branch, thanks to all of you!!
Happy last week of August,
Cappy Dick
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
BYE BYE DAVID/HELLO GALINA
Well last week was tough as we had to say our sad goodbyes to David. Still if you all want to visit him he is easily accessible at the DTN branch, and maybe you will get to see Gina there too and Chicory. Seems like everyone is jumping ship to go to the big city!!
But Galina Wells is coming back (she used to work here once upon a time) so we are on our way to a full staff by Sept. 10th when our hours increase. Galina will be starting on Wednesday, so be sure and make her feel welcome!
We are trying a "new" procedure on the two front desk circulation computers. Each morning we will set up those two computers in evergreen with open tabs for Check out/patron search/register patron/catalog/cash register/renew/check in and attempt to keep them open during business hours. What this means is that when you are done working in a particular tab, rather then shutting it to clear the information you have imput, simply choose the link from the evergreen menu above the tabs and it will refresh that tab.
I would draw a nice diagram but I haven't mastered that aspect of the blog yet, so I have put a list of the tabs in order on the counter in front of each of those computers and if you are unclear on the process, check with me. We can only have 9 tabs open at a time (and I did find that if you do a patron search, when it retrieves the patron it will open up a new tab for that person so DO shut those when you are finished with them) so if you find things are not working check the # of open tabs.
I am requesting that you implement this procedure in order to keep the cash register tab open, as it is a real pain to keep setting up every few minutes after it has been closed, and I also think the consistency of having the tabs we use most open and in the same place, will make it easier overall to do our circulation procedures without so many glitches. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please ask and I will walk you through the process, and if you accidentally do close a tab, just open another one to replace it.
We have been asked to make a back to school display for September so I am collecting back to school type books on the counter above my desk. Please feel free to add any you see and also check there if you can't find titles on your pulls list. You are welcome to take them to fill requests.
A wonderful patron donated a small vacuum cleaner to us and we are keeping it under the check-in computer near the book drop as it is perfect to use when bad things get put in our bookdrop and need to be vacuumed up.
There are summer reading prizes for the Capitola raffle winners in a manila envelope on a shelf above the back counter, above the aide in-boxes. The winners have been notified so if they show up, consult the package to see what they win and hand them their stash.
Ok, thats enough fun for now. The branch is looking spic and span so thanks for all your hard work.
Cappy Dick
But Galina Wells is coming back (she used to work here once upon a time) so we are on our way to a full staff by Sept. 10th when our hours increase. Galina will be starting on Wednesday, so be sure and make her feel welcome!
We are trying a "new" procedure on the two front desk circulation computers. Each morning we will set up those two computers in evergreen with open tabs for Check out/patron search/register patron/catalog/cash register/renew/check in and attempt to keep them open during business hours. What this means is that when you are done working in a particular tab, rather then shutting it to clear the information you have imput, simply choose the link from the evergreen menu above the tabs and it will refresh that tab.
I would draw a nice diagram but I haven't mastered that aspect of the blog yet, so I have put a list of the tabs in order on the counter in front of each of those computers and if you are unclear on the process, check with me. We can only have 9 tabs open at a time (and I did find that if you do a patron search, when it retrieves the patron it will open up a new tab for that person so DO shut those when you are finished with them) so if you find things are not working check the # of open tabs.
I am requesting that you implement this procedure in order to keep the cash register tab open, as it is a real pain to keep setting up every few minutes after it has been closed, and I also think the consistency of having the tabs we use most open and in the same place, will make it easier overall to do our circulation procedures without so many glitches. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please ask and I will walk you through the process, and if you accidentally do close a tab, just open another one to replace it.
We have been asked to make a back to school display for September so I am collecting back to school type books on the counter above my desk. Please feel free to add any you see and also check there if you can't find titles on your pulls list. You are welcome to take them to fill requests.
A wonderful patron donated a small vacuum cleaner to us and we are keeping it under the check-in computer near the book drop as it is perfect to use when bad things get put in our bookdrop and need to be vacuumed up.
There are summer reading prizes for the Capitola raffle winners in a manila envelope on a shelf above the back counter, above the aide in-boxes. The winners have been notified so if they show up, consult the package to see what they win and hand them their stash.
Ok, thats enough fun for now. The branch is looking spic and span so thanks for all your hard work.
Cappy Dick
Saturday, August 11, 2012
August Alohas and Ahoys
Ahoy,
This will be a rough week as we have to say our goodbyes to David who is jumping ship to go be a boss man at the DTN branch. This is a great step up for him but also a great loss for us! He has been a huge asset to the branch and personally for me a wonderful co-hort in getting the branch up and running in its new incarnation under the service model of less staff. I know i would've flailed mightily and might have thrown myself overboard were it not for his support and his huge technical know-how.
His last day will be Thursday so be sure and say your adieus by then, and I am sure he would welcome visitations at DTN should you be in the area.
To fill David's big shoes we are getting 2 new employees!
