Saturday, February 16, 2013

BACK TO WINTER DOLDRUMS...

Ahoy,
get out your long underwear and snow shovels again, I think the cold weather is back for the week at least, after that spoiler weekend we just had to remind us what Spring is supposed to feel like...
Ah well, we will all have to work faster to stay warm, I guess, and in anticipation of any big storms coming our way,  Admin. is updating our emergency binder information so soon we will have new ones on hand.
In the meantime I have made a few changes to where things are located so try and remember this info until the new binders arrive. There are flashlights on or in each of the desks in the staff workroom (yes you CAN rifle through my desk if you need one in the event of an emergency) as well as one on the desk in the aides workroom aka the discharging room). There are also battery operated lanterns in the following places; (under the middle computer at the service desk, on the top shelf above the routing slips in the aides workroom and on the lowest shelf of the rolling cart next to the fridge in the staff lounge. There are not any longer lanterns in the staff workroom so don't go bumbling around looking for them in there if the lights go out.
   There are two emergency bags on the rolling cart in the staff lounge. I have asked for emergency blankets for each of the bags, since evidently ours are missing. Hopefully with this sweep of cold weather we won't have to resort to the scary afghan in the staff room.

Along with the updated emergency manuals LIT is working on making it easier for anyone to notify our building maintenance crew if we need to report a problem, require something to be fixed, built, etc. There will be a place for any staff to log in under system support on the intranet to alert building maintenance. Normally this would be something your PIC would do, but in the case of an emergency when a PIC wasn't on hand, anyone could use this forum and an email would go to all the smartphones of the maintenance staff. This eliminates the need to constantly call a gazillion phones or send repetitive emails and creates a log of what is happening in each of the branches, so say in the case of a graffiti epidemic in one branch, the other branches could also be aware and on the lookout for hooded dudes with spray paint cans, etc.
This database is not yet working and hopefully there will be an email when its up and running so I will keep you all posted. Do remember, that with the Capitola branch, the library maintenance staff is only responsible for the inside of the building so if we have something on the outside that needs to be dealt with, you still have to go through the PIC.

Story hour this week is cowpokes and the wild west, so if you come across any Jeasys on that topic please do put them on my desk for display on Friday.
 Do continue to refill our black history displays with appropriate book returns and also remember that we are pulling any "new" books with the yellow sticker 8 this month.

We have had a lot of different shelvers over the last couple of weeks do to staff absences and I am finding alot of areas where things are mis-shelved so if things are slow, it would be a good fine thing if people would take a little time to shelf read a bay or two

And before I go, here's an information tip. if a patron comes to the desk and wants to know which libraries have what computer capabilities (ie: do you have word?) you can go to our home page and  at the bottom of the page click on About the library and then to the right side, click on quick directory and then if you click on each of the libraries there is a description of what computer services they provide.

    That's all the news that fit to print this week, so until next Saturday,
Cappy Dick says over and out!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

HAPPY HEARTS AND FLOWERS DAY AND ALL THE REST...

Ahoy mateys,
Its been a rough week for everyone, fighting the flu and allergies and the winter doldrums but I noticed that it's staying light longer so Spring must be just around the corner, so hang in there. Also don't forget this is Valentine's week so be sure and throw hugs and kisses to all your loved ones, human or otherwise and give yourself a special hug too!
  Barbara and Donna are both off on vacations this week and a few weeks to come so we will have to work that much harder to fill their shoes but I know y'all can do it, after the great job you did in my absence!
   This week we have all kinds of things to catch up on here so this is going to be one of those full of details posts.

Firstly I would like to address our confidentiality policy. I am putting a copy in each of your boxes or on your desks. Please review it. The gist is that we are not allowed to discuss any patron's library practices at all with anyone else.That includes whether or not they were in the branch, whether they used a computer, what they checked out etc. If a patron approaches you asking for this information, you may tell them it is against our policy and possibly against the law (the California confidentiality law) and refer them to our director. This is the same thing we should tell an officer of the law who inquires. The common sense exception to this rule is of course when a law officer describes a situation involving immediate danger to the staff or the public.

 Along the same lines I would appreciate it if staff could refrain from gossiping or speculating about patrons. I would like us all to remember to only say about a patron what we would be comfortable saying to them face to face, if at all possible. I realize that as we support each other we sometimes need to share information about a particular individual  to avoid difficulties but I would like to raise the overall tenor of how we talk about our patrons. Remember no one really knows what is happening in someone else's life so refraining from making judgmental statements seems the wisest course of action and I think the best way to serve the public.

