Thursday, July 31, 2008
Change in Schedule
Today - Thursday - Shelley will be in for Kathy from 1-5:30.
Pat
Pat
item holds a follow up
I cleared all the item level holds this morning and just want to mention a few things.
- If you haven't already read the blog about the message that comes up for books missing or withdrawn please do so. It was posted July 23. It will explain what to do if you get the message stopping a hold request. We had 4 holds with items withdrawn. I ordered them through ILL so hopefully the patrons will have them in a week.
- There is a cataloging problem with some of the music CDs that are packaged funny and this is something Rosalie is going to solve. Evita is the item that raised the red flag. She will try and make it more straight forward to hold the music which has been packaged as separate disks in separate packages.
- I had a number of items that had item holds that I investigated to see if patrons were putting on the holds from home or our OPACs in house. I wanted to see if the OPAC uses the item record rather than bib as the default. But after testing with a few titles it appears that the Bibliographic record is the default from the OPAC in the library and at home. So I guess we are ones making the mistake.
- I also found a book that had 2 holds which was claimed never had so the holds are just sitting there. I guess there is no message for that. I alerted Rosalie and asked her buy a new copy. It is a South Beach Diet book. If you have to place a hold on a South Beach book please check the item record for availability and if it is the claimed never had then make sure to advise the patron we are getting a new one.
All in all things look good. You guys have done a great job with the pesky movie requests when there are various parts to a series. Keep up the good work with that.
I will take a look again next month and see if I find any other problems it was a great way to catch some items that need looking at or replacing.
Pat
Local History
There will be no one in Local History today July 31. If anyone comes in I will try and help them or Karen V can offer assistance. If people call please inform them that the room is scheduled to be open Tuesday August 5. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Pat
Pat
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Holds - item record or bib record?
We are again having the problem of holds being placed on items records rather than bib records. Please make sure unless it is an item within a group such as a movie or magazine you place the hold on the bibliographic record. This is the only way to guarantee that a patron will get a copy of the item as soon as it is returned.
I will fix the ones that are out there but please make an extra special effort to correct this problem.
Pat
I will fix the ones that are out there but please make an extra special effort to correct this problem.
Pat
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
DVD shelving
Tim has asked that we not have any volunteers shelve the DVDs. He is spending a lot of time re shelving items that are in the wrong place. Our steady stream of volunteers is beginning to cause more work than really help. Please limit the volunteers to putting away the disks in the books. Do not have them shelve. When we have the new pages we can have them trained to shelve the DVDs but until then please only Tim, Zoltan or a staff member should shelve the DVDs.
Also, if you are working the desk and we have a volunteer putting away the disk every now and then please check in within them to see how they are doing. They may have questions but are afraid to ask. Also, if you are the person getting them started make sure to remind them to check the name of the movie on the label and the one on the disk. That will prevent circuit videos being put in the wrong place as well as music disks.
Pat
Also, if you are working the desk and we have a volunteer putting away the disk every now and then please check in within them to see how they are doing. They may have questions but are afraid to ask. Also, if you are the person getting them started make sure to remind them to check the name of the movie on the label and the one on the disk. That will prevent circuit videos being put in the wrong place as well as music disks.
Pat
Friday, July 25, 2008
Covering the bases
I have placed two large manila envelopes in the circulation cubby for the new teen shelvers. Information about this is also in the staff e-mail. Just wanted to be sure the word was out.
mc
mc
AAUW Book Sale
A rep from the AAUW Book Sale dropped off some new bookmarks. They have had to change the start date for donation drop-offs to Aug. 2 (from July 28) as BMS has something going on their original date. The new book mark reflects this date change. MH
pc monitors--touch lightly
Two of our pc monitor off/on buttons are now non-functional. I have put a piece of yellow tape over them. Unfortunately they have to stay "on" until I can find a swap or get Jim to fix them. When you are turning them off and on, please touch lightly! Maybe the others will last longer
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Missing DVD Discs
There have been a number of movie discs missing from the books lately. There are three empty boxes on the problems shelf right now, and I am about to add another one. In another variation on the theme, we found some of our library's movie discs filed away in the video circuit notebooks. Coincidental with all this, we have had a number of young, first-time volunteers who have been helping us empty the returned dvd boxes. Some of them seem to rush to get things done and perhaps they aren't fully instructed in where things go. Maybe it isn't their fault at all; summer is crazy, afterall. Any ideas?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
High School Reading Books
I am finding our copies of the High School Reading list books on the small cart near the desk that has the High School copies of the books. Please, remember that although our books have a stop they should be placed on the cart to be reselved into our collection. Only the High School copies go on the small cart. I this can be confusing because it is not the same as the Bedwell or Middle School books but it is what it is and we only have a few weeks left to try and remember how to segregate the books.
One more time
High School copies of the summer reading books go right to the small cart near the self check.
The Bernardsville Library copies go back on the appropiate cart for shelving into our collection.
One more time
High School copies of the summer reading books go right to the small cart near the self check.
The Bernardsville Library copies go back on the appropiate cart for shelving into our collection.
This message keeps poping up
Some of you have seen this message pop up when you try to place a hold on an item for a patron. Here is the reason and here is what to do. Rosalie has added this because the item you are requesting is either missing or withdrawn and not available for a hold. If you recall she asked us not put holds on items in that category because the patron could wait for ever. This message alerts you to that problem. Do not override! Although you have the option to override please do not. So what you do when you see this message is just hit no.
What if the patron wants to know why? Well you can access the item record and see what the status is by going to card drawer icon on the side bar of the item. If the status has been chosen not to allow a hold, usually missing or withdrawn, then you will get this message. If the patron really wants the item fill out a form and we will try and ILL it for them. We always have the ILL route for desired items.
