Author: Eric Melton

If you borrowed Polly’s clips for covering books from the processing supplies drawer, could you please return them?

Thank you!

The library issues cards at various locations at outreach events like the Johnston Resource Clinic held at Johnston Middle School Tuesday. Once the applications are returned to the library, they are entered into Polaris by Circulation staff. When a library card is issued at one of these events, patrons are told that it will be at least 2 business days before the card will be active so Circulation Staff has adequate time to create the accounts. 

This has only happened once, but if you get someone that comes in before their card has been entered, please check with Molly to see if you can locate the application. If Molly is not available, they may have to fill out another application or wait until the card has been entered into the system. We will do our best to get it done within two business days. So far that hasn’t been a problem. 

If a patron does not have a photo ID when they apply off-site, YS staff have been issuing the card and letting them know that they will need to show ID the first time they use their card. Circ staff are putting blocking note on the account in these cases. 

Please ask if you have questions!

You know the drill….please turn in timesheets and PARs by Thursday evening, August 2, 8 pm. Make sure you double-check your total hours against WTW and that they match. Check with your supervisors if there are discrepancies. 

Thanks everyone!

Peg

TS/IT

• ILL for JPL Patrons
  • Please see Dreama’s presentation reviewing what happens–from the patron and staff perspective–after an ILL request is placed: 
    • https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HpkCCNbEQJHwZCzFggvVF8f1_mKiTxuvDw19yGJzDMw/edit?usp=sharing

• Youth Services

  • Summer Reading comes to an end

  • Fall Programming

    • Check out the September/October calendar for more info on upcoming programs
    • Check out the Story Hours page to review changes to regular story hours

  • Summer YS Intern

    • Beth S.’s last day will be 8/6. A card will be circulated.

  • Teen Reward Party

    • Attendees MUST have a ticket. See here for details and registration

  • Harry and the Potters – August 5th

    • This will be EPIC. The concert will take place while the library is open. More details >>

• Molly/Circulation

  • Volunteer updates

    • Molly shared recent information about her volunteer coordination. Please refer volunteers to Molly and/or to the website’s volunteer page

  • In-House for Adult and YA sections

    • Circulation staff will be handling emptying the black carts for patron rejects

  • Partnership Pop-up Library information

    • Molly and her staff felt very good about their Saturday trips to the Partnerships this summer. They handed out a lot of free books and information about the library.

• Eric

  • Purchase Requests for JPL Patrons

    • Eric reviewed what happens–from the patron and staff perspective–after a purchase request is placed:
      • https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15KA30sYptqN-jRdlmE2IQ6RsAfUTdw3AzQ9o9HHBK0w/edit?usp=sharing

  • FY18 stats

    • Eric has been compiling stats for various reports and for reporting to the board and city council. FY18 was another busy year. Checkout some of the stats

  • Recent policy changes

    • Meeting Room Policy
      • Room Reservations are now taken 3 months in advance–not 6 months in advance
    • Fax Policy
      • No charge for outgoing faxes
      • Deleted language prohibiting receiving faxes–we’ll receive faxes on a case-by-case basis
    • Dress Policy
      • Like Friday-Sunday, all days throughout the Library’s Summer Reading Program are now designated as a “Casual Days”.

• Public Services

• • ESL class
    • ESL class is going well. 
  • Progress with the first Our Stories event and our collaboration with Genesis
    • The library’s first Our Stories event is this Saturday
  • Adult Summer Reading
    • we won’t have stats compiled yet, but program attendance thus far in June and July has been 598.
  • August events: Library Loud Damani Phillips  and Culinary History of Iowa.
  • Fall event schedule that covers September, October and November will be out towards the end of August.

Rachel is headed for UNI the second week of August to start Marching Band practice. Julie will be leaving around the 15th of August to get settled at Creighton University. We will be celebrating their time at JPL as volunteers and employees/HS graduation on Tuesday, July 31st with treats in the Break Room. 

Best wishes Julie and Rachel! 

We’ve drawn names for the Adult Summer Reading prizes and winners have been notified. If anyone stops in to get her prize, send her to the Reference Desk.

Prizes are locked up in the Laptop cupboard and there is a sheet to record when a prize has been picked up.

Thanks,

Peg

Public Internet service was restored Tuesday evening. – Dreama

UPDATE

• Our Book Bike hot spot has been turned on and is providing WiFi as “JPL Hot Spot”. 
• We have one catalog PC for the public up and running at the ref desk.

