December 2016 Staff Meeting Notes

Meeting Notes

Kashmere/Lakewood Grouping

December 19, 2016

In attendance:
Melissa Ryans (Manager)
Juan Lopez (Senior Customer Service Clerk)
Twanna Wade (Senior Customer Service Clerk)
Linda Adams (Customer Service Clerk)
Ann Perry (Customer Service Clerk)
Karl Beck (Library Assistant)
Dee Hunter (Library Assistant)
Joseph Asberry (Customer Service Clerk, Part-time)
Alena Lee (Customer Service Clerk, Part-time)
Ana Santana (Customer Service Clerk, Part-time)

Not in attendance:
Dionne McLaughlin (Senior Library Service Specialist)

Vacant Position(s):
Assistant Manager

Topics:
Managers Meeting
Staff Discussion
Open Discussion

First Topic: Managers Meeting
Link to October 2016 Managers Meeting Notes
Link to November 2016 Managers Meeting Notes

• Reorganization: There is only one Deputy Director (Weeks). There are now 4 Assistant Directors (Liz Sargent is the AD for Customer Experience) and 3 Assistant Deputy Directors.
• Liz's ADD position will be posted.
• Technical Services (LMS) and Circulation Administration are under IT.
• Programming and Community Engagement are now under Nicole Robinson.
• There will be no major movement of staff at this time.
• Linking to Us HPL Stories: NL Administration is asking us to collect stories from customers about the impact libraries have had on them. Customers will retell their stories on video (they must also sign a media release form) recorded by staff.
• Staff can record themselves reciting stories from customers if a customer does not want to appear on camera but would still like to share their story.
• Mayor Turner is really interested in this project.
• Link to document regarding this initiative.
• New Positions:
• Tara Hornbeak is now the Librarian II (Manager) of Robinson NL.
• There is a new assistant manager (Librarian II) at Kendall NL.
• Drew Alvey is the new Library Service Supervisor at Blue Ridge.
• CEN Plaza has been renamed the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza

Second Topic: Staff Discussion

• Pension: As stated previously, there will be changes to the pension. Some of the proposal included increasing contribution rates from 5% to 8% for those in Group A. Group B will contribute 4%; Group D will contribute 2%. The retirement eligibility formula for municipal employees does not change. Rate of return on investment dropped from 8% to 7%
• For more information, please click here: https://readymag.com/627994
• Brainfuse Training: Staff are encouraged to watch the Brainfuse training on the Staff Training portal. Staff will be scheduled to attend this webinar. To receive training credit, you must post a comment after watching the video (comment has to be of substance) and write your name and e-number at the end of your comment to get training credit. Let me know when this has been done so that I can notify HPL Training.
• 2017 Staff Schedule: Goal is to primarily host them on Fridays at Kashmere because several staff members (including the manager) are required to provide trainings as part of their review plans.
• Would also go a long way to minimizing having staff come in and will allow ample time to do our staff meeting and staff training. 
• We will still have Monday meetings at Lakewood but they will be far less than they were at 2016.
• HISD Learning Link Reminders:
• We can look up Learning Link accounts with student information (name, student ID, etc.), but we cannot:
• Provide students with any library card numbers
• Check out any items on library card accounts WITHOUT either the library card or a parent/student ID
• Students are still required to present a library card if they want to check out any items on the library card accounts.
• Learning Link accounts do not have that restriction.
• There is a reason for that distinction: 
• Parents sign for library cards and thus acknowledge responsibility for all fines and charges accrued on that account.
• If you check out an item to a child that does not present a library card or a valid ID, then that parent can claim non-responsibility, especially if they have the card in their possession during the time the items were circulated.
• Library card accounts go to collection; Learning Link accounts do not.
• Learning Link accounts are different because parents did not sign for the cards, so accountability is minimized.
• If you search for a child and pull up a Learning Link account and a library card account, ALWAYS circulate on the Learning Link account. If the items cannot check out on the Learning Link accounts (because it does not meet the criteria), then let child/parent know that the child needs a regular library card.
• You can still provide children with Computer Card numbers.
• Review the FAQ on the blog for Learning Link accounts.
• Relevant policy pertaining to accessing borrower accounts is below:
• "Staff will retrieve a record by name if the customer presents acceptable ID matching name and address in user record [Note: The parent would present his or her ID on behalf of the minor.].... Customers should be advised that this is not possible if the online circulation system is down; with no access to the borrower database, offline circulation requires library card.
• Link to policy and guidelines.
• Wellness: Remember that in order to get the full discount you must do the biometric screening and one (or two) additional health activities. Go to the COH Wellness page to see how much of a discount you get for completing an activity. Go to myCigna for additional options and to see your completion percentage.
• There are deadlines to completing certain activities, so be sure to note them!
• Boundaries with Customers: Remember that customers are customers first and professional boundaries should be maintained. Do not talk about religion, politics, etc. with customers, even those that you might know personally.
• Redirect customers that bring up certain topics.
• If there is a problem, please get a supervisor.
• Holds for Customers: For holds pulled for customers but not placed on account:
• Record date on the slip and make sure customer knows we will only hold the item for three days. Let them know that if a customer places a hold on the item through official channels (e.g., it comes up on a paging list), then the hold will go to that customer.
• Please do not offer to hold expired holds for customers. Before doing so, check and make sure that the item has not been placed in transit due to another hold. If there are no holds, then re-hold the item on the customer's account.
• Summer Food 2017: We will be doing Summer Food again this year. Training starts in January. Training dates for staff have been added to the monthly schedule. All full-time staff will be attending the training.
• Work Progress Reports: WPRs are due by January 31st. Meetings will be scheduled throughout the month.