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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