Happy New Year and a Prosperous 2015!

We hope you all had wonderful holidays.
Have you made any resolutions to learn something in 2015?
If so, focus on the positive, create a plan of action... and be happy!
Happy New Year!

                                                                                                                      (Posted by Ana Frade)

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Graduation Game Plan at Carnegie

Graduation Game Plan helps motivate students to figure out a plan to graduate and help find direction for what happens after high school. This program helps students focus on understanding the connection between school and their career choices. In addition the Graduation Game Plan Program helps to bring awareness to students’ academic and motivate students to be more accountable for their academic choices.
Students that attended this program learned valuable suggestions about life after high school and how to develop work ethic from more than a dozen college mentors to help them succeed. During this event the students learned the importance of making positive changes now so that they can have a successful future.

Kudos to all guest who came out to support this event and also to the Carnegie staff who worked so diligently to help this vision become a reality. Special thanks to Erika Arrington, our Youth Librarian, for the great job she did in the organization of this event.

 



(Posted by Ana Frade)

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Storytelling through song!

On Wednesday December 10th , 2014 the Houston Grand Opera’s Storybook Opera will be presenting at Carnegie Library "Chrysanthemum". Storytelling through song!

Come to celebrate the winter season with family-friendly, literary-inspired programs at Carnegie Neighborhood Library!

 

                                                                                                                              (Posted by Ana Frade)

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Northside: A Mexican American Community Exhibit Opening Reception- a resounding success

On Thursday October 9th more than 200 people attended the Opening Reception of Northside: A Mexican American Community Exhibit  at Carnegie Neighborhood Library.
The event was extremely successful thanks to the incredible support from our Community and the exceptional dedication of the Carnegie Team.
Well done, team!

The exhibit will run through the end of December, 2014.

                                                                                                                             

                                
(Posted by Ana Frade)

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KHOU: Great Day Houston: Linking you to the World

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New Due date for Statistics Reports

Because of the data that must be reported to the Mayor’s Office as part of Performance Measures, Communications has moved the deadline to submit statistics from the 10^th of the month to

  the 7^th of the month. 

 Please use that date moving forward.

Janna

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“I Have MY Link, Do YOU Have Yours?” Amnesty Program

In an effort to get the My Link Library Card into the hands of as many Houstonians as possible, HPL will waive fines under $25.00 for those who register for a new MY Link Library Card Wednesday, September 10^th through Friday, September 26^th, 2014.   Amnesty will apply to all accounts that are NOT in the collection process.  Accruing fines for overdue items returned during the amnesty period will also be waived.   

More details on the amnesty program - https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/images/staff-amnesty-faq.pdf 

To find out more about the amnesty, check out the Overdue Fines Tutorial Video. The video will not only explain which fines/fees are eligible to be forgiven, it will also provide instruction regarding how to remove eligible charges from accounts when customers get the new My Link – Powered by HEB library card.  

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HPL Red Shirt Week

The week of Wednesday, September 10^th through Wednesday, September 17^th,  is designated as an “HPL Red Shirt Week” to kick off My LINK campaign. HPL employees are expected to wear either an HPL shirt or white shirt each day this week, along with your MY LINK Library Card Campaign button that each staff member will receive in early September. 

Clarifications from Michele Gorman on the Red Shirt Week:

" To clarify – you can wear your red HPL collared shirt, any red shirt, or any white shirt that week, along with your new library card campaign button all staff will receive at their locations soon."

(Janna)

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"I have MY LINK, do YOU have yours?"

Click here for more information on the MY LINK campaign

MY Link Library Card campaign launch festivities will start on September 10^th with the Mayor’s press Conference and fun activities at H-E-B and all HPL locations on September13^th. 

Four main goals for the campaign:

1. To widely promote HPL’s resources, services and programs to every member of the community, taking every opportunity to share the advantages of this free card;
2. To get the MY Link Card into the hands of every student;
3. To replace existing HPL cards with the new MY LINK card with the H-E-B logo; and
4. To increase the number of cardholders to 1 million by the end of FY15.

Special Campaign Kick Off Activities, September 10^th-17^th:

• Press Conference with Mayor Parker and H-E-B, Wednesday, September 10^th

• Official Launch of the Campaign,  Saturday, September 13^th

Fun and festivities to formally launch the campaign with the public based on the theme “Celebrating MY Link to the World”: 

• H-E-B Montrose Market at 1701 West Alabama, where we will join our H-E-B partners from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to tell customers about the value of having the MY LINK card. 

