who's in charge

Just a note to let you all know that I am on vacation and will return to the office on January 2nd, 2008. The list of District Managers in-charge has been distributed to the NL Managers list, but I'm going to post it here as well.
If you need assistance and cannot locate one of the District Managers, please call Bea in my office at x31684

Here's the in-charge list:
December 20 - 21 R. Hubert
December 22 - 23 M. Jarvis
December 24 - January 1 A. Tensae

Thanks, and have a great holiday season!
Regina

new HPD non-emergency number

From Suzy Benton via Becky Hubert...

Suzy spoke with an HPD Officer their problems with unattended/disruptive kids and he mentioned that the non-emergency number actually changed a few years ago. It is now 713-884-3131. He said that the other number (713-222-3131) is currently still working, but probably not for long.

Please begin using the 713-884-3131 number for non-emergency calls to HPD.

Got a branch blog???

If you have a blog for your branch, let me know and I'll link to it on my blog, and see that it gets on the HPL wiki. I know there are some out there that I don't know about, and I'd love to see them!

Regina

PLA Requests

Greetings,

It is that time. If you want to go to the PLA conference in Minneapolis, please submit paperwork before the end of this week (by Friday 12/14). PLA is, in my opinion, the best conference for public librarians. So, if you are interested in attending, please submit your paperwork. It is important that you use the new (city) travel request form and not the HPL one currently on the Intranet. If you need this form, e-mail Bea Duran and she

will send it to you. Here are the figures to be used if you intend to attend the entire conference.

Registration:	$	260.00	Advanced Registration ends February 2008.
Airfare:	$	437.00	Per Advantage Travel Inc, http://viaadvantage.com
Hotel:	$	325.00	Based on half of double occupancy rate for 4 nights
Meals:	$	160.00	$40 per day for 4 days (includes tips for meals).
Ground Trans.:	$	50.00
Other:	$	50.00	Tips (cab fare, bell service, etc. – max of 15% each)
Total:	$	1282.00

Note: These estimates are based upon a March 25 arrival and May 29 departure date and do not include pre-conference sessions, ticketed events or dinners. Airfare is subject to change.

Make sure to indicate the day you will leave and day you will return and whether you want to pay for registration or want HPL to pay. If you are not staying the dates listed, or if you are planning on attending a pre-conference, please adjust the figures accordingly. If you need assistance with the form, Bea and I will be glad to assist.

This is an exciting conference and I am really looking forward to as many of us as possible going and sharing what we learn with our colleagues.

Need money for the holidays?

You can win a prize of $100, $75, or $50 for simply sharing your experience. The Customer Experience Task Force is looking for role plays and scripts that demonstrate aspects of customer service. The deadline for entry is November 30th and odds are favorable. Submit an e-mail attachment to hpltraining@cityofhouston.net with the subject line "Customer Service Contest".For more information, go to: https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/images/write-win.pdf

If you have any questions or need assistance with this, please let me know. Good luck!

Regina

ALA Midwinter Deadline

If anyone would like to attend ALA Midwinter in Phiilly, paperwork needs to be submitted ASAP. I need it in my office by Tuesday, 11/20/07 at NOON. I have LeRoy Robinson and Suzanne Rickles paperwork. Is there anyone else out there?

Thanks,
Gina

Is it true that librarians are always picked?

I'll be on Jury Duty for the next week. Probably back next Thursday, November 8. Bea Duran will be at work, and if you need anything, you can contact her. I'll be checking in when possible.

Happy Halloween!
Gina

I've been rented!

Thank you for supporting CMC.

I'm at Scenic Woods Branch, doing reference until 6 p.m., and earlier I was boxing up old microfilm cartridges at Central. Woo Hoo~!

Gina

Best Public Library Branch (2007) - McGovern Stella Link

"So many libraries are stale, stiff, silent. They’re more like mortuaries than hubs of active study and learning. Not so McGovern-Stella Link, located in a modern glass and brick building with sleek furniture, efficient computers, a buzzing snack area and loads of natural light. With a line that forms outside on most mornings, it passes the most important test for any great library: People use it."

Houston Press, Best of 2007

Way to go, Stella!

New Homepage for HPL

Hello all,

Just a reminder to tell you that IT will be changing the home page on all staff computers to http://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us. We know that many of you have created a blog that you are using as your home page, and others are very fond of the /staff/ref page. There are some very good reasons to have the Intranet as the home page:

· it can enhance system-wide communication. This is meant for all staff. Many of our fellow staff members are not aware of the Intranet and what it offers.
· if we all get in the habit of looking at the site, we can suggest things to be on the site that we would find helpful, and the site can be made more useful to all.
· there is easy access to the staff telephone directory and the library forms.

