Author: Eric Melton

When checking for new stickers on juvenile spines, make sure to look on ALL sides.  I came across one that was on the back. 

I have seen a few juvenile materials with new stickers not in the new bins at check-in desk, or on the new shelf.  When checking in juvenile items, ALWAYS be sure to check for new stickers.  They are very small!

The final rehearsal before our final concerts of the Des Moines Symphony season will involve a 21 and older event this Friday at the Civic Center.  I don’t remember the time right off the top of my head, but it should start at around 5:30 in the west lobby (facing 3rd St.)  There will be pizza and liquor served, so please come and enjoy that and an open rehearsal.  Pianist Charlie Albright will join the orchestra to perform Rhapsody in Blue and Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto.  La Valse by Ravel and a few other works will be featured too, and no reservations are required. 

I am expecting a package with new cello strings to be delivered here soon, and it’s from Concord Musical Supplies.  Please be very careful not to bend it, and place it in my mailbox when it arrives. 

It’s Book Bike season again. Michael, our rider, is back for another summer. The bike will be going to a few old locations and a few new ones including:

• Bishop Drumm
• McAuley Terrace
• Johnston Little League 
• ChildServe Preschool
• Sterling Point
• Chapel Ridge
• Johnston Soccer Club
• Johnston Farmer’s Market

• ChildServe residential homes (maybe)

• AMC Theatre (maybe)

I’ll update the website calendar soon.

A patron found an iPhone in the parking lot. It will be locked up in the grey cabinet.

A laptop was found in the Youth Area tonite (May 10).  It will be locked up in the gray cabinet.  I sent an email to the account on the laptop.  Aimee and Dale.

RECORDING: https://bit.ly/2sjMyLq

I’d like to invite all staff to attend (on the clock of course) a webinar on patron mental health on Wednesday, May 23rd at 1pm in the Story Time Room. 

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/events/?event_page=registration&did=29154

Embracing All Patrons: Mental Health in the Public Library – Part I

Public libraries are open and provide service to all people, including those with mental illness. Mental health statistics in the U.S. are staggering with 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental illness in a given year and 1 in 25 adults experiencing serious mental illness that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. Conversely, often library staff are not properly trained on identifying and managing patrons suffering from mental illness.

Mental Health Awareness Month is a great opportunity to start exploring the role that the public library plays in supporting mental health. Join Akiliah Manuel Mills, MLIS, Regional Manager at Riverside County Library System and mental health expert, for ‘Embracing All Patrons: Mental Health in the Public Library – Part I’

A debit card with the name of Abshiro Bokicha was found and will be locked up with the money in the gray cabinet.  An email has been sent to Abshiro.

While the library will not be open for regular service on Saturday, June 16th, all staff will be working their regular schedules and, if needed, will be helping with Green Days activities in the meeting room from 1:00-4:00.  Come in at your regularly scheduled time and work on your regularly assigned activities until you’re needed in the meeting room.  

The library will be closed Sunday, June 17th.

Green Days schedule >>

Following incidents that result in patron suspensions of one week or longer, I’d like to hold a post-incident meeting with:

• the Dept. Head of Public Services and Youth Services and the Assistant Director
• staff who responded to the incident

The meetings will be held in-person or, if that’s not possible within a reasonable amount of time following the incident, via Google Docs or some other online medium.

The meetings will focus on questions like:

• What about the response was effective? What was ineffective?
• What would’ve made the response to the incident more effective?

• Would a change to policy or procedure make responding to similar incidents in the future more effective?

Notes from these meeting will be posted on the intranet.

A young lady was having car trouble this evening and may leave the car in the parking lot overnight. Car is a gold Ford Taurus, license plate 368 ZEJ.

A young lady was having car trouble this evening and may leave the car in the parking lot overnight. Car is a gold Ford Taurus, license plate 368 ZEJ.

I emailed her at the address on her library account. The only phone number on her account is her cell phone. The phone will be kept with the cash register trays.

UPDATE:  Laura made contact and will be in on Thursday to pick up phone.

