Ahoy Mateys,
well if this last week was any kind of example, I can say that the MOVE part of the Summer reading theme (eat, move read) is certainly apt, at least for the staff trying to keep up with the huge numbers of patrons coming in looking for items, returning items, and requiring help at the desk! If this keeps up we all WILL have to eat MORE, and then fall down at the end of the day and hopefully get a chance to read. Good thing we are earning the REAL dollars and not those counterfeit summer reading dollars everyone else has to make do with.
If you haven't yet had a chance to familiarize yourself with the summer reading program, how to direct some one who is inquiring or how to sign someone out, please do review the SR clipboard on the back desk.
Basically any member of staff can hand a Summer reading log to ANY inquiring patron who is interested in signing up a child. The child does not have to be present but the patron must understand that a responsible adult (parent or guardian) needs to sign the reading log before it is turned in to redeem the SR dollars. Sign ups are to be done by the patron either at one of our computers or remotely. The most important thing to stress for patrons when they are signing up is to record the summer reading # on the inside of the reading log as this is the easiest way for us to find them when they return the finished log. Participants may read ANY number of hours, they do not have to complete 20 hours (although that is the maximum they can earn dollars for) and they may return the logs and redeem them for $ any time between now and the end of the program. The last day to turn logs in is on the July 28th, and participants may turn in their logs at any of the branches. They are not required to return them at the branch where they signed up.
If for some reason a patron is unable to sign up and staff is unable to help them, please make use of the white slips attached to the summer reading princeton file, fill it out and put it in the file. Programming will handle it from there. The patron will not be given a SR # at the time they fill out the form but we can look them up by name if need be.
To sign a patron out, you must access the SR admin. site which is bookmarked on our circ desk computers. Simply click on the sign out icon on the upper right side of the page. Initial the upper right corner of the reading log, give the participant the applicable number of SR dollars earned,(the summer reading $ have been separated into piles of $20 so if someone is earning that amount you can hand them a rubberbanded bundle without having to count them out) as well as a free pass for the festival of the book (do not cut in 1/2), a legoland discount coupon and a bumper sticker with the SR logo on it.
(there are legoland passes for either child or teen. Currently we only have the passes for children, but i am attempting to obtain teen passes as well.)
There is more detailed information on all this on the clipboard so please feel free to refer to it should you be confused.
Another program which you are going to see is the REACH OUT AND READ PROGRAM. of this literacy program that was started by pediatricians and has been in place for 15 years, adopted more recently by pediatricians at
the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. At every well child checkup, children between 3 months and 5 years are given a book to take home. The Library was invited by a PAMF pediatrician to partner with local
PAMF clinics. A Friends of the Library grant was obtained to support this new program. Children are first given library card applications (a simplified form specific to the program) at the clinic, after which parents bring the application into the Library. The library issues a library card and gives out a board
book, available in English or Spanish. There is just one book that children will receive. The title is Book! by Kristine O’Connell George.
The applications do not look like our standard applications and in exception to our policies! we do not require proof of address before giving out the card.
There is an example of the application on the SCPL clipboard on the circ desk back counter. Please check it out so you aren't surprised when someone walks in with one. There is supposed to be an updated version of the application being distributed which has a place for the library card number but if you get an application that does not have a space for that, please write the number on the application. There is one copy of the book we are to hand out on the shelf near the summer reading logs. We are expecting more copies.
Our first program the Fratello Marrionettes was a huge success last Tuesday evening. Thanks to Donna's nephews who leant us their muscles for moving furniture to and fro to accomodate all 114 patrons who showed up to squeeze into our tiny children's area and watch the show!
The next program we will have besides our weekly story hour is a school age children's craft program. This is for children ages 5-12 and we have a flier at the front desk. It will be on Fridays at 2:30-3:30 on a drop in basis and will run until 4PM.
Galina has made a nice display for the adults honoring Fathers for the month of June, so if you find any relevant books, either fiction or non-fiction please feel free to add them to her display.
The children's area display continues to celebrate Summer Vacation so remember to look there if you are missing titles on the pulls list and replenish the display with any titles you find that might fit that broad category.
I think this is more than plenty to absorb so lets all take a deep breath and get ready to hit the decks running.
Ciao for now,
Cappy D.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
SUMMER READING IS SO DELICIOUS AND BETTER YET, LOW CAL!
Ahoy Mateys,
School is out and the summer reading program has started (patrons can apply on-line from anywhere but they need to come in to pick up their official reading logs) so put on your running shoes as Capitola gets BUSIER in the summer months with all the tourists, beach goers and park users entering our doors. As for the tourists, don't forget the handy Soquel/Aptos/Capitola maps we have behind our circ desk and there are handouts in our free area about local events/classes/shopping etc. so you can direct them there as well.
The Summer Reading program theme this year is READING IS SO DELICIOUS (and lo-cal unless you read with a bag of chips and a box of bon bons nearby... )
If someone wishes to sign up please give them a Green reading log and an orange calendar of events and direct them to our catalog computers where they may sign up from our home page, or they can sign up from home. Remind them to record the # they are assigned when they complete the log in.
