Spring Break is right around the corner! Some of our customers are preparing to enter the workforce for the first time, either seeking summer jobs or permanent positions. Optimal Resume has some great tips and tools to help them.
A great starting place in Optimal Resume is the Skills Assessment. It helps the customer create a list or inventory of skills and abilities from work experience to class work, and a corresponding list of their accomplishments. Optimal Resume links to O-NET OnLine, http://www.onetonline.org/, which offers great descriptive phrases that, encapsulate those skills and accomplishments. The Skills Assessment also serves as an aid in matching the customer’s job related skills and proficiencies with a variety of careers.
Please share with us your favorite job search, resume, or work related database or resource. Thank you!
Mary Wagoner
Monday, March 5, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Incident Reports Reminders
I thought I would post some reminders about Incident Reports.
- When do I write an incident report? Incident reports should be written any time something causes a disturbance to library property, staff or customers, Library rules are broken, or any illegal activities occur. You should do an incident report any time you suspend any customer, whether adult or juvenile, from the building or when children are left unattended after hours.
- Who should write an incident report? Any staff member who witnesses or deals with an issue or disturbance should write an incident report. If several staff members witness something, then all staff members involved should write an account. All incident reports should be written as soon as possible after an incident, within 24 hours. If it is a major emergency, please call your Team Leader and/or NL Office (32707).
- Where can I find the incident report form? Incident Report Forms are found on the Intranet under Forms and Facilities
- What information should I include? Incident Reports are legal documents and should include all the facts about the incident. Who is involved, what happened, any witnesses (staff and customers), contact information, and what you did. The Action Taken space on the form is where you put how you responded to the situation. Please include any information about police or ambulance being called. If you have updates to the report later, please add them and resend with “Revised” as part of the file name.
- What do I name it? Incident reports should all be named with the date, location, initials of staff, brief description of the incident, and name of person involved. EXAMPLE: 073011_COL_JD_Theft_Smith.doc
- Where do I send it? Send incident reports to HPL – NL Incidents and copy your supervisor. Incident reports are also saved on the G Drive.
- What is a Trespass Warning and where do I find it? Trespass Warnings and Suspension Notices are also found on the Intranet under Forms and Facilities. These are documents that assist us to fully identify customers that have been suspended from the building for any period of time. They should be kept on file so that the Police can use them if the customer returns before the suspension is over. Fax trespass warnings and suspension notices to GSD Security at 713-837-7602.
For more information about Security and Emergencies check out the How to Guide on the Resources page of the NL Blog and the Policies and Procedures about Security on the Intranet.
Thanks,
Laurie
Monday, February 27, 2012
Customer Service Substitutes
Hi!
I am excited to announce that we are in the process of hiring 14 new Customer Service Substitutes who will join us mid-March!
Special thanks to Yolanda, Linda, the Team Leaders and Coordinators of Extended Hours locations for answering extension 32707; then contacting and scheduling Substitutes to assist at neighborhood libraries on a Monday through Saturday basis.
By the way, the old Substitute timesheet will be removed from the blog at 5 p.m. tomorrow (2/28/2012). Please use the new timesheet that has already been posted on this blog's Substitute page. Please complete the form in blue ink.
Thank you for completing surveys. Your comments have resulted in several adjustments to the program.
Thanks again!
Mary W
I am excited to announce that we are in the process of hiring 14 new Customer Service Substitutes who will join us mid-March!
Special thanks to Yolanda, Linda, the Team Leaders and Coordinators of Extended Hours locations for answering extension 32707; then contacting and scheduling Substitutes to assist at neighborhood libraries on a Monday through Saturday basis.
By the way, the old Substitute timesheet will be removed from the blog at 5 p.m. tomorrow (2/28/2012). Please use the new timesheet that has already been posted on this blog's Substitute page. Please complete the form in blue ink.
Thank you for completing surveys. Your comments have resulted in several adjustments to the program.
Thanks again!
