SMART Goals for Managers

Hello,

I have added the SMART Goals for managers and the Manager's Checklist to the HEAR Resources page.  Please put together your ideas for programming and share with your Team Leader.  You may use some of the Manager's goals for your assistant managers.  All employees should have their HEAR plans in the HEAR application by 1/10/14.

Thanks,

Laurie

Prizes to be awarded at Manager's Meeting Friday 12/20/2013

Supervisor's Work Progress Meeting and Coaching Form

Here is the link to the WPR form.  You should be able to fill it out and then save it.  It seems to work best in Internet Explorer. 

Thanks!

Laurie

HEAR and SMART goals

Hello,

Please try to have the plans in the HEAR software by December 10th at the latest.  Please begin having Work Progress Report Meetings with staff. 

This message is what pops up when you log into the HEAR software:

ALERT: FY14 HEAR Performance Work Plans are due and supervisors/managers should be conducting their first rounds of HEAR progress meetings. Remember, employees must be provided a minimum of two, 1-on-1, HEAR progress meetings prior to their final HEAR assessment in June/July 2014. For more information, please refer to AP 3-20 or email, hear@houstontx.gov, for additional support.

Thanks,

Laurie

Sick Leave to care for family

Hi Team,

When a full time staff uses sick leave to care for family members due to his/her bona fide illness, disease, or injury and for visits with health care providers, the employee should complete this form http://www.houstontx.gov/hr/email/images/Sick%20Leave%20Form%20PDF%20Fillable%20Saveable%209-13-2013.pdf to affirm that the family member qualifies as a family member for sick leave purposes.  The forms should be submitted to supervisors and a copy filed in the HR Office.  Family members include spouse, child or step-child, and parent or step-parent. 

 

Please see the FAQ for further information about the changes in sick leave:  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available now

 Thank you!

Mary Wagoner, M.L.I.S.

We are wishing a safe and happy holiday!  from the NL Administration Team

by Ghergich.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

NL Photo Contest

To celebrate the holiday season, please submit your best
team photo to enter the NL Holiday Photo Contest.
One entry per location / grouping.
Pick whichever holiday you like best or do a collage of all
the holidays. All entries must fit on an 8 ½ X 11 inch page.
Submit via email or delivery to Yolanda.
Be creative and have fun!

Prizes will be awarded by December 18th.
All photos will be posted on the NL Blog.

See the full flyer here

Computer Class Evaluation Forms

Cylenthia is working to revise the Computer class evaluation form / survey online.  Until then, please use the standard evaluation form.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6pUcgF0fjLbeG8weWczcVh1NVk/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks!

Laurie

Monthly Report Narrative

Hi, Team!

The Monthly Report narrative serves as a snapshot of your library and community during the past month. The narrative is your opportunity to add your point of view and analysis as manager. Remember, hit the high points. Don’t dwell on the details, or simply restate the statistics. Please use the attached sample report as a guide and template. 

Ø  Type face must be 11or 12 point Arial
Ø  Your narrative should be no more than 1 page in length, single-spaced and address the topics listed below.

 1. Usage trends

• Who is using the library? Why?
• What makes your library popular or unpopular with your community?
• Have you noticed any changes in library use?

*This is your chance to provide insight into your customers and community!

 

2. Significant accomplishments

• Service highlights (no more than 3-5)
• Special projects
• Partnerships/grants
• Customer success stories

3. Significant challenges

• Issues in the community/communities you serve
• Issues with your library
• Any trends you see that your library will need to address

* Remember – challenges are not necessarily negative.

Monthly narratives are due on the 10^th of each month.  There is a new folder in the G drive: Monthly Narratives fm NL. 

Best regards,
Mary Wagoner

 

 

Time & Attendance Policy

Hi, Team,

 NL Administration requests all NL staff review the City of Houston’s time and attendance policy:  http://www.houstontx.gov/adminpolicies/2-4.pdf.

 Please submit the signed Non-Exempt Employee Time and Attendance Policy Receipt (page 7) to Yolanda Anguiano by Friday, November 15^th.   You may already have a copy on file that you can send us. 

 Managers, please mark through the word Non-Exempt and complete and sign the form.  In addition, please add reviewing and signing this form to the New Employee Checklist.  We will modify the checklist on the blog. 

 
We appreciate your positive reinforcement of our time and attendance policy.  Thank you so much!!
Best regards,
Mary Wagoner

Suggestion Form for Materials vs. Customer Comment Form

In Collection Development Office we have recently noted an increase in routine requests from customers for purchases being submitted on the HPL “Customer Comments” form, indicating that there is some forms confusion out there.

Just a reminder that HPL’s “Customer Comments” form is really intended for our customers’ service/facilities complaints and the like,  and it gets submitted to the Director’s Office, triggering action for all the supervisors that need to work on the formal reply.

There is a separate form that can be printed and given to customer who would like to see something added to the Library’s collection but doesn’t want to use the online “suggestions” form.  It is simply called “Suggestion Form” and is on the Intranet at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/forms.html#, under the Library Materials tab. It is labeled to come straight to the Collection Development Office. This is the one we really prefer to be used for this purpose if the customer doesn’t want to use the online version. 

