Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Kudos from Customers
Main: Children's and Special Collections: Two employees were more helpful and courteous than ever: Keith Hayes (Children's) and Catherine Currier (Special Collections) at the help desk.
Main: Third Floor Reference: Janine Stanley is a thorough librarian and goes the extra mile. She didn't have to help but she did.
Pablo Creek Branch Library: Jackie Spiritas found my watch and returned it when I came by to see if I had lost it there. She refused a reward and this watch was worth $2000. I am fortunate that Ms. Spiritas is so honest. She has restored my faith in mankind.
Southeast Branch Library: I love this branch. I drive past two other locations in order to come to this location. I really like the service people like Dorthenia Young and Pertoria Kennedy.
Westbrook Branch Library: Mrs. Janene Cortez is the most helpful staff member as well as the others. The security officer is very nice.
Main: Third Floor Reference: Janine Stanley is a thorough librarian and goes the extra mile. She didn't have to help but she did.
Pablo Creek Branch Library: Jackie Spiritas found my watch and returned it when I came by to see if I had lost it there. She refused a reward and this watch was worth $2000. I am fortunate that Ms. Spiritas is so honest. She has restored my faith in mankind.
Southeast Branch Library: I love this branch. I drive past two other locations in order to come to this location. I really like the service people like Dorthenia Young and Pertoria Kennedy.
Westbrook Branch Library: Mrs. Janene Cortez is the most helpful staff member as well as the others. The security officer is very nice.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Your Opinion Counts!
As announced at LLM, January will be the month to market the Your Opinions Counts! Customer Satisfaction surveys to customers.
You can expect to receive flyers, counter signs and, at some of the branches, posters to promote the survey by January 1st. Signage should be prominently displayed and flyers should be handed out to all customers at circulation during the month. In addition, please verbally encourage customers to take the survey and tell them about the incentive prizes -- four $25.00 gift cards, a one year membership in the Friends of the Library, and a Booktique 10% off coupon.
To enter the drawing for the prizes, customers who take the survey will have to enter their contact information in (any of) the customer comment boxes on the survey. The marketing materials will detail this, but please remind and help customers do this.
We are establishing “pop ups” and the message on check out receipts. We have also requested that ITD to re-establish the survey icon on the catalog-only computers. Finally, Public Information will place a blurb about the customer survey in the next two city e-news editions. They also plan to place a link on the coj.net homepage, in addition to the portal.
Customer satisfaction data is important! Please continue to encourage creative in-house promotions during the month. Don’t hesitate to use the counting opinions bookmarks that you already have on hand, and let Stacie Bucher now if you need additional materials.
Please make sure that you are familiar with the survey so you can help customers, http://www.countingopinions.com/jpl/
Let’s make January a benchmark month for the number of surveys completed!
Best wishes for happy holidays,
Melonee Slocum
You can expect to receive flyers, counter signs and, at some of the branches, posters to promote the survey by January 1st. Signage should be prominently displayed and flyers should be handed out to all customers at circulation during the month. In addition, please verbally encourage customers to take the survey and tell them about the incentive prizes -- four $25.00 gift cards, a one year membership in the Friends of the Library, and a Booktique 10% off coupon.
To enter the drawing for the prizes, customers who take the survey will have to enter their contact information in (any of) the customer comment boxes on the survey. The marketing materials will detail this, but please remind and help customers do this.
We are establishing “pop ups” and the message on check out receipts. We have also requested that ITD to re-establish the survey icon on the catalog-only computers. Finally, Public Information will place a blurb about the customer survey in the next two city e-news editions. They also plan to place a link on the coj.net homepage, in addition to the portal.
Customer satisfaction data is important! Please continue to encourage creative in-house promotions during the month. Don’t hesitate to use the counting opinions bookmarks that you already have on hand, and let Stacie Bucher now if you need additional materials.
Please make sure that you are familiar with the survey so you can help customers, http://www.countingopinions.com/jpl/
Let’s make January a benchmark month for the number of surveys completed!
Best wishes for happy holidays,
Melonee Slocum
Argyle Branch Library Is Adding A Mural
The theme of this beautiful mural is 'Start Here. Go Anywhere!' It is a public art piece commissioned by Regions Bank. The bank has donated the mural to the library and the City. The artist, Pamela Miller, has extensive experience as a muralist and is a regular customer at Argyle. The mural is located on the rounded wall above the picture books in the children’s department. In preparation, she primed the wall and chose latex wall paint, which can easily be washed. Ms Miller began work on the project on December 8 and the expected date of completion is January 9. You are invited to come and enjoy this delightful new addition of art at the Argyle Branch Library.
The Books are Coming! The Books are Coming!
You may have seen an e mail from me recently with the same title as above. Hopefully, you have even received some new materials at your branch already. If you haven’t you will be getting shiny new things any day now. Since we are ordering again, it seems like a good time to begin making contributions to the JPL Blog. We will try to keep it light and interesting—we save the heavy, uninteresting stuff for e mail! For this first entry I wanted to highlight a few new titles that we have sent off as orders. You may have heard about them and will want to keep an eye out for them when they show up at your branch.
The latest from Patricia Cornwell in the Kay Scarpetta series is easy enough to remember, it’s called Scarpetta.
Booklist Review:
Twenty years after launching the Kay Scarpetta series, Cornwell returns to form (the last few entries have been disappointing) in this thoroughly contemporary, high-impact outing. Though she lives and works in South Carolina, medical examiner Scarpetta is asked for by name by a man being accused of murder in Manhattan. He says he won t let anyone else examine him for DNA evidence except Dr. Scarpetta, who is nationally known after making numerous appearances on CNN. Normally Scarpetta wouldn’t abide such an odd request, but her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley, convinces her after evaluating the accused himself. Despite having the victim’s DNA all over him, Oscar Bane insists he did not commit the murder and insists to Scarpetta and to anyone else who will listen that he is being electronically monitored by someone or something and implores them to watch their backs. Initially, Bane seems to be just another paranoid criminal, but evidence emerges to show he just might be on to something. All the while, Scarpetta herself deals with electronic scrutiny of a sort when an anonymous online gossip columnist reveals horrible secrets from her past. Can she convince her colleagues to listen to Bane’s warnings before it’s too late? The blend of forensic investigation and high-tech intrigue will please Scarpetta’s legions of fans. Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.
There are also a number of new titles, both serious and definitely not serious, on order on the topic of women in the political spotlight. Look for two on Sarah Palin: Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader and Terminatrix: The Sarah Palin Chronicles (the not so serious), a biography of Michelle Obama titled Michelle, and Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street by Cherie Blair, the wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
Be on the lookout for these new titles and a lot more—coming to a branch near you. Also stay tuned for further Collection Development contributions to the JPL Blog.
The latest from Patricia Cornwell in the Kay Scarpetta series is easy enough to remember, it’s called Scarpetta.
Booklist Review:
Twenty years after launching the Kay Scarpetta series, Cornwell returns to form (the last few entries have been disappointing) in this thoroughly contemporary, high-impact outing. Though she lives and works in South Carolina, medical examiner Scarpetta is asked for by name by a man being accused of murder in Manhattan. He says he won t let anyone else examine him for DNA evidence except Dr. Scarpetta, who is nationally known after making numerous appearances on CNN. Normally Scarpetta wouldn’t abide such an odd request, but her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley, convinces her after evaluating the accused himself. Despite having the victim’s DNA all over him, Oscar Bane insists he did not commit the murder and insists to Scarpetta and to anyone else who will listen that he is being electronically monitored by someone or something and implores them to watch their backs. Initially, Bane seems to be just another paranoid criminal, but evidence emerges to show he just might be on to something. All the while, Scarpetta herself deals with electronic scrutiny of a sort when an anonymous online gossip columnist reveals horrible secrets from her past. Can she convince her colleagues to listen to Bane’s warnings before it’s too late? The blend of forensic investigation and high-tech intrigue will please Scarpetta’s legions of fans. Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.
There are also a number of new titles, both serious and definitely not serious, on order on the topic of women in the political spotlight. Look for two on Sarah Palin: Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader and Terminatrix: The Sarah Palin Chronicles (the not so serious), a biography of Michelle Obama titled Michelle, and Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street by Cherie Blair, the wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
Be on the lookout for these new titles and a lot more—coming to a branch near you. Also stay tuned for further Collection Development contributions to the JPL Blog.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Elves at University Park Branch Dance for You!
University Park staff put together a little Christmas display they would like to share. It takes a bit of time for it to load, but be patient because it's worth the wait. The elves, left to right, are: Marlin Day, Senior Librarian; Michael Rouse, Branch Manager; Cindy Chism, Library Clerical Services Supervisor; Leona Cain, CSAII; and Gail Midon, Librarian. Encore!
The link is: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/8O919X9fmKRyuceO0XvW
The link is: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/8O919X9fmKRyuceO0XvW
Beaches Branch Now Has A Blog
Sandra Ostroski, Librarian Senior, has created a blog to keep staff and customers informed about all the great events going on at the Beaches Branch Library. You are invited to visit their site often and comments will be welcome. The blog address is: http://pghsandy.blogspot.com/.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Volunteers (L to R) Bill Gawler, John Macrae and Robert Schnitzer Keep Pablo Creek’s Computer Classes Going Strong
Pablo Creek Regional Library offers free computer classes every month ranging from basic mouse skills to PowerPoint. During FY 2007/2008 130 classes were presented to almost 1,200 students, and class evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive.
These popular classes are presented by Pablo Creek staff members as well as three dedicated volunteers who not only teach but sometimes even create handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and interactive online tutorials. Pablo Creek is truly blessed to have volunteers John Macrae, Robert Schnitzer and Bill Gawler, whose generous gift of time and expertise help make our computer classes some of the best around.
John Macrae has been volunteering at the Southeast Branch since November 2005, and in January 2007 also started helping with Pablo Creek’s computer classes. John is a retired computer consultant who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and lived in North Carolina, Arizona, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio before he and his wife moved to Jacksonville in 2005. He first became interested in computers in college and has enjoyed using computers and writing programs ever since. He holds degrees in math and psychology and says, “If people were surprised at that pairing I used to tell them that in my work I find the psychology much more useful than the math. That remains true in teaching the classes at PCR.” Currently John teaches several classes, including an introduction to the Internet, Web searching skills, and an email class, and he also assists with several others.
