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Friday, June 16, 2017

Online Library Card Registration Form | Updates 6/16/17

Both English and Spanish forms now have the SSL certificate, making it secure. This caused a brief accessibility issue yesterday on the catalog/database computer which has been fixed.

Also, from now on  the form will only display for IP addresses inside the US. If someone tries to access it from overseas, they will receive an error message: Online Registration Unavailable - AIP (41.76.196.34) where the 41.76… will be the actual IP address detected. If you are contacted by a legitimate Houston/Texas resident who is overseas and wishes to get a library card, connect them to Circ Admin. This was done to control some nefarious activity that was detected coming from foreign IPs. 

Please contact me if you have any questions. Again, your feedback is much appreciated as it allows us to improve the user experience.
Saima 

Friday, June 9, 2017

KHOU Turn the Page Book Drive



HPL is partnering with KHOU Channel 11 for its annual Turn the Page Book Drive, starting Monday, June 12 – Friday, June 30, 2017.

KHOU has a partnership with Books Between Kids, a local non-profit organization who provides books to children of elementary to middle school age to help them start their own home library. Books Between Kids works with HISD to host book giveaways to 63 elementary schools throughout the school year. The Turn the Page book drive helps supply for the year-round book giveaway.

HPL as partner of this book drive will host a book collection box (campaign-branded with HPL and Star Furniture logos) at 15 locations (see below). The book collection boxes are scheduled to be delivered today, Friday, June 9, 2017.

KHOU has planned for a courier service to pick up the book collections weekly, last day being Friday, June 30, 2017. If your box overflows prior to your scheduled pick-up, please contact the KHOU Community Marketing & PR Specialist, Alexandria Williams.


PARTICIPATING LIBRARY LOCATIONS
Bracewell
Heights
Kendall
Jungman
Looscan
Stella Link
Park Place
Acres Homes
Oak Forest
Stanaker
Carnegie
Collier
Central
Vinson
Smith
Young
Alief

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Online Library Card Registration | Update


Catalog/database computers now show a "Registration Location" dropdown menu. Customers can select the location where they are submitting the form. This will provide a better report of library card registrations by location. Note: this change only shows up on the catalog/database computers. All staff computers will still show the name of their location. Customers submitting the form outside the library will not see this change.


Please share with your staff.
Questions? Email me.
Saima

Friday, May 19, 2017

Mobile Hotspots

12 HPL locations have hotspots available for customers to check out! ACR, BLU, CAR, CEN, FLO, JOH, JUN, MAN, MOO, SMI, SWX and YOU. Checkout policies and procedures are available on the Training Portal on the Library Functions page under the Mobile Hotspot section.
Questions, please email Virtual Library Services.
Saima

Monday, March 27, 2017

Online Library Card Registration



Hello again,

Firstly, thank you for the feedback we received from your staff! We have already made some changes based on their questions.

Secondly, while we prepare staff training, an FAQ document has been added to the Training Portal (hover over Learning Resources tab then select Library Functions and look for MyLink Online Library Card): http://training.houstonlibrary.org/library-function
   
We are using two locations to pilot the project: Central and Jungman. Because our locations vary so much, we need to figure out a designated workstation (desktop or tablet) that will function as a library card registration spot. In most cases, it will be the catalog/database computer. Once we have gathered enough data and tweaked the form, we will have a better idea about a roll out plan. In the meantime, please continue to use the paper application form (except Central and Jungman). Of course, you are welcome to direct your customers to the online form. Already about 44 customers in Texas have registered online and the form’s been live less than 2 days!

A few reminders that are necessary for staff to know:

·         There is a built-in address verification however this may not always work so you may have to use the traditional method to verify address;
·         Form will recognize a duplicate;
·         Youth registrations will take place on-site (HPL location) only;
·         Check if customer is already using Overdrive; if yes, then proceed to submit the Overdrive merge account request;
·         This is what staff will need to do to update the user record in Workflows:
o   From the Circulation tab, under the Users group, use the Modify User wizard to update the user record:
§  User ID - replace it with the 77422… barcode number;
§  Library - change it from HOU-ONLINE to your location or customer’s preferred location;
§  Profile Name - change it from PUBLIC to one that applies to the customer;
§  Change History Rule: ask the customer if they want to keep a checkout history; then change it from circrule to allcharges; remind them to opt in when they log into the library account at home. Not changing it will NOT prevent the customer from checking out items or placing them on hold;
§  If customer agrees with device checkout policy, then change user cat2 to laptop-yes under the Demographics tab.
Please continue to send your questions and suggestions to Virtual Library Services (hplvirtuallibrary@houstontx.gov).

Please share this information with your staff.

Sincerely,
Saima

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

#letmelibrarianthatforyou

Looking for your best reference questions! F2F, email, TR, chat, walk up. We are interested in collecting these for a possible blogpost and/or social media use. Send them to Virtual Library.
Thanks,
Saima

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Website Update

Web server needs to be restarted for a necessary update at 1:30 PM today. This will take 2-3 minutes. During this time, access to HPL website (houstonlibrary.org) may be slow.
Saima