If they don't have access to a computer there will be an envelope on the Summer Reading Clipboard where you can collect their information on the salmon colored sheet and we will turn it in to the Programming staff when they come to our branch each week.
Upon completing the log the readers (or read to) are awarded a SR dollar for every hour completed, a free lunch pass for the Festival of the Book, a bumper sticker (for all those young drivers?) and 1 legoland discount ticket (as long as those last). I am sure there will be instructions about how to record this in the Summer Reading database, but we are not privy to that yet so lets hope we don't have any speed readers coming to our desk. If that happens I suggest someone call Programming for instructions.
Our first event will be this Tuesday at 6:30 pm. It is a wonderful rendition of Peter and The Wolf by the amazing Fratello Marionette group. If you haven't seen these guys I would highly recommend coming to watch (if you can squeeze in!). They are incredible and also funny.
Our pre-school story hour will continue on Friday mornings at 10:30 thru July 26th and we will be having an afternoon craft session on Fridays @ 2:30 for school age kids which will start on June 21st.
A couple of technical details:
-We are no longer able to delete items from Evergreen. Instead the item barcode is to be added to a Capitola Deleted items bucket (Delete_item_CAP) and CMS will eventually delete them from there.
Once you have added the barcode to the bucket you can go ahead and discard the item, as per usual.
(if you notice more than 25 items in that bucket, please alert me, as i will alert CMS that it is about to overflow.)
-Please check all the display areas (new and on-going displays) carefully before marking an item missing. I have found numerous titles on the missing list that have been on in our displays.
-Also please take the time to really look at the spine label before shelving. We are finding regular and oversized titles mixed in both sections as well as mystery and fiction together. This means that someone is reading the call number correctly but missing an important detail which will make all the difference when we are searching for an item. Slow and accurate is better than fast and misfiled.
-Please feel free to add any titles to the kid's display of Summer Vacation that you think would be appropriate. We are particularly low on chapter books for this display so any thing that you read in the summers of your youth and enjoyed are welcome there.
This week's story hour is Father's so those books are at my desk should patron's be searching for any.
Ok, let the bon bons begin! Happy Summer Reading Y'all!
School is out and the summer reading program has started (patrons can apply on-line from anywhere but they need to come in to pick up their official reading logs) so put on your running shoes as Capitola gets BUSIER in the summer months with all the tourists, beach goers and park users entering our doors. As for the tourists, don't forget the handy Soquel/Aptos/Capitola maps we have behind our circ desk and there are handouts in our free area about local events/classes/shopping etc. so you can direct them there as well.
The Summer Reading program theme this year is READING IS SO DELICIOUS (and lo-cal unless you read with a bag of chips and a box of bon bons nearby... )
If someone wishes to sign up please give them a Green reading log and an orange calendar of events and direct them to our catalog computers where they may sign up from our home page, or they can sign up from home. Remind them to record the # they are assigned when they complete the log in.
If they don't have access to a computer there will be an envelope on the Summer Reading Clipboard where you can collect their information on the salmon colored sheet and we will turn it in to the Programming staff when they come to our branch each week.
Upon completing the log the readers (or read to) are awarded a SR dollar for every hour completed, a free lunch pass for the Festival of the Book, a bumper sticker (for all those young drivers?) and 1 legoland discount ticket (as long as those last). I am sure there will be instructions about how to record this in the Summer Reading database, but we are not privy to that yet so lets hope we don't have any speed readers coming to our desk. If that happens I suggest someone call Programming for instructions.
Our first event will be this Tuesday at 6:30 pm. It is a wonderful rendition of Peter and The Wolf by the amazing Fratello Marionette group. If you haven't seen these guys I would highly recommend coming to watch (if you can squeeze in!). They are incredible and also funny.
Our pre-school story hour will continue on Friday mornings at 10:30 thru July 26th and we will be having an afternoon craft session on Fridays @ 2:30 for school age kids which will start on June 21st.
A couple of technical details:
-We are no longer able to delete items from Evergreen. Instead the item barcode is to be added to a Capitola Deleted items bucket (Delete_item_CAP) and CMS will eventually delete them from there.
Once you have added the barcode to the bucket you can go ahead and discard the item, as per usual.
(if you notice more than 25 items in that bucket, please alert me, as i will alert CMS that it is about to overflow.)
-Please check all the display areas (new and on-going displays) carefully before marking an item missing. I have found numerous titles on the missing list that have been on in our displays.
-Also please take the time to really look at the spine label before shelving. We are finding regular and oversized titles mixed in both sections as well as mystery and fiction together. This means that someone is reading the call number correctly but missing an important detail which will make all the difference when we are searching for an item. Slow and accurate is better than fast and misfiled.
-Please feel free to add any titles to the kid's display of Summer Vacation that you think would be appropriate. We are particularly low on chapter books for this display so any thing that you read in the summers of your youth and enjoyed are welcome there.
This week's story hour is Father's so those books are at my desk should patron's be searching for any.
Ok, let the bon bons begin! Happy Summer Reading Y'all!
