Update to earlier Update to Tricia's hours

 6/29/2022

Tricia's hours have changed slightly:

Mondays & Wednesdays 9 AM - 2:30 PM

Tuesdays 9 AM - 3 PM

Thursdays 12 PM - 6 PM  (corrected)

Fridays stay the same (9 AM - 2 PM)

The changes are on the main calendar.

Create list of things to know

 6/27/2022

What is in Lesley's head? 

I'm trying to think of everything I can that needs to be told to someone else, or moved to a shared location. I need your help.

As you think of things that you need to know that you usually ask me for, please write on the easel pad outside of the office. Anything you notice that maybe isn't written down or saved somewhere should go on that list too. 

I really appreciate it!    --Lesley

Instructions for Libby

 6/27/2022

[this just came up the other day...]

Bobbi at the State Library has been continuing to update the instructions she has for Libby/OverDrive. You can find those here:

https://nhsl.libguides.com/nhdb/librarians

You can also get to OverDrive help (which is actually helpful) here:

https://help.libbyapp.com/en-us/index.htm

Patrons are welcome to use the OverDrive help pages. I think that the State Library pages probably describe some administrative things that only libraries can do.

Newsletter edition - farewell

 6/27/2022

I sent out a "farewell" edition of the newsletter today. I am happy to chat with anyone who comes in and wants to. 

New Town Employees

 6/20/2022

Lisa Dudek is joining us as the new Office Assistant in the Town Clerk – Tax Collector Office.  Lisa is a Stratham resident who comes to us with experience in accounting and information technology.  She will be working with Jim and Deb on a part-time basis.  She had her first day on Monday last week, but starts with a full regular schedule this week.  Special thanks once again to Deb Bakie and Joseph for their covering the gap as Tara moved to the full-time position at the Building Inspection/Code Enforcement Coordinator.

[Location: in Town Clerk's office]

 

Susan Connors is our new Planning Project Assistant who will be working with Mark in the Planning Department as well as Jim and Tara in Building.  Susan will be helping with the planning administration duties, providing coverage at the window, and helping the Planning Department advance special projects.  Susan joins us after a career working in environmental protection and water quality issues and for the State of Massachusetts and she is a new Stratham resident.  I am very excited to see this office back at full strength.

[Location: window/desk across from Building coordinator window]

 

Meredith Madden is assisting the Parks & Recreation Department on a part-time, temporary basis this summer.  Meredith has been working for the last couple of weeks.  Meredith is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire Air Force ROTC program and will be receiving her commission within the year to serve in the United States Air Force.  She has already been a wonderful assist for Seth and the program, which as you know is very active during the summer months.  We are in the middle of a search for a permanent the Program Coordinator.

[Locaton: Parks & Rec office]

Dispatches from Saturday

Tricia and I had a moderately busy -- and yet still productive -- Saturday today. Here are a few updates for Monday: 

1. In addition to welcoming Crystal aboard, Breanne, our new shelver/page, is also starting Monday. Her basic schedule to start will be short afternoon shifts, i.e., Mon 4-7 Weds 3-6 Fri 3-6 Sat 10-1. This may vary the first couple of weeks, seeing as she's in a Shakespeare production! She is marked on the big schedule calendar. 

2. Library of Things: We'll be asking everyone to help take an inventory of the "things" in your area. A "thing" is a non-media item that circulates (with or without a barcode) or can be used by a patron in-house. Details to follow but please start looking around. 

3. I just sent out a new Memo. It mentions changes to our book sale that are upcoming. For now, we may proceed as we have been with donation limits, but the book sale will be moving back inside. Patti is on point. Meanwhile, Connie (Trustee) will be collecting "Mysteries only" for an upcoming sale. 