—————————-

CenturyLink believes a technician crossed wires with another customer resulting in a loss of service for JPL. Someone  will be out Wednesday morning to resolve the problem (maybe sooner). – Dreama

We will let you know when the problem is resolved. 

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

*Policy Changes

Fax Policy: The board approved doing away with fees for sending faxes. 

Dress Policy: All of Summer Reading has been included as “casual days” in the updated Dress Policy. Next summer, staff can wear jeans/dress casual during the Library’s Summer Reading Progam.

*Painting

Painting of several large areas–including one of the Commons walls, two walls on the east side of the Library, and the north art gallery wall—and some repair and repainting of water-damage will begin the week of 9/10. Public areas affected include the story time room, the west meeting room, and study room 4. See here for more details.

*Parking Lot Lights

A while back, we were getting frequent complaints about our lot lighting not being bright enough. A lighting study confirmed medium to low-light levels throughout the lot with things being especially dark outside the entryway. If we were to address the lighting situation, the best option in my opinion is a new, taller light pole with a brighter head outside the entry. Even this limited response will cost over $7k. The board agreed that we should table the issue pending further complaints and our visual assessment of the outdoor lighting late fall.

*Foundation

The 11th annual 5k for Karen, administered by the Library Foundation was held June 15th. We’re still awaiting a $1,000 sponsorship check from Kohl’s. Once that arrives, net proceeds will be nearly $5,700. Next year, the name of the run will be changed at the request of Karen’s widower.

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

At their meeting last Thursday, the Library Board approved dropping the $1 fee for sending faxes. This policy change is effective immediately. 

Tammy Dial, volunteer, has lilies and daffodils from a landscaping project if library staff are interested. Please email her at disfreak93@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Thanks!

Internet is back 

Summer story hours have come to an end and we have received a lot of questions regarding our story hour offerings this fall. Sessions begin the week of September 10th and will run for 6 weeks. Below is the weekly schedule for our story hours as well as descriptions and ages for each. Information about our story hours is also available online. 

Storytime Mondays at 930am and 10am (ages 2-5 years old)

Interact with your child as we build early literacy awareness through stories, rhymes, songs, and more. Geared to ages 2-5, siblings are also very welcome.  No registration is necessary, join us at whichever time works best for you.

Wee Read Wednesdays 930am and 10am (ages 12 months-2 years old)

Enjoy interactive time with your child as we share stories, songs, puppet friends, and more. Geared for children 12 months to 2 years, younger and older siblings are always welcome. No registration is necessary, join us at whichever time works best for you.

Bouncing Babies Thursdays 10am (ages birth-12 months old)

Bouncing Babies story hour includes rhymes, songs, bounces and books just right for your little one! Build your baby’s foundation for lifelong reading and learning with this engaging story time. Designed for children from birth-12 months and their caregivers.

Woot woot. Another pay period is in sight.

Please turn in your completed and signed timesheets and PARS by 8 pm on Thursday the 19th. 

Y’all have been doing a great job of making sure that your timesheet matches When to Work and also attaching your PARs. Thank you!

Peg

From PD:

All,

Camp Dodge will be hosting parachuting and helicopter operations training this week. It is not uncommon for parachutists to occasionally land outside of the designated drop zone (which in this case is North Central Camp Dodge) so don’t be surprised if citizens call in for off-course parachutists. When I know a more specific jump schedule I will forward that information to y’all. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Detective Ryan Hanssen

Johnston Police Department

ILL requests should contain specific titles that the patron wants. If nothing in our collection covers a particular niche a patron is hoping to learn about, for example, 1) use worldcat, Amazon, or some other online resource to find titles that would; and 2) submit ILL requests for those titles. In other words, please do not submit topic requests or other kinds of requests that require further research and consultation with the requestor–that work should be done up-front prior to submitting the request. 

At the end of each fiscal year, I put together statistics to share with the Library Board, the city council, and the State Library. I’ll be posting this information for all of you soon but wanted to share this bit now. When arguing for funds to move Jessica’s position from part- to full-time, I said that teen program attendance would likely double as a result. Attendance nearly quadrupled this year! These numbers obviously represent an unprecendented level of impact on the part of the Library amongst Johnston teens and tweens. Hats off to Jessica and the YS crew! 

The AWE station in YS has been very popular with a couple of ChildServe clients. To help these individuals transition to being allowed only in the computer lounge and adult area, the station has been removed. This may be temporary.