Robert Schnitzer hails from Houston, Texas and worked in Los Angeles for 35 years as a retirement plan actuary and consultant before moving to Jacksonville 6½ years ago. Robert stays busy with lots of volunteer activities, including system design and computer training for Dress For Success and Women’s Center of Jacksonville, web page design and maintenance for Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre (ABET) and Singers by the Sea, and singing in not one but two choral groups. He also first encountered computers in college and has had computers in his home since 1980. He is married with two grown sons and four grandchildren. Of his experience in teaching the always well-received Excel spreadsheets class at Pablo Creek, Robert says this: “Nothing is more gratifying than sharing one's knowledge and skills. I live for the "ah-hah" moments, when a student recognizes that she or he has learned something wonderful and amazing.”
Bill Gawler is the most recent addition to Pablo Creek’s computer volunteers. A retired Air Force fighter pilot, Bill has also worked as a corporate pilot and in real estate. He and his wife have been in Jacksonville for 10 years. He started helping with the computer classes at Pablo Creek last spring and also enjoys volunteering at Mayo Clinic and tutoring high school students. As to his background in computers, he says, “Have only used computer in retirement for basic essentials, thus not too competent!” He reports that his daughter, an Elementary School Computer Specialist, takes great delight in his new volunteer effort at the library ("Dad, you are kidding, aren’t you?"), but Bill’s willingness to assist with the word processing, Internet and Excel classes shows he’s ready to jump in with both feet!
It’s been a great year for Pablo Creek’s computer instruction program and with the help of our wonderful volunteers we look forward to the best year ever in 2009.
These popular classes are presented by Pablo Creek staff members as well as three dedicated volunteers who not only teach but sometimes even create handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and interactive online tutorials. Pablo Creek is truly blessed to have volunteers John Macrae, Robert Schnitzer and Bill Gawler, whose generous gift of time and expertise help make our computer classes some of the best around.
John Macrae has been volunteering at the Southeast Branch since November 2005, and in January 2007 also started helping with Pablo Creek’s computer classes. John is a retired computer consultant who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and lived in North Carolina, Arizona, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio before he and his wife moved to Jacksonville in 2005. He first became interested in computers in college and has enjoyed using computers and writing programs ever since. He holds degrees in math and psychology and says, “If people were surprised at that pairing I used to tell them that in my work I find the psychology much more useful than the math. That remains true in teaching the classes at PCR.” Currently John teaches several classes, including an introduction to the Internet, Web searching skills, and an email class, and he also assists with several others.
Robert Schnitzer hails from Houston, Texas and worked in Los Angeles for 35 years as a retirement plan actuary and consultant before moving to Jacksonville 6½ years ago. Robert stays busy with lots of volunteer activities, including system design and computer training for Dress For Success and Women’s Center of Jacksonville, web page design and maintenance for Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre (ABET) and Singers by the Sea, and singing in not one but two choral groups. He also first encountered computers in college and has had computers in his home since 1980. He is married with two grown sons and four grandchildren. Of his experience in teaching the always well-received Excel spreadsheets class at Pablo Creek, Robert says this: “Nothing is more gratifying than sharing one's knowledge and skills. I live for the "ah-hah" moments, when a student recognizes that she or he has learned something wonderful and amazing.”
Bill Gawler is the most recent addition to Pablo Creek’s computer volunteers. A retired Air Force fighter pilot, Bill has also worked as a corporate pilot and in real estate. He and his wife have been in Jacksonville for 10 years. He started helping with the computer classes at Pablo Creek last spring and also enjoys volunteering at Mayo Clinic and tutoring high school students. As to his background in computers, he says, “Have only used computer in retirement for basic essentials, thus not too competent!” He reports that his daughter, an Elementary School Computer Specialist, takes great delight in his new volunteer effort at the library ("Dad, you are kidding, aren’t you?"), but Bill’s willingness to assist with the word processing, Internet and Excel classes shows he’s ready to jump in with both feet!
It’s been a great year for Pablo Creek’s computer instruction program and with the help of our wonderful volunteers we look forward to the best year ever in 2009.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Common LDA Question
Several people have been concerned about being unable to register for LDA classes in the TMS because they appear to be full.
These classes will always show as full on the Training Management System (TMS). It’s to keep people from signing up on their own. They want you to request each class using the application form. They will add you to the TMS when you are approved.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who is participating in the LDA. Thanks.
These classes will always show as full on the Training Management System (TMS). It’s to keep people from signing up on their own. They want you to request each class using the application form. They will add you to the TMS when you are approved.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who is participating in the LDA. Thanks.
JPL Employee of the Quarter
For the fourth quarter of the year we are pleased to extend congratulations to Karen Wishart, our employee of the quarter and Carolyn Woods, who received recognition as honorable mention.
As a Literacy Program Specialist with CAL Karen was nominated for her dedication to the program and students and for her willingness to assist in any capacity. Her work is an outstanding example of the leadership skill - 'model the way'.
Carolyn was nominated for her commitment to her position as Clerical Services Supervisor at the Main Library. She is seen as a model leader who "asks nothing of her staff that she would not do herself'".
We are proud of Karen and Carolyn and heartily support them in the important work they do for the library and the city.
Remember, it is easy to recognize a colleague or co-worker. Take the time to nominate someone for a job well done.
As a Literacy Program Specialist with CAL Karen was nominated for her dedication to the program and students and for her willingness to assist in any capacity. Her work is an outstanding example of the leadership skill - 'model the way'.
Carolyn was nominated for her commitment to her position as Clerical Services Supervisor at the Main Library. She is seen as a model leader who "asks nothing of her staff that she would not do herself'".
We are proud of Karen and Carolyn and heartily support them in the important work they do for the library and the city.
Remember, it is easy to recognize a colleague or co-worker. Take the time to nominate someone for a job well done.
Leadership Development Academy (LDA) Information
You can always find a link to the most up-to-date LDA information and forms by following this path:
JPL Neighborhood > Training Resources > City Training Resources (http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/city/index.htm ).
Please pass this on to anyone you know who is participating in LDA.
Let me know if you have any difficulty finding what you need.
Richard
JPL Neighborhood > Training Resources > City Training Resources (http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/city/index.htm ).
Please pass this on to anyone you know who is participating in LDA.
Let me know if you have any difficulty finding what you need.
Richard
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Staff Profille
Meet Josh Jubinsky, Library Associate in the Main Library Children’s Department, who was recently featured in a Florida Times-Union article about his music programming (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111508/ner_355725118.shtml). Josh provides free guitar lessons to children and incorporates music in his storytime programs. Josh shares programming ideas on his blog, Library Storytime, A Resource for Youth Service Librarians, http://librarystorytime.wordpress.com/.
Q: Where are you from originally?
A: Ormond Beach, Florida.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I was in the International Baccalaureate program in high school; my special topic was music. I earned a BA in English, with a Film Studies minor at UNF.
Q: How did you get interested in children’s work?
A: When I first got a job at the library. I started at Willowbranch, and after being there five or six months, the new Library Associate position was opening up for the first time. I took that position and have been in the Main Library Children’s Department ever since.
Q: What is your philosophy of children’s programming?
A: If your programs are interesting to the kids, that’s great. If they are interesting to you and the kids, that is better. The kids can tell if you’re interested or if you don’t really care. And you can tell – if it is not interesting, you’ll get bored and frustrated very quickly.
Programs that are interesting to the kids, yourself, and the parents are the best. The parents need to understand the value of what you are doing. Explaining the ‘what we do; why we do’ should be incorporated into things like story times. Parents also need to enjoy the programs. The value is apparent in continuous programs like guitar lessons.
Programming is a very important part of library service. Of all the great things we offer, programming is the first thing to become stagnant. We’ve all been at a place where we’ve done the same program over and over because it’s easy and worked well enough. And it gets us by in our jobs so boringly. Programming should be the most exciting part of your job. It’s certainly the easiest part to invigorate. Find something you love or interests you and find a community need. Share what you know and fill that community need. Libraries can be so much more in this way.
Q: What gave you the idea for offering guitar lessons?
A: The guitar lesson programs are my answer to the continuing budget cuts in our local schools. It was also something I could teach and something empowering the kids can do. It’s not just a matter of schools having fewer or no music programs – it’s a matter of creativity and expression, a matter of fighting apathy.
It’s also a financial solution that these times need to see more of. Guitar lessons for children can be an expensive undertaking. A library’s role, as I’ve always seen it, is as a place that levels the playing field and gives everyone a fair chance. With few music education programs in elementary schools and fewer parents able to afford music lessons, something as simple as guitar lessons at your local library is a reasonable and important alternative.
Q: What do you see as the purpose of your blog?
A: The purpose of the blog is the same as a large purpose of my job, to help create innovative, educational, useful and fun programs at the library. Its function is to do this not only within my branch or the JPL system, but to at least share this information with anyone doing children’s programming at any library. System-wide changes to make programming more interesting and fun for everyone is my number one priority.
On that note, I recently started a series of guitar lessons for Children’s staff that usually facilitate children’s programming. The class trains people on how to play the guitar and use it in a story time setting. Hopefully, with this class, some of the programming ideas and techniques I’ve been successfully using can start being implemented at other JPL branches.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of doing children’s work at JPL?
A. The fun atmosphere, coupled with knowing you are making a difference in the community.
Q: Where are you from originally?
A: Ormond Beach, Florida.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I was in the International Baccalaureate program in high school; my special topic was music. I earned a BA in English, with a Film Studies minor at UNF.
Q: How did you get interested in children’s work?
A: When I first got a job at the library. I started at Willowbranch, and after being there five or six months, the new Library Associate position was opening up for the first time. I took that position and have been in the Main Library Children’s Department ever since.
Q: What is your philosophy of children’s programming?
A: If your programs are interesting to the kids, that’s great. If they are interesting to you and the kids, that is better. The kids can tell if you’re interested or if you don’t really care. And you can tell – if it is not interesting, you’ll get bored and frustrated very quickly.
Programs that are interesting to the kids, yourself, and the parents are the best. The parents need to understand the value of what you are doing. Explaining the ‘what we do; why we do’ should be incorporated into things like story times. Parents also need to enjoy the programs. The value is apparent in continuous programs like guitar lessons.
Programming is a very important part of library service. Of all the great things we offer, programming is the first thing to become stagnant. We’ve all been at a place where we’ve done the same program over and over because it’s easy and worked well enough. And it gets us by in our jobs so boringly. Programming should be the most exciting part of your job. It’s certainly the easiest part to invigorate. Find something you love or interests you and find a community need. Share what you know and fill that community need. Libraries can be so much more in this way.
Q: What gave you the idea for offering guitar lessons?
