Town Hall Meeting Notes, December 2008

Director Barbara Gubbin welcomed participants and announced that town hall meetings will be held quarterly this year and that she will invite senior staff to participate. Keith McLaughlin, Assistant Director for Partnerships and Communications, will make a presentation at this meeting.

Ms. Gubbin reviewed FY08 successes:

Annual Statistical Report
Circulation 8.8M (+3%)
Gate 4.9M (+6%)
Web Site Use 4.6M (+16%)
Reference 1.3M (+15%)
Meeting room use: 21,991 ((+30%)
Volunteers Hours: 39,000 hours (+6%)

DESTINATION:leadership
Number of staff who attended by 9/30/08 – 245
On track to complete training of all full-time staff by February 2009
Average increase in confidence level on 23 leadership measures -18.3%
Over-all percentage of students who Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the content of the class would be helpful to them in their jobs – 92%

Some highlights from the comments:
· “The class helped me see how we can all be leaders because of our different strengths in different areas.”
· “I liked the fact that everyone from the Director to clerks will be required to attend - If we are using this content to change our culture, we all must be involved and we all must be held accountable to adopt these principles to the best of our ability.”
· “I enjoyed the challenge to become a better person.”

Service Area Profiles - Congratulations to Main, Westbrook, Northwest, Maxville, Regency, and Pablo Creek for completing their service area profiles. Mapping the service area and learning more about the people and organizations that we serve is an essential step in collection management and in becoming actively engaged with the community. The profiles themselves are located on the Portal and are very much “living documents” which will be updated and changed. Seven additional branches will complete the service area profile process this fiscal year.

Youth Services Retreat – The retreat was actually held in November, but has been in the works for some time and so I will count it as a success for FY08. Kudos to Kathy Graw and her team for a great day of team building and learning focused on “tweens” (10-14 years), and ways to keep them engaged in age and developmentally appropriate activities in the community. This was the second annual youth services retreat and I have asked my staff to consider retreats for other groups too.

The Board of Library Trustees held a planning retreat in November to evaluate strategic direction for the library. Board members, senior staff and representatives from the FOL and JPLF attended. The participants engaged in a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, challenges, opportunities and threats to the Library. While a great deal was accomplished, the Board did not complete the process and will meet with the retreat facilitator again this month.

Ms. Gubbin complimented staff for the focus on positive customer service outcomes this year as part of the performance measure process. She also complimented staff on the decision to develop:
a. Individual action plans to improve upon leadership practices
b. Select branch specific Customer Satisfaction survey results to meet over the year

Ms. Gubbin recognized staff achievements:
a. Theresa Barmer, Robin Cumby and the Webb staff are routinely doing 80% of their circulation on the self-check machines!
b. Lynn Jacobson and Karen Walker led the charge to teach staff about Web 2.0 technologies for communications with JPL Learning 2.0 classes. 47 people graduated from the first class and another class has begun.
c. Daniel Kibler and staff at Maxville, and Laura Minor and staff in Special Collections/Genealogy have customer blogs; the Main Teen Department has a MySpace page; and Mathew Moyer writes a music blog for Library Journal.
d. Mark Hohnadel has been selected to participate in the Sunshine State Leadership Institute. Laura Minor is a recent graduate of the SSLI.
e. Sharon Hastings, Karen Wishart and the CAL staff had been featured in the FTU and on TV for a new adult literacy program being held at the jail.
f. Richard Mott, Kate Holmes and each of you helped JPL win NEFLIN’s coveted “Golden Apple” award for the largest number of participants in NEFLIN training.
g. The Main Library received two awards from 904 magazine for “Favorite Public Space” and “Best Off-Site Meeting Location”.
h. Conference Center Manager Mitesh Sangani and his staff exceeded their revenue goal this past year. Our Conference Center is one of the most popular places to meet in Jacksonville, especially in May and June.