Friday, May 31, 2013
GOING TO SEA IN A SIEVE!
Ahoy Mateys,
to steal a quote from Edward Lear's wonderful poem The Jumblies: "They went to sea in a Sieve, they did, In a Sieve they went to sea", most perfectly describes the state of our branch Tuesday, last, after the holiday! However with much baling by our dutiful staff and wonderful volunteers, we managed to stay afloat even under all the weight of every book in the library system that seemed to be all left in our bookdrop! All I can say, is Kudos to us for a day of hard hard work, and a huge Thanks to all of you who helped save the day!
Galina is back and we will give her a couple of days of jet lag before we force her to regale us with all her stories from Russia. Welcome back, Galina!
Not too much to report for branch news, except that school is supposed to be out soon, so brace yourselves for an influx of children. Unlike the other branches that slow down in the Summer, Capitola tends to pick up business due to our close proximity to the beach and even closer proximity to the playground. Do familiarize yourselves with the summer reading program and events. Summer reading starts on June 10th.
We will continue to have pre-school story hour on Fridays @ 10:30 through July and also a weekly School age Craft on Friday afternoons at 2:30. (Please note that the craft program does not start until June 21st.) I will attach a flier with this information to our summer reading clipboard in case you need to refer to it.
We have moved the Amercian Girl Beginning Chapter Books from the bottom shelf after the regular starred chapter books, up to the top counter to display them better and also to free up some space.
The selectors have provided us with a list of titles that are starred throughout the branches, so if you see a title that you THINK should be starred, check the list on the bulletin board in the aides office and add a star if need be (they are next to the list).
I have noticed that the Jeasy's are being shelved REALLY tightly and though I know its tempting to keep them that way to retain a neat and tidy branch, they are in fact impossible for little fingers to pull out as well as the aides who are trying to shelve anything else in that section so for the ease of all please leave about 2 inches of space at the end of each section.
The story hour subject this week is water, lakes and oceans so look for those kinds of titles at my desk should you need them for the pulls list.
We are starting June so please pull any of the yellow spine labels marked 12 off (now)
not so new titles.
Word from Tinka is that Riley has reached his destination in Missouri safely. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't encounter any tornadoes while he is down there and has a safe and wonderful experience.
Ok, keep up the excellent work and let us proceed
Cappy D
to steal a quote from Edward Lear's wonderful poem The Jumblies: "They went to sea in a Sieve, they did, In a Sieve they went to sea", most perfectly describes the state of our branch Tuesday, last, after the holiday! However with much baling by our dutiful staff and wonderful volunteers, we managed to stay afloat even under all the weight of every book in the library system that seemed to be all left in our bookdrop! All I can say, is Kudos to us for a day of hard hard work, and a huge Thanks to all of you who helped save the day!
Galina is back and we will give her a couple of days of jet lag before we force her to regale us with all her stories from Russia. Welcome back, Galina!
Not too much to report for branch news, except that school is supposed to be out soon, so brace yourselves for an influx of children. Unlike the other branches that slow down in the Summer, Capitola tends to pick up business due to our close proximity to the beach and even closer proximity to the playground. Do familiarize yourselves with the summer reading program and events. Summer reading starts on June 10th.
We will continue to have pre-school story hour on Fridays @ 10:30 through July and also a weekly School age Craft on Friday afternoons at 2:30. (Please note that the craft program does not start until June 21st.) I will attach a flier with this information to our summer reading clipboard in case you need to refer to it.
We have moved the Amercian Girl Beginning Chapter Books from the bottom shelf after the regular starred chapter books, up to the top counter to display them better and also to free up some space.
The selectors have provided us with a list of titles that are starred throughout the branches, so if you see a title that you THINK should be starred, check the list on the bulletin board in the aides office and add a star if need be (they are next to the list).
I have noticed that the Jeasy's are being shelved REALLY tightly and though I know its tempting to keep them that way to retain a neat and tidy branch, they are in fact impossible for little fingers to pull out as well as the aides who are trying to shelve anything else in that section so for the ease of all please leave about 2 inches of space at the end of each section.
The story hour subject this week is water, lakes and oceans so look for those kinds of titles at my desk should you need them for the pulls list.
We are starting June so please pull any of the yellow spine labels marked 12 off (now)
not so new titles.
Word from Tinka is that Riley has reached his destination in Missouri safely. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't encounter any tornadoes while he is down there and has a safe and wonderful experience.
Ok, keep up the excellent work and let us proceed
Cappy D
Saturday, May 25, 2013
CAPPY DICK IS HAVING A BRAIN VACATION FOR MEMORIAL DAY!
Ahoy Mateys,
this is going to be one of those short posts sos we can all enjoy our Memorial Day weekend without overtaxing our brains, and hopefully by the time you read this you will be nice and rested for the post holiday week!
In honor of the end of school, which is just around the bend, I am going to switch out the kid's May garden display with a new display honoring vacation and vacationy things, like camp, and the beach, and summer adventures, so if you are looking for any of these titles, either check the huge stack I have set aside in front of my desk, or if there aren't any there, that means I actually got the display up, so check the small table leading into the kids' area.