• All HPL Libraries! Of course we want our neighborhood libraries and the Central Library to participate in the celebration as well so we will be providing all HPL locations with posters, balloons and cookies so you can help promote the new campaign and get the new card in the hands of as many customers as possible on the 13^th!

• City of Houston Farmers Market, Wednesday, September 17^th

We’ll have booths and tables to conduct outreach, and H-E-B will have one of their local trucks wrapped with the MY LINK message on hand, along with our HPL Mobile Express. 

To make this even more fun, all customers who sign up for a new card on Saturday, September 13^th  at H-E-B Montrose or any of our locations  or at the Farmer’s Market on September 17^th will be entered into a drawing to WIN one of five iPad Minis!  

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Pop-Up library update

·     (Per Mary Wagoner)

             When children visit, please ask them if they have participated in a Pop Up Library event. 

·         When they say, “Yes”, please ask them for the punch card. 

·         If they do not have a punch card, assure them that it is okay and please go ahead and award them a free Pop Up Library book.  Please make a hash mark on the tally sheet. 

            

During May, June and July, the Pop Up Library team has travelled throughout 35 zip codes in Houston delivering storytimes, interactive activities and iPad activities at area WIC clinics, parks, HEB grocery stores, housing authority sites and more.  To date, the team has completed the following:

·         251 sessions

·         186 programming hours

·         Total of 4170 attendees!

o   2891 juveniles

o   1279 adults

      We are looking forward to a very busy August schedule!  One of our goals is reinforcing the positive experience of coming to the library.    

         

             Janna

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Weeding is on hold for now

Team,

Weeding has been placed on hold for now. The warehouse is running out of room. We will be informed when to resume weeding and boxing of items for friends and discards. Items absolutely nasty  and unusable, can be removed from our collection.

(per Theodora)

Janna

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Chipotle Coupons Distribution

Chipotle wants to ensure that the meal coupons are getting into the hands of customers and they have requested that we start distributing them at programs. Start using the Chipotle coupons as program giveaways.

Janna

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Nicole Robinson is on Comcast Newsmakers

Team,  Nicole Robinson is on the Comcast Newsmakers.

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HPL - Top Innovator in Health, Wellness and Safety for Healthy L.I.F.E initiative

Team,

Houston Public Library was selected by the Urban Libraries Council as the top innovator in Health, Wellness and Safety for Healthy L.I.F.E initiative.

Carnegie NL and Lifelong Learning Center hosted 4 Healthy L.I.F.E events in November, January, February and March.

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Book Bag/Chipotle Coupon Awards Tracking

To address the issue of customers attempting to collect more than one book bag/Chipotle coupon , please put a note in Evanced that says “Bag awarded LOCATION/INITIALS”.  Make sure all staff knows to do this, and please check Evanced before giving a child a bag. Remember, the customer needs to have the log with him/her, and there needs to be at least 5 books read, and all 5 STREAM program stickers in the log.

The reason we don’t have a way to actually award in Evanced is because it confuses the system to have more than 2 criteria to track, and it’s already tracking number of hours and number of books read. Please continue to use the Google Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cuJSBaN7Sbjf-sygm3EhaTjdkk6QG-LUfi2_-ZkAo60/viewform to track the number of bags and coupons given away, in addition to writing the note in Evanced.

Sara Pope

(Janna)

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Chipotle Coupon/Bookbag Tracking and Handling Wonderopolis

In order to track how many people are collecting the Chipotle coupon/book bag prize, there is a simple Google form to use. It can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cuJSBaN7Sbjf-sygm3EhaTjdkk6QG-LUfi2_-ZkAo60/viewform

When you give out a Chipotle coupon and book bag to the kids who have read 5 books and attended 5 programs, use the Google form to record it. If you can remember, you can just do it at the end of the day 1 time, but if you can’t remember, you should do it every time you give out a bag. All you need to do is select your location, and type in how many Chipotle coupons/bookbags you gave out.

A customer needs to have his/her log book to show that they have actually attended the 5 programs and read 5 books (indicated with 5 STREAM stickers and at least 1 reader sticker).

For the Wonderopolis component of the STREAM badges: Instead of attending 5 programs, a kid can attend 4 programs, and complete a Camp Wonderopolis activity. Camp Wonderopolis goes live on June 16^th. They must complete the activity, and print out and show you the Camp Card (what we originally called a badge in the promotional materials), or, if they do the activity in the library, they can show you the screen without printing out the Camp Card. Since a customer can only do 1 Wonderopolis activity to count as a program, we are going to make a note in Evanced on the customer’s account that says Wonderopolis and your location’s initials. We hope this will cut down on fraud. So, when a customer does a Wonderopolis activity, you will look them up in the SRP software, and click on the person icon to edit their account. You’ll write in the note field: “WONDEROPOLIS CAR” if there isn’t already a note about Wonderopolis there, and if there is already a note, you can tell the customer that they’ve already collected the STREAM badge for Wonderopolis, and to collect more badges, they can attend some of our wonderful programs!