4. While I'm thinking of it, we should all be subscribed to -- and reading -- our own newsletters, right? ;-)  https://mailchi.mp/wigginml/thememomidjune22

5. We've been recruited to help out at the Summerfest, AKA the one-day Stratham Fair, on July 16. This is an outstanding opportunity for us to be highly visible in the community. My wife Adriane and I will be scooping ice cream, and if you'd like to volunteer to help out, we'll be on ice cream duty from 11AM-6PM. More details to follow soon. https://www.strathamnh.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif5051/f/uploads/summer_fest_0.pdf

6. Taking credit cards. I have finally found a way to use the Square app on the iPad to take cards *and* to have patrons cover the convenience fee (or most of it at least). I'll be showing everyone individually how this works in the coming days/weeks. 

7. There are still 5 slots left, but we've reached critical mass for the Patriotic Wreath signups. (Yay!) Don't let that stop you from talking it up, though, as we'd love to sell this out. Remaining wreaths may potentially become take-and-makes. 

That's it from me for now! 

Thanks all,

Scott 

Orientation for Crystal

 6/15/2022

Crystal starts on Monday (20th) - Hooray!

I'm posting a link to the orientation schedule for everyone's information - and because I may have assigned you to a task! For example, I have Karen doing an "overview" of how ILL works. Please read through to see if you are listed next to a task. If you are and it is something you don't want to do or feel comfortable with, just let me know. It's not obligatory! And, I know everyone is here to help her out with whatever anyway.

This schedule is rough - will need to be adjusted based on what's happening in the library, but it's a place to start and will help us not miss too many things.

If you can't open the link, please let me know. I'm not always successful at sharing Google docs!

Lesley

Orientation Map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bphSffgxaR2xCVJX6vutWma5jjaXEyCf/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106253694115100184121&rtpof=true&sd=true

My favorite Schoolhouse Rock interjection:

Didn't seem appropriate to welcoming Crystal though!

Schoolhouse Rock Interjections YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAX7Vk3JEw

Check your time off balances

 6/15/2022

Don't forget to check your time off balances!

We are almost halfway through the year and it's a good time to look at how much vacation and sick time you have to take.

You can "carry over" up to half of your annual accrual of vacation time and up to 224 hours of sick time. Personal time can not be carried over.

[please see below for how to request vacation time off]

Vacation example:

Jane works 25 hours/week and has worked here for 7 years (40-hr/week = 120 hrs/year)

She accrues: (25/40) 0.625 * 120 (annual hours) =  75 hrs/year

Half of 75 hours = 37.5 hrs. 

Up to 37.5 hours may be "carried over" into the next year.

The Board of Trustees encourages all staff who have accrued time off to take their time off in the year it is earned. This language re: vacation time is in the current draft of the revised personnel policy and it speaks to this idea:

"The purpose of paid vacation or annual leave, is to encourage employees to renew themselves physically and mentally."

Our current leave time policy is in the personnel policy starting at the bottom of page 7. https://www.library.strathamnh.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1291/f/uploads/personnel.pdf.

 

If you have questions about the leave time balances on your check stub, please check in with Christiane. Send her an email so that she can do a bit of investigation and get back to you. 

Her email is: cmcallister@strathamnh.gov.

If your question has to do with our personnel policy, please ask me.

REQUESTING TIME OFF

In iSolved, use the "Time Off Request" (in "time card" view*) option to enter your request. This allows me to approve and be sure it gets onto the staff calendar.

You may also give me a paper form if you'd like, but it isn't necessary. 

Town Offices: New faces and roles

 6/15/2022

New faces & roles in Town Offices

A few updates (and a few reminders) that I got at yesterday's dept head meeting:

Tara now works in the Planning/Building Inspection office. She used to work in the Town Clerk's office and may still work over there sometimes to help cover.

Lisa Dudek has been hired in the Town Clerk's office. She starts next week (I think). She is Tara's replacement.

Susan Connors (no relation to Mark!) has been hired to fill the PT position in the Planning Department. Pre-Covid, this was filled by Stephanie who was only here for a short time. Now that department will be back to full staffing.

Jim Joseph, Town Clerk's office, will be out a lot this summer so the Town may be hiring a temp.

Second interviews are happening for the Rec program coordinator and they hope to be able to make an offer next week.

Phew! I'm sure David will be sending out some emails with a bit of information about all of these folks and I'll get those to you as well. Hopefully we can do some face-to-face introductions too.