Galina is in charge of the adult displays so I will let her tackle that when she recovers from her own vacation, later in the week. She is due back on Thursday afternoon but we will give her a couple of days to fall back into the routine and then see what she comes up with. In the meantime, the Adult Gardening display can continue growing where it is. Replenish as necessary.
Richard has sent a few important emails to all about various evergreen issues and I am printing them out and keeping them on a clipboard on the back counter, so when things are slow, be sure and give those a look see or refer to them should you need a refresher.
Kathleen has asked me to remind y'all to go easy on filling the crates: don't fill any higher than the bottom of the handle openings on the side, and if you have a lot of oversize books or an inordinate amount of children's picture books, fill the crates a little less, as these add a huge amount of weight.
Thanks again for keeping our branch looking so beautiful and a special thanks to Carolyn for all the gorgeous plants and the bouquets from your garden and to Barbara for keeping us "sweet" with the wonderful cookies.
Happy Holiday and also Happy Post Holiday Week!!
Cappy Dick
this is going to be one of those short posts sos we can all enjoy our Memorial Day weekend without overtaxing our brains, and hopefully by the time you read this you will be nice and rested for the post holiday week!
In honor of the end of school, which is just around the bend, I am going to switch out the kid's May garden display with a new display honoring vacation and vacationy things, like camp, and the beach, and summer adventures, so if you are looking for any of these titles, either check the huge stack I have set aside in front of my desk, or if there aren't any there, that means I actually got the display up, so check the small table leading into the kids' area.
Galina is in charge of the adult displays so I will let her tackle that when she recovers from her own vacation, later in the week. She is due back on Thursday afternoon but we will give her a couple of days to fall back into the routine and then see what she comes up with. In the meantime, the Adult Gardening display can continue growing where it is. Replenish as necessary.
Richard has sent a few important emails to all about various evergreen issues and I am printing them out and keeping them on a clipboard on the back counter, so when things are slow, be sure and give those a look see or refer to them should you need a refresher.
Kathleen has asked me to remind y'all to go easy on filling the crates: don't fill any higher than the bottom of the handle openings on the side, and if you have a lot of oversize books or an inordinate amount of children's picture books, fill the crates a little less, as these add a huge amount of weight.
Thanks again for keeping our branch looking so beautiful and a special thanks to Carolyn for all the gorgeous plants and the bouquets from your garden and to Barbara for keeping us "sweet" with the wonderful cookies.
Happy Holiday and also Happy Post Holiday Week!!
Cappy Dick
Saturday, May 18, 2013
EVEN SHIP-SHAPER!!
Ahoy Mateys,
If you are reading this on Monday or after, we have made it through our "typical stats" week, although frankly, I think there is no such thing as a typical week at this branch as its seems we have more rogue waves than predictable tides, and this last week we almost got swamped a couple of times but thanks to my dedicated staff and some great subs (thank you LIZ!) we stayed afloat. Ok, ok, enough of the sea-faring references....Cappy Dick's brain is still soggy from this last week!
So, on Monday the rugs are being cleaned (have been cleaned?) so it will be interesting to see what color our carpets REALLY are! Things might be out of place at the start of the week, but we will get them back asap. If you notice something amiss or missing, do let me know. And speaking of things out of place, well, really just things moved to a different place, by now you have probably noticed that ALL the newspapers have been moved next to the periodicals.
Also, because so many people are coming in with laptops and because this branch is so outlet challenged, Lit has installed a nice new power strip on the computer round table between internet stations 1& 2, so if someone is looking for a place to plug in, you can direct them to the space we have provided there, as well, of course to the long table behind the PACS. There is a chair at this station now and we have moved the big dictionary to the long table to make space. The internet sign up sheet is now to the left of internet station #1.
We have gotten two important reference titles that the public may ask for: The Proposed Sea Water Desalination project and the SCPL facilities master plan. It looks like the master plan for Capitola isn't going to change much for awhile, until some funding comes in, but at any rate, should a patron ask to see either of these document they are here: The Desalination project is in two volumes and is on the shelf above the cash register to the far right. The SCPL facilities master plan is nearby on the counter in the standup display next to where we put the completed registrations. Give it a gander in case anyone asks.(The Capitola 2013 city budget is also there, in the basket next to the City Council agendas).
Tails to Tales, which was briefly scheduled for EVERY Wednesday at Capitola has been "cur-tailed" to the first and third Wednesdays again, despite what the new handout says. Seems that one of the "therapy" dogs wasn't actually certified to sit around listening to readers and so until another dog with a longer attention span can be found, we are back to twice a month plus the first Saturday of the month. I am sure, now that I have
informed you all of this, the schedule will change by next week!
Well, our evening aide Riley is off on a grand graduation adventure, traveling across the U.S. by train and by thumb until August so he is being replaced by Sharon Borrege and Peggy Stone. When you see them please give them a big welcome. Both of them are familiar with our branch and do great work so I am happy to have them on our staff for awhile.
The story hour theme this week is the pigeon books by Mo Willems, but I don't think we have any of those at our branch so no need to search for them at my desk. I will let Val, who is doing the story hour for Kari this week, take care of her own display.