The monthly “Desk Stats” being recorded recently are not reflective of the volume of work being done at our public desks. Stats for April, for example, show that we helped just 4 people with Overdrive and other online resources and helped 7 people choose a book.

These stats are reported to the Library Board each month and to the State Library each year.

If you help a patron choose a book, use an online resource, use a computer, print a document, or answer a reference question, please remember to track the interaction via the overlay in the bottom right corner of the JPL Intranet. 

Please take a look at the “help” document accessible via the red link above the top right corner of the overlay if you have questions. 

We’re moving the videogames behind the Circ desk and putting display pockets (similar to learning tool tags — only bigger) on the shelf for patrons to browse.  While we’re creating the display pockets, the videogames will be unavailable.  We’ll put the pockets out gradually over the next few weeks and place the videogames behind the Circ Desk at the same time.

I’ve placed holds on the videogames that are checked out so they’ll come to me for processing at they’re returned.

Please turn in completed timesheets and PARS by NOON on Thursday, May 10. I will be working on timesheets that day because I’ll be out of town on Saturday. Please send me an email if this date and time causes problems for you and we’ll work out a solution.

Thanks,

Peg

Dan, Kelly, and I met with three of the eight applicants for the board. Given council approval at their Monday meeting, Katie Fiala (application linked below) will begin her six term on July 1. Katie is a regular Library user and an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Iowa.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ENIYd28V4N98HvgH9jqLFI77NZNHfdoe/view?usp=sharing

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

*National Library Week

I reported some of the great National Library Week activities we had going at the Library:

National Library Week a. National Library Week was April 8-14. The theme this year was “Libraries Lead”. We offered Food for Fines for patrons again this year. We also created a few “Libraries Lead” social media posts featuring some of our regular patrons and held a drop-in screen printing program where patrons could print their own t-shirt or canvas bag with the “Libraries Are For Everyone” design. The print was available in six languages spoken in the community: Swahili, Hindi, Mandarin, French, Arabic and English.

*Adult Readers 

We’re nearly ready to make a new “Adult Readers” collection available for checkout. Adult Readers are books with content appropriate for adults that are written for someone learning to 3 read. Adult Readers will be behind the New Arrivals and will be shelved next to language learning books and audiobooks.

*Services

I updated the board on some of our services:

Free Lunches: There will be two free lunch sites in Johnston this summer: Chapel Ridge, 12pm-12:30pm, and Sterling Pointe, 12:30pm-1pm. The Library, Community Education, and the Parks Department will take a day of the week to take a simple activity to attendees at the Chapel Ridge site. Megan will be putting together travelling activity kits for either the intern, herself, or the book bike to take.

Johnston Partnership : Molly and her Circulation staff will be taking a pop-up library–a small selection of materials, information about the Library, and sometimes an activity–to the Johnston Partnership every Saturday 10am-12pm this June and July.

Little Free Food Pantry: I met with a local Girl Scout troop a few weeks ago. They proposed building a “Little Free Food Pantry” to place outside the Library. The group plans to use this little free library as their model for the design. The idea is that community members will help keep it stocked for anyone needing a snack or easy meal. The Library will also use the food from the donation bin in the entryway to restock the pantry.

Teacher Cards: We’ve begun promoting Teacher Cards. A notice about Teacher Cards was sent to all Johnston School District staff, all Johnston daycare facilities, and as many in-home daycare providers as we could find.

Tech Lab: AutoCad has been added to the Tech Lab iMac.

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

According to Parks and Recreation Director John Schmitz, the basketball hoop in the west lot will be replaced by the end of the week.

Regularly scheduled YS programming will take a break in May to allow staff to prepare for Summer Reading. 

Teen Scene will continue on Wednesday afternoons.

May Special Programs:

Teen Advisory Program Tuesday, May 8 5-6PM

Children’s Book Week Star Wars Party Thursday, May 3 6-730PM

Free Comic Book Day Saturday, May 5 while supplies lasts

Scratch Day Saturday, May 12 130-4PM

A debit card for Taylor Boysen was found and brought to the circ desk by another patron. It will be in the money cabinet.