 6/13/2022

UPDATE

Jason came down to talk to me about what can be done about raising the shields. In general they can be raised. It is unlikely to improve sound transfer but would make passing books underneath easier. 

I'm going to look at the countertop shields as well and see what seems like the best solution.

Circ Desks plexiglass shields coming down soon.

Jason will be taking down the hanging plexiglass shields at the circ desks. I have ordered some countertop shields that will better accommodate taller stacks of books and can be moved if needed.

The hanging panels won't come down until the countertop shields have arrived. Also the Library will continue to supply masks.

I know this is a big change and may affect how you are feeling in our workspaces. Please let me know if there are other measures you want to suggest so that I can keep all ideas on the table moving forward.

Lesley

Priorities/Values Document

 6/9/2022

Guiding Priorities and Values document:

In 2021, the Board developed a document to stand in for a strategic plan. Ours concluded a couple of years ago and there certainly wasn't time - nor enough certainty - to work on a new one. So this kind of a one year "guiding" document is useful to guide decision making in a time of rapid change.

If you're interested, I'm including links to the 2021 document and the draft 2022 document which the Board will be discussing on 6/20 at their meeting (meeting agenda here). 

2021 Priorities and Values
2022 Priorities and Values DRAFT

New arrangement in Children's Room

 6/3/2022

Rearrangement and Lighting

There has been great feedback from patrons already on the new arrangement in the Children's Room! If you haven't taken a look yet, please do. We also had a family in this morning very excitedly using the play and reading nook -- there are dress-up clothes there now!

You may notice that two of the nonfiction rows (the ones parallel to the J Fiction wall shelf) are pretty dark which makes it hard looking for titles/spine tags there or shelving. Jason is working on a lighting solution that should help. 

If you have any "bright" ideas (see what I did there??) to add, definitely let Courtney and I know.

Water Street Bookstore Supporting us Today!

Courtney this up with Water Street Bookstore in downtown Exeter, and it's happening TODAY. If there's a book you've been wanting for your own self, or to give as a gift, today is the day to buy it from Water Street. You can place orders online, too, if you can't get over there before 8PM. Here's the info: 

Community Day: Wiggin Memorial Library Summer Reading Program

Our Community Day partner for June is the Wiggin Memorial Library (Stratham) - Summer Reading Program! Join us on Thursday, June 2nd when we will donate 10% of sales to this wonderful program. Shop in store or online!

 6/1/2022

IMAGINE STRATHAM

We are having a big event on Sunday run by NH Listens as part of one of the grants we received. This grant project is to gather ideas and thoughts from people in Town about what they love about living in Stratham and what might be possible to make it even better.

In the conversations/discussions that have taken place already the types of things that rise to the top are more community-wide events on a smaller scale than the Stratham Fair, more walkable areas, new ways to connect with other people, local media/newsletter, volunteer opportunities, and welcoming new residents. 

This bigger event is an open invitation to everyone in Town to share their ideas and "dream big" about what they would love to have available in Stratham. That might be places (more trails, cafes, playgrounds, group meeting rooms), events (chicken barbecue, Lights 4 Lives, Food Trucks, music performances, road/bike races), information sharing (local "newspaper" for what is happening in Stratham, streaming events and meetings, "dashboard" website), and connections (welcome new residents, create "knowledge-sharing" networks, volunteer opportunities, intergenerational programs, places).

There are handouts at the main and children's desks both for patrons to take but also for us to put into items being checked out. Please also put one into items/bags being placed in the hallway. 

And, you know people! Mention it to patrons who you think will be interested; share the Library's Facebook post on your feed; send out an email to your neighbors or anyone who lives in Stratham you think might like to come.

There will be ice cream from Hodgie's Too! All the toppings for great sundaes too. ALL ages and walks of life are invited.

The event is this Sunday, June 5 from 2 pm - 4 pm in Community Room A. 

6/1/2022

Sunflower plants!!

Bob Keating kindly brought in some sunflower plants for us to have. There are LOTS, so please take some home for your yards! The pots are in the staff room on the floor.