A: The guitar lesson programs are my answer to the continuing budget cuts in our local schools. It was also something I could teach and something empowering the kids can do. It’s not just a matter of schools having fewer or no music programs – it’s a matter of creativity and expression, a matter of fighting apathy.
It’s also a financial solution that these times need to see more of. Guitar lessons for children can be an expensive undertaking. A library’s role, as I’ve always seen it, is as a place that levels the playing field and gives everyone a fair chance. With few music education programs in elementary schools and fewer parents able to afford music lessons, something as simple as guitar lessons at your local library is a reasonable and important alternative.
Q: What do you see as the purpose of your blog?
A: The purpose of the blog is the same as a large purpose of my job, to help create innovative, educational, useful and fun programs at the library. Its function is to do this not only within my branch or the JPL system, but to at least share this information with anyone doing children’s programming at any library. System-wide changes to make programming more interesting and fun for everyone is my number one priority.
On that note, I recently started a series of guitar lessons for Children’s staff that usually facilitate children’s programming. The class trains people on how to play the guitar and use it in a story time setting. Hopefully, with this class, some of the programming ideas and techniques I’ve been successfully using can start being implemented at other JPL branches.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of doing children’s work at JPL?
A. The fun atmosphere, coupled with knowing you are making a difference in the community.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Festival of Trees
Jacksonville Public Library is pleased to host the annual Festival of Trees event in partnership with the Junior League for the third consecutive year at the Main Library.
Check out the link to Jacksonville.com and the video interview with the President of the Junior League talking about this unique partnership to promote reading.
Keith McLaughlin
Partnerships and Communication
INTERLIBRARY LOAN IN DECEMBER AND EARLY JANUARY
Our in-state Interlibrary Loan delivery service has informed us that it will not be in operation from December 22 through January 5. We have received notices from many university libraries that they will be shutting down their operations as early as December 15. If you or your customers request any Interlibrary Loan books after December 15th, please be aware that your requests may not be delivered until mid January at the earliest.
The JPL ILL Policy (http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ill/ill-policy.html) states that items that are less than a year old (that is, books copyrighted this year) cannot be requested. We get an unusually high number of requests for new books in December. We usually cancel these requests citing the policy. As a service to our customers --starting December 15--we will be saving these requests but still won’t be requesting them until after the start of the new year.
The ILL staff thanks you all for your help this year. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Heather Campbell
Manager- Special Services (Interlibrary Loan and Books by Mail)
The JPL ILL Policy (http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ill/ill-policy.html) states that items that are less than a year old (that is, books copyrighted this year) cannot be requested. We get an unusually high number of requests for new books in December. We usually cancel these requests citing the policy. As a service to our customers --starting December 15--we will be saving these requests but still won’t be requesting them until after the start of the new year.
The ILL staff thanks you all for your help this year. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Heather Campbell
Manager- Special Services (Interlibrary Loan and Books by Mail)
Thursday, December 04, 2008
With blogs, wikis, MySpace pages, and so many other Web 2.0 technologies being used by us all, we've made Guidelines so that we can maintain consistency when representing JPL on the Internet. These guidelines will be posted to the Neighborhood and I'll send an announcement as soon as they are with their location. Meanwhile, I thought I'd share them on the blog. It seems like the appropriate location! Karen (if you have comments, go ahead and email me kwalker@coj.net)
Jacksonville Public Library
Web 2.0 Guidelines
The purpose of a blog affiliated with the Jacksonville Public Library (JPL) is to share library or community information with staff and/or customers. Branches, departments, and committees are encouraged to use Web 2.0 technologies to create a more collaborative environment. Staff is invited to share branch information, branch staff announcements, programming information, etc. by blogging to the JPL Staff News blog. The link is http://jaxplstaffnews.blogspot.com/.
Access information (usernames and passwords) to all user generated web hosted content will be supplied to ILS personnel.
All Web 2.0 sites affiliated with JPL and available to the public will have an assigned administrator who will review postings and comments for content
All Web 2.0 sites affiliated with JPL will contain identifiable features (JPL logo, Ask a Librarian logo and link, Counting Opinions link) when the format allows. HTML and assistance can be requested from ILS (kwalker@coj.net).
All web-based and hosted technologies including, but not limited to:
• Social Community: Facebook and MySpace
• Email, Communication and Social Messaging: Meebo, Gmail, Twitter
• Image Storing and Sharing: Flickr, Photobucket, Snapfish
• Wiki: pbwiki, wikispaces
• Video/Audio Storage: YouTube, Podcastalley, ODEO
• Blog Filters: Technorati, Bloglines
• Blogs: Blogger, Blogstream
will adhere to this standard.
You may include artwork, photographs or quotations, but, you must conform to copyright laws.
You must obtain written permission of both customers and staff before posting their photographs online. The release form is located at http://jplstaff.coj.net/Forms/release_voiceimage.pdf.
Web 2.0 Guidelines
The purpose of a blog affiliated with the Jacksonville Public Library (JPL) is to share library or community information with staff and/or customers. Branches, departments, and committees are encouraged to use Web 2.0 technologies to create a more collaborative environment. Staff is invited to share branch information, branch staff announcements, programming information, etc. by blogging to the JPL Staff News blog. The link is http://jaxplstaffnews.blogspot.com/.
Access information (usernames and passwords) to all user generated web hosted content will be supplied to ILS personnel.
All Web 2.0 sites affiliated with JPL and available to the public will have an assigned administrator who will review postings and comments for content
All Web 2.0 sites affiliated with JPL will contain identifiable features (JPL logo, Ask a Librarian logo and link, Counting Opinions link) when the format allows. HTML and assistance can be requested from ILS (kwalker@coj.net).
All web-based and hosted technologies including, but not limited to:
• Social Community: Facebook and MySpace
• Email, Communication and Social Messaging: Meebo, Gmail, Twitter
• Image Storing and Sharing: Flickr, Photobucket, Snapfish
• Wiki: pbwiki, wikispaces
• Video/Audio Storage: YouTube, Podcastalley, ODEO
• Blog Filters: Technorati, Bloglines
• Blogs: Blogger, Blogstream
will adhere to this standard.
You may include artwork, photographs or quotations, but, you must conform to copyright laws.
You must obtain written permission of both customers and staff before posting their photographs online. The release form is located at http://jplstaff.coj.net/Forms/release_voiceimage.pdf.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Congratulations to South Mandarin Staff!
South Mandarin staff exceeded their local Customer Satisfaction performance objective to increase "Did Library staff meet and greet you?", by attaining a 100% satisfaction score in October! Great customer service start to the new fiscal year!
Additions to Training Resources Web Pages
I wanted to alert you to a couple of additions to the Training Resources section of JPL Neighborhood:
- Link to Leadership Development Academy (LDA) information. You'll find a prominent link on the "City Training Resources" page, and it's also in the Site Index under "L". This link will take you to the City's LDA page where all the latest forms and information are stored.
- Training Calendars. At the top of the "Class Schedules" page, you'll see links to several training calendars, including JPL's new calendar for internal and online classes, the City calendar and NEFLIN's.
Hope these new links are helpful. Whenever you have suggestions, or trouble finding anything related to training, please notify us at jpltraining@coj.net. Thanks!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
News from the Director's Desk
It’s hard to believe that we have already begun a new fiscal year and are about to close out another calendar year!
The Board of Library Trustees held a planning retreat with senior staff and representatives of the Friends and the Foundation. Much was accomplished, but additional work has yet to be done as we evaluate strategic direction and plan ahead for the 2010 budget.
Performance measures are in place for FY2009 and I am looking forward to seeing the October reports. I congratulate each of you who have participated in destination:LEADERSHIP by developing your own action plan to integrate leadership practices into your day to day activities. I am also pleased that branch and department teams have identified and adopted local customer satisfaction measures this year. Thanks to all the staff members who participated in developing these and other performance measures with an eye toward insuring good customer service outcomes.
I will look forward to discussing these and other issues with you at the first Town Hall meetings this year.
I have directed my staff to schedule town hall meetings each quarter this year. A senior staff member will join me at each meeting to discuss his or her area of operation and answer questions. Keith McLaughlin will join me at the first round of meetings to be held Monday and Tuesday, December 1 and 2nd at the Main Library Conference Center, Room MP1. Town Hall meetings will be from 2:30-4:00. For the convenience of staff attendance, the meetings will also be broadcast to two other libraries, details forthcoming.
In addition to taking questions at the meetings, I will be happy to answer other questions submitted via this blog (yes, your questions can be anonymous). To submit questions via the blog, just click on the word “comment” below and follow the directions. All questions and answers will be posted after the town hall meetings.
Very best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving holiday,
Barbara Gubbin
The Board of Library Trustees held a planning retreat with senior staff and representatives of the Friends and the Foundation. Much was accomplished, but additional work has yet to be done as we evaluate strategic direction and plan ahead for the 2010 budget.
Performance measures are in place for FY2009 and I am looking forward to seeing the October reports. I congratulate each of you who have participated in destination:LEADERSHIP by developing your own action plan to integrate leadership practices into your day to day activities. I am also pleased that branch and department teams have identified and adopted local customer satisfaction measures this year. Thanks to all the staff members who participated in developing these and other performance measures with an eye toward insuring good customer service outcomes.
I will look forward to discussing these and other issues with you at the first Town Hall meetings this year.
I have directed my staff to schedule town hall meetings each quarter this year. A senior staff member will join me at each meeting to discuss his or her area of operation and answer questions. Keith McLaughlin will join me at the first round of meetings to be held Monday and Tuesday, December 1 and 2nd at the Main Library Conference Center, Room MP1. Town Hall meetings will be from 2:30-4:00. For the convenience of staff attendance, the meetings will also be broadcast to two other libraries, details forthcoming.
In addition to taking questions at the meetings, I will be happy to answer other questions submitted via this blog (yes, your questions can be anonymous). To submit questions via the blog, just click on the word “comment” below and follow the directions. All questions and answers will be posted after the town hall meetings.
Very best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving holiday,
Barbara Gubbin
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Living Library Books
Did you see the article in the October 18 Times-Union about the "living library books"? Customers in Santa Monica, California, can "check out" a human for 30 minutes and use them as a reference resource. They can check out a Buddhist, a vegan, a nudist, a homeless person, 14 in all. I'm jealous. When are we going to start?
Learn more at http://www.living-library.org/.
(Forgive me if the word's already been spread on this month-old article.)
Learn more at http://www.living-library.org/.
(Forgive me if the word's already been spread on this month-old article.)