And if a customer has a complaint about something we own that they don’t think is appropriate or has a wider concern about the Library’s collection, there is a third form – “Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials” – especially for that purpose, also on the same Intranet page.  It is also submitted to the Director’s Office  then comes straight to the Collection Development Office, triggering our formal review process.

Please review the three forms with everyone on your team so they know which form to use when and, as always, please contact us it you’ve got questions.

Thanks!

Sara Karow
Adult Specialist
Collection Development Office
Ph. 832-393-1480
sara.karow@houstontx.gov

 Mary Wagoner on behalf of LMS

In Haunted House!

Happy Halloween!!

Health Assessment

Dear Staff,

This is a friendly reminder that it is very important that you complete your health assessment before the due date of December 31, 2013. If not completed by December 31, you will incur an assessment fee.  As of today, only 38% of HPL employees have completed their health assessment.  Let’s make sure we get to 100% before December!  Plus, it is good to know our health numbers so that we can all live a healthier lifestyle. 

Here are the instructions for completing your health assessment:

Completing your health assessment

Completing the assessment is an easy two-step process

• Get biometric numbers for: blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol, weight, height and waist circumference.
• Go online to mycigna.com, click on "My health assessment" under the "Manage my health" menu. Click on "Take my health assessment again." Complete the assessment by December 31, 2013.

Tips for completing health assessment:

• Go to mycigna.com to access the health assessment.
• Forgot your username or password? Call 800-284-8346.
• Use actual biometric measurements that were obtained no earlier than January 1, 2013.
• Do not choose vague answers like “I'm not sure.”
• Do not use the drop down box for cholesterol.
• Be sure to go all the way to the end of the assessment.
• Not sure you completed it correctly? Click here for an example.

Additionally, please find below an email from the Human Resource Director, Omar Reid regarding more important details on completing your health assessment.

Have a HAPPY HEALTHY DAY! 

Rhea Brown Lawson

Computer class presentations

Hello,

The Central Tech staff have finished revising the computer class presentations and handouts.  Take a look at it here:  http://hplibtech.com/

Thanks,

Laurie

Library Card Barcode Scanned in a Smart phone......

A customer at a Neighborhood Library requested to use a laptop and had his library card bar code scanned in his smart phone. A question came up if we accept that? I wanted to share Fred Schumacher's response in case this happens at your location.

We don’t have a policy in place currently, but we are working on developing one.  In this instance, it is okay, since we would hold his current ID at the desk while the laptop is checked out. Also, we would have confirmed that the account belonged to him and was in good order before checking out the laptop.  For others types of transactions for customers with bar codes scanned into their smart phones,  it would be reasonable to ask to see ID for the moment. 

Fred is working with a team to revise the policy to assist in these sorts of situations.

Shammi

New forms for Badges

Hello,

There are new forms for the Badging Office.  They can be found on the Intranet.

Badge Request Form
Lost/Replace Badge Report

Please be very careful and fill the forms out completely as they will no longer process the forms if there is incomplete information.

Thanks,

Laurie

SMART Goal Log and Instructions

Hello,

Thanks to Marcos Martinez for some great tools for SMART Goals!

• Library Card Application Error Log-- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqpUcgF0fjLbdENNSlpfbEhvVEVVRzNxZk1ZUm9hZnc&usp=sharing
• Library Card Application Error Log Instructions--https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6pUcgF0fjLbY3N1d2N5bHZCMjg/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to download these and use them with your staff members!

Thanks,

Laurie

SMART Goals: Library Card Applications

Here is what I have come up with as a possible way to keep track of the library card application errors.

Feel free to edit:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqpUcgF0fjLbdHJJMl9lY2JTR0p3dW80VU42NTJsSEE&usp=sharing

Log in with NL Managers to edit.

Thanks,

Laurie

BTOP Match

Hello,

I forgot to mention BTOP match this morning.  If you entered the grant match information into Kronos for staff, you are welcome to remove it now.  In Cylenthia's original instructions, she said to use 9/30/13 as the end date.  If you used that, it will automatically be removed on October 1st.  If you did not do that part, then you will need to go in manually and add a new pattern the their schedule.  Unfortunately, you cannot modify/edit an existing schedule, you have to add a new schedule pattern. 

Thanks,

Laurie

Changes to Sick Leave for Employees

On Wednesday, August 21, 2013 the Mayor and City Council authorized an amendment increasing the availability of sick leave by City employees. This amendment allows more flexibility for employees in usage of sick leave by allowing employees to use sick leave for the care of a family member. Paid time off (PTO) used by Houston Police Officers is not affected by the change.

Currently, sick leave can be used as time off only for an employee’s bona fide illness, disease and off duty injury as well as to consult with or receive testing or treatment from a health care provider.  Beginning on Saturday, September 21, 2013, sick leave use may also be authorized for the care of a family member due to the family member’s bona fide illness, disease or injury. Family member includes spouse, child or step-child, and parent or step-parent of the employee.

