Author: Eric Melton

The food bin for donating to the Johnston Partnership is now in place between the main entry doors. Kelly Renfrow from the Partnership will pick-up donations as needed.

We had a board book bin break today.  So, the boxes that are marked “Littles” are now “Littles” and Board books due to having to combine 3 bins into 2 bins.  If you have questions on this ask Dreama or Cheryl or Kinney.

Check out the new lounge chairs and lego table in the northwest corner of the YS area.

Just sending out a quick reminder about bad weather since we have been blessed with many new staff members.

When a tornado watch is issued for Polk County, we have signs at Circ that state we are under a tornado watch.  These are posted on the front door, at circ, and at Ref.

When a warning occurs, here is what happends:

1. Circ locks the front doors and posts a sign on doors saying we are closed due to weather.

2. Circ Staff put the phone on night ring and makes an announcement the building is closed due to weather and all patrons MUST immediately go into the tornado shelter which is the restrooms.

3. Public Services sweeps the building and requires everyone to enter into the restrooms.  All patrons must go in or leave the building.

4. Please remember to grab the emergency buckets located at Youth Services; Reference; and Circ.  These buckets have coloring sheets, flashlights, etc. to help. 

5. Public Services staff will grab a laptop computer to watch the weather and news to help know when the warning is over.  PS wil also watch the outside doors for stragglers, etc.

All batteries in all flashlights have been replaced.  Please refer to the Emergency Manual in Eric’s office for more information and location of all flashlights and emergency kits.

We will have a staff meeting this Thursday at 8am. Emily Price, the city’s communication specialist, will present information on the recent community survey. Staff and supervisors will then have the chance to announce news, discuss upcoming events, etc.

Eric created a new circulation status, Replacement.  If you are withdrawing an item because it is damaged, and you want a selector to consider replacing the item, use Replacement instead of Withdrawn.  Items with a status of Replacement will appear on the Lost & Missing Items report for the selector’s consideration.

We will no longer check damaged items out to the Replacement (AV or Book) patrons.

The circulation status, In-Repair, now will include items that are at the bindery.

Either Maurine or I will be happy to answer any questions about these changes.

Dreama

$372.50 in fees were paid with food last week. Thank you everyone, circ. staff in particular, for making the first Food-for-Fines a sucess.

Eric

We have had a couple of instances where there are two patrons with the same first and last name, and the hold is placed on the wrong record.  

When you are placing a hold for someone on the telephone, be sure that you have the right patron.  If the patron gives you his name (instead of his barcode), type just the last name (unless it’s a very common last name) so that you see a list of all of the patrons with that name.  Then ask him to confirm his street address or birth date.  Both of these pieces of information are on the list and will help you select the correct record.  Also keep in mind that when Polaris suggests names for you, the list of names is not complete.

If you have any questions about holds, please let me know.

Thanks.

Dreama

I am trying to track down the donor plaques that fell off the old donor board in the archive room. If you know where they are please let me know.

Eric

Hello!

Timesheets are due today, Wednesdsay, April 16!

Thank you,

Missy

The AED’s (i.e. the shock machine’s) battery ran out. We’re waiting for a replacement. If someone is needing a shock, they will need to wait for the new battery to come in.

Eric

I am making a few changes to the adult public PCs:

1. Installing Google Chrome as a third browser option (Internet Explorer and Firefox will remain)
2. Adding database links to the desktop (similar to what was on the Reference Research PC)
3. Changing the desktop background to dark blue to better offset the desktop shortcuts
4. Setting Adobe Reader to print files as images to see if this reduces the number of printing issues

I made the changes on Stations 1-8 this morning, and I’ll continue to work on the rest over the next few weeks.

Station 6 is still out of order but should be back in place in a week or so.

If you have any questions or suggestions for other changes to the public PCs, please let me know.

Dreama

Maurine and I split responsibility for the pick list/holds and the mail/newspapers.  Tech Services staff will be responsible for putting out each day’s newspapers and for distributing the mail.  Please do not help distribute these materials as it just leads to confusion.

Thanks.

Dreama

Our high school yearbooks are back from being digitized and can be browsed (from staff PCs only) via the link below. Software is on the way to make the text in the images searchable. The yearbooks will then be made available to the public on the web. I’m hoping to have the project completed by Thanksgiving.

http://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/yearbook-images/

Eric

The recently returned Children’s DVDs have been moved from the cart by the DVD shelves to three shelves on the the back side of the Children’s DVD shelves. 

Next Volunteer Appreciation Brunch will be held on May 22 at 9:00AM in the Large Meeting Room.

This is during our staff meeting time.  Each staff member will be encouraged to bring one item to share:  egg casserole, meat, juice, bread, etc.  There will be a sign up sheet on the table in the staff lounge so we don’t all end up bringing juice…

We have our volunteers come in at 9:00AM while the library is closed so we can have them sit, eat with us, get to know them better, and tell them just how much we appreciate them!! Eric will be handing out certificates and an appreciation gift after we’ve all eaten and enjoyed our time together.  We will then take a picture of all of our wonderful volunteers and then it will be time to open up the library for the day.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  Thanks all!!

The new pac design is live. There are a few things left I’d like to tweak but the old pac was losing cover images and having other issues because of the redesign so I decided to make the switch. Please take a look and let me know if you have suggestions. 

Eric

Timesheets are due today, Wednesday, April 2.

Thank you!

Missy

KITE POETRY CONTEST
Entry form & Official Rules
Enter to win a $30.00 gift card to a local business by submitting an original poem about kites.  No age limits or form limits.  Poems can be submitted to Cheryl Heid at Johnston Public Library at heid@johnstonlibrary.com or brought in to the library.  Winner will be selected by Mayor Dierenfeld and prize will be awarded at 5:00 p.m. on May 3rd at Kites On The Green Festival.

Let Cheryl know if you have any questions.