Thanks!

Sara

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Congrats! Carnegie CBC Display Won

Team, Congratulations on winning the CBC display contest. Su, thank you for leading this effort!
Below is the letter from Sara

Hi Janna and Beatriz,

I’m pleased to announce that Carnegie won the CBC display contest! The judges were blown away by the detail and size of your display!

Great job, and congratulations!

Sara

Sara Pope, MLS

Children's Librarian/Assistant Manager

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Summer Book Sale - by the Friends of HPL

The Friends of HPL Summer Sale is fast approaching.  It is June 12^th – 14^th at the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church. 

Please help us get the word out to our customers.

Between now and June 14^th, please help by:

·         Providing a push card to each customer at checkout

·         Mentioning the sale to customers at checkout, or in other interactions, using the following talking points:

o   I want to make you aware of the Summer Book Sale hosted by the Friends of the Houston Public Library.

o   The Friends is a non-profit organization that supports HPL.

o   Most of their support comes from funds raised through their book sales.

o   They will have over 20,000 books available – most for just $1 or $2.

o   You can find more information at their website (listed on the bottom of the card).

The Friends are a critical partner to HPL.  Their hard work has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for HPL over the years.  Last year alone, the Friends provided $137,000 to HPL – funds used provide scholarship opportunities for HPL staff, funding for conference attendance and training, and more.

You can learn more about the Friends here:  http://friendsofhpl.org/index.html.

Thanks! 

 Laurie Covington

(Janna)

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Summer Food Program

Team,

Carnegie library will be participating in the Summer Food Service program starting June 11 through July 31.

Brief program description:

Summer Food Service Program aims to alleviate childhood hunger in Houston. It is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), administered through Texas Department of Agriculture and sponsored locally by Houston Parks and Recreation Department.

50 free lunches will be served for youth ages 1 to 18 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11am-1pm (June 11 through July 31). The lunches must be consumed at the library. The lunches will include one serving of milk, two or more servings of vegetables and/or fruits, one serving of grain or bread, and one serving of meat or meat alternative.

More information http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/summerfood.html

Large Meeting Room will be used on the above indicated days/times for serving lunches.  Please make sure that you do not reserve the room for anything else.

In the Evanced this program is marked as Free Lunches for Children

We have received the flyers about this program. They are at the CSD. Please review them.

Thank you

Janna

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Telephone Greetings

Hello,

Polite greetings to customers can make the whole call go much easier and is the first part of the customer interaction.  You never know who might be on the other end of the phone.  Here is the official Houston Public Library Three Part Greeting.

Three Part Telephone Greeting for Public Service Telephones

1. Thank the caller for calling the Houston Public Library System.

Thank you for calling the Houston Public Library System.

2. Follow with the name of your branch/unit.

This is Carnegie Neighborhood Library and Lifelong Learning Center

3. Offer Assistance.

How may I help you?

In addition, remember to ask permission before you put a caller on hold.  If you transfer a call to another desk or location, please make sure that the intended recipient is there before you complete the transfer.   

Thanks,

Laurie Covington

Neighborhood Library Team Leader

(Janna)

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READ DOWN THE FINES VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS

TEAM, this video is mandatory for everybody to watch. It is approximately 6 minutes. Please complete watching this video by Wednesday, May 28.




Janna

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Houston's Literacy Crisis: A Blueprint for Community Action

Team,

Good job on reviewing the summary of the Houston's Literacy Crisis report. In case if you want to have a copy or refer to the information provided in the report - here are the links to digital copies of the report.

Houston's Literacy Crisis: A Blueprint for Community Action

executive summary

full report



Janna

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SRP Badge Logs

All materials that are needed for the SRP (award books, stickers, logs, certificates) are stored behind the CSD inside the cabinet next to the Laptops cabinet. The cabinet doors have “Summer Reading program materials” signs attached to them.

A customer can register for SRP online http://www.houstonlibrary.org/summer or in person.

Whether registered online or in person, the customers will receive the badge log at the CSD  and claim the registration awards (free book and $5 fine coupon. The coupons - we should receive them by the end of may. Meanwhile, when you award the customer with a free book, DO NOT forget to mark in the customer’s Evanced account that the coupon was not awarded yet - noting CAR and your initials. Example:

"Has not received $5 coupon for registration CAR/JH"; 

AND make sure you mark the claimed free book in Evanced.)

