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!
Monday, August 25, 2008
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.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
News from the Director’s Desk
July 29, 2008
First Coast Games. Climbing to ever greater heights, the City of Jacksonville Climbing Team led by Highlands Manager Donna Thomas defeated all comers last week as part of the First Coast Games. COJ teams and teams from 15 corporations in the city are competing in a variety of sports. The COJ Climbing team had 1,480 points with their closest competitor finishing with only 1,280 points. Way to go Donna and your team!
Sunshine Leadership Fellow Graduates: Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian in Special Collections will be graduating in August from the year-long Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. This is the fourth year of the program. Gretchen Mitchell who has been serving as Laura’s mentor will be going up with Laura to the graduation ceremony in Tallahassee. Congratulations Laura!
Willowbranch Branch Library: Public Works is close to determining their plan of action to deal with the continuing water penetration into the Willowbranch Library but in the meantime I have decided that we need to close the children’s library, which is the area most severely impacted, from public access until work has been done on the building. We will do this at close of business on Saturday, August 2 and with the help of our Facilities staff and the staff at the branch we will create a Children’s area in the meeting room. Most of the collection will be boxed and stored at UPK. We do not have a timetable from Public Works for the rehabilitation project yet but they are working on it.
Friends of the Library and the Library’s FY 2009 Budget: the Mayor’s proposed budget for FY 2009 (October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2009) is $38,366,961. Our staffing remains constant with 369 full time positions and there is no real change in the funding for part-time hours although some dollars and hours have been added to pay for Seeds of Change students next summer. Interdepartmental and indirect costs have increased by over $ 500,000 and the City is now fully funding our security services contracts which previously we had to pay for with our state appropriation. However, in order to accommodate these increases and increases in the salary and benefit line items the Administration cut the library materials budget (books, music, film, online reference services) by one million dollars. The Friends of the Library have begun a campaign, calling it “Libraries Need Books” and are collecting signatures on petitions and encouraging library supporters to contact their Council Members to protest the reduction in the materials budget. You can find more about the Friends of the Library campaign on their website.
Some staff has asked me how the reductions will impact our collections and purchasing new items. Until we have final numbers it is difficult to know those details and I will be working with Charlene Adkins on the budget for materials. We will be able to spend some amount of our state appropriation on library materials but Charlene is projecting an overall 14% reduction. There would be fewer periodical subscriptions and standing orders. We would no longer purchase additional copies of popular materials when the number of holds reaches a certain threshold and overall customers would have access to both fewer titles and copies of books, music and film. And we will have to do a thorough evaluation, title by title of the online information databases we license in terms of cost and use and decide which we can no longer justify.
Hurricane Season: Everyone needs to review the Library’s Emergency Management Plan on JPLNeighborhood. Branch Managers please take time at a staff meeting to highlight the important items and make sure you have accurate and up to date contact information for everyone at your library. The City will soon have a portal set up for all staff to go online and review the preparations we should all make for our own and our family’s safety in the event of a major event such as a hurricane or tornado. Keep checking for this as you go online to the employee website.
Comments or Questions? You can contact me at bgubbin@coj.net.
Barbara Gubbin
July 29, 2008
First Coast Games. Climbing to ever greater heights, the City of Jacksonville Climbing Team led by Highlands Manager Donna Thomas defeated all comers last week as part of the First Coast Games. COJ teams and teams from 15 corporations in the city are competing in a variety of sports. The COJ Climbing team had 1,480 points with their closest competitor finishing with only 1,280 points. Way to go Donna and your team!
Sunshine Leadership Fellow Graduates: Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian in Special Collections will be graduating in August from the year-long Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. This is the fourth year of the program. Gretchen Mitchell who has been serving as Laura’s mentor will be going up with Laura to the graduation ceremony in Tallahassee. Congratulations Laura!
Willowbranch Branch Library: Public Works is close to determining their plan of action to deal with the continuing water penetration into the Willowbranch Library but in the meantime I have decided that we need to close the children’s library, which is the area most severely impacted, from public access until work has been done on the building. We will do this at close of business on Saturday, August 2 and with the help of our Facilities staff and the staff at the branch we will create a Children’s area in the meeting room. Most of the collection will be boxed and stored at UPK. We do not have a timetable from Public Works for the rehabilitation project yet but they are working on it.
Friends of the Library and the Library’s FY 2009 Budget: the Mayor’s proposed budget for FY 2009 (October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2009) is $38,366,961. Our staffing remains constant with 369 full time positions and there is no real change in the funding for part-time hours although some dollars and hours have been added to pay for Seeds of Change students next summer. Interdepartmental and indirect costs have increased by over $ 500,000 and the City is now fully funding our security services contracts which previously we had to pay for with our state appropriation. However, in order to accommodate these increases and increases in the salary and benefit line items the Administration cut the library materials budget (books, music, film, online reference services) by one million dollars. The Friends of the Library have begun a campaign, calling it “Libraries Need Books” and are collecting signatures on petitions and encouraging library supporters to contact their Council Members to protest the reduction in the materials budget. You can find more about the Friends of the Library campaign on their website.
Some staff has asked me how the reductions will impact our collections and purchasing new items. Until we have final numbers it is difficult to know those details and I will be working with Charlene Adkins on the budget for materials. We will be able to spend some amount of our state appropriation on library materials but Charlene is projecting an overall 14% reduction. There would be fewer periodical subscriptions and standing orders. We would no longer purchase additional copies of popular materials when the number of holds reaches a certain threshold and overall customers would have access to both fewer titles and copies of books, music and film. And we will have to do a thorough evaluation, title by title of the online information databases we license in terms of cost and use and decide which we can no longer justify.
Hurricane Season: Everyone needs to review the Library’s Emergency Management Plan on JPLNeighborhood. Branch Managers please take time at a staff meeting to highlight the important items and make sure you have accurate and up to date contact information for everyone at your library. The City will soon have a portal set up for all staff to go online and review the preparations we should all make for our own and our family’s safety in the event of a major event such as a hurricane or tornado. Keep checking for this as you go online to the employee website.
Comments or Questions? You can contact me at bgubbin@coj.net.
Barbara Gubbin
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