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Advice for Dealing With New Technologies
On Friday, Stephen Bell discussed the topic "Reversing the Ratchet: Basic Technology Adoption Strategies for Library Workers" in a College of Dupage webinar sponsored by NEFLIN.
If you missed it, but want to hear what it was about, check out NEFLIN's blog entry: http://neflin.blogspot.com/2008/11/reverse-ratchet.html . This provides a good summary, as well as information on viewing a recording of the presentation.
p.s. If you do view this, you are eligible for training credit, so please notify jpltraining@coj.net .
If you missed it, but want to hear what it was about, check out NEFLIN's blog entry: http://neflin.blogspot.com/2008/11/reverse-ratchet.html . This provides a good summary, as well as information on viewing a recording of the presentation.
p.s. If you do view this, you are eligible for training credit, so please notify jpltraining@coj.net .
Friday, November 07, 2008
Staff Profile
Anthony Williams is a Library Associate at the Beaches Branch Library.
Q: How long and where all have you worked at JPL?
A: I started working at the library in 2004 at the Beaches Regional Library. I was then transferred to the Main Library in the African-American Collection, where I stayed for 6 months. I later transferred back to the Beaches Library.
A: I started working at the library in 2004 at the Beaches Regional Library. I was then transferred to the Main Library in the African-American Collection, where I stayed for 6 months. I later transferred back to the Beaches Library.
Q: What do you look forward to most on the weekends?
A: Weekends are far and few. When I'm not working at the library, I have my military commitment to the Navy so that leaves me only one weekend out of the month.
A: Weekends are far and few. When I'm not working at the library, I have my military commitment to the Navy so that leaves me only one weekend out of the month.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your family.
A: I have a wife, Deborah, who just finished completing her Masters Degree in Librarianship at University of South Florida and my daughter, Alia, who attends La Villa School of the Arts where she plays the euphonium. My wife and I are from Philadelphia, Pa., and my daughter was born here in Jacksonville.
A: I have a wife, Deborah, who just finished completing her Masters Degree in Librarianship at University of South Florida and my daughter, Alia, who attends La Villa School of the Arts where she plays the euphonium. My wife and I are from Philadelphia, Pa., and my daughter was born here in Jacksonville.
Q: What's one thing that people probably don't know about you?
A: I own my own part-time business that involves event planning and cruise destination travel.
Q: What books are you reading?
A: Robert Ludlum and Vince Flynn’s cloak and dagger type novels.
Q: What's the best part about working at JPL?
A: I enjoy helping our customers with their questions and seeing them leave knowing the fact that I made their day a little easier.
JPL/United Way Campaign 2008 - LIVE UNITED!
The City/Library United Way Campaign is in full swing, and your branch or department United Way representative will be encouraging you to donate this year. There are many worthy organizations United Way supports, and they help people from babies to seniors. Your UW rep can give you financial information about distribution of funds to these agencies.
One of these agencies is The Bridge, which helps troubled teens learn how to live productive lives and experience the satisfaction of becoming successful.
Even if you can’t give a lot, together all of our giving makes a big difference in our community. United Way headquarters reported that calls for help are up 20%. If you already donate, please consider increasing your gift. Payroll deductions do not begin until January 2009, or you can make a one-time donation, if preferred. Please give your completed United Way donation form, signed and dated, to your United Way/JPL representative by December 1.
One of these agencies is The Bridge, which helps troubled teens learn how to live productive lives and experience the satisfaction of becoming successful.
Even if you can’t give a lot, together all of our giving makes a big difference in our community. United Way headquarters reported that calls for help are up 20%. If you already donate, please consider increasing your gift. Payroll deductions do not begin until January 2009, or you can make a one-time donation, if preferred. Please give your completed United Way donation form, signed and dated, to your United Way/JPL representative by December 1.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Kudos from Customers
Interlibrary Loan (Main Library): I want to commend you on the excellent work that Carolyn Hampton in ILL provides. She is so competent, helpful and friendly.
Murray Hill Branch Library: Revondolyn Dubois is awesome.
Children’s Department (Main Library): Thank you so much, Marie Myers, for all that you do to stimulate our children's development. The French Storytime is really wonderful as it teaches children something they can’t get anywhere else!
Pablo Creek: My children and I visit this branch about three times a week and Christie Rogers is always ready to lend a much needed helping hand.
Teen Department (Main Library): On a scale of 1 - 5, Keli Likins is a 1,000,000,000.
San Marco Branch Library: I needed assistance locating my sons' textbooks. Mia Brack has been very kind and helpful every time my sons and I need help.
Murray Hill Branch Library: Revondolyn Dubois is awesome.
Children’s Department (Main Library): Thank you so much, Marie Myers, for all that you do to stimulate our children's development. The French Storytime is really wonderful as it teaches children something they can’t get anywhere else!
Pablo Creek: My children and I visit this branch about three times a week and Christie Rogers is always ready to lend a much needed helping hand.
Teen Department (Main Library): On a scale of 1 - 5, Keli Likins is a 1,000,000,000.
San Marco Branch Library: I needed assistance locating my sons' textbooks. Mia Brack has been very kind and helpful every time my sons and I need help.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Election Time at Murray Hill
Kudos to Murray Hill staff for setting up this catchy display for early voters as they walk in and wait online.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Best Wishes to Kathy Graw!
Wishing much happiness and very best wishes to Kathy Graw and Frank Tekin who were married October 10, 2008!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ready Reference Information
Thanks to Greg Royce at Main for the following reference information:
If you haven't already had a customer ask for "free phones," you will soon enough. According to this story, Safelink Wireless is now offering a free phone program for low-income families.The service is designed for those who are already on government assistance, such as Medicaid, food stamps, etc., though Florida's Public Service Commission offers rebates for qualifying applicants through their Link Up and Lifeline programs.
If you haven't already had a customer ask for "free phones," you will soon enough. According to this story, Safelink Wireless is now offering a free phone program for low-income families.The service is designed for those who are already on government assistance, such as Medicaid, food stamps, etc., though Florida's Public Service Commission offers rebates for qualifying applicants through their Link Up and Lifeline programs.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We did it!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Go to ALA Free!
A grant is available for new ALA members to attend the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago for FREE. You must be a member of their New Members Round Table. See their announcement for more information (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/nmrt/initiatives/applyforfunds/3mawardinformation.cfm).
Thursday, October 16, 2008
LE@D -- Great New Training Resource
NEFLIN is providing a great new resource this year -- Free access to a whole bunch of relevant, self-paced on-line classes in a program called LE@D. Looks like most are worth about 3 hours credit. Here are a few course topics:
Weeding: It's Not an Option
Reaching Reluctant Readers
Reaching Teenagers
Serving Multi-cultural Customers
Info-Age Ettiquette
Various Microsoft Office Classes
To sign up, please request classes by e-mailing jpltraining@coj.net w/ a "cc" to the supervisor. PLEASE DON'T CONTACT NEFLIN DIRECTLY.
ADD THEM TO YOUR PDP -- These classes are not yet in the TMS so please use the "Seminar" feature. (Contact the Training Office w/ any questions.)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
NEFLIN Golden Apple Awarded to JPL
Richard Mott, Barbara Gubbin and Kate Holmes accept NEFLIN's Golden Apple Award.
The Golden Apple is awarded to the public library with the best NEFLIN training record during the year.
Congratulations Richard, Kate and Barbara!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Book a Librarian
Book a Librarian new feature at JPL
Get one-on-one time with a specialist for any genre
For several months, the Main Library has offered a new service to customers: Book a Librarian.
Customers are able to schedule an appointment with a subject specialist for a one-on-one introduction to resources available online
and at the Main Library.
“This will give our customers who need a little extra time and help the attention they deserve,” said Gretchen Mitchell, Administrator
Supervisor for the Main Library. “Our librarians keep very busy, and it’s hard to get 5-15 minutes with them. Book a Librarian allows
customers to book up to an hour, and more later if they need.”
Book a Librarian was developed to provide its customers with the best possible service the library can offer.
“We looked at this service from various angles; we wanted to provide our customers with the opportunity to get one-on-one face time
with a librarian for an extended period of time, and utilize our librarians’ knowledge base and skills.”
The library also wants to maintain its customer base.
“With the status of the current economy, we know that our customers are extremely
important to the vitality of the library system. We want to show them they’re important
to us.”
By focusing on its resources and their customer base, JPL can continue to provide helpful and knowledgeable services that not only
informs but educates.
Librarians can provide answers about how to use the internet, research a school project or family history, locate a favorite book,
and provide demonstrations.
Laura Minor from special collections has seen the popularity of the service and the benefit for both customers and librarians.
“We’ve had several people asking for the service in order to get help with extensive research they’re doing,” Minor said. “With this service, we’re able to do the research and find ways to help them with their topic and search before their sessions even begins, which allows us to make the most of the appointment.”
Customers can call 630-2665 to make an appointment or go online at http://jpl.coj.net/lib/bookalibrarian.html.
Get one-on-one time with a specialist for any genre
For several months, the Main Library has offered a new service to customers: Book a Librarian.
Customers are able to schedule an appointment with a subject specialist for a one-on-one introduction to resources available online
and at the Main Library.
“This will give our customers who need a little extra time and help the attention they deserve,” said Gretchen Mitchell, Administrator
Supervisor for the Main Library. “Our librarians keep very busy, and it’s hard to get 5-15 minutes with them. Book a Librarian allows
customers to book up to an hour, and more later if they need.”
Book a Librarian was developed to provide its customers with the best possible service the library can offer.
“We looked at this service from various angles; we wanted to provide our customers with the opportunity to get one-on-one face time
with a librarian for an extended period of time, and utilize our librarians’ knowledge base and skills.”
The library also wants to maintain its customer base.
“With the status of the current economy, we know that our customers are extremely
important to the vitality of the library system. We want to show them they’re important
to us.”
By focusing on its resources and their customer base, JPL can continue to provide helpful and knowledgeable services that not only
informs but educates.
Librarians can provide answers about how to use the internet, research a school project or family history, locate a favorite book,
and provide demonstrations.
Laura Minor from special collections has seen the popularity of the service and the benefit for both customers and librarians.
“We’ve had several people asking for the service in order to get help with extensive research they’re doing,” Minor said. “With this service, we’re able to do the research and find ways to help them with their topic and search before their sessions even begins, which allows us to make the most of the appointment.”
Customers can call 630-2665 to make an appointment or go online at http://jpl.coj.net/lib/bookalibrarian.html.
Staff Profile
Larry Butler is a new CSAII at the Pablo Creek Branch Library.
Q: How long have you worked at JPL?