Dr. Keith McLaughlin, Assistant Director of Partnerships and Communication, discussed the structure of his department. Jenny Mooney became the Community Education and Enrichment Program Supervisor in September. She will coordinate, develop and structure JPL’s adult programming, which can be defined as programming for age 18 years and over. Ms. Mooney and Kathy Graw, Youth Services Coordinator, work together to coordinate and develop programs that are family oriented or are theme-based for all ages, such as JaxReads and poetry. Ms. Mooney has been putting more structure in the program planning process and will include a program proposal for adult programming. This spring we will focus programming efforts on JaxReads, Investor Education, the Library Awareness Campaign and an adult component to summer reading. Ms. Mooney is developing a timeline and structure for annual program themes with input from public service staff. We plan to include a few key outside experts yet to be identified in a program advisory capacity.

Margaret Smith, who recently retired from JPL, was hired through a Big Read grant from NEA to the JPL Foundation. She will help us coordinate, plan and oversee JaxReads the Big Read in the spring. This will help supplement our limited resources in the programming office. Ms. Smith and Ms. Mooney will work together on this project.

The second major area in P&C is marketing and media relations, which Stacie Bucher coordinates, assisted by Wally Bowden, Graphic Artist. Ali Johnson also assists her part-time on writing projects, such as JPL’s annual report, a fact sheet designed for local and state officials, various flyers and brochures, new programming guide, pitches to the media and Next Reads. Pam Beaton supports both the marketing and programming areas.

The third major area of P&C is resource development and grant writing, which Pam McClellan coordinates. She pursues grants and helps write grants and proposals, such as Big Read, our grants through Investor Protection Trust for Investor Education programs, poetry programs, bookshelf grants, exhibit grants and programs such as the recent Benjamin Franklin presentation and exhibit. She also handles applications for various awards that are available through the Florida Library Association, American Library Association, and others.

The fourth major area is the Conference Center, under the leadership of Mitesh Sangani, assisted by Will Daniels, Chris James, Calvin Webster and Bernard Smith. We operate as both a revenue generating business and as a service to library programs and events. We have done well during the first two years of operation and funds raised help cover staff and other operating expenses, but the majority of our business in the Conference Center is still non-revenue generating, including library programs.

Frank Smith works part-time in P&C and is our “air traffic controller”. He is taking on additional responsibilities beyond the Conference Center and is helping us manage the work flow in and out of the department. We set up a new centralized email address, primarily to be used by staff, and all requests and questions for P&C will flow through him and help us better manage projects and better serve all of you. This will be sent out in writing with additional information; the email address is pc@coj.net .

Dr. McLaughlin discussed partnerships as both a concept and as a strategic issue. A partnership may be defined as a relationship that is formed with one or more organizations to engage in a mutually beneficial project, program or service. It enhances and complements what each organization does, or creates something completely new for the customers or stakeholders of the partnering organizations.

Partnership development within the library system is not intended to be totally centralized or the sole responsibility of Partnerships and Communication. Branch staff has been very successful in developing strong, beneficial partnerships with organizations in the communities they serve and we encourage this to continue. There are also some deliberate, focused partnerships we are engaged in from a centralized point of view that will benefit the entire system.

Melonee Slocum suggested having workshops or conversations with staff about developing partnerships and we will do that in coming months.

There are basic principals and best practices to follow, particularly when entering into a formal arrangement, as we do with partnerships developed around grant funded projects, but most successful partnerships are based on the same foundation of mutual benefit, communication and cultivation over time. Dr. McLaughlin encouraged staff to think about how partnerships can be formed that will enhance, improve or enable branches to do something totally different that will delight and enrich customers. Potential partners may not always be obvious to us and we need to think “outside the box”.

The upcoming Library Awareness Campaign, or what has been previously referred to as the Library Card Campaign, was discussed. We need to be more proactive and reach more people about our wonderful services. In the spring, we will begin the new Library Awareness Campaign. The committee for planning this campaign consisting of Laura Minnich, Ron Block, Stacie Bucher, Wally Bowden, Jenny Mooney, Don Carpenter, and Keith McLaughlin, along with Brunet Garcia and a representative from American Institute of Graphics Artists (AIGA).