The Badge Log:

Page 2 – SRP guidelines

Page 3 – Customer information AND Registration sticker location

Pages 4-5 Books reading log

Page 6 – Earned Books stickers will be attached on this page

Page 7 - Earned Programs stickers will be attached on this page


Janna

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SRP Registration awards

Very important message about awarding the SRP Registration Prize:

When someone signs up for SRP at your location (or signs themselves up online and comes in to collect their Registration Prize), go ahead and award the prize in Evanced, and give them their Rosen books. Since we don't have the $5 off fines coupon yet for reading down your fines, please make a note in the customer's account in Evanced that says "Has not received $5 coupon for registration" with your location and initials, so the note should look like:

Has not received $5 coupon for registration OAK/SP

VERY IMPORTANT: After we receive the coupons, and the customer comes in to collect the coupon (perhaps when they come in to collect their reading prizes), give them the coupon and DELETE THE NOTE by editing their account. This is standard procedure for when we don't one element of a prize level, since you will already have awarded the other item in the registration prize (the Rosen book).

Janna

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Warning to not use Internet Explorer

Hello,

Homeland Security has issued warning to not use Internet Explorer

As a result of Homeland Security’s warning, IT has asked us stop using Internet Explorer and to discourage customers from using Internet Explorer.  Your public and staff computers should have Firefox or Chrome on them.  Please use those browsers instead of Internet Explorer.  If you do not see them, please contact the HALAN Helpdesk to ask for them to be installed.  

You can read more information about the warnings at these links:

http://www.wcvb.com/money/government-warns-against-using-internet-explorer-web-browser/25714896#!HmWDv

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/new-security-flaw-affects-all-versions-of-internet-84085229159.html

Thanks,

Laurie Covington

(Janna)

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Read Down the Fines

from Syma Zerkow:

I am very excited to announce that the Mayor has approved a Read Down Your Fines component as part of the Summer Reading Program.  We will be issuing coupons entitling kids to $5.00 off overdue fines when they register for SRP and offer additional coupons as they achieve each reading level.  This is the first time since 1978 that Houston Public Library has offered such a program.  Here are a few preliminary details:

Coupon details:

·         May be used for overdue fines only. 

·         Cannot be used for fines, fees or charges related to lost library materials.

·         Cannot be applied to accounts in Collection.

·         Expire August 31 (deadline for kids to claim any of their SRP prizes)

·         Each coupon can only be used once.  For instance, if it is used to pay a $3.00 fine, it cannot be kept and used again to pay another $2.00 in fines.

We will be getting more detailed information out to you soon, including procedures for handling the coupons and paying the fines in Sirsi.

Thanks,

Syma

(Janna)

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Summer Reading Program

Team,

this is a reminder that the registration for Summer Reading Program start today - May 1.

The books for giving away as the registration award are in the cabinets behind the CSD. Do not forget to promote our events. Give the visitors the flyers  when they approach the desk,  especially the visitors with children.

Evanced staff access - http://hplsr.evanced.info/maintenance.asp

Public access - http://hplsr.evanced.info/homepage.asp

Janna

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Processing Money (Fines and Book Sale)

Good Day Team,

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of the following from the Financial Services Department:

• ·         Fines and booksale should be sent in two separate envelops
• ·         The reason why you have to send them in two separate envelops is because the money goes into two separate banks
• ·         Each envelop should be labelled accordingly
• ·         The fines envelop should contain money from fines, bags, copies, passport fees and  library cards
• ·         The booksale envelope should contain money collected from selling books and other donated materials, flash drives and ear buds.
• ·         If the fines and booksale money cannot be separated due to lack of change, you can send everything in the same envelop with an explanation of why you had to do so.
• ·         Two copies of the report should be printed and sent even if you are only sending one envelop.

Theodora.

(Janna)

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Carnegie Dia Celebration is on the News

Our Dia celebration that took place last week (04.24) is featured on the local News Station KTRK-TV (ABC 13). (if the video does not open, please copy and paste)

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9518576

look for the footage at: 0:46 ; 1:14 ; 1:46.

Thank you all for helping with organizing and attending this event.

Janna

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Lights Out Houston 2014

It is time again for HPLs participation in Lights Out Houston 2014. The City of Houston has pledged that our buildings will participate in Lights Out Houston 2014.

Our pledge is that we will turn off all non-essential lighting from Thursday, April 24th at 9:00pm through the weekend.