A. I've worked here for about ten months.
Q: What's one of your favorite books and why did you like it?
A: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite books. It's fun to be completely mystified by some situation and then find out the explanation, and Holmes is a fascinating character.
Q: What are your hobbies or favorite pastime?
A: Gardening and reading.
Q: What's something that people may not know about you?
A: I once worked for the Post Office as a mail carrier.
Q: What do you like most about working at the Library?
A: I like being part of an organization with positive values. When you're working for the library you're doing something special.
Friday, October 10, 2008
JPL Learning "The 23 Things"
JPL Learning “The 23 Things” will be back on Monday. If you think you might be interested in learning about some Web 2.0 tools, check out About JPL Learning 2.0 which will give you basic information and has a FAQ sheet to answer your questions.
The lessons will be posted every Monday morning by 9:00. When there is news about or an update to the program, I'll be posting it here.
To make it easier for you to communicate with fellow participants, we have put a “Chat Here” gadget on the “23 Things” blog. You can log in to the chat room using any name you like or using the default which will be a default “guest” username that will look like “guest77891”. Here you will be able to talk to each other about the lessons, help each other with tips and discoveries, and ask for assistance if you get stuck. If you don’t have participants in your branch or department to collaborate with, you can still find others to work with and help each other along. Those who have already finished the program are very welcome to come in to the chat room to help new participants with problems or just impart your wisdom.
Remember you get 9 hours of training credit for completing this program which is a great way to start off your training for the new fiscal year. If you still feel like you don't have all the info you need just email me at kwalker@coj.net, and I'll answer your questions. Karen
The lessons will be posted every Monday morning by 9:00. When there is news about or an update to the program, I'll be posting it here.
To make it easier for you to communicate with fellow participants, we have put a “Chat Here” gadget on the “23 Things” blog. You can log in to the chat room using any name you like or using the default which will be a default “guest” username that will look like “guest77891”. Here you will be able to talk to each other about the lessons, help each other with tips and discoveries, and ask for assistance if you get stuck. If you don’t have participants in your branch or department to collaborate with, you can still find others to work with and help each other along. Those who have already finished the program are very welcome to come in to the chat room to help new participants with problems or just impart your wisdom.
Remember you get 9 hours of training credit for completing this program which is a great way to start off your training for the new fiscal year. If you still feel like you don't have all the info you need just email me at kwalker@coj.net, and I'll answer your questions. Karen
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
"Unshelved" Comic Strip on RSS Feed in JPL Staff News Blog
JPL hosted Bill Barnes, creator of the "Unshelved" comic strip, as one of the speakers at our Staff Training Day this past spring. His comic strip is now available on the RSS feed to the right of this article.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Kudos from Customers
Good service is appreciated by Jacksonville Public Library customers, and several compliments for staff will be listed from different library locations each month:
Main Library – E-Library Reference: Christa Snow was extremely helpful in showing me a new world of data bases full of information!
Regency Square Branch: Lucy Harris has great people skills and is always willing to go the “extra mile” for all of us.
San Marco: Willis Brown was very helpful; a wonderful employee, who went the extra mile. Thank you.
South Mandarin: I frequent this library daily. Not only are the managers polite but every employee I have met. I would like to especially compliment Aracelis Diaz; she greets every customer with a smile and patience.
Willowbranch: My granddaughter, Izzy, and I have attended Arts and Crafts at WB for three years and have been ‘regulars’ ever since due to Isabelle Pierre. Last February, Izzy’s two year old sister joined us for our weekly visit. Ms. Pierre knows children’s needs, is a cheerleader for older children and handles grownups with as much aplomb as she does children.
Main Library – E-Library Reference: Christa Snow was extremely helpful in showing me a new world of data bases full of information!
Regency Square Branch: Lucy Harris has great people skills and is always willing to go the “extra mile” for all of us.
San Marco: Willis Brown was very helpful; a wonderful employee, who went the extra mile. Thank you.
South Mandarin: I frequent this library daily. Not only are the managers polite but every employee I have met. I would like to especially compliment Aracelis Diaz; she greets every customer with a smile and patience.
Willowbranch: My granddaughter, Izzy, and I have attended Arts and Crafts at WB for three years and have been ‘regulars’ ever since due to Isabelle Pierre. Last February, Izzy’s two year old sister joined us for our weekly visit. Ms. Pierre knows children’s needs, is a cheerleader for older children and handles grownups with as much aplomb as she does children.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Annual Benefits Re-enrollment
Important information about Annual Benefits Re-enrollement is available on the COJ Employee News site, link below. During the re-enrollment period of October 1 through October 31, employees can add or delete dependents from their existing insurance coverage; switch plans; or, enroll in various plans, e.g., Employee Supplemental Life (will require Medical Evidence of Insurability), Dependent Life, Vision, Dental, or the Flexible Spending Account ( includes medical reimbursement, dependent care, transportation, and parking). All changes will be made effective January 1, 2009.
Employee News
Employee News
Monday, September 29, 2008
Inmate Literacy Classes
CAL staffers Jenny Mooney and Karen Wishart provide adult literacy classes for inmates of the Matrix House drug treatment senter.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
FY 2009 Library Budget
The City Council approved the budget for all City departments last night at their regular Council session. The vote was 13 in favor and 2 opposed. No changes were made to the budget which the Mayor recommended for the library. The good news is that all of our services will stay as they are this year, with staffing and operations at the same level. Unfortunately, the reduction taken in the library materials budget also still holds. This represents $1M fewer General Revenue dollars for materials. I anticipate we will spend some of our state appropriation dollars on materials but there are not sufficient funds available to "make up" the $1M reduction and so there will be fewer titles and copies of titles purchased in all formats. We also expect to reduce the number of periodical titles we will be able to subscribe to and there will be fewer electronic databases. Unit managers and Charlene Adkins and her staff have been working on what this new, reduced budget will look like and will now move ahead to finalize it.
I want to recognize the tremendous support JPL has received from our Library Board who worked very hard in support of this budget and that of the Friends of the Library who turned in 9,000 signatures to the City Council in support of restoring the "book" budget.
Our customers regularly tell us how important we are to them - in finding a job, keeping up with email or current news in newspapers and magazines, in providing a place to study and a wonderful selection of books, DVD's, CD's and audiobooks (now also downloadable!) for them to read and listen to. As we enter into a new fiscal year it will be important for each of us to retain that community support, to stay customer focused and to become more involved in the communities we serve. Our goal must be a renewed community commitment to ensuring that JPL can continue to be the best it can be!
Barbara
I want to recognize the tremendous support JPL has received from our Library Board who worked very hard in support of this budget and that of the Friends of the Library who turned in 9,000 signatures to the City Council in support of restoring the "book" budget.
Our customers regularly tell us how important we are to them - in finding a job, keeping up with email or current news in newspapers and magazines, in providing a place to study and a wonderful selection of books, DVD's, CD's and audiobooks (now also downloadable!) for them to read and listen to. As we enter into a new fiscal year it will be important for each of us to retain that community support, to stay customer focused and to become more involved in the communities we serve. Our goal must be a renewed community commitment to ensuring that JPL can continue to be the best it can be!
Barbara
Monday, September 22, 2008
From the Maxville Branch
Every branch can feel like its own little world, mostly because we tend to make it that way, yet we are all a part of JPL and the even greater COJ.
Here, on the far, far Westside of Jacksonville, the boonies (informal for “boondocks” for you city slickers) if you prefer, we at the Maxville branch have decided to reach out on a more personalized level to our patrons in the form of a blog just for them which also partly entertains us. The surrounding area is somewhat more sparsely populated than other locations, but the community is more closely knit, giving it that our-own-little-bitty-world feel.
On our blog, we post news, upcoming events, closings; basically everything that tends to get lost or buried inside the JPL home page because of the vast amount of information available there. We also post things that our particular patrons want to know about: like new materials our branch has received and riddles of the day. Doing all this allows our patrons to quickly access information relevant to them, streamlining communication between us and our slice of the county (and some surrounding counties).
This blog revolves around our world, and you’re welcome to check it out!
Daniel Kibler
Branch Manager
P.S.: Come visit Granny Alfie! She always adores addressing questions!
Here, on the far, far Westside of Jacksonville, the boonies (informal for “boondocks” for you city slickers) if you prefer, we at the Maxville branch have decided to reach out on a more personalized level to our patrons in the form of a blog just for them which also partly entertains us. The surrounding area is somewhat more sparsely populated than other locations, but the community is more closely knit, giving it that our-own-little-bitty-world feel.
On our blog, we post news, upcoming events, closings; basically everything that tends to get lost or buried inside the JPL home page because of the vast amount of information available there. We also post things that our particular patrons want to know about: like new materials our branch has received and riddles of the day. Doing all this allows our patrons to quickly access information relevant to them, streamlining communication between us and our slice of the county (and some surrounding counties).
This blog revolves around our world, and you’re welcome to check it out!
Daniel Kibler
Branch Manager
P.S.: Come visit Granny Alfie! She always adores addressing questions!
Friday, September 19, 2008
"Virtual World" Online Conference
The following conference has a fee associated with it. If you wish to apply, submit the "Conference Intent Form" (http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/pol_proc.htm#conf ).
Dear Colleague:
I'm very pleased to call your attention to the lastest online learning opportunities produced by LearningTimes and the Alliance Library System.
It’s a Virtual, Virtual, Virtual, Virtual World…
Join us for two days as we discuss virtual worlds and librarianship. We’ll be convening online on October 1 and 2, 2008 to discuss topics such as:
We hope to see you there!
John Walber
The LearningTimes Team
Dear Colleague:
I'm very pleased to call your attention to the lastest online learning opportunities produced by LearningTimes and the Alliance Library System.
It’s a Virtual, Virtual, Virtual, Virtual World…
Join us for two days as we discuss virtual worlds and librarianship. We’ll be convening online on October 1 and 2, 2008 to discuss topics such as:
- -Virtual Worlds Development
- -Scaling Graduate LIS Instruction in Virtual Environments
- -Academic Libraries and Virtual Worlds
- -Building a Library Presence in the Virtual World of Second Life
- -Creating Educational Tools in Second Life for Libraries
A panel of the conference speakers is also scheduled in which your questions will feature prominently. For more information on this first Virtual Librarian Conference please visit:
http://www.thevirtuallibrarian.org/
Enter Discount Code "vlc25"to save $25 on your registration.
----------------
...
We hope to see you there!
John Walber
The LearningTimes Team
New City Training for September
Passing on this information from the City's Organizational Development department:
Good morning.