I have printed up the new Joint Powers board roster and left it under the service desk near the middle computer.

The pull date for February is 8 so if you see items with yellow tags of 08 or before please remove the sticker and add them to our regular stacks as they are no longer new.

There has been some discussion about whether we should shelve all our Jeasys in exact alphabetical order with the author's first and last name. Since this area is so heavily used it was decided that we would shelve according to the three letters on the spine but to also consider the author's full last name so that titles by the same author are grouped together as well as keeping titles by for example Stevens and Stephen, which would both have a spine label of STE in some kind of alphabetical order.  This will make finding them for the pulls list much less work as well as help our alphabetically savy patrons.

Carolyn would like to remind people that if you are checking items in and you see greasy and filthy covers to please set them aside for cleaning after checking them in or if you have time, grabbing the bottle of cleaner on the back counter or in the aides room and giving them a quick wipe down. The white covered Jeasys get grubby particularly fast so any help would be appreciated.

The toilet in the staff room is troubled and a call has been put in to the maintenance staff. In the meantime if you flush and nothing happens, use the bucket to fill up the bowl with water and then try flushing. This might take several buckets full to work or it might not work at all, in which case, hang the out of order sign on the door and try and flush the toilet after about 10 minutes. You might get lucky. Hopefully this will be fixed soon as it seems to be getting worse.

The story hour from last week was switched so this week's theme is again, Chinese New Year's and Snakes, so if you come across any Capitola books that are about either of these subjects please put them on my desk, and of course if a patron comes along and asks for them, feel free to take them back again.

Wow, I think that covers everything so I will say a big  VALENTINE HEARTY ahoy until next week!
  Cappy Dick
ps.  Huge congrats to Donna and Carolyn for recognition for jobs well done in this month's JPB packet!

   
   

Saturday, February 2, 2013

HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY AND OTHER FUN!!!

Ahoy!
Well, Cappy Dick is back and just as I suspected, y'all don't need any captain on board to keep things in ship shape. The place looks wonderful and I hear from each of you how smoothly things ran and I can see for myself that y'all had it perfectly under control. That said, here I am. I guess my main job is to write this blog. It won't be as exciting as my travel blog unless maybe I bring my camera in and start photographing some of our more interesting patrons, but somehow I suspect that might be against our privacy policies, so I apologize if this blog is on the duller side.
  Thank You all so much for all your hard work in my absence. I am sure the patrons barely noticed a difference and I heard there was much kudos all around for everyone's great  public service demeanor. Galina had her hands full with all the details of this branch and I know she appreciated all the support you gave her, as do I.   I also thank you for both the wonderful send off and the wonderful welcome back (and the flowers!) You all make ol Cappy Dick blush...

   So its back to business as usual as it ever gets I suppose. Not a lot of news. We are done with "typical stats" week but those of us who are permanent employees now have to document every single thing we do at work for a week. So far the aides don't have to do this but I wouldn't count on it not coming around to all of you sooner than later.
  Wednesday Janis O'Driscoll is bringing some of the big facial photos that were displayed downtown (and I guess some that weren't) to see if there is somewhere to display any of them in our branch, so we may get some new art work. I don't know how long the new art in the children's room has been up but I am glad to see we now have some rotating displays (thank you Galina for your work on curating that!).
   The February display is fiction and mysteries by black authors to celebrate African American Month so feel free to add any you run across. There are J titles on the back of the display facing the children's room.
  The story hour subject this Friday is Snakes and Chinese new year, since this is the Year of the snake, so look for those books by my desk should you be sssssseeeking any.
  Other than that, I can't think of anything to let you know about.We did lose our Thursday afternoon shelving volunteers, the Robbins twins. They send their regrets but they are swamped in other activities for now.
    Ok, this is long enough since it really says not much, so again....Thanks all of you hugely for being such a responsible and excellent staff.
   ciao ciao,
Cappy Dick
ps. The ground hog didn't see his shadow so it bodes well for an early spring. Lets just hope its a warmer one!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND BON VOYAGE FROM CAPPY D!

Ahoy Mateys,
Before I jump ship I thought I would leave you with one final blog entry.

As you know, Galina will be taking over "the helm" while I am away playing in Argentina, and  I know that  you all will keep things running smoothly (and in fact it will probably be revealed that the only really important thing I do is write this blog) but do lend each other a helping hand should difficulties arise. You will have a number of subs covering shifts so please do your best to make them feel welcome as well and remember that  since they are less familiar with the workings of our branch they might require a bit more help on what is where and how we do things here. Of course we try to stay consistent with the workings of the whole system but I know that each branch has its quirks and that includes ours.
 