Turn off any non essential lighting. GSD will take care of the rest.

(per Karrington Burnett, Shammi Gill)

Janna

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DOOR COUNT

REMINDER!!!!  Monday, April 21 through Saturday, April 26 is DOOR COUNT

WHAT:             Door Count measures 2 things:

1.       Visitors by the hour, through gate counts

2.       In-House materials used, by the day

Gate counts are measured by recording the P number on your gate each hour. This way we get a general idea of what times of the day are busiest at your location.

In-House material counts are counted manually but we only need a daily total. This count is used by libraries nationally to measure use of print-based materials.

HOW:              Please review the Door Count template before Door Count begins. 

·         Count any item that is removed from the shelf or stacks, by staff or the public. All formats are counted and each physical item is counted as one.

·         Enter your gate’s P numbers hourly and materials use, daily.

·         The Closing P number should be the same as the opening number for the following day.

·         If the gate is broken, the CSD scheduled employee will need to count visitors manually, and will enter the hourly visitor counts into the spreadsheet’s P number section.

·         Su will enter the numbers in the final template (G-drive  Statistics  Door Count). 

Janna

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HCC $20 charge for registration

This is a reminder that HCC now charges a $20 fee for the classes registration (ESL, GED)

Janna

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Dale! Dale! Dance and Sing-a-Long Fun

Carnegie in cooperation with the Central Programming Department will offer a fun event for children and their families on April 24 at 4pm. This is one of the El Día de los Niños celebrations and is called "Dale! Dale! Dance and Sing-a-Long Fun"

What will happen during this event:

Bilingual children’s book author Lupe Ruiz-Flores and illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores will arrive for entertaining presentations for kids and families. Song and dance performances, crafts, and light refreshments will be offered.

Lupe Ruiz-Flores’ Lupita’s First Dance / El primer baile de Lupita and Let’s Salsa / Bailemos salsa. 
Carolyn Dee Flore’s artwork in Canta Rana, canta / Sing, Froggie, Sing and Dale, dale, dale: Una fiesta de numeros / Hit It, Hit It, Hit It: A Fiesta of Numbers.

Janna

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Keeping P.A.C.E.

Team, as you know we will start offering Keeping P.A.C.E. program at our location.

It will start on April 12 and last till May 31.

The program will have 2 classes per week:

on Tuesdays (April 15, 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27) 5:30-7:30pm
on Saturdays (April 12, 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31)

Please, make sure you DO NOT reserve neither the meetings rooms (SMR, LMR), nor the computer lab during this time.

Janna

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Graduation Game Plan

We will have for next 4 Mondays the program "Graduation Game Plan" sponsored by the mayor's office.

The "Graduation Game Plan" outlines the steps to help students graduate from high school, prepare for life after graduation, gain the workforce skills needed, and learn about personal management skills. 
Students will have the opportunity to sit down with responsible adult mentors to map educational and career goals.

The program takes place in the Large Meeting Room on Mondays:

March 24,31, April 7, 14 at 3:30 pm.

Janna

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Staff Meeting

This is a reminder that we will have our staff meeting on Friday, March 14 at 9am

Janna

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New Programs at Carnegie

Team,

We are happy to announce that we have 2 new additions to our adult programming:

Knitting and Crochet Classes:

This classes became possible due to Beatriz's successful efforts in finding volunteers to teach these classes. The classes will be available in both English and Spanish.

The schedule for the program:

Every Wednesday, 1-3pm (in SMR)


Healthy Cooking Classes:

As a result of ongoing partnership with Texas A&M, we are now offering free adult nutrition program “Healthy Food, Healthy Families”. This program is a seven session series. Every session has a new meal preparation presentation.  In the end of the program (after attending at least 6 sessions), the participants will be awarded a certificate of completion and a book. Unofficially we call the sessions “Healthy Cooking Classes”, and the first class took place last week on March 6 at 9:15am. 

The schedule for the program:

March 6, March 27, April 3, April 10, April 17, April 24   -     9:15-10:15am

March 13 – 10:30-11:30am

March 20 – no class.

(in SMR)

Janna

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HCC update

It came to our attention that HCC will now collect $20 registration fee for the ESL/GED classes.

Please keep this in mind when you provide the information about the HCC courses to the library visitors.

Janna

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New Custodian's Hours

Team,

We are really happy to announce that Carnegie will now have extended custodian's hours. For all the hours that the library is open, a custodian will be on duty - including Saturdays. Thank you, Walter Ellis and GSD!

Janna

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