Make and Take Craft

In DateLines it says: “Come make a fun craft during the month of February. Inquire at the Information Desk”. For the month of February, children can make and take a craft. We will have 2 different crafts every 2 weeks. The first two weeks, we will try to have a craft related to Valentine’s Day. Craft supplies will be put on the J table, similar to what we did for SRC. Instructions for crafts will be posted.

This will start on Monday. The first craft will be a fish and heart collage. There are copies of a fish and heart outline that children have to fill in by gluing pieces of paper inside the picture. On the J table, there should be copies of both the fish and the heart outline, along with a box full of small pieces of paper.

Thanks

Black History Month Quiz

Black History Month Quiz will start on Monday February 1st.

In DateLines it says: “Celebrate Black History Month with us. For more details, please visit the Information Desk”. Children can come to the information desk to pick up the quiz that Sharyn created. It will be in a tray on top of the cabinet behind the information desk. Once the children have completed the quiz, they can choose a prize from the treasure box. This will also be behind the information desk.
If you need to make more copies, the master and the answers are in the inside flap of the programming notebook.

Any questions, ask Sharyn.

Checking Something Out for Direct Loan

Some of the branch names for other systems did not transfer properly. If you're looking for a branch name and it doesn't retrieve any results, try changing the search type to "voice phone" and type in the phone number. You can find the phone number for the different branches on the direct loan flyer.

Any questions, ask Erin.

Broken Headphones

If a customer asks for a new pair of headphones because the old ones don't work, please throw the broken pair in the trash. Technology Support does not want these back.

Also, there are two pairs of smaller headphones for our wifi customers in the information desk, if they ask for them. I haven't been asking for ID, I just ask them to return them to the desk, once they're done. Everyone, so far has been very good about returning them.

Thanks

Multi Request Function in Polaris

We wouldn't use this too often. I've placed it on the librarians blog for easy access and for instructional purposes. This is primarily to be used by librarians.

If you want to place multiple holds of the same title for the same person. For instance, placing holds for a book club.

1. Click on File - New - Hold Request
2. Hold Request workform will open - find patron or type in their barcode, their name should display in the box.
3. Perform an item object search by title
4. Highlight the correct title/format and the number of copies that you would like, for example, highlight 5 if you want 5.
5. Right Click over the highlighted titles and click on select.
6. The records will automatically display in the multi request box in the Hold Request workform.
7. Once you're in the multi request form, you do have the option to add or delete other titles or current titles in your hold request by clicking on the + or - sign underneath where it says titles.
8. Once you're done, click on the disk at the top to Save.
9. You'll get a message saying that the hold request already exists, do you want to create a duplicate, click yes to continue. You'll get this message for however many copies you're trying to place on hold.
10. Close out of the window once you're done.

Any questions ask Erin. Thanks

Infant and Toddlers Program

FYI: If our customers ask:

The Monday morning storytime will not be meeting for the next two weeks.
The dates are: 1/18 and 1/25.

Canceling a Hold That's Been Shipped

This is a work around for customers who would like to cancel their hold, but the status in Polaris says that it's been "Shipped", meaning it's in transit.

1. Go to Circulation, select Patron Status.
2. Do a search for the patron, you can search by name or barcode.
3. Once you've located the patron, go to their Requests (look for the hand holding the book icon on the left). This should give you a list of their holds, along with the status of each hold. The status says it's "Shipped".
4. Highlight the title that you would like to change, then right click, select links, select item record. This will open the Item Record for that hold.
5. In the middle of the form, you'll see the circ. status and it should say "Hold in Transit". If it doesn't it's the wrong record.
6. Up at the top of the form, you'll see Barcode, highlight the barcode, right click and select copy.
7. Now go to Circulation, select Checkout.
8. In Checkout, check the item out to our Hold Shelf, click in the item barcode field and right click and select paste, to paste in the barcode that you copied from the Item Record screen.
9. Once you do, you'll get a message saying: This item cannot be checked out. It is being held for...Do you want to override the hold and continue with check out? Click on YES.
10. Then you'll get a message saying: Do you want to reactivate the hold request for...: Click on NO.
11. Once the item arrives here it will get checked in.

Any questions about this, ask Erin.

Changing Branch Pick Up Location for Holds

In Polaris it is simple to change the branch pick up location for a hold. Follow these instructions:

1. The status has to be "HELD", meaning that it's on our hold shelf waiting to be picked up.
2. Go to Circulation, select Patron Status.
3. Do a search for the patron, you can search by name or barcode.
4. Once you've located the patron, go to their Requests (look for the hand holding the book icon on the left). This should give you a list of their holds, along with the status of each hold. Status MUST be HELD.
5. Highlight the title that you would like to change, then double click to open it. This will open the Hold Request workform.
6. Up at the top you should see a field for "pick up"
7. Change the pick up location to the branch where the patron would like to pick up their hold.
8. Once you're done, the status will automatically change from HELD to Shipped.
9. Don't forget to Save.
10. Put a pink hold slip on it and circle the branch where it's going
11. Finally, put the item on the reserve cart or walk it back to the workroom and put it in the appropriate bin.

In the PAC, when patrons place holds for themselves the default pick up location is the patron's library. The patron's library is where they first registered to get their library card. If they registered at AR and use AR, this would not be a problem. However, for most where they registered may not necessarily be the branch that they use. If patrons do not realize this, then I foresee us having to change their branch pick up location quite often.

Merchandising Notebook

The merchandising team is now responsible for all displays. There is now a merchandising notebook (located on the file cabinet behind the information desk) for all our displays. Please take some time to go through the notebook to familiarize yourself. The team would love to get your feedback. For each display there is an information sheet where you can record you comments as to whether or not you thought a certain display worked. Please write your comments here.

If you have any questions regarding this, please ask Erin.

Tax Appointments

Per Sharyn's emails:

We are now taking tax appointments at the information desk. The binder is on the file cabinet behind the information desk. A few things to remember:

1. Please use pencil when taking appointments
2. Please do not give out Pat's number
3. If they ask what they need to bring, tell them, "their last year's tax return". If they don't have this, it's not mandatory that they bring it, but it would be helpful for Pat to have.
4. Sharyn made appointment reminder cards, which are available in the binder, if you would like to use them. These are for people who stop by to make an appointment. Some customers would like you to write down their appointment, so that they don't forget.
5. All tax forms are out, if you need additional forms, the regular forms are in the back hallway. The more unusual forms are in the librarians dept. on the gray shelf (where we kept the SRC supplies).
6. The reproducible forms have not been put out yet.

Any questions regarding taxes, please ask Sharyn.

Thanks