Employees will still be responsible for managing their own absences from work as well as for complying with their department’s attendance policies. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available now.

Tech Blog

Check out the Tech Blog! 

The Central Tech staff have been working hard at revising powerpoints and handouts.  Please take a look and provide feedback.

Thanks,

Laurie

SMART Goals Working Document

Hello,

I have finally been able to type up the SMART Goals we started last week.  Thanks to Patrick Atkins who created the Serials and Delivery ones.  Please use this link:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GZCfAroV0Js-GPkz4Eax3A7e42AbmnNoMsl8VVgw9cs/edit?usp=sharing to view the goals that we already have.  You can log on as nlmanagers@gmail.com and edit the document if you would like to change or add other goals.

Thanks,

Laurie

My Link--New library cards

Fred sent this today:

Greetings all.

Early next week, your unit will receive a box of the new HPL My Link cards Dr. Lawson announced.  Each new card set includes traditional wallet card, as well as a key tag and a re-attachable adhesive barcode label.  The barcode numbers will continue to be 14 digits long, but the 5 digit opening sequence will change from 22477 to 77422. 

You will begin issuing the new cards on 09/12/13.  When the card/key tag set is issued, the staff member will remove the adhesive label from the set and adhere it to the registration form in the space provided for the barcode.  For a preview of the new card/key tag sets and a brief demonstration of how to affix the adhesive barcode label to the registration form, click on the link and watch the video: https://sites.google.com/site/hplstafftraining/new-hpl-library-card

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Circulation Administration Department.  We will be glad to assist you in any way we are able.

Thanks.

Fred Schumacher

Circulation Administration Manager

Evanced instructions and reminders

Hello,

If you need the instructions for using Evanced, you can find it on the Resources page of the blog.  Thanks to Marcos Martinez for scanning them and sending them to me. 

Please make sure to enter your events so they can appear on the events page and on your individual location pages.  Veronica Davidson has asked if staff would please use the same language when adding programs.  Do a search for your program and see what others have don and use the same kind of names and descriptions.  This is especially important for the computer classes as some of those classes are called by many different names.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Laurie

5 month HEAR reviews for new staff

Hello,

I hope that managers are working on their 5 month reviews for staff who started 3/18 and 4/1.  If you did not input templates earlier, you will now be limited to 4 job duties and 4 behavioral factors.  Please look at the existing job duties and pick the most important ones.  You may also combine a few if you need to.

Thanks,

Laurie

Revised Comment Form

Hello,

There is a revised comment form in English and Spanish on the Intranet under Forms and Misc.  The new form includes a place for customers to put an email address as well as indicate how they would like to be contacted.  Please start to use the new form from here on out.

Also, please remember that the staff member that accepts the form should initial the form and indicate what he/she might have said in response to the customer and whether or not follow-up is needed.

English Form
Spanish Form

If you have any questions, please contact your Team Leader.

Thanks,

Laurie

ACA FAQs

Hello,

We have been conducting the first of the ACA trainings and have had some questions.  Suzy asked me to post them in case other people have had similar questions.

1.            For those who are disabled/handicapped will we be filling out applications for them?

•             We will never fill out applications for customers. Our role is to link them to the resources as we do for taxes, immigration, housing, etc.

2.            Will the navigator organizations be working with HPL or ever available at HPL? Who are the navigators specifically?

•             Navigators have not been identified as of yet. They are still going through the interview process to select them. Our (HPL's) role is not to be a liaison for the ACA or its navigators. We only provide access to computers and point the public to the resources. Customers will need to reach out to navigators or community helpers independently.  We can, however, point them to contact information for these various services.

3.            When will the resource list handout for staff to handout be available?

•             Our Communications Dept. is currently looking at what (if anything) we should produce in terms of collateral (resource lists, handouts, bookmarks, etc). We very well may receive these items from IMLS, so we are waiting for more information at this time.

4.            When will the paper application be available?

•             The official application will be available to all on October 1st.  That is all we know at this point. No new information has been released.

5.            Should we ever be typing anything for people on their applications, preliminary questionnaire?

•             We should only assist with access to computers and the official website if needed. We never assist with typing applications/questionnaires. We should never handle customer confidential information such as insurance information, bank account information, social security #, etc. This has always been a department rule of thumb.

6.            Should we be walking people through enrollment or questionnaires in Telephone Reference?

•             No, we will not function in this capacity. Again, we are only pointing customers to the official website and ACA resources.

7.     Can staff answer questions about benefits or partial benefits that customers may be eligible for? 
•     Staff should NOT provide customers with information about possible benefits.  Our role is to provide access to computers and point customers to the ACA resources on the official website.  Customers would need to complete the questionnaire and/or application in order to find out what benefits they qualify for 

 

8.  Will there be a link on our website to the available resources

•    Virtual Services is working on adding a link.  We will let you know when it is available.  For now it is always best to refer questions to www.healthcare.gov.  They have live chat and telephone numbers for people who have questions.
 

 
Let us know if the are other questions.

Thanks,

Laurie