We do still have our May Gardening display for both the kidlets and adults so if you are shelving books that might be appropriate for either of those displays do feel free to refresh them, and remember to check the displays if you are looking for gardening books on the pulls list.
The summer reading program does not start until June 10th, although we are already getting patron queries about it. I am sure there will be much information available as it gets closer so you can direct the patrons to our website where it will be posted as it gets closer. We do have a calendar on one of the clipboards but already it has been revised twice so i would use it only as a guideline should someone inquire as to what kind of programs we will have, not as gospel set in stone. I do know that we will be having an children's craft time on Friday afternoons, but again that won't start until the week of June 10th. For now, we are still having our regular story hours on Friday mornings at 10:30.
Well enough of this blarney, let's pray for smooth sailing this week.
Cappy Dick
If you are reading this on Monday or after, we have made it through our "typical stats" week, although frankly, I think there is no such thing as a typical week at this branch as its seems we have more rogue waves than predictable tides, and this last week we almost got swamped a couple of times but thanks to my dedicated staff and some great subs (thank you LIZ!) we stayed afloat. Ok, ok, enough of the sea-faring references....Cappy Dick's brain is still soggy from this last week!
So, on Monday the rugs are being cleaned (have been cleaned?) so it will be interesting to see what color our carpets REALLY are! Things might be out of place at the start of the week, but we will get them back asap. If you notice something amiss or missing, do let me know. And speaking of things out of place, well, really just things moved to a different place, by now you have probably noticed that ALL the newspapers have been moved next to the periodicals.
Also, because so many people are coming in with laptops and because this branch is so outlet challenged, Lit has installed a nice new power strip on the computer round table between internet stations 1& 2, so if someone is looking for a place to plug in, you can direct them to the space we have provided there, as well, of course to the long table behind the PACS. There is a chair at this station now and we have moved the big dictionary to the long table to make space. The internet sign up sheet is now to the left of internet station #1.
We have gotten two important reference titles that the public may ask for: The Proposed Sea Water Desalination project and the SCPL facilities master plan. It looks like the master plan for Capitola isn't going to change much for awhile, until some funding comes in, but at any rate, should a patron ask to see either of these document they are here: The Desalination project is in two volumes and is on the shelf above the cash register to the far right. The SCPL facilities master plan is nearby on the counter in the standup display next to where we put the completed registrations. Give it a gander in case anyone asks.(The Capitola 2013 city budget is also there, in the basket next to the City Council agendas).
Tails to Tales, which was briefly scheduled for EVERY Wednesday at Capitola has been "cur-tailed" to the first and third Wednesdays again, despite what the new handout says. Seems that one of the "therapy" dogs wasn't actually certified to sit around listening to readers and so until another dog with a longer attention span can be found, we are back to twice a month plus the first Saturday of the month. I am sure, now that I have
informed you all of this, the schedule will change by next week!
Well, our evening aide Riley is off on a grand graduation adventure, traveling across the U.S. by train and by thumb until August so he is being replaced by Sharon Borrege and Peggy Stone. When you see them please give them a big welcome. Both of them are familiar with our branch and do great work so I am happy to have them on our staff for awhile.
The story hour theme this week is the pigeon books by Mo Willems, but I don't think we have any of those at our branch so no need to search for them at my desk. I will let Val, who is doing the story hour for Kari this week, take care of her own display.
We do still have our May Gardening display for both the kidlets and adults so if you are shelving books that might be appropriate for either of those displays do feel free to refresh them, and remember to check the displays if you are looking for gardening books on the pulls list.
The summer reading program does not start until June 10th, although we are already getting patron queries about it. I am sure there will be much information available as it gets closer so you can direct the patrons to our website where it will be posted as it gets closer. We do have a calendar on one of the clipboards but already it has been revised twice so i would use it only as a guideline should someone inquire as to what kind of programs we will have, not as gospel set in stone. I do know that we will be having an children's craft time on Friday afternoons, but again that won't start until the week of June 10th. For now, we are still having our regular story hours on Friday mornings at 10:30.
Well enough of this blarney, let's pray for smooth sailing this week.
Cappy Dick
Saturday, May 11, 2013
THIS BRANCH IS LOOKING IN SHIP SHAPE!
Ahoy Mateys,
I hope you read the addendum (in red) on the last post as that should help you navigate all the shelving changes at the branch, but just to keep you on your toes, a couple of decorating elves have snuck aboard and also changed around a few other pieces of furniture, so look for the newspapers now near the periodicals and a longer low table in the kids room that will accommodate all of our puzzles. Also, the J non-fiction audio cassettes are now next to the J fiction cassettes rather than on top of the revolving blue J media display.
This week is typical stats week, which includes keeping track of the number of items to be shelved each day as compared to the number of items actually shelved, so remember if you are shelving to please make sure all the items on a cart are counted and marked on a dated post-it and attached to the cart before you roll it out on the floor and if you are shelving and you empty a cart, please remove the post-it and put it on my desk.
