Author: Eric Melton

Sorry for the crappy description…it was in its place on Monday night at close. Any thoughts on where it landed?

Thanks!

From JPD’s Facebook page:

You really didn’t think the Johnston Police Department (JPD) was going to sit back and not participate in the #LipSyncChallenge, did you? Some things are worth the wait…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwzHczI7REQ&feature=youtu.be

Hey there! 

Banned Books week is at the end of September and I will be taking mug shots of employees “caught” reading banned books to include in our display. If you have a favorite banned or challenged book, let me know and I’ll try to get a picture taken this week/weekend.

Thanks in advance for all of you willing to get your photos taken 🙂

-Abbi

UPDATE: Here is a link to video of a similiar setup for those that won’t work before it’s gone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClSk4ceXJEA

Parts for a new “station” in YS have arrived and have been setup at the circ. desk for staff to play with. The three main components are a video synthesizer (the red box), an audio synthsizer (the green box), and a microphone. Audio from the mic and the audio synthesizer are routed to the video synthesizer which is loaded with various patterns that respond to sound. The knobs on both the audio and video synths can be tweaked to manipulate the output from each. Use the pair of buttons on the bottom left of the red box to switch between patterns.  Use the headphones to hear the sound.

The outer and inner YS office doors have had their locks switched. The outer door (on the public side) now has a deadbolt and does NOT lock automatically. The inner door will lock automatically, preventing entry into the staff workroom, when closed. 

Your Trial Website 

The details for your trial of the Kanopy platform are as follows:

·  Trial Link: johnstonlibrary.kanopy.com

·  Username: johnstonlibrary

·  Email: melton@johnstonlibrary.com

·  Password: access

·  End Date: 31st of August

Thank you for your inquiry on our website and for your interest in Kanopy! I am reaching out to share more information about our service and share the details of the trial platform we have created for Johnston Public Library. 

Background on Kanopy: 

1) Over 30,000 films

We are the largest dedicated video streaming solution for libraries, featuring over 1,000 producers (Criterion Collection, Great Courses, The Orchard, PBS, etc) and 60% of exclusive films. We are continually growing this collection with 150-200 new films each month. Our motto is “thoughtful entertainment” and we deliver films that drive learning and recreation outcomes for communities to meet the library mission. 

2) Apps, “Group Showings”, Accessibility 

Films with “group showing” rights for programming/community events, we support more device apps than any other library vendor (Roku, ios, android, etc), and meet the highest accessibility standards of any platform. 

3) 3,000 libraries

We work with 3,000 libraries across the country (e.g. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, DC, etc). You can see LAPL’s profile for Kanopy here (http://www.lapl.org/kanopy). LAWeekly rated us “the best library video solution” and the NY Times asks why NYPL has Kanopy? “Because libraries are awesome, that’s why.” 

4) Cost effective model

We offer a Pay Per Use (PPU) model for public libraries. PPU is our most popular model employed at 98% of public libraries and provides very clear benefits:

• Open all films: make 30,000 films available to ensure to meet the diverse demand in your community
• Guaranteed best value: no upfront, set up or platform fees. You have guaranteed great ROI based on usage and can at any time during the year switch any films or your whole website to direct licensing
• Total flexibility & control: You can set controls for your PPU program (select content, monthly user caps budget limits etc) and only pay month to month (no annual contract) so have full flexibility throughout the year.

On weekends or evenings, if a fellow staff member does not show up and you are not sure if his or her supervisor is aware, would you just send the supervisor a text or give them a call?

Please ask your supervisor if you have questions.

Thanks!

 I’ve highlighted some of what was discussed at the August board meeting below.

*New Chairs

The board approved purchase of a few new chairs. Three of the five new chairs are Herman Miller Swoop chairs of which we own several. The other two are higher-backed chairs that will be placed in the open section of Adult non-fiction by the cookbooks.

*Restroom Cleaning

CINTAS will discontinue restroom cleaning at the end of the month. We hired CINTAS to “deep clean” the restrooms twice each month. Their performance has been sub-par.