We know that many of you have your own unit blogs, and that they are also very useful for internal communication. You can put your blog as the first link in your Favorites (bookmarks) so that it is only one click away. If the /staff/ref/ page is what you want, you'll find all those links and more under the "reference" tab on the Intranet home page. The directory of HPL Blogs is listed there as well, for your convenience.

Thank you for your support,

Diana, Gina, Mike, and Syma

never mind

thought there was going to be a problem with central retrievals, but it's been fixed.

Gina

HPL Blogs

Did you know that HPL Blogs for internal are now listed on the HPL Wiki?
Check it out at: http://10.34.145.39/twiki/bin/view/HPL/BlogDirectory . If yours isn't listed, it can be.

Gina

Are you going to ALA Midwinter and ALA Summer

Only a few days left to save with the Special Bundled Registration for
the ALA 2008 Midwinter Meeting and 2008 Annual Conference

This year ALA is offering a special bundled price on the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference if you register for BOTH during the month of September. You can save 20% over the advance registration price you would pay if you bought each event separately!

This bundled price will be available from September 1 - September 30, 2007 only.

If you know you are attending both the Midwinter Meeting and the Annual Conference this year, this is the way to save. The comparison rates without the bundle are show in parentheses, so you can see the savings.

Bundle Prices:

ALA Member: $290* (Advance MW $160; EB AC $180; Advance AC $205)

ALA Division Member: $285* (Advance MW $160; EB AC $175: Advance AC $200)

ALA Student Member: $118* (Advance MW $60; EB AC $90; Advance AC $115)

*This price covers only basic registration for these two events, and does not include any additional "ticketed" events, such as the Scholarship Bash, preconferences or institutes, or banquets. Tickets for these events will be available when regular Registration opens, and can be added at that time.

For cancellation policy on these very special registration bundles, see the ALA Web site: www.ala.org/midwinter

On-line, fax, mail and purchase order registrations accepted.

Looscan Hours and phone number

Looscan public number: 832-393-1900
The address is still 2510 Willowick (just north of Westheimer).

Grand opening today from 4 to 6, open regular hours tomorrow.

Hours:
M 10-8
T 10-6
W 10-6
Th 12-8
F 12-6
Sa 10-6

Looscan Grand Opening

Just a reminder (and a call for volunteers)

Looscan has two more opening ceremonies. A Donor Reception on Tuesday from 4-7, and the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting ceremony on Wednesday from 4-6.

If you can volunteer a half hour or more at either or both of these events, please email Melissa Jarvis at melissa.jarvis@cityofhouston.net . The Tuesday event is by invitation only (and there were over 700 invitations sent); the Wednesday event is for the general public.

Both events will be catered, so you won't have to worry about that. The duties will be greeting people and talking about the building itself. (you'll have talking points provided)

Laptop software timers.

Managers,

Please check with the staff in your branch that deal most closely with laptop circulation. I need input by 5 p.m. today. Should we only go by the receipts or should we use the timers on the laptops?


-------- see below -----
Public Services Team,

We need your input on a policy. As we prepare for laptop training, we need a decision on the timers for laptops. The circulation team and others would like the timers disabled and just refer patrons to the return time on the receipt. However, there was a complaint that went to the Mayor’s office about needing the timers on the machine.

Could you please discuss this issue with your staff and let us know if Public Services wants the laptop timers enabled or not? We would like to include this information in our laptop training.

Thanks in advance,
Karen

Karen Y. Williams, MLIS

Wonderful Audio Conference Opportunity

E-Learning: Train Your Staff the New-Fangled Way
September 19th, ULC Audio Conference

HPL is going to participate in this Audio Conference. Sponsored by Urban Libraries Council and WebJunction. This is an opportunity to learn about and ask questions on E-Learning for Library Staff Development. I'm especially excited that Helene Blowers is a panelist. She has long been a proponent of new formats of staff training and was the primary person behind the PLCMC Learning 2.0 project.

Your District Training Coordinator will be contacting you shortly about this. Details will be coming soon, so if you are interested, save the date and time.

The Common Craft Show

The little video on RSS feeds, as well as others made by this group, can be found at http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

Welcome!

Hello all,

Welcome to the Chief of Neighborhood Libraries new blog. My intention is to make regular postings to encourage discussion about library events, services, policies and other topics of importance to Neighborhood Libraries. I encourage you to subscribe and participate in the conversation.

--Gina