I have to keep a running tally each day. This also means, that for those of us who walk things out to the new shelf, or displays, keep track of those numbers too. You can just jot the number down with the date and leave that on my desk as well.
And of course we have to keep track of all our desk transactions. I will put out typical stats sheets so you can make your hash marks each day. Please try and remember to do so as we want to get full credit for all of our hard work. Note: Anything beyond a simple check out is a reference question and each thing you look up for a patron counts as a separate question.
In an effort to make our searches a little easier, I have consolidated all of our monthly missing lists into one Capitola Missing Bucket, so you no longer have to search months of buckets to remove a missing item if you find it. We do still have multiple months of Claims returns buckets as these have to stay separated out so they can be added to the system wide list at the end of each month, so be sure to add any claims returns to the current month's bucket.
We have a new library directory for the phones. It is in a white binder next to our printer. Please toss any other system phone books you have laying around as they are not accurate. I have put a cheat-sheet bookmark on your desks or in your boxes with vital system phone numbers, but if you would like a copy of the phone book you may print one out off the intranet under staff databases. If you see any mistakes in the directory, please e-mail Sheila or subfinders and they will make the necessary changes.
Richard sent out a very detailed message about our latest Evergreen glitch and I have printed it and left it on one of the clipboards behind the service desk. Please familiarize yourself with the steps should you encounter it. Remember, if a patron comes in and says that they have returned an item and you look at "checked out" items and you see that there is no record attached to the item they say they have returned, please check it in in their account and forgive any fines they might've accrued. You will not be able to mark these items claims returned.
Liz Pollack who is taking a lot of Galina's shifts had the brilliant idea to request contact info to hand out to our patron's who are signing up as homebound., and Jeane O'Grady, who is handling the homebound accounts has graciously complied, so there are now homebound handouts on the clipboard at the sit down reference station. Do remember, if a patron comes in who might benefit from a book buddy or homebound services, to let them know it is available, and if they opt in, mark them as homebound in their account (they can still walk in and use any library, but this gives them a little more leeway and the option of a book buddy, should they be unable to come to a branch) and leave their account # and name with Jonell. I will forward the information to programming who will make contact with the patron and find out how to best meet their library needs.
There was a recent reminder that we were asked to pass along to staff, as this has been a recurring problem throughout the branches. The policy on staff use of cell phones at the desk is: staff may keep their cell phones on vibrate and they may be checked IF it is not interfering with the public but only for work related reasons unless there are extenuating circumstances such as impending emergencies (ill family members, etc.) I would like to add that I would like my staff to step away from the service desk and into the workroom to check their phones.
The Friday story hour subject this week is Dogs. I will pull a few books but since we also have Tales to Tails on Wednesday and they also use books about dogs, and since we have such a huge selection of dog books in our collection, it is not necessary for you to add to whatever I find. Do however feel free to take any books from my desk that might appear on the pulls list.
Ok, off to swab the decks (and maybe move more furniture!)
Happy week,
Cappy Dick
I hope you read the addendum (in red) on the last post as that should help you navigate all the shelving changes at the branch, but just to keep you on your toes, a couple of decorating elves have snuck aboard and also changed around a few other pieces of furniture, so look for the newspapers now near the periodicals and a longer low table in the kids room that will accommodate all of our puzzles. Also, the J non-fiction audio cassettes are now next to the J fiction cassettes rather than on top of the revolving blue J media display.
This week is typical stats week, which includes keeping track of the number of items to be shelved each day as compared to the number of items actually shelved, so remember if you are shelving to please make sure all the items on a cart are counted and marked on a dated post-it and attached to the cart before you roll it out on the floor and if you are shelving and you empty a cart, please remove the post-it and put it on my desk.
I have to keep a running tally each day. This also means, that for those of us who walk things out to the new shelf, or displays, keep track of those numbers too. You can just jot the number down with the date and leave that on my desk as well.
And of course we have to keep track of all our desk transactions. I will put out typical stats sheets so you can make your hash marks each day. Please try and remember to do so as we want to get full credit for all of our hard work. Note: Anything beyond a simple check out is a reference question and each thing you look up for a patron counts as a separate question.
In an effort to make our searches a little easier, I have consolidated all of our monthly missing lists into one Capitola Missing Bucket, so you no longer have to search months of buckets to remove a missing item if you find it. We do still have multiple months of Claims returns buckets as these have to stay separated out so they can be added to the system wide list at the end of each month, so be sure to add any claims returns to the current month's bucket.
We have a new library directory for the phones. It is in a white binder next to our printer. Please toss any other system phone books you have laying around as they are not accurate. I have put a cheat-sheet bookmark on your desks or in your boxes with vital system phone numbers, but if you would like a copy of the phone book you may print one out off the intranet under staff databases. If you see any mistakes in the directory, please e-mail Sheila or subfinders and they will make the necessary changes.
Richard sent out a very detailed message about our latest Evergreen glitch and I have printed it and left it on one of the clipboards behind the service desk. Please familiarize yourself with the steps should you encounter it. Remember, if a patron comes in and says that they have returned an item and you look at "checked out" items and you see that there is no record attached to the item they say they have returned, please check it in in their account and forgive any fines they might've accrued. You will not be able to mark these items claims returned.