Mary W
Friday, February 24, 2012
Happiness and Productivity at Work
Good day Team,
I was going to post something about something else (name of topic withheld because it does not matter at this time) but decided to blog about something that has been a great concern of mine for a long time which is; raising the happiness level of staff at HPL. Those who have worked with me know that I have always proposed that if you cannot find a way to be happy at work, you should find something else to do because you cease to be productive when you are unhappy. I believe that you are in charge of your happiness and there is nothing much anyone can do to make you happy. Of course we are talking about happiness here not euphoria or glee.
So what is happiness? According to Dictionary.reference.com, happiness is “the quality or state of being happy”. Wikipedia defines it as “a mental state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”. According Aristotle “Happiness depends on ourselves”.
Today’s post is to focus on the relationship between happiness and productivity at work. To be more productive at work, you have to like what you do. The single most efficient way to improve your productivity is to be happy at work. . You have to enjoy your work to yield great results and this also improves the happiness level in yourself and the people around you.
According to Alexander Kjerulf, (also known as the Chief Happiness Officer and author of “Happy Hour is 9 to 5”) there are 10 top reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster. They are the following:
1: Happy people work better with others
2: Happy people are more creative
3: Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them
4: Happy people have more energy
5: Happy people are more optimistic
6: Happy people are way more motivated
7: Happy people get sick less often
8: Happy people learn faster
9: Happy people worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes
10: Happy people make better decisions
When you reflect back on when you were at the peak of productivity in the past, wouldn’t you say it was a time when you were working on something that made you happy, something that you loved to do? So obviously, there is a link between happiness at work and productivity. The question becomes whether being productive makes us happy or whether being happy makes us productive? As you might have ascertained, the link goes both ways even though we should say that it is strongest from happiness to productivity.
As Kjerulf put it, there are really two ways to get to be happy at work. They include the following:
1. Get happy in the job you have. There are about a million things you can do to improve your work situation – provided you choose to do something, rather than wait for someone else to come along and do it for you.
2. Find a new job where you can be happy.
But remember, nothing and nobody can make you happy unless you allow them.
I will be posting more on this topic in the future. Please stay tuned. If you would like to add/contribute to this topic, please feel free to do so. Thanks for reading this blog post and have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Theodora.
I was going to post something about something else (name of topic withheld because it does not matter at this time) but decided to blog about something that has been a great concern of mine for a long time which is; raising the happiness level of staff at HPL. Those who have worked with me know that I have always proposed that if you cannot find a way to be happy at work, you should find something else to do because you cease to be productive when you are unhappy. I believe that you are in charge of your happiness and there is nothing much anyone can do to make you happy. Of course we are talking about happiness here not euphoria or glee.
So what is happiness? According to Dictionary.reference.com, happiness is “the quality or state of being happy”. Wikipedia defines it as “a mental state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”. According Aristotle “Happiness depends on ourselves”.
Today’s post is to focus on the relationship between happiness and productivity at work. To be more productive at work, you have to like what you do. The single most efficient way to improve your productivity is to be happy at work. . You have to enjoy your work to yield great results and this also improves the happiness level in yourself and the people around you.
According to Alexander Kjerulf, (also known as the Chief Happiness Officer and author of “Happy Hour is 9 to 5”) there are 10 top reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster. They are the following:
1: Happy people work better with others
2: Happy people are more creative
3: Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them
4: Happy people have more energy
5: Happy people are more optimistic
6: Happy people are way more motivated
7: Happy people get sick less often
8: Happy people learn faster
9: Happy people worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes
10: Happy people make better decisions
When you reflect back on when you were at the peak of productivity in the past, wouldn’t you say it was a time when you were working on something that made you happy, something that you loved to do? So obviously, there is a link between happiness at work and productivity. The question becomes whether being productive makes us happy or whether being happy makes us productive? As you might have ascertained, the link goes both ways even though we should say that it is strongest from happiness to productivity.
As Kjerulf put it, there are really two ways to get to be happy at work. They include the following:
1. Get happy in the job you have. There are about a million things you can do to improve your work situation – provided you choose to do something, rather than wait for someone else to come along and do it for you.