Due to the high demand for training as we reach the end of the fiscal year, we have added two new classes to the schedule for this month:
Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Where the Heart and Mind Meet
Have you ever heard from your supervisor that you are a great performer but that your people skills need some work? Perhaps you have a high IQ but your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) could use some sprucing. Learn about this revolutionary concept in an eight-hour class packed with activities where you will recognize the effect of EQ on job performance, employ self-management skills to boost leadership and accomplishment, and enhance ability to lead and work collaboratively with others. The course will include the following: (1) Interpret the concept of Emotional Intelligence, (2) Apply EQ at work to enhance work performance, (3) Identify your own EQ and determine how to improve upon it, and (4) Utilize tools and techniques to improve your EQ.
Who will benefit:
Supervisory and non-supervisory professional staff
Date and Time:
Friday, September 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location:
City Hall, Mezzanine Floor, Exam Room #1
Seeing Eye to Eye with Management
Are you finding it hard to complete your assignments due to obstacles on the job? Do you feel you can’t communicate your frustrations and feelings appropriately? Join The Dynamic ICATT Team in this eight-hour course to learn effective techniques to deal with authority with a positive outlook. Some of the objectives include (1) Describe how your skills and preferences assessment impacts your current job, (2) Explain how your personal perceptions impact your job success, and (3) Explain the steps to initiating conflict resolution.
Who will benefit:
All levels of employees. This course is custom developed for field employees.
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: City Hall, Mezzanine Floor, Exam Room #1
Please notify your employees still lacking their training hours for the fiscal year of these course selections. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you at the Training Coordinator’s Meeting tomorrow at 10:a.m.
Have a great day!
Shawn E. Jeror Administrative AideCity of Jacksonville Organizational Development Office 117 W. Duval Street, Suite M100 Jacksonville, FL 32202
Telephone: (904) 630-7509 Fax: (904) 630-1025
NoveList Training Available Now
To register for one of these webinars to view from your own computer, please 1) get permission from your supervisor, 2) register directly using the link below, and 3) notify jpltraining@coj.net. If you have questions, please send them to jpltraining@coj.net (or feel free to call). -- Richard Mott -- JPL Training Coordinator -- Office: 630-2407
September 2008: Online NoveList Training Sessions Available Now!
Do you feel overwhelmed by the new look of NoveList? Are you looking for the best and easiest ways to search for books when helping your readers?
September 2008: Online NoveList Training Sessions Available Now!
Do you feel overwhelmed by the new look of NoveList? Are you looking for the best and easiest ways to search for books when helping your readers?
NoveList is now offering online training sessions, taught by members of the NoveList staff. These one-hour sessions will guide you through navigating and searching in NoveList, NoveList Plus and NoveList K-8. Whether you are a Readers' Advisory librarian or a librarian working with children in a school or public library setting, we have a session to meet your needs.
To sign up for an online training session, go to the EBSCO Support Site and click the "Sign Up For Training" link in the top right corner. At the Training Sign-up page, select one of the following sessions from the Which Service? drop-down menu:
- NoveList
- NoveList Plus
- NoveList: Working with Juvenile Patrons
- NoveList K-8: Using in Schools
Once you select your service the available dates and times for that course will display. Select the session that you would like to attend, fill out your contact information and click the Send Request button.
And remember, additional training and support materials are always available at the Training page in Help. You can quickly link to that page by using the "Tour NoveList" link at the homepage.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
News from the Director's Desk
September 17, 2008
Rally Jacksonville. Saturday saw over 3,000 children and parents attend the Rally Jacksonville event in the Main Library and Hemming Plaza – it was a crazy, busy day. 102 new library cards were issued and in addition to registering four year-olds for the Book Club there were other activities including screening for dyslexia, many storytimes for toddlers and preschoolers, the red wagon parade and family art programs. Congratulations to all who were involved in making this such a successful day – those who planned the event, presented programs, set up the conference center for the event, checked out books, registered new library card holders and managed the crowds!
Golden Apple Award won by Jacksonville Public Library. On Friday at the NEFLIN annual meeting Richard Mott accepted NEFLIN’s annual award to JPL, the library with the greatest number of staff attending continuing education classes. JPL also received kudos for partnering with NEFLIN to purchase and use OPAL software to design and push out online training. Kate Holmes has been hard at work designing mini-workshops we can all learn from using OPAL. Look for her notification in email of an upcoming class you can do right at your desktop. I have been elected to the NEFLIN Board of Directors to represent public libraries and attended my first Board meeting last week.
Mark Hohnadel, Manager of the Murray Hill Branch has been selected to attend the Sunshine State Leadership Institute in 2008-2009 – congratulations Mark! Carol Bailey will serve as his mentor. Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian, Main Library graduated from the program in August.
Learning from Tropical Storm Fay. Thank you for the input you provided on what we did well and what we could do better in handling the closure and re-opening of the libraries when Fay came to town. Here are some of the things we heard and responses:
Staff needs to hear earlier in the day that the library system will be closing down for the storm. We can only tell you what will be happening once it is announced by the Mayor. Unfortunately we did not get any communication that a final decision had been made until the announcement was made on TV at 6 p.m. We lost some time communicating the announcement as some senior staff saw the Mayor on TV but others like me did not, but we began our communication tree as soon as we could. Storms never come at convenient times but we will always do our best to communicate with staff as quickly and efficiently as possible.
You need to do your part by being sure you have given your supervisor your current contact information so that when we have to activate a phone tree we can reach you or a family member with the information.
Book drops. In future you will be asked to lock or tape shut the exterior book drops and put up signs we will send you that customers should not return items until after the emergency and that we will adjust the due date. Many customers left books hanging out of book drops where they got wet and some staff braved the weather to empty the drops which we don’t want to have happen in future.
Where were your “hurricane kits?” Apparently we did not buy enough supplies for each location when the kits were first planned and set up. Luis Flores is purchasing supplies to have a kit for each location. More about these in the revised Emergency Management Plan.
We all need to change the message on our phones – personal and for your location and we need to do a better job of updating our website for those who don’t lose power and can reach the website. In error, the power to the computers handling the website was turned off so the website could not be updated remotely. We won’t do that again! Each of us needs to change the message on our own phone and have a procedure at every location to change the unit’s phone message for the public.
Saturday was pretty overwhelming for all locations with customers ready to get out of the house, check out a new book/DVD, and check their email and so there was little time to handle bookdrops and all those back room tasks that build up after closing for 3 days. We will delay opening on the first day “back” and allow time for staff to prepare the library so they can then focus on customers.
You will find all these issues and more addressed in the revised Emergency Management Plan. Luis and his staff are updating the Plan and will provide training throughout the system during the fall and spring before next year’s Hurricane season.
Library Budget for FY 2009. There is no “new” news about the Library’s budget for the new fiscal year. It remains as the Mayor proposed it with all hours of service as they are currently, the same level of staffing, city funding for all the costs of security services at a level which has a few more hours than the current year, and a materials budget of $3.6M down from $4.6M. In October the Library Board will approve the allocation of our state aid grant and will allocate funds from this grant for library materials bringing that budget up to at least $4M. Members of both the Library Board and Library Friends have worked hard on the Library’s behalf for a restoration of the funds for materials and we are grateful for their commitment and support.
Our community continues to show its support for the services you provide: through July there is a 7% YTD increase in circulation with 9 libraries seeing double digit increases. Gate count is up 4% YTD and web site usage up 20% YTD. There is a 45% increase in meeting room use and with a re-arrangement in the location of their self-check machines Webb Wesconnett’s customers are now checking out 80% of their items on self check!
Pharos Upgrade. Over the next two weeks staff from ITD will be visiting every library to re-image your public computers and upgrade the Pharos print management system. This project has been in development since last fall so it will be an achievement to have it completed. Lynn Jacobson is managing the project for JPL.
Destination:leadership has six new staff trainers. Thank you and congratulations on your selection to Marshelle Berry, Library Supervisor, Regency Square; Robbie Crabtree, LA, San Marco; Kate Holmes, Librarian, Training; Susan Mankowski, Early Childhood Specialist, Youth Services; Laurie Mills, Library Associate, Webb Wesconnett; and Karen Wishart, Literacy Program Specialist, CAL.
If you have questions or comments you can comment on the staff blog or send me an email.
Barbara Gubbin
Rally Jacksonville. Saturday saw over 3,000 children and parents attend the Rally Jacksonville event in the Main Library and Hemming Plaza – it was a crazy, busy day. 102 new library cards were issued and in addition to registering four year-olds for the Book Club there were other activities including screening for dyslexia, many storytimes for toddlers and preschoolers, the red wagon parade and family art programs. Congratulations to all who were involved in making this such a successful day – those who planned the event, presented programs, set up the conference center for the event, checked out books, registered new library card holders and managed the crowds!
Golden Apple Award won by Jacksonville Public Library. On Friday at the NEFLIN annual meeting Richard Mott accepted NEFLIN’s annual award to JPL, the library with the greatest number of staff attending continuing education classes. JPL also received kudos for partnering with NEFLIN to purchase and use OPAL software to design and push out online training. Kate Holmes has been hard at work designing mini-workshops we can all learn from using OPAL. Look for her notification in email of an upcoming class you can do right at your desktop. I have been elected to the NEFLIN Board of Directors to represent public libraries and attended my first Board meeting last week.
Mark Hohnadel, Manager of the Murray Hill Branch has been selected to attend the Sunshine State Leadership Institute in 2008-2009 – congratulations Mark! Carol Bailey will serve as his mentor. Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian, Main Library graduated from the program in August.
Learning from Tropical Storm Fay. Thank you for the input you provided on what we did well and what we could do better in handling the closure and re-opening of the libraries when Fay came to town. Here are some of the things we heard and responses:
Staff needs to hear earlier in the day that the library system will be closing down for the storm. We can only tell you what will be happening once it is announced by the Mayor. Unfortunately we did not get any communication that a final decision had been made until the announcement was made on TV at 6 p.m. We lost some time communicating the announcement as some senior staff saw the Mayor on TV but others like me did not, but we began our communication tree as soon as we could. Storms never come at convenient times but we will always do our best to communicate with staff as quickly and efficiently as possible.
You need to do your part by being sure you have given your supervisor your current contact information so that when we have to activate a phone tree we can reach you or a family member with the information.
Book drops. In future you will be asked to lock or tape shut the exterior book drops and put up signs we will send you that customers should not return items until after the emergency and that we will adjust the due date. Many customers left books hanging out of book drops where they got wet and some staff braved the weather to empty the drops which we don’t want to have happen in future.