*Foundation

Art In the Barn—an annual JPL Foundation fundraiser featuring an exhibition of works by local artists with appetizers, wine, craft beer, and live music by Molly Brand—will be held Friday, September 21st, 5:30-8:30 at the Simpson Barn. Tickets are available at https://foundation.johnstonlibrary.com/?page=art-in-the-barn.

*Annual Report

The city ordinance requires the board to present an annual report to the council following each fiscal year. The report along with a brief slideshow will be presented at theSeptember 17th council meeting. Read the report

For more details, remember that current and past board agendas and documents are located under Staff Resources or at http://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/board/

I listened to two podcasts this weekend that I thought others may be interested in:

RadioLab: Post No Evil

Back in 2008 Facebook began writing a document. It was a constitution of sorts, laying out what could and what couldn’t be posted on the site. Back then, the rules were simple, outlawing nudity and gore. Today, they’re anything but. 

How do you define hate speech? Where’s the line between a joke and an attack? How much butt is too much butt? Facebook has answered these questions. And from these answers they’ve written a rulebook that all 2.2 billion of us are expected to follow. Today, we explore that rulebook. We dive into its details and untangle its logic. All the while wondering what does this mean for the future of free speech?

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/post-no-evil

On the Media: Twitch and Shout

Twitch.tv is a video streaming platform where tens of thousands people broadcast their lives and video game game-play in real-time. It’s like unedited, real, reality TV. This week, On the Media digs into why so many people want to share so much on Twitch, and why the site draws more viewers than HBO and Netflix. 

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-08-17

Raygun has printed some cool library shirts. If you’re interested, let me know the size–the library will foot the bill. I don’t know what kind of supply they have let me know by Tuesday night.

https://www.raygunsite.com/products/america-needs-librarians

There is an edible arrangement (fancy fruit bouquet) in the fridge for all to enjoy from Playaway.

Guadaupe de la Rosa will be cleaning the library several days each week starting tonight as part of Shawn’s crew.

We’ve had a number of incidences of people prying open the outer automatic doors after close. Please wedge the stick thing pictured below into the track at the bottom of the right outside entry door at close each night and remove it at opening.

Oh yeah, most of you are already ahead of me, but for those of you who aren’t paying attention  – it’s timesheet week.

As always, compare your timesheets to When to Work before you print, sign and turn in. And don’t forget to attach those PARs for paid time off.

Timesheets go in the green folder outside Eric’s office – have ’em there by Thursday at 8 pm if possible.

Thanks!

Peg

Meetu Sharma will be starting today as a shelver. She has volunteered at JPL for a little over a year. She lives in Johnston with her family. She will be a great addition!

UPDATE: Although we won’t be signing up for Hoopla soon because of the expense (stay tuned on Kanopy), the company told me they would leave the trial open indefinitely. Go wild but don’t share the login. 

Please note that the username includes a misspelling of “Johnston”

Since Urbandale restricted the service to residents, we’ve received a few requests from patrons for Hoopla, a platform for digital content including music, movies, books, and audiobooks. Hoopla is unique in that all titles are always available—patrons don’t need to wait in line for checked out titles—and libraries pay for access to the entire Hoopla collection, they don’t purchase individual titles to build their own collection. Although I’m skeptical that we can afford it, I’m gathering some information about the service and have signed-up for a trial. Information is included below for those who would like to try it.

Below is your hoopla trial pass login information. The trial pass provides you, your staff and (if you wish) your patrons the opportunity to check out the platform and utilize all six formats. This particular login is complete free to you and provides 50 borrows per calendar month.

Username: johnsonpublic@hoopladigital.com

Password: JJ745300

• To access hoopla on the web go to: www.hoopladigital.com and login in the upper right hand corner
• To access hoopla on the app, simply download the free hoopla Digital app on your iOS, Android or Kindle device and login with your free trial pass information.

At their meeting last night, the city council approved a plan to improve several crosswalks throughout the city. The plan includes improvements to the Northglenn/Merle Hay intersection as well as the addition of a crosswalk across Northglenn in front of the library. These two parts of the plan should be completed by the end of November. 

Here’s a map

Dreama has worked her magic and soothed the color printer. It is now happy and has agreed to work again. 

Thanks!

Patrons that need to print in color should come to the Reference Desk. The public printer is currently not printing color jobs.

Thanks,

Peg