As usual if you have questions please ask me and I will demonstrate any of the above information.
Pat
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Register drawer
We were really short of the proper denominations for the register drawer tonight. We had to make change from the Book Rentals envelope and one of the computer classes. It had a lot of 5's in it so we replaced it with a $20. The monies will need to be exchanged soon. We left the envelope inside the black cash drawer so the person opening will see it. It also has a post it note on it so you will know what we did. MH & AM
Monday, July 21, 2008
Big news from Jim
Jim Droney is a daddy again. Quinn William Droney was born yesterday at 7 lbs something. Everyone is doing just fine. Jim won't be in tonight (Mon.) but should be in tomorrow and Thursday.
RB
RB
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Backup tapes--opening--network tape won't pop out
As stated before there are now 2 backup tapes to deal with every morning. Unfortunately the backup software used on the network backup server (red one)will not pop the tape out after the backup has been run. Therefore you will have to pop the tape out each morning to change it. Be aware that after you press the button, the tape comes out VERY slowly, not like on a pc. Be patient, it will come out. Please notify me if it doesn't.
RB
RB
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
No renewals on circuit vids--PLEASE!!!
Please, please, please. Do not renew circuit videos! Since our loan period is 2 weeks, and we only have them for 4 weeks, the videos need to move along to the next library ASAP. Please don't override the renewal block. We are being very unfair to Harrison Library when we send them videos that they can only circulate for a week.
RB
RB
Monday, July 14, 2008
Lost items reported
A teen reported that she may have left a green ENV phone and a TI-84 plus silver calculator in the library. If found please call. Her name and phone number is on a post-it in the cash register.
mc
mc
Friday, July 11, 2008
Books on Hold Vanishing from Patron Record
The past few times I have worked, when patrons have come in to pick up books they had reserved and they are a day or so late, the book no longer appears on the patron's record. This makes it difficult to explain to the patron or to know how long the book was held before being cancelled, etc. I liked being able to see that info. What does everyone else think?
Gerry
Gerry
More on the new backup tape in Tech. Services...
Rosalie asked me to the following along to those who may be opening the library:
At present, is necessary to push the button next to the tape drive on the
new (network) server to eject the previous day's backup tape. Rosalie
wanted everyone to know that the tape ejects very s-l-o-w-l-y, so be
patient after you push the button (15-30 seconds). Once the tape ejects,
the current-day tape can be pushed in as usual.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Large Type Circuit
Summer changes
With all the changes in the schedules it is really important that when you arrive for work if you are a circ person you check in at the desk to make sure that you aren't the second person on the desk. With the work being done on the surrounding roads causing arrival delays and different people opening than the usual schedule we have had a morning or two when there has been only one person at circ. Other circ people were in the library, and not originally scheduled at the desk but unfortunately needed at the desk at opening, if only for a short time. The early part of the week we have had people waiting to get in and I anticipate that continuing at least through July. So please just let the opener know you are here and make sure the schedule hasn't changed since 8:00.
Thanks
Pat
Thanks
Pat
Monday morning book drop check in
The system did not account for the closed day on Monday. Therefore patrons were charged $.10 for a book that was returned in the drop on Sunday, we assume, but not checked in until Monday. To remedy this small glitch, please when checking in the book drop items go up to the top of the check in screen and give one free day. You can now do that in the regular check in screen as well as the bulk check in screen. This will allow all the people who dropped items on Sunday to get the benfit of day of grace.
Pat
Pat
change of schedule today Thursday
Today Kathy and Gerry have flip floped their schedules. Gerry will be in at 1:00 and then Kathy will work Gerry's time at 5:00.
Next week Tim is on vacation, he really is this time. We will need some help with the shelving. Please if things slow down at the desk, you can do a little shelving. I will try and get some volunteers from the children's area to help out as much as possible.
Pat
Next week Tim is on vacation, he really is this time. We will need some help with the shelving. Please if things slow down at the desk, you can do a little shelving. I will try and get some volunteers from the children's area to help out as much as possible.
Pat
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Attn Openers--2nd backup tape
Anyone opening and closing the library will now be responsible for 2 backup tapes. We are now backing up the network folders, etc. The server with the second tape is on the floor to the left of the rack. It is marked "network backup". The tapes are marked with a red "N". They will be kept in the same drawer with the Polaris backup tapes.
Follow the same procedure as with the Polaris backup tapes. Pop it in first thing in the morning, check it at closing time. If the tape is not ejected in the morning, please alert me. Pat will have the week 2 tapes in her bag at home.
RB
Follow the same procedure as with the Polaris backup tapes. Pop it in first thing in the morning, check it at closing time. If the tape is not ejected in the morning, please alert me. Pat will have the week 2 tapes in her bag at home.
RB
Thursday, July 03, 2008
The Fischers
There's a great article in the B'Ville News today (7/3) featuring the Fischers and telling about their work over the years to support our Library. We are so lucky to have them. Check it out! Gerry
Happy 4th
Library patron Shannon has sent a Happy 4th card to all staff. You may view it at:
http://www.123greetings.com/view/NJ90703100949741
- KB
http://www.123greetings.com/view/NJ90703100949741
- KB
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Summer Reading Lists---revisited
I have created links to the Basking Ridge summer reading lists in our web site. The links are listed below the Somerset Hills School District summer reading lists. If parents want to see the list, suggest they use our web site. The links can be found on the Kid Stuff Resources page. I have not printed the lists because some of the titles are linked to assignments.
mc
mc
People Want Those Bugs!
So far this week, two people have asked if we are going to sell or raffle off the summer reading bugs - they love them so much! What do Youth Services and Keiko think about this?