Now a bit of work related information:

Galina has downloaded a few e-reader start up guides to print and pass out, should you have patrons with questions after Santa leaves them their new e-reader devices.  These are on the desktop of the sit down computer. There are documents for Kindle Fire, Nook and IPad. I think these will be a great help, as well as directing patrons to the ebooks tab now on our homepage.  I have also requested some devices from LIT to come and live at our branch so we can use them to walk patrons through the process, so someday we might get those as well.

If you haven't already, please familiarize yourselves with the patron conduct rules and the information about therapy animals in the library that Teresa emailed to all. These are supposed to be posted to the intranet sometime in the near future if you need to review them later.

Magazines are now requestable including those in the blue binders. If you find a "blue binder" issue on your pulls list please ignore it. The request will be filled when the magazine is replaced in the binder.

If the electronic sign needs to be reset, which usually involves turning it off and then on again, there is a remote in the desk drawer where we keep the branch key.

I will replace the kid's Holiday display with books about Winter before I leave for vacation, so if you are searching for winter books you can look there.  You may replenish the display as you see fit with incoming winter themed Jeasys.

  And on that note, I am about to say ciao for now.
 I will go off on my travels knowing that the branch is in capable hands and I wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR!!
  SEE YOU FEBRUARY 1st!
    Cappy Dick

OK this is an IMPORTANT ADDENDUM:
A HUGE THANKS to my staff who threw me a going away party with LOTS OF GOODIES, A WONDERFUL GIFT that should buy me a few meals and a tango lesson to work off the calories, 
an Argentinian quiz so I don't appear to be a gringo dolt, and a WONDERFUL NEW RENDITION
of  DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA with accompaniment by Donna on piano and IPHONE.
I am publishing the lyrics here as they are so excellent. Andrew Lloyd Webber eat your heart out!

DON'T CRY FOR HER, CAPITOLA
BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS, SHE'LL NEVER MISS YOU.
SHE'LL BE TOO BUSY,
NOT SPEAKING SPANISH,
BECAUSE SHE'S SWEDISH, 
AND SHE NO HABLO...

I KNEW my staff was multi-talented!  Thanks Mis Amigos, You are all excellent and truth be told, I will miss you!! 
   Bueno.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

Well mateys,
evidently the end is almost here, and still Cappy Dick keeps blogging along....

but I will try and make this short and sweet...And speaking of sweets,
the Friends of the library gave us a gift basket full of goodies so please eat them up!
They are in the break room along with other goodies being donated by appreciative patrons.
One of our patrons, Kim, also gave us 4 Christmas cacti, so with Carolyn's help, maybe we will manage not to kill them off.  For now, along with our Christmas "snow storm" and other decor that Galina brought in and that Barbara risked life and limb on the ladder to put up, it is starting to look downright jolly in our little branch!
   Lit also gave us a holiday gift in that they rebuilt our server and patron's should now be able to print PDF files without trouble as well as access a lot of those sites, including cruzio, that they hadn't be able to get to.
If you are working at the volunteer computer in the back of the workroom, you may notice a fan sound, but its nothing going awry, its just a new piece of equipment that Tinka installed to keep us running smoother.

Galina has made some excellent signs with tear off due dates to remind the patrons of the date their items are due. These are at each of the self check stations. The closing aide should pull off the day's date at closing time and the opening aide should double check that the date is correct upon opening. 

There will be no story hours or Tails to Tales until the New Year. Story hours starts again here on Jan. 11th and Tales to Tails Saturday, January 5th.  

Things seem to be slowing down a bit for the holidays so all of you take a deep relaxing breath and fill up on chocolate, candy canes and other goodies so you have lots of energy for the end of the world or the new year, which ever comes first.
    Cappy Dick



  



Saturday, December 8, 2012

CAPPY DICK IS TO FULL TO WRITE A DECENT BLOG

Ahoy all,
Well, I am still so stuffed from our excellent Capitola/Live Oak party (Thank you Barbara for all your work in making that happen, along with the Live Oak staff), that all my energies are stilll working on digesting so I can't think of a thing to put in this blog.  If you didn't make it to this event, all I can say is that you missed out on some great food and good company and I should've hauled back some leftovers but I probably would've eaten them all before they made it to the work fridge, so sorry.  Isn't that what December is all about:
Gluttony and Gifts?!
 Seriously, it was wonderful to gather without having to answer any reference questions OR MARK THEM DOWN on our typical week sheets, which, thank goodness we are done with until the last week of January.  I want to thank all of you for helping me keep track of every question/interaction  and all the items shelved. We do really well at this branch in keeping up and closing each day with a minimum of extra work for the next day. It reflects well on how everyone pitches in!