2. Find a new job where you can be happy.
But remember, nothing and nobody can make you happy unless you allow them.
I will be posting more on this topic in the future. Please stay tuned. If you would like to add/contribute to this topic, please feel free to do so. Thanks for reading this blog post and have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Theodora.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
Greetings all,
I realize that the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and requirements that flow from CIPA are something that we have not discussed recently; it is probably a good time to share this information.
In a nutshell, CIPA is the Children's Internet Protection Act. It requires any school or library (like HPL) that receives funding for Internet access or internal connections from the E-rate program – a program that makes certain communications technology more affordable for eligible schools and libraries follow certain guidelines when it comes to accessing content on the Internet.
Under CIPA, we must have filtering software in place and policies that do not allow customers to access pictures that are: a) obscene; b) child pornography; or c) harmful to minors. This is a part of our Internet Use Policy, which indicates that users may not: "Circumvent filtering or blocking software, or other security measures to access visual depictions deemed (a) obscene, or (b) child pornography, or (c) harmful to minors, as defined in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA ~ Public Law 106-554)."
In order to assist with enforcing this, we have provided a handout that is adopted from the original training materials produced back when CIPA was introduced. This handout is available on the Reference page of HPL's Intranet. I have also added a link to this document on the Resources page of this blog under the "How to..." heading. The document provides definitions for the three prevented areas mentioned above using Texas Penal Code and the United States Code.
If you would like more information on CIPA, there is a nice summary on the FCC's web site.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
Thanks,
Mike VC
I realize that the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and requirements that flow from CIPA are something that we have not discussed recently; it is probably a good time to share this information.
In a nutshell, CIPA is the Children's Internet Protection Act. It requires any school or library (like HPL) that receives funding for Internet access or internal connections from the E-rate program – a program that makes certain communications technology more affordable for eligible schools and libraries follow certain guidelines when it comes to accessing content on the Internet.
Under CIPA, we must have filtering software in place and policies that do not allow customers to access pictures that are: a) obscene; b) child pornography; or c) harmful to minors. This is a part of our Internet Use Policy, which indicates that users may not: "Circumvent filtering or blocking software, or other security measures to access visual depictions deemed (a) obscene, or (b) child pornography, or (c) harmful to minors, as defined in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA ~ Public Law 106-554)."
In order to assist with enforcing this, we have provided a handout that is adopted from the original training materials produced back when CIPA was introduced. This handout is available on the Reference page of HPL's Intranet. I have also added a link to this document on the Resources page of this blog under the "How to..." heading. The document provides definitions for the three prevented areas mentioned above using Texas Penal Code and the United States Code.
If you would like more information on CIPA, there is a nice summary on the FCC's web site.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
Thanks,
Mike VC
Innovating the Library Way
Recently a blog on the Harvard Business Review published this interesting post about innovations in libraries: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/innovating_the_library_way.html
Innovating the Library Way
11:28 AM Thursday January 26, 2012
by Grant McCracken
The original value proposition of the library was not just free books but something more, something I learned as a seven-year-old at the Dunbar Public Library in Vancouver, B.C. The library looked like dumpy, public architecture but it was in fact a house of many mansions, a place of possibility, a portal. Space travel, time travel, identity travel, you name it, the library could do take you there.
But other media can make the same promise.
The dominance of radio, TV, and Hollywood threatened libraries with irrelevance, and now the rise of the internet, smart phones, and ebooks, threaten them with eclipse.
So libraries are struggling. What can they do in the face of skeptics who say, "Print! Why, in God's name, do we need print? Let the library go the way of the bookstore. Disintermediation is inevitable."
Perhaps the answer lies in the library's physicality. Can the library do something a Kindle cannot?
My now-local library came up with a lovely idea. They send out a message to local children.
What do you think your stuffed animal friends would do if they spent the night at the library? Bring them to our Stuffed Animal Sleepover and find out!
Will they play on the computers all night? Raid the candy shelves at the cafe? Ride the elevator BY THEMSELVES?
