Author: Eric Melton

We will hold an all-staff meeting Friday, May 19th, 9am-12pm. More details forthcoming.

[UPDATE] LinkedIn Learning is reactivated.

This afternoon, patrons with over $5 in fines will receive a message like the one shown below. You may receive calls from patrons with questions about their fines and about food-for-fines.

Eric Melton,
Pay your overdue fees with non-perishable food items April 22-29.
One food item pays $1 in fees. Fees for damaged or lost items cannot be paid with food and are not included in the amount listed below.

Your current fees eligible for payment via food for fines:
$126.70

Staff
Johnston Public Library
515-278-5233

Tips for talking with patrons about fees during Food-for-Fines:

How do I quickly find and add up the eligible fees on a patron’s account? Here is a step-by-step guide for adding up fines and how to accept payment with food/personal care items. I’ve also printed it for the desks.

Remember to encourage patrons with lost items (You’ll see Replacement/Processing fees) to return items. Those fees can be reduced to a fine of $5, or less, per item, if they are returned. It is never too late to bring items back to the library.

We are collecting Food-for-Fines items at the Circulation Desk behind the Self-Check Kiosk.

It’s spring which means…it’s evaluation time. Part of the process is the self evaluation. This is your chance to tell your supervisor what you think you did well in the past year, how you’d like to grow going forward, and what could be done to help make your work or your experience at work better. The self evaluation form is linked below. Please have it to your supervisor by May, 5th.  If you’ve been at JPL fewer than 6 months, you are not required to complete a self evaluation. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ho3J_NpAiyCzyJdxDgdDychcHC9A4jmx/view?usp=share_link

Staff Internet and public access to our website will be down for a couple of hours Monday. Public Internet should be unaffected. Polaris should still be functional. Staff at the PS and YS desks may need to switch to our public wifi for web access.

From city hall:

Good Morning,

On Monday, April 17 we will be replacing our firewall.  This will cause internet outages between the hours of approximately noon and 2 p.m.  Please plan accordingly.

External email – in and outbound – will also be down during this time. Internal email will not be impacted. All email will be delivered once the firewall is reconnected.

Please ensure that your department is aware of the outage.

 Thanks,

Cyndee

A recent visitor to the library, Michael Hodges, has been banned from the library. If you see him, call the police and let them  handle escorting him from the building.

An update on the shelter behind the library:

“The facility will be completed in the next couple of weeks, then a temporary fence will be put up where we seed. “

The statewide tornado drill will occur this Wednesday (3/29) at 10am. The outdoor alarms will sound but, to avoid disrupting patron meetings and other activities, we will not do a drill. This would be a good time, however, to review the tornado and wind section of the Emergency Manual and the emergency response cards at whichever public desk you work.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RXw6mt0gp3A7lEe3PDyoGPIa1h5ET5uc/view?usp=sharing

The library board recently approved the following addition (highlighted) to the list of violations included in Conduct in the Library Policy.

Bringing an animal into the library, unless it is assisting a person with a disability. Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support are not allowed in the library.

There’s no need to address every instance of an animal in the library–just if the animal is causing problems. If the animal is not causing problems, assume it’s a legit service animal. If you do need to address a patron with an animal, you can only ask two questions:

• Is the dog a service animal that is required because of a disability? (You are not allowed to ask about the disability.)
• What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

You are not allowed to request documentation or that the dog demonstrate its task. Let me know if you have any questions.

Paypal is discontinuing the app we use to accept book sale payments so we’re switched to their new app, Zettle. It’s pretty intuitive but check out the video below for a tutorial on completing transactions. If it logs out, the username is “notices@johnstonlibrary.com” and the password is “123Johnston”.

https://www.zettle.com/gb/help/articles/1084729-taking-card-and-contactless-payments

Tech Lab Update: I moved the scanner and its software to the Windows PC as the Mac was allowing the scanner to sleep in between slide scans. By default, scans will be saved to a “Digitized Photos” folder that has a shortcut on the desktop. That folder is also accessible on the Mac for anyone wanting to edit their scans there in one of the Adobe apps. I’m still working on getting the audio digitization software to work. There are alternatives but none that are as full-featured for digitizing analog audio or as intuitive.

Some of our patrons have no Internet access at home. I’ve included some information below about a federal program that provides discounts for citizens who meet certain criteria (see the link below).

The Affordable Connectivity Program is an FCC benefit program that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more.

The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

The three PCs on the ledge behind the checkout desk will be picked up by Maxwell Hooks.

*The website is now fixed. Let me know if you experience or hear of any issues with it.

Polaris support is working on a problem with the piece of their software that the website pulls information from. Search and account information is currently unavailable. I’m hoping it’s resolved soon.

A display from the African American Museum of Iowa will be setup at JPL sometime this week and will be here until March 3rd.

Examine the role public schools play in funneling students into the prison system in Suspended: Systemic Oppression in our Schools, an original exhibition developed by the African American Museum of Iowa. Elements of the criminal justice system have entered public schools around the country, resulting in zero tolerance policies and student policing that disproportionately effect children of color.

Find more information about the display here.