Where were your “hurricane kits?” Apparently we did not buy enough supplies for each location when the kits were first planned and set up. Luis Flores is purchasing supplies to have a kit for each location. More about these in the revised Emergency Management Plan.
We all need to change the message on our phones – personal and for your location and we need to do a better job of updating our website for those who don’t lose power and can reach the website. In error, the power to the computers handling the website was turned off so the website could not be updated remotely. We won’t do that again! Each of us needs to change the message on our own phone and have a procedure at every location to change the unit’s phone message for the public.
Saturday was pretty overwhelming for all locations with customers ready to get out of the house, check out a new book/DVD, and check their email and so there was little time to handle bookdrops and all those back room tasks that build up after closing for 3 days. We will delay opening on the first day “back” and allow time for staff to prepare the library so they can then focus on customers.
You will find all these issues and more addressed in the revised Emergency Management Plan. Luis and his staff are updating the Plan and will provide training throughout the system during the fall and spring before next year’s Hurricane season.
Library Budget for FY 2009. There is no “new” news about the Library’s budget for the new fiscal year. It remains as the Mayor proposed it with all hours of service as they are currently, the same level of staffing, city funding for all the costs of security services at a level which has a few more hours than the current year, and a materials budget of $3.6M down from $4.6M. In October the Library Board will approve the allocation of our state aid grant and will allocate funds from this grant for library materials bringing that budget up to at least $4M. Members of both the Library Board and Library Friends have worked hard on the Library’s behalf for a restoration of the funds for materials and we are grateful for their commitment and support.
Our community continues to show its support for the services you provide: through July there is a 7% YTD increase in circulation with 9 libraries seeing double digit increases. Gate count is up 4% YTD and web site usage up 20% YTD. There is a 45% increase in meeting room use and with a re-arrangement in the location of their self-check machines Webb Wesconnett’s customers are now checking out 80% of their items on self check!
Pharos Upgrade. Over the next two weeks staff from ITD will be visiting every library to re-image your public computers and upgrade the Pharos print management system. This project has been in development since last fall so it will be an achievement to have it completed. Lynn Jacobson is managing the project for JPL.
Destination:leadership has six new staff trainers. Thank you and congratulations on your selection to Marshelle Berry, Library Supervisor, Regency Square; Robbie Crabtree, LA, San Marco; Kate Holmes, Librarian, Training; Susan Mankowski, Early Childhood Specialist, Youth Services; Laurie Mills, Library Associate, Webb Wesconnett; and Karen Wishart, Literacy Program Specialist, CAL.
If you have questions or comments you can comment on the staff blog or send me an email.
Barbara Gubbin
Monday, September 08, 2008
JPL Learning 2.0
If you’ve finished the “23 Things” and you’d like to check and make sure your completion has been credited, go to the JPL Participants page. Your completion date is next to your blog name.
I kept track of the participants progress through the lesson instruction (generally something like this) “Post a comment to this blog with a link to your blog post.” If you didn’t post for all the discovery exercises that requested a post or didn’t post under a name I could connect to your blog, you may not be credited. If you think you should have a completion date next to your blog name, you should email me and we’ll get it sorted out (kwalker@coj.net).
You have until September 15 to finish and get training credit this year. The lessons will be back on October 13. You can pick up where you left off and get training credit for the 9 hours next year so if you don’t get finished, don’t worry. You won’t have to start over.
We will be distributing the MP3 players soon after we have the final list of those completing the program. I’ll let you know as soon as I know! Thanks to everyone who participated and to all of you who are finishing up your final posts. Karen
I kept track of the participants progress through the lesson instruction (generally something like this) “Post a comment to this blog with a link to your blog post.” If you didn’t post for all the discovery exercises that requested a post or didn’t post under a name I could connect to your blog, you may not be credited. If you think you should have a completion date next to your blog name, you should email me and we’ll get it sorted out (kwalker@coj.net).
You have until September 15 to finish and get training credit this year. The lessons will be back on October 13. You can pick up where you left off and get training credit for the 9 hours next year so if you don’t get finished, don’t worry. You won’t have to start over.
We will be distributing the MP3 players soon after we have the final list of those completing the program. I’ll let you know as soon as I know! Thanks to everyone who participated and to all of you who are finishing up your final posts. Karen
Friday, September 05, 2008
Email Campaign Prize Winners!
Welcome to circulation corner~
This month I am pleased to talk about the Email Campaign...
The staff at the South Mandarin Regional Library were the winners of a six month campaign to increase the percentage of customers that have email addresses on their accounts. The JPL overall increase was 14% and SOM topped the list of locations at 25%!!!!!! The prize was a "take-over" of the winning location for two hours by a team from JPL Administration. The staff at SOM had no idea what would happen when the team showed up. In addition to me, the branch was handled by: Carolyn Williams, Gretchen Mitchell, Laura Kline, Diane Moser, Kathy Graw and Susan Mankowski. Unfortunately, Barbara Gubbin had to attend a last minute budget meeting but was there in spirit.
Here are some highlights:
The staff was presented with a basket of sugar to help ease their nerves. What would happen to SOM?
Chef Susan expertly filled in presenting a program (Why did we choose an early release day?) Kathy Graw and Susan did an amazing job handling the chilren's department and program!
The staff wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing!
Their fears were soon put to rest. Laura took over the Reference Desk! She was soon joined by Ms. Williams who helped handle the mob.
When Diane said "What is workflows?" we got a little nervous, but she was just kidding. She jumped right in and even helped customers with Self-Check! Diane, Gretchen and I all had a great time!
In the end, we all felt privileged to work at South Mandarin. Several customers commented on the courteous, helpful staff at that location~
Thank you all for allowing us to come and see the hard work you all do on a daily basis. And congratulations!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Congratulations to Barbara Gubbin!
Congratulations to Barbara Gubbin, recently elected to the Board of NEFLIN as a representative of large public libraries!
From the Training Office …HELP MAKE STAFF DAY GREAT
We Need YOU. Hard-working, creative souls needed to help plan a most excellent Staff Development Day for 2009. I’ve got some ideas that I think will make next year’s event one of the most beneficial we’ve had in years, but you may have better ones! Would you consider being a part of the Staff Day Planning Committee? It will be your most rewarding experience ever. It will change your life. You will develop bonds that will last a lifetime. You will laugh. You will cry. Field trips include sky diving, deep sea fishing, a Broadway play, and whale spotting. It’s a non-stop thrill ride. What do you say? Get permission from your supervisor, then send an e-mail to jpltraining@coj.net to let us know of your interest (“Cc” your supervisor).
Two Ways to Help. The greatest commitment (the one described above) is to serve on the Committee. We will meet for 2-3 hours monthly between now and April. Some meetings may be held remotely. PLUS you would be committing to perhaps an hour or two of work on average at your location on your specific assignment (some weeks less; some weeks more) and communicating with the committee via e-mail, discussion board, possibly a blog.
The second opportunity demands ZERO time away from your home location. The last couple of years we have assigned location liaisons from every branch & unit and this year we want to expand your role even more. You’ll have two main functions: 1) sharing your ideas and giving feedback on proposals for Staff Development Day; and 2) assisting with communication between the committee and the staff at your location – making sure they meet deadlines, relaying to us their questions, suggestions, and concerns, etc.
As a location liaison you will participate in monthly or bi-monthly one-hour web meetings (We’ll use OPAL, our e-Learning & e-Meeting web application), plus read and respond to e-mails and discussion board postings, etc.
If you are interested in serving in either capacity, please get permission from your supervisor, then send an e-mail to jpltraining@coj.net to let us know of your interest (“Cc” your supervisor).
Thanks!
Two Ways to Help. The greatest commitment (the one described above) is to serve on the Committee. We will meet for 2-3 hours monthly between now and April. Some meetings may be held remotely. PLUS you would be committing to perhaps an hour or two of work on average at your location on your specific assignment (some weeks less; some weeks more) and communicating with the committee via e-mail, discussion board, possibly a blog.
The second opportunity demands ZERO time away from your home location. The last couple of years we have assigned location liaisons from every branch & unit and this year we want to expand your role even more. You’ll have two main functions: 1) sharing your ideas and giving feedback on proposals for Staff Development Day; and 2) assisting with communication between the committee and the staff at your location – making sure they meet deadlines, relaying to us their questions, suggestions, and concerns, etc.
As a location liaison you will participate in monthly or bi-monthly one-hour web meetings (We’ll use OPAL, our e-Learning & e-Meeting web application), plus read and respond to e-mails and discussion board postings, etc.
If you are interested in serving in either capacity, please get permission from your supervisor, then send an e-mail to jpltraining@coj.net to let us know of your interest (“Cc” your supervisor).
Thanks!
Kudos from Customers
Each month we will be highlighting several compliments from customers for JPL employees:
Argyle Branch: "DeLon Rowan in the children’s room created a wonderful nature display of local leaves, seeds, barks, log cross sections, etc. It encourages interaction and reading.”
Beaches Branch: “Katherine Daye in the reference department is the best! She’s patient and competent."
Highlands Branch: “Vickie Leonard has been so helpful; thank you so much for all your hard work.”
Main Library: “My daughter and I received excellent service from Mr. Jaskula and those in children’s section.”
Pablo Creek Branch: “How courteous and friendly Stephanie Harley was as she helped me to check out!”
Southeast Branch: “Crystal Kadkhodaie opened ‘in transit’ boxes and found the hold book for me in time for my flight!”
Argyle Branch: "DeLon Rowan in the children’s room created a wonderful nature display of local leaves, seeds, barks, log cross sections, etc. It encourages interaction and reading.”
Beaches Branch: “Katherine Daye in the reference department is the best! She’s patient and competent."
Highlands Branch: “Vickie Leonard has been so helpful; thank you so much for all your hard work.”
Main Library: “My daughter and I received excellent service from Mr. Jaskula and those in children’s section.”
Pablo Creek Branch: “How courteous and friendly Stephanie Harley was as she helped me to check out!”
Southeast Branch: “Crystal Kadkhodaie opened ‘in transit’ boxes and found the hold book for me in time for my flight!”
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Staff Profile
Antoinette Marie Walker is a Library Assistant at the West Regional Branch.Q: How long and where all have you worked at JPL?
A: Five years. I started at Mandarin, was sent to Webb-Wesconnett and transferred to West Regional.
Q: What do you look forward to most on the weekends?
A: Going to the movies with my husband.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your family.