We start with a special Sleepytime storytime for your furry friends, then tuck them in for the night. Overnight, the librarians will keep watch and take photos of everything your stuffed animals do. Come in the next day to pick them up and see what they were up to. Ages 2 and up.
This Culturematic is a magnificent way of signaling to kids that the library is a place where magical things happen. In the language of strategy, the "value proposition" is "renewed."
The librarians, facing stiff and seemingly insurmountable competition, found a mechanism that takes advantage of the library's Achilles' heel, that makes a virtue of its anti-virtuality. My local library is bricks and mortar. It's a very actually place in a very real world. This allows it to stage events that matter in ways that digital experiences cannot.
Once solemn, hushed repositories, libraries are poised to make themselves more vibrant centers. It will take an imaginative rethinking of what a library is and how it works, but, as the sleepover example makes clear, there has never been a shortage of imagination at the public library.
Can your business make the same claim?
What kind of innovations are you doing in your location? Please share by making a comment here.
Thanks,
Laurie
Innovating the Library Way
11:28 AM Thursday January 26, 2012
by Grant McCracken
The original value proposition of the library was not just free books but something more, something I learned as a seven-year-old at the Dunbar Public Library in Vancouver, B.C. The library looked like dumpy, public architecture but it was in fact a house of many mansions, a place of possibility, a portal. Space travel, time travel, identity travel, you name it, the library could do take you there.
But other media can make the same promise.
The dominance of radio, TV, and Hollywood threatened libraries with irrelevance, and now the rise of the internet, smart phones, and ebooks, threaten them with eclipse.
So libraries are struggling. What can they do in the face of skeptics who say, "Print! Why, in God's name, do we need print? Let the library go the way of the bookstore. Disintermediation is inevitable."
Perhaps the answer lies in the library's physicality. Can the library do something a Kindle cannot?
My now-local library came up with a lovely idea. They send out a message to local children.
What do you think your stuffed animal friends would do if they spent the night at the library? Bring them to our Stuffed Animal Sleepover and find out!
Will they play on the computers all night? Raid the candy shelves at the cafe? Ride the elevator BY THEMSELVES?
We start with a special Sleepytime storytime for your furry friends, then tuck them in for the night. Overnight, the librarians will keep watch and take photos of everything your stuffed animals do. Come in the next day to pick them up and see what they were up to. Ages 2 and up.
This Culturematic is a magnificent way of signaling to kids that the library is a place where magical things happen. In the language of strategy, the "value proposition" is "renewed."
The librarians, facing stiff and seemingly insurmountable competition, found a mechanism that takes advantage of the library's Achilles' heel, that makes a virtue of its anti-virtuality. My local library is bricks and mortar. It's a very actually place in a very real world. This allows it to stage events that matter in ways that digital experiences cannot.
Once solemn, hushed repositories, libraries are poised to make themselves more vibrant centers. It will take an imaginative rethinking of what a library is and how it works, but, as the sleepover example makes clear, there has never been a shortage of imagination at the public library.
Can your business make the same claim?
What kind of innovations are you doing in your location? Please share by making a comment here.
Thanks,
Laurie
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Virtual Library Services - Support Committee - Members Needed
Greetings all,
As you know, a Virtual Library Services division was recently created at HPL. As mentioned in the e-mail from Dr. Lawson, this division will be responsible for the following:
- Meeting current needs and anticipating future virtual services for our customers
- Development, function and content of the HPL website
- Development, function and content of HPL apps
- Staying informed and ahead of new trends and tools regarding the provision of virtual library services
- Development and application of interactive, informative, entertaining and instructional tools, such as podcasts, videos, etc.
As a part of this project, there will be a support committee made up of innovative staff from throughout Public Services. This committee will be established to assist this new division accomplish the above tasks. The committee will provide content, ideas, and experience from the front lines of service in our organization.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please send a brief e-mail to Shammi Gill sharing why you would be a good fit for this committee. Please make sure to let your supervisor know that you are expressing interest in this committee.
Thanks,
Mike VC
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