Author: Eric Melton

Part-time staff who missed hours due to today’s closure are welcome to make them up. Talk to your supervisor. Full time staff and part-time staff who earn time off can use PTO.

Tomorrow is forecast to be the hottest day of 2022 so far. We will be closed. Don’t come to work. Thanks for working through a couple of sticky days. Our contractor says that the vendor says that his suppliers are not sure when the needed parts will arrive—he’s supposed to get back to me tomorrow with more information. After tomorrow, the ten day forecast looks cooler. If it comes to it, indoor air conditioners are an option. The ones that can connect to regular outlets (not a generator) can cost $200+/day to rent—a building the size of JPL would require several. Before committing to that expense, I need more information about how long this will last. As soon as I know, I will let everyone know. Thanks again.

The moveable wall in the large meeting room is acting up. Workers are coming Thursday to look at it. There are not meetings before then that need it closed.

Those of you who come to work from Des Moines via Merle Hay might want to consider an alternate route as construction gets underway later this month and traffic is reduced to two lanes. See the post linked below for more information.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=368192772004593&set=a.224162376407634

It’s going to be in the 80s next week. We are still waiting on parts to repair the air conditioning so it will be very warm inside the library. Wear whatever you’ll be most comfortable in.

Don Schreiber will be picking up his photos sometime this week. They’re under the tan cart behind the checkout desk.

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, 15th.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ie_rV-jAs-aMaxzcabGF-FhXQvpCbpDF/view?usp=sharing

The next step in development of the park behind the library is construction of a shelter with restrooms. For those curious what it will look like, the rendering linked below will be presented at Monday’s city council meeting.

https://go.boarddocs.com/ia/cojia/Board.nsf/files/CDVV947F97B2/$file/Renderings.pdf

Julie Jewell will be dropping off artwork today or tomorrow. It can be placed in my office.

Just a reminder that we are waiting on parts to repair our cooling system. Until they arrive, which should be next week, our air conditioning will not work. Tomorrow, like today, will likely be stuffy inside the library. The 7 day forecast from Sunday is cooler.

The library board approved a change to our Meeting Room Policy that outlines how we handle no-shows and last-minute cancellation and reschedules. These additions to the policy are shown in red below:

• Meeting rooms are available during regular library hours. Groups may hold meetings once per calendar month at no charge. A fee of $20.00/hour will be charged for subsequent meetings held in the same calendar month. Once invoiced, failure to pay for meeting room use within 30 days may result in the loss of meeting room privileges.
• No-shows and cancellations or reschedules made less than 24 hours before the meeting time will count as a room use for that month–groups may be billed accordingly. Multiple cancellations or no-shows may result in the loss of meeting room privileges.

[UPDATE] The camera had water damage. A replacement has been ordered.

One of our outdoor cameras (the one that shows the food pantry and the Commons exit doors) is not working. I’ve notified the vendor.

Each patron who applied for cards online and still have “Digital” in their driver’s license number field now have a blocking note on their account instructing staff to add a driver’s license number to their account.  In addition, those who haven’t used their card since we reopened the building last January have been sent an email stating that their card will expire in 90 days. The email includes information about visiting the library to verify their identity and contact information in order to renew their account.

The Lions Club now has an outdoor eyeglass drop-off. We will no longer be collecting eyeglasses. Instead, let donors know that they can drop their glasses anytime at the the Lions Club at 6501 Merle Hay Rd.

Parts of the HVAC systems on the roof of the building were damaged by hail last year. Those parts were replaced a couple of weeks ago but the workers found other things that need replaced before our air conditioning can be turned back on. I’m hoping that the repairs can be completed before it gets too warm outside–the forecast for the next two weeks looks promising.

I am replacing our oldest hotspots with new devices. The new devices will be setup without a password and each will show on a user’s device as “JPL Hotspot”. The other circulating hotspots will be setup in the same way over the coming weeks.

City hall is borrowing the cart stored by the shredding bins. It will be back tomorrow.

We don’t get a ton of reference questions on non-local historical subjects but I thought I’d share this resource that’s available via our New York Times digital subscription (accessible via the Research page of our website).

TimesMachine – a searchable, browsable database of every New York Times paper between 1851 to 2002

The library is closed this Sunday for Easter. Easter is NOT a paid holiday. If you would normally be scheduled to work Sunday and would like to make up your hours, talk to your supervisor to arrange it.