I am glad to welcome back Galina Wells to the Capitola branch. She will be taking over David's position as second in command. She was once part of the regular staff at Capitola and I am going to rely on all her knowledge about this building and the quirks of the branch. She will be a wonderful asset and I think most of you already know her from her work at many of the branches as well as an on-call. I am sure many of our patrons will be thrilled to see her behind the desk again!
Also coming to our branch starting Sept.1st is Donna Barber, who has been working on-call as both a library assistant as well as a courier driver. She will be working 20 hours a week in the afternoons to give us the staff support we will need when we expand our hours in mid-September. She has lots of experience as a boardwalk security guard (among other things), so not only will she be inured to the sounds of all that screaming that comes from our tot lot, but she can toss out our problem patrons when we are trying to close!! (and you who work the closing shift know who i mean!).
Pre-school story hours have been discontinued until the week of Sept. 10th (when we increase our hours), should anyone inquire. I have posted signs on the door and also in the children's area. They will begin again that week on Fridays @ 10:30 for our branch.
Tales to Tails will also not be meeting for the next two weeks. There will be a session on Saturday morning Sept. 1st. If anyone has questions please refer them to programming. There is a phone number on one of the flyers.
We are not actually receiving our subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle yet so if you get random copies in the book drop, leave them on the lunchroom table for staff. I will let you know when our library copies start arriving and in anticipation i will make up a new check in chart as well as designate a shelf in the workroom as i promised in an earlier blog.
If you check in items that are damaged but not something a patron is responsible for (broken spines, loose pages, worn covers, etc), please fill out the appropriate damage slip (green for books/white for media). There are slips at both discharge stations. Then if you feel comfortable with the process, change the item attributes to send the item to cms mending and put the item in transit, or if you are not sure of this process leave the item WITH the damaged slip on David/Galina's desk. If an item is damaged by a patron (or missing parts) DO continue to put notes on those (not damaged slips) and leave them on David/Galina's desk as well.
We now are able to print some of the missing lists from Evergreen and our first search for items enroute too long from Capitola resulted in a couple crates worth of things that should not have been on our shelves. So, if you are shelving, please do pop open the books and make sure they say Cap inside. If you have questions, run them through check in to be sure they belong at our branch.
Also, if you are discharging, please don't let your DTN, APT, LO piles accumulate too high, but clear them off regularly and crate them up so things don't get confused and end up on our shelving carts.
This should alleviate the problem for the most part, aside from the usual warning, wait for the turtle when you are doing check ins.
I will try and run the lists once a week when we can get them to work (they are still in the trial basis) so we should be able to keep on top of this and it will also give us some space on our shelves for our own collection.
Ok, this is far too long but some weeks are like that. Hope you are all enjoying our real summer weather and thanks again for your great team work.
Yaarrr from the Cappy,
Dick
This will be a rough week as we have to say our goodbyes to David who is jumping ship to go be a boss man at the DTN branch. This is a great step up for him but also a great loss for us! He has been a huge asset to the branch and personally for me a wonderful co-hort in getting the branch up and running in its new incarnation under the service model of less staff. I know i would've flailed mightily and might have thrown myself overboard were it not for his support and his huge technical know-how.
His last day will be Thursday so be sure and say your adieus by then, and I am sure he would welcome visitations at DTN should you be in the area.
To fill David's big shoes we are getting 2 new employees!
I am glad to welcome back Galina Wells to the Capitola branch. She will be taking over David's position as second in command. She was once part of the regular staff at Capitola and I am going to rely on all her knowledge about this building and the quirks of the branch. She will be a wonderful asset and I think most of you already know her from her work at many of the branches as well as an on-call. I am sure many of our patrons will be thrilled to see her behind the desk again!
Also coming to our branch starting Sept.1st is Donna Barber, who has been working on-call as both a library assistant as well as a courier driver. She will be working 20 hours a week in the afternoons to give us the staff support we will need when we expand our hours in mid-September. She has lots of experience as a boardwalk security guard (among other things), so not only will she be inured to the sounds of all that screaming that comes from our tot lot, but she can toss out our problem patrons when we are trying to close!! (and you who work the closing shift know who i mean!).
Pre-school story hours have been discontinued until the week of Sept. 10th (when we increase our hours), should anyone inquire. I have posted signs on the door and also in the children's area. They will begin again that week on Fridays @ 10:30 for our branch.
Tales to Tails will also not be meeting for the next two weeks. There will be a session on Saturday morning Sept. 1st. If anyone has questions please refer them to programming. There is a phone number on one of the flyers.
We are not actually receiving our subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle yet so if you get random copies in the book drop, leave them on the lunchroom table for staff. I will let you know when our library copies start arriving and in anticipation i will make up a new check in chart as well as designate a shelf in the workroom as i promised in an earlier blog.
If you check in items that are damaged but not something a patron is responsible for (broken spines, loose pages, worn covers, etc), please fill out the appropriate damage slip (green for books/white for media). There are slips at both discharge stations. Then if you feel comfortable with the process, change the item attributes to send the item to cms mending and put the item in transit, or if you are not sure of this process leave the item WITH the damaged slip on David/Galina's desk. If an item is damaged by a patron (or missing parts) DO continue to put notes on those (not damaged slips) and leave them on David/Galina's desk as well.