Liz Pollack who is taking a lot of Galina's shifts had the brilliant idea to request contact info to hand out to our patron's who are signing up as homebound., and Jeane O'Grady, who is handling the homebound accounts has graciously complied, so there are now homebound handouts on the clipboard at the sit down reference station. Do remember, if a patron comes in who might benefit from a book buddy or homebound services, to let them know it is available, and if they opt in, mark them as homebound in their account (they can still walk in and use any library, but this gives them a little more leeway and the option of a book buddy, should they be unable to come to a branch) and leave their account # and name with Jonell. I will forward the information to programming who will make contact with the patron and find out how to best meet their library needs.
There was a recent reminder that we were asked to pass along to staff, as this has been a recurring problem throughout the branches. The policy on staff use of cell phones at the desk is: staff may keep their cell phones on vibrate and they may be checked IF it is not interfering with the public but only for work related reasons unless there are extenuating circumstances such as impending emergencies (ill family members, etc.) I would like to add that I would like my staff to step away from the service desk and into the workroom to check their phones.
The Friday story hour subject this week is Dogs. I will pull a few books but since we also have Tales to Tails on Wednesday and they also use books about dogs, and since we have such a huge selection of dog books in our collection, it is not necessary for you to add to whatever I find. Do however feel free to take any books from my desk that might appear on the pulls list.
Ok, off to swab the decks (and maybe move more furniture!)
Happy week,
Cappy Dick
Saturday, May 4, 2013
A FINE KETTLE OF FISH!!
Ahoy Mateys,
Special Thanks for April Zilber for providing this week's blog title. I am thinking of having a weekly contest to take suggestions for sea faring post titles as my brain certainly feels like a fine kettle of Boiled fish by the end of the week when I am supposed to write the next post. Do feel free to email any suggestions!
So, this was our first week sans Galina, who is off in the wild steppes of Russia, and we hope, having a wonderful time. Donna is filling her shoes, doing a fine job dealing with our myriad damaged and missing pieces returns, so do continue to leave those items on her desk.
Carolyn is off to New York for the week and a little, so various subs will be taking her opening shifts, so be aware if you find things mis-shelved, since not everyone is as familiar with our shelves as we are. Also we should try not to kill all the plants she has looking so nice around the branch, in her absence.
Speaking of shelving, a couple of things have come up: firstly the DVDs. Please shelve all the 791.43s including those that have more numerals after the .43 as if they were only 791.43's.. Just shelve them alphabetically as 791.43. We often can't read the rest of the numerals on the spine so its pointless to separate them out. The same is true of the 460's. If the DVD says 460. just shelve it as a 460, again ignoring any numerals after the decimal point. These are all spanish language titles and should be shelved together.
If this is all too complex to understand, Barbara, or myself will walk you through it.
Also speaking of shelving, special thanks to Riley for his excellent shift of the mysteries. There should be plenty of room for a little while for any new titles we are getting. And do let me know, you who shelve, if you see areas that are particularly tight and I will attempt to get some weeding done.
Currently I am waiting for a weeds list for biographies and large print. because I know these are two areas that need attention and room for new incoming titles.
Barbara and I have reconfigured the children's room by splitting up the tables and rearranging the rug and furniture a bit, just for a change of pace since we can't expand the building
This will also allow parents with laptops to use the outlet under the graphic novel shelving if they have children in the play area.
I have also placed a request with Lit to get another power strip between the internet stations 1 and 2 to allow a patron to sit there with a laptop, since our branch is so outlet challenged and we are seeing more and more patrons looking for somewhere to plug in. If we do get that powerstrip, I will move the large dictionary and the sign up sheet elsewhere but for now it will stay where it is.
Evidently our plan to add shelving to the tops of the J fiction and YA shelves has fallen through due to stability issues, so we will have to try and get even more creative with our use of space. We have eliminated one shelf of NEW YA display to make more room for that collection and we seem to be ok for the moment.
Whoops! Addendum: Cappy Dick was misinformed (big surprise!) I came in the branch on Tuesday and VOILA! We have at least 3 1/4 new display shelving installed on top of the YA AND J Fiction shelves that we CAN use for display purposes (not for regular shelving because its not strong enough), so Barbara shifted some things on both sides to allow us to make the best use of our new space.
The New J Fiction is now above the regular J fiction (instead of on the New books shelving) and the New J NON-Fiction display is on the lower shelving at the far end of the same row. (we aren't sure if the shelving is going to be finished on that end, so for now we are using the dropped down shelving for display purposes...this may change if they add the last piece to our topper.)
The YA non-fiction has been moved next to the YA Honor system books (near the YA media), to allow for more space for the adult playaways on the opposite end of the shelving.
Adult Graphic novels are now on top of the shelving as are the YA New titles.
The most important change is that we have finally separated out the fairy tales (J398.2s) like most of the other branches. This is an area that was getting overlooked so this new section should highlight some of our really good titles. All the fairy tales are now housed in their own section BEFORE the J non-fiction.