   Please observe the beautiful new display we have on the back wall of the children's room. This is thanks to Galina who solicited art from one of the local schools, and to Riley who risked life and limb to put them all up on the wall. And of course to the 7th and 8th grade students from Alianza Charter school, who did such intricate and colorful designs on their "Greek vases."  It really brightens up that area.

I believe that next week we will be able to print out a system wides claims returned search list. If indeed that is true, I will put it on the back clipboard with our missing list so anyone can search in their free time. If you do find an item you will need open the systems claims returned bucket 653 and remove the item from the bucket. Also do remember to check it in and send it on its way.  We are continuing to find books from other branches on our shelves as well as items claim returned here, so do continue to be diligent in watching the screen and popping open the books before shelving them to be sure they are going to the right place.

The story hour theme this next week is winter so if you find any non-holiday books about winter in the jeasys do add them to the pile on my desk and of course look there should they turn up on your pulls list. This will be our last story hour until January 7th.

Don't forget to replenish our two Holiday displays (adult and kidlets) if you see any appropriate incoming titles.
 And Happy December,
Cappy Dick.




Saturday, December 1, 2012

CAPPIE DICK IS BACK TO THE BLOG

Well, I hope you are all recovered from your "relaxing" Thanksgivings and post party shopping expeditions, because this looks like a week full of "fun".
Firstly, it is going to be another "Typical week" (like there is such a thing at Capitola, what with every day bringing some kind of surprise...) and this one will be a bit different then we have done in the past so listen up.
Firstly we have been asked to keep track of all the books that need to be shelved and all the books that WERE shelved for an entire week. This starts on Monday so I will be asking the aides or anyone else who puts a cart out on the floor to please attach a tag on the end stating the date and how many books are on the cart before you begin shelving. Anyone who empties a cart please pull the tag and put it on my desk"
We will need to let our volunteers or any subs know this procedure as well. Also its important, if you walk a book to a cart or to a display shelf to make sure that is recorded. You can note it on a cart count  or you can simply jot it down on a piece of scrap paper, date it and leave it on my desk.
Also anyone working the desk will need to remember to fill out the typical week stats forms after EACH interaction with a patron. Please remember that EACH QUESTION/BOOK LOOKED UP/ETC. gets a hash mark in the correct time slot not just each interaction.. I have to compile these sheets daily so it is important that we all be accurate. I will leave a sheet beside each of the service desk computers.

We have new claims returned procedures that are in the greeenbook so it is a good idea to review the process there if you haven't already. We are about to get access to a system wide claims returned bucket so we can search our shelves for items claimed returned at other branches.
 I have created an unclaimed branch bucket for Capitola for 3 months out, so if someone reports an unclaimed item please be sure that you put it in the correct monthly bucket for Capitola. You will see there are buckets for December, January and February so choose accordingly.  Also, and this is most important, if you find an unclaimed item on our shelves please do delete it from the unclaimed bucket. Checking it in does not automatically clear it from the bucket.

I have put a list of items from our November Missing bucket on the back counter clipboard so if you are lacking exciting things to do, you are welcome to search for any of those items. If you do search please note on the list the date you searched and if you find anything remember to remove it from our missing bucket also.

We are starting a new month so we have a holiday book display for both adults and kids. The adult display encompasses all the December holidays as well as the winter season so if you find something appropriate please add it to the display.  The children's display is mostly just picture books celebrating the holidays and is on the display shelf on the back of the adult display. Remember to look in both these places if you are looking for items that are on the sends list.

The change of months also means its time to pull all the new books dated 6 so be on the lookout for those yellow spine labels and feel free to remove them.  Our new displays are packed full so we can use any room we can manage, although most of these titles do circulate quickly.

Story hour this week is "your favorites/our favorites" so if you have some favorite J easys put them on my desk and I will put them on display for our story hour on Friday.

Don't forget the Holiday Potluck at Live Oak on Friday at 6 pm. If anyone needs a ride from the branch I will be happy to stuff you in my little car, just say the word. Should be good fun and good food so do join us!

Happy December,
Cappie Dick