We now are able to print some of the missing lists from Evergreen and our first search for items enroute too long from Capitola resulted in a couple crates worth of things that should not have been on our shelves. So, if you are shelving, please do pop open the books and make sure they say Cap inside. If you have questions, run them through check in to be sure they belong at our branch.
Also, if you are discharging, please don't let your DTN, APT, LO piles accumulate too high, but clear them off regularly and crate them up so things don't get confused and end up on our shelving carts.
This should alleviate the problem for the most part, aside from the usual warning, wait for the turtle when you are doing check ins.
I will try and run the lists once a week when we can get them to work (they are still in the trial basis) so we should be able to keep on top of this and it will also give us some space on our shelves for our own collection.
Ok, this is far too long but some weeks are like that. Hope you are all enjoying our real summer weather and thanks again for your great team work.
Yaarrr from the Cappy,
Dick
Saturday, August 4, 2012
DOG DAYS Of SUMMER...
Well changes continue to be afoot here at the Capitola library, the biggest one being that David is moving on to the big city where he will become an LAIII at the Downtown branch. HUGE CONGRATS DAVID! We will miss you and we will be calling you constantly for help trouble shooting our evergreen issues! You can't escape that easily!!
I don't know yet who will be replacing him as interviews for his position are next week. We will also be adding another 20 hour LAII position to coincide with our increase in hours that will take place starting Sept. 10th. The days open will continue to be the same but we will be opening earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays (at 11, instead of 1) so we will need some extra help to cover all the open hours.
Hooray, the Sand is gone so if any of our patrons come in and are sad, please send them directly to the beach. I have put out a bin of foam blocks and contraptions and those seem to be pretty popular, not to mention a lot easier to clean up.
We are now receiving the SF. Chronicle along with our other papers, so please process it as usual and put it on the table with the Parjaronian. I will designate some shelving for it in the workroom and I am also in the process of making a new newspaper check in sheet which I hope to have in place by Tuesday pm. In the meantime, just write it at the bottom of the sheet.
I have also moved the bulletin board in-basket off the volunteer desk (which will soon become a shared work space for our 20 hour person ) and put it next to the periodicals in-basket above the Sentinel shelving in the workroom, in case you are looking for it.
There has been a rash of items that do not belong to us on our shelves, so please please slow down when you are checking items in and wait to see if that turtle appears or else check the list of titles on the check in page and make sure that the item you are scanning REALLY HAS SCANNED. I think what is happening is that because the tortoise is so slow to appear (how apropos) we are assuming that an items is checked in and belongs to our collection when in fact a minute or two later the tortoise will appear and we will have moved on to another item. At any rate, do pop open the books and check for the Cap assignment inside and do watch that screen. Evergreen has some limitations and speed is one of them, so don't panic when the book bin is full, take your time. I would prefer accuracy to speed at this point and we will always have lulls to catch up.
Other then that, I think we are doing magnificently. The branch is looking great and that reflects well on all of you!
Happy August,
Cappy Dick
I don't know yet who will be replacing him as interviews for his position are next week. We will also be adding another 20 hour LAII position to coincide with our increase in hours that will take place starting Sept. 10th. The days open will continue to be the same but we will be opening earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays (at 11, instead of 1) so we will need some extra help to cover all the open hours.
Hooray, the Sand is gone so if any of our patrons come in and are sad, please send them directly to the beach. I have put out a bin of foam blocks and contraptions and those seem to be pretty popular, not to mention a lot easier to clean up.
We are now receiving the SF. Chronicle along with our other papers, so please process it as usual and put it on the table with the Parjaronian. I will designate some shelving for it in the workroom and I am also in the process of making a new newspaper check in sheet which I hope to have in place by Tuesday pm. In the meantime, just write it at the bottom of the sheet.
I have also moved the bulletin board in-basket off the volunteer desk (which will soon become a shared work space for our 20 hour person ) and put it next to the periodicals in-basket above the Sentinel shelving in the workroom, in case you are looking for it.
There has been a rash of items that do not belong to us on our shelves, so please please slow down when you are checking items in and wait to see if that turtle appears or else check the list of titles on the check in page and make sure that the item you are scanning REALLY HAS SCANNED. I think what is happening is that because the tortoise is so slow to appear (how apropos) we are assuming that an items is checked in and belongs to our collection when in fact a minute or two later the tortoise will appear and we will have moved on to another item. At any rate, do pop open the books and check for the Cap assignment inside and do watch that screen. Evergreen has some limitations and speed is one of them, so don't panic when the book bin is full, take your time. I would prefer accuracy to speed at this point and we will always have lulls to catch up.
Other then that, I think we are doing magnificently. The branch is looking great and that reflects well on all of you!
Happy August,
Cappy Dick
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