Summer Reading Program '13

Quick link to SRP web page: http://www.houstonlibrary.org/summer

Email from Sandy Farmer on 5/7/13:

Summer Reading Club registration began May 1^st.  This is so that our school partners can encourage their students to enroll. Logging books will not begin until June 1^st.

If you have previously bookmarked the Summer Reading Club staff website please go to the reference page on the Intranet and rebookmark (yes, I know that’s not a real word) the page. The software was moved to a new location that should provide us with better service.

Due to the location change in Summer Reader all customers will have to do a new registration for this year. All previous year’s information has been removed from Summer Reader. If a customer has registered before, they will have to do a new registration this year. Hopefully this fresh start will allow our customers access to many previously taken usernames and it will make it easier for us to find people.

Thanks everybody! Have a great summer and email me if you have questions.

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-Marcos

MAM Services to the Community

FYI...

Library Literature Circulating

You may begin to see magazines circulating with a list of all of our names attached on the front. This is the Public Libraries magazine, produced and distributed by the Public Library Association. I am a member of this association, and I thought I would share this literature for those who may be interested. There is no obligation to read this piece of literature, but I encourage you to browse the articles to see what other libraries are doing or to get a feel for the trends. I hope you enjoy and perhaps engage in light discussions.

-Marcos

TexShare Cards Refresher

The TexShare Card Agreement Form can be found on the HPL Inside intranet under the Forms link (Library Materials). The website instructs customers to send agreement form to Circulation Admin. Dept. If a customer is interested or perhaps an opportunity to inform the customer arises, please find and/or print an agreement form and explain the details. See below for details from the Library's web page.

-Marcos

TexShare Card 

Houston Public Library is a participant in the TexShare Card Program, a cooperative program that permits eligible customers of Texas public and academic libraries in good standing to directly borrow materials from participating TexShare libraries across Texas. 

Customers with a Houston Public Library Power Card can get a TexShare card by filling out the TexShare Card Agreement form and sending it to the Circulation Administration 

Department at:
Houston Public Library
System Circulation Department
500 McKinney
Houston, TX 77002 

Cards will be mailed to eligible customers after completed TexShare Agreement Forms are received in Circulation Administration. TexShare cards are no longer available at Neighborhood Library or Central Library service desks. 

For more information, please visit the TexShare Card Program page on the Texas State Library and Archives Commission website.

Silver Stars! Featuring Andy Upchurch

Kathy is overseeing the Silver Stars series at RIN, a program designed for the 50+ crowd, which is held Thursday mornings 11am-12pm through May 9. Recently, Mr. Andy Upchurch, a local musician, avid sailor and new author of The Oleanders at San Leon (and in our collection), presented to a large audience detailing his experiences of building his own beach house with no carpentry experience. (Image above shows Mr. Upchurch's display. Photo credit: Kathy C.)

This series is gaining some serious momentum thanks to Kathy's planning and marketing. Keep up the good work, Kathy! A big thanks to all of you who have and continue to help promote this program at the service desks.

-Marcos

Ring Neighborhood Library opens doors on Saturdays starting 04/20/2013

New hours comes with a new look to the weekly schedule.

You may have already noticed the color scheme to the weekly schedule has changed. As we know, color can affect us in many ways, and the goal of the selected color scheme is to provide a relaxed feeling when viewing your hourly tasks. Some claim green color is good for the heart and purple (lavender) can suppress hunger along with stimulating creativity. Hmm.... we shall see.

-Marcos

Blog Revived!

Our grouping's blog is back and running again! 

This blog serves as a way to access commonly used sites/forms and a means to communicate to you, the HIL/RIN group, with updates, reminders, cheers, and opportunities. Become familiar with the layout and links provided on the right, and please make it a daily routine to visit the blog during each work shift. Take note of the "Quick Links" listed where you will find the following listed: Weekly Schedule, HPL Intranet, KRONOS Quick, Volunteer Sign-In, Web Outlook and the Library's Homepage. As always, we welcome your feedback.

Thank you,
-Marcos