Go take a walk around the branch and give it a gander, sos you know where things have moved too.
Signage is on the way!
Both of this month's displays for children and adults is Gardening so do feel free to replenish those displays as you find appropriate materials.
The story hour theme this week is Mothers and Mother's days (HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY all you MOMs and also to those of you who have Mom's) so look for those titles near my desk.
New starting this week, we have added Tales to Tails on All Wednesdays now, as well as the first Saturday of the month.
Janice also sent out a list of summer reading programs starting in June throughout the branches and I have printed it and highlighted events at Capitola. It is posted on a clipboard on the back desk as well as at the sit down reference station should patrons have questions. I am sure there will be an on-line calendar as well as print copies when the dates get closer.
ok, enough of this blarney. I've got to go back out and swab the desks!
Cappy Dick
Special Thanks for April Zilber for providing this week's blog title. I am thinking of having a weekly contest to take suggestions for sea faring post titles as my brain certainly feels like a fine kettle of Boiled fish by the end of the week when I am supposed to write the next post. Do feel free to email any suggestions!
So, this was our first week sans Galina, who is off in the wild steppes of Russia, and we hope, having a wonderful time. Donna is filling her shoes, doing a fine job dealing with our myriad damaged and missing pieces returns, so do continue to leave those items on her desk.
Carolyn is off to New York for the week and a little, so various subs will be taking her opening shifts, so be aware if you find things mis-shelved, since not everyone is as familiar with our shelves as we are. Also we should try not to kill all the plants she has looking so nice around the branch, in her absence.
Speaking of shelving, a couple of things have come up: firstly the DVDs. Please shelve all the 791.43s including those that have more numerals after the .43 as if they were only 791.43's.. Just shelve them alphabetically as 791.43. We often can't read the rest of the numerals on the spine so its pointless to separate them out. The same is true of the 460's. If the DVD says 460. just shelve it as a 460, again ignoring any numerals after the decimal point. These are all spanish language titles and should be shelved together.
If this is all too complex to understand, Barbara, or myself will walk you through it.
Also speaking of shelving, special thanks to Riley for his excellent shift of the mysteries. There should be plenty of room for a little while for any new titles we are getting. And do let me know, you who shelve, if you see areas that are particularly tight and I will attempt to get some weeding done.
Currently I am waiting for a weeds list for biographies and large print. because I know these are two areas that need attention and room for new incoming titles.
Barbara and I have reconfigured the children's room by splitting up the tables and rearranging the rug and furniture a bit, just for a change of pace since we can't expand the building
This will also allow parents with laptops to use the outlet under the graphic novel shelving if they have children in the play area.
I have also placed a request with Lit to get another power strip between the internet stations 1 and 2 to allow a patron to sit there with a laptop, since our branch is so outlet challenged and we are seeing more and more patrons looking for somewhere to plug in. If we do get that powerstrip, I will move the large dictionary and the sign up sheet elsewhere but for now it will stay where it is.
Evidently our plan to add shelving to the tops of the J fiction and YA shelves has fallen through due to stability issues, so we will have to try and get even more creative with our use of space. We have eliminated one shelf of NEW YA display to make more room for that collection and we seem to be ok for the moment.
Whoops! Addendum: Cappy Dick was misinformed (big surprise!) I came in the branch on Tuesday and VOILA! We have at least 3 1/4 new display shelving installed on top of the YA AND J Fiction shelves that we CAN use for display purposes (not for regular shelving because its not strong enough), so Barbara shifted some things on both sides to allow us to make the best use of our new space.
The New J Fiction is now above the regular J fiction (instead of on the New books shelving) and the New J NON-Fiction display is on the lower shelving at the far end of the same row. (we aren't sure if the shelving is going to be finished on that end, so for now we are using the dropped down shelving for display purposes...this may change if they add the last piece to our topper.)
The YA non-fiction has been moved next to the YA Honor system books (near the YA media), to allow for more space for the adult playaways on the opposite end of the shelving.
Adult Graphic novels are now on top of the shelving as are the YA New titles.
The most important change is that we have finally separated out the fairy tales (J398.2s) like most of the other branches. This is an area that was getting overlooked so this new section should highlight some of our really good titles. All the fairy tales are now housed in their own section BEFORE the J non-fiction.
Go take a walk around the branch and give it a gander, sos you know where things have moved too.
Signage is on the way!
Both of this month's displays for children and adults is Gardening so do feel free to replenish those displays as you find appropriate materials.
The story hour theme this week is Mothers and Mother's days (HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY all you MOMs and also to those of you who have Mom's) so look for those titles near my desk.
New starting this week, we have added Tales to Tails on All Wednesdays now, as well as the first Saturday of the month.
Janice also sent out a list of summer reading programs starting in June throughout the branches and I have printed it and highlighted events at Capitola. It is posted on a clipboard on the back desk as well as at the sit down reference station should patrons have questions. I am sure there will be an on-line calendar as well as print copies when the dates get closer.
ok, enough of this blarney. I've got to go back out and swab the desks!
Cappy Dick
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