A: Aaron is my husband of 23 years, and I have a daughter, Arianne, 23 years old; son, Antonio, 20 years old, and daughter, Andrea, 17 years old.
Q: What’s one thing that people probably don’t know about you?
A: I am a genealogy/historian buff. I have traced our family tree to the early 1800's just by asking questions of my family elders & verifying documents when possible.
Q: What books are you reading?
A: Nothing at the moment; I'm busy trying to get accepted into an accelerated degree program.
Q: What’s the best part about working at JPL?
A: Seeing a child's face light up when I find that "must have" book for them!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Customer Comment Managment
Effective immediately, when entering customer comments from comment cards or from the webpage, please use the new customer comment form at this address:
http://jpl.countingopinions.com/feedback/paper
You will notice several things. First, you can categorize the comment on the form itself, so you will save a step immediately. Second, you are able to send the comment to someone else to respond or review. When you look at your comment reports (now called feedback reports) you will see that you can also go in and check off multiple comments to categorize en masse. Finally, you will notice that you are now able to delete comments, when necessary, from the feedback reports section.
We are a beta test site for this new feedback management form and need to get the form right for our purposes. Please start using it immediately and post your comments and questions below.
Once the form is right, we will be able to use it as a generic form on our website to feed directly into Counting Opinions and as a "stand alone" comment box and/or mini-survey.
More to come!
Effective immediately, when entering customer comments from comment cards or from the webpage, please use the new customer comment form at this address:
http://jpl.countingopinions.com/feedback/paper
You will notice several things. First, you can categorize the comment on the form itself, so you will save a step immediately. Second, you are able to send the comment to someone else to respond or review. When you look at your comment reports (now called feedback reports) you will see that you can also go in and check off multiple comments to categorize en masse. Finally, you will notice that you are now able to delete comments, when necessary, from the feedback reports section.
We are a beta test site for this new feedback management form and need to get the form right for our purposes. Please start using it immediately and post your comments and questions below.
Once the form is right, we will be able to use it as a generic form on our website to feed directly into Counting Opinions and as a "stand alone" comment box and/or mini-survey.
More to come!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Circulation
Greetings JPLers!
Welcome to my little circ world on the JPL Staff News blog. I get a lot of questions and comments about our policies, procedures and my personal style, so I thought this might be a good forum to address some of these issues. I welcome suggestions for further blog entries and hope to be able to clarify some things, muddy some others and make good use of this new communication tool.
here goes my first hot potato-On a recent site visit, I was approached by Staff Member X (whose name shall not be mentioned-ever) who posed the following query:
Q: What is with this new DVD policy regarding the number that can be checked out at one time?
A: Well, X, that is a very good question. There are two possible answers that I can give you and you can decide which is the real reason behind it.
1. The members of CRU are actually part of a secret club whose sole mission is to confuse staff and customers alike.
2. In order to allow parents to restrict their children's access to R Rated DVDs, a seperate item type had to be created. Our current SIRSI system would then technically allow 5 of each item type to be borrowed. This was all well and good until my good friend selfcheck showed up and sneakily taught customers how they could mess with the sytem and get more than 5. Some customers began to question staff about it and heard some interesting explanations (mostly from me). "Today's your lucky day!", "I dunno" and numerous variations.
CRU was asked to examine DVD policy and we began to explore this problem. I kept hearing my Grandmother in my head saying "Always tell the truth-that way you don't have to remember what lie you told" and we decided she was right. It is much easier to tell customers that they can get 5 R Rated DVDs and 5 non R Rated DVDs than to invent an explanation.
I know they automatically think that they should have ten, but if we say they may have 5 rated and 5 non rated to allow parents to restrict their children's access, in time the confusion on our customers and our staff will subside.
Okay, which is the correct explanation? Feel free to post your comments below. I know there are some locations that have taken creative steps to clarify this. Here's your chance to brag!!!
Until Next Time!
Ron
Greetings JPLers!
Welcome to my little circ world on the JPL Staff News blog. I get a lot of questions and comments about our policies, procedures and my personal style, so I thought this might be a good forum to address some of these issues. I welcome suggestions for further blog entries and hope to be able to clarify some things, muddy some others and make good use of this new communication tool.
here goes my first hot potato-On a recent site visit, I was approached by Staff Member X (whose name shall not be mentioned-ever) who posed the following query:
Q: What is with this new DVD policy regarding the number that can be checked out at one time?
A: Well, X, that is a very good question. There are two possible answers that I can give you and you can decide which is the real reason behind it.
1. The members of CRU are actually part of a secret club whose sole mission is to confuse staff and customers alike.
2. In order to allow parents to restrict their children's access to R Rated DVDs, a seperate item type had to be created. Our current SIRSI system would then technically allow 5 of each item type to be borrowed. This was all well and good until my good friend selfcheck showed up and sneakily taught customers how they could mess with the sytem and get more than 5. Some customers began to question staff about it and heard some interesting explanations (mostly from me). "Today's your lucky day!", "I dunno" and numerous variations.
CRU was asked to examine DVD policy and we began to explore this problem. I kept hearing my Grandmother in my head saying "Always tell the truth-that way you don't have to remember what lie you told" and we decided she was right. It is much easier to tell customers that they can get 5 R Rated DVDs and 5 non R Rated DVDs than to invent an explanation.
I know they automatically think that they should have ten, but if we say they may have 5 rated and 5 non rated to allow parents to restrict their children's access, in time the confusion on our customers and our staff will subside.
Okay, which is the correct explanation? Feel free to post your comments below. I know there are some locations that have taken creative steps to clarify this. Here's your chance to brag!!!
Until Next Time!
Ron
Youth Services
Staff will participate in a staff training day on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at Cuba Hunter Park. Staff will participate and have fun meeting each other and sharing new ideas and information regarding the tweens and teens in our community. I look forward to sharing the day with everyone and with our trainers.
Lunch will be provided as well as morning coffee or tea and afternoon snacks to keep us going.
Staff remember to bring a sweater or jacket as the room is air conditioned and could be chilly.
Kathy
P.S. we will be taking a nature hike so be sure to wear comfortable shoes for walking (most of the trail is on a boardwalk) and learning about the great outdoors.
Staff will participate in a staff training day on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at Cuba Hunter Park. Staff will participate and have fun meeting each other and sharing new ideas and information regarding the tweens and teens in our community. I look forward to sharing the day with everyone and with our trainers.
Lunch will be provided as well as morning coffee or tea and afternoon snacks to keep us going.
Staff remember to bring a sweater or jacket as the room is air conditioned and could be chilly.
Kathy
P.S. we will be taking a nature hike so be sure to wear comfortable shoes for walking (most of the trail is on a boardwalk) and learning about the great outdoors.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Staff Profile
Congratulations to Donna Thomas, DU's Branch Manager, who led her City of Jacksonville team to victory in the First Coast Games rock climbing contest.
Q: Tell us a little bit about rock climbing, how you got started and why you enjoy it.
A: I enjoy rock climbing because it challenges me; it is a social activity; it gives me a whole body workout. It isn't repetitive and monotonous the way weight lifting or treadmills can be, and when the YMCA took over the climbing gym, it was a way to have a rock climbing experience year round, and in Jacksonville. My husband and I try to climb outside on real rock every few months, and that can be very exciting and take us to some very beautiful places. Before the rock gym opened here, we tried to find opportunities to go climbing outside, but it was hard to keep in shape and do it on a regular basis. I started at the South Metro gym in 2000 and discovered that it was a mode of exercise that I didn't have to force myself to do. I look forward to my "gym nights."
Q: How long have you worked for JPL?
A: Nine years this October.
Q: What is your hometown?
A: I was born in Iowa City, but grew up in Superior, Wisconsin.
Q: What are you reading?
A: Time Management from the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern; Skeletons, by Kate Wilhelm, and The Drunkards Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your family.
A: I have five sisters who all live in Minnesota and a brother who lives in Milwaukee, 12 nieces and nephews, and five great nieces and nephews. I have been married to Rory Sutton for 30 years (no children of my own.)
Q: Favorite movie?
A: The Young Einstein. This was an independent film about what would have happened if Einstein had grown up a surfer in New Zealand.
Q: What makes you laugh?
A: Word play, pompous people getting their comeuppance, long complicated jokes, just plain silliness.
Q: What’s something that people might be surprised to know about you?
A: I actually like to take standardized tests.
Q: What’s the best thing about Jacksonville Public Library?
A: It's a tie between being able to work with people who love books and ideas, and the fact that a lot of my job is just one giant scavenger hunt. (Send Item is my favorite part of the job.)
Friday, August 08, 2008
From the Training Office ...
Annual City Training Requirement
Bonus or no bonus, all full-time JPL employees need 24 hours of training per year (for part-timers and recent hires, see the table on the JPL Training Resources website: http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/city/prorated_training.html).
As of today, 17% of JPL's full-time staff are still short of the 24-hour minimum. This doesn't even count part-timers. These staff have less than two months to complete the necessary training. To see how many hours you have, go to the Training Management System (TMS) and select "PDP" or "PDP Planned Courses" from the menu. Then look for the Total Hours Completed.
If you need more hours ...
Responsibility for completing the required hours lies first with each individual staff member and second with their immediate supervisors. Last year, we had 100% of staff who met the requirement. Let's see how close we can get to that figure again.
Annual City Training Requirement
Bonus or no bonus, all full-time JPL employees need 24 hours of training per year (for part-timers and recent hires, see the table on the JPL Training Resources website: http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/city/prorated_training.html).
As of today, 17% of JPL's full-time staff are still short of the 24-hour minimum. This doesn't even count part-timers. These staff have less than two months to complete the necessary training. To see how many hours you have, go to the Training Management System (TMS) and select "PDP" or "PDP Planned Courses" from the menu. Then look for the Total Hours Completed.
If you need more hours ...
- Consider JPL Learning 2.0 (http://jpl2-things.blogspot.com/). It's worth 9 hours credit and you still have time to complete it before September 30.
- Click the Calendar in the upper right corner of the TMS window to see what City classes are being offered the next couple of months (http://inapps.coj.net/cojtrainingsystem/UIL/Administration/EmployeeDB.aspx).
- Check the NEFLIN calendar (http://www.neflin.org/registration.php), and
- Look for self-guided classes available from the Learning Resources page of JPL Neighborhood (http://jplstaff.coj.net/training/learning_resources.htm).
- For more suggestions, contact jpltraining@coj.net.
Responsibility for completing the required hours lies first with each individual staff member and second with their immediate supervisors. Last year, we had 100% of staff who met the requirement. Let's see how close we can get to that figure again.
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