For the first six months we will have an advertising campaign on radio, TV and billboards, as well as outreach by branches. The next 12 months we will look to the branches to continue with outreach efforts. This is about us all being actively engaged in what JPL does. We will be sharing with the community what they can do with a library card—using our website, our resources, a PIN, etc. The library card is tangible and helps us have a convenient way to promote the Library Awareness Campaign. We plan to use the slogan “Your ticket to ________” or “My ticket to ________” and let customers fill in the blank.

American Institute of Graphic Artists is making this a major project and they are putting a survey together to be used prior to the campaign and one for a post campaign survey so we can judge the success of the campaign. High school students will compete in a library card design contest.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

When are we expected to be able to hire pages again?
Alan Mosley, the Mayor’s Chief Administrative Officer, has not indicated that the City’s hiring freeze can be lifted considering the present economy. Director Gubbin will apprise everyone when a decision is made; a change is not expected soon. There is some flexibility – if you have a PT staff member working less than 24 hours and another PT staff member quits, you may add hours up to the 24 hour cap with the approval of your Administrative Supervisor.

What changes/enhancements are incorporated into the new Workflows system?
We are upgrading our SIRSI Dynix system to a new release on Staff Development Day, March 18, 2009. We will have lots of training before that.
Key Enhancements for Workflows Upgrade:
· New staff client with updated “look and feel” and enhanced Windows functionality
· Better matching for duplicate user records
· User alerts now pop up on screen without having to click on “alerts”
· New holdings displays
· Browse searching is no longer in uppercase
· Several key enhancements for technical services in Cataloging, Acquisitions and ILS.

Our projected go live date for the new Workflows Client is Monday, March 23rd. Training will be scheduled in the two weeks prior to the go live date and will be a combination of classroom training and online, self-paced modules.

Why are you closing the Conference Center two days a week? Is that cost effective?
We close on Sunday, except for space needed for library programs and for a few customers who rent space the whole weekend. Monday we are closed both to outside customers and to the library because we do not have resources to open seven days a week. We need Monday to catch up on cleaning, etc. Yes, it is cost effective.

How can we increase circulation (performance) and decrease staff (hiring freeze)? Is this contradictory? We want to increase circulation of reading materials by 2%. What we are talking about here is marketing—encouraging people to read through reader advisories, story hour and displays. For example, Kema DeSagrada is putting stickers on books with notes such as “You might want to read” and “Book of the Week”. Displays can be used to promote reading materials. It is a challenge, but we have to set numerical goals in advance of the budget being set by City Council.

When can we go out and buy books from vendors? It took a while to get bids approved, but the paperwork is signed and we can now proceed with our orders. We have a multi-year contract so this time next year; we will not have to go through this process and will be able to order materials a lot earlier.

Is there any word about library operating hours? We had proposed making some changes at Bradham Brooks Northwest and at University Park. UPK’s usage is almost up to regional branch levels and we need to change their hours. I am holding off doing anything right now because we may need to make more global changes. We do not want to change some hours now and have to make more shortly thereafter. We are looking at business levels on an hour-by-hour basis at every library.

Graham Branch is closing at 8 pm now. Will that be the case for other libraries such as Murray Hill and Maxville? From 7 pm – 9 pm there is very little business, especially the last hour.

Security and safety were the issues at GB and closing at 8 pm is good for that branch. I am not planning to make other changes in hours right now.

What type of staff feedback are you looking for on the Library Awareness Campaign and when are you asking for it? Staff at branches will be asked to start participating in mid to late February. We will need to know how we can utilize our plans in your areas and how branches individually fit in the overall campaign, and then we will launch the campaign. Our committee has one more meeting next week to streamline our plans.

Will you be developing partnerships with the branches? The community profiles that branches construct will help staff recognize what partnerships can be developed. I will be working with Melonee Slocum to present a workshop on partnerships to the community profile team.

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.

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

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.

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

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/.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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!

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

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.)