Thursday, October 02, 2008
Annual Benefits Re-enrollment
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!


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.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Congratulations to Barbara Gubbin!
From the Training Office …HELP MAKE STAFF DAY GREAT
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
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
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
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
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
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.
