Author: Eric Melton

The prizes for the gingerbread houses are in the Foundation drawer at Circ desk.

• The library will offer popcorn tin prizes for Holidays in Johnston beginning Saturday December 5.
• Selected titles that have been designated popcorn prize winners will be on hold in Polaris for ‘ POPCORN TINS – PRIZEWINNER’.   When a customer brings the item to the desk and staff scan it for checkout, the system will respond with a blocking note  

• Respond ‘Yes’ .    Polaris will then display a second blocking note asking if you wish to reset the hold -click No

• Respond ‘No” as you do not need to reset the hold.  The item will now be checked out to the customer at the desk.
• There will be a printed list of all prize winning titles behind the front desk.   Please be sure to note the prize winner’s name beside the appropriate title and remember, only one prize winner per family.
• Prize winners cannot be checked out at Express Check.   Customers attempting to do so will get a message “Unable to check out.  Please see staff member for assistance”.   These will need to be checked out by staff at the front desk. 
• When doing the daily ‘Clean Holds’ report, ignore any unclaimed holds for POPCORN TINS – PRIZEWINNER, HOLIDAYS IN JOHNSTON.   

• The library will offer popcorn tin prizes for Holidays in Johnston beginning Saturday December 6.
• Selected titles that have been designated popcorn prize winners will be on hold in Polaris for ‘ POPCORN TINS – PRIZEWINNER’.   When a customer brings the item to the desk and staff scan it for checkout, the system will respond with a blocking note 

• Respond ‘Yes’ .    Polaris will then display a second blocking note asking if you wish to reset the hold -click No

• Respond ‘No” as you do not need to reset the hold.  The item will now be checked out to the customer at the desk.
• Prize winners cannot be checked out at Express Check.   Customers attempting to do so will get a message “Unable to check out.  Please see staff member for assistance”.   These will need to be checked out by staff at the front desk. 
• When doing the Pick List report, ignore any unclaimed holds for POPCORN TINS – PRIZEWINNER, HOLIDAYS IN JOHNSTON.   

As always, please verify that When to Work and your timesheet match before turning them in.  If they don’t, check with your supervisor.  And don’t forget that a PAR must accompany any timesheet with PTO.

Leave your signed and completed timesheet in the GREEN (formerly orange) folder outside of Eric’s office on or before Wednesday, December 9.

Thanks!

Peg

Houses for the Gingerbread House contest will begin coming in this week. Each entry should have a completed entry form. The houses can be placed in the Archive Room on the counter.

Beginning in January, Well Red Book Club will be held at Gusto Pizza rather than at Greenbriar. Well Red is held on the LAST Tuesday of every month from 6:45pm to 7:45pm. Book selections for the month are listed on the event calendar and Erin has made handouts that are available at the Ref Desk and Circ Desk. 

More awesome news—Tuesday nights is ½ off bottles of wine at Gusto. Score!

Please ask Beth or Erin if you have questions or want to share a bottle of wine. 

We have put it in the lost and found. Matthew Hutchinson. We don’t have a phone number so we didn’t call.

Hello staff,

Art will be dropped off this week and picked up.

You will find the pick up items in Molly’s office in the SW corner.

There will be some photography and paintings coming in for the gallery.

Please place them in Molly’s office in the SW corner. Please keep them separate from the photography that will be picked up this week.

Also this week Justin Young will bring in some items for the display case by the recently returned adult fiction. Please give him the key for the display case (in the foundation drawer in the clear plastic container), and then have him arrange his items in the case.

He can only use the one display case. The other is reserved for Holiday in Johnston gingerbread house winners.

Thank you,

Karla Kuhn

You are all ROCK STARS!  Timesheets have been turned-in signed, on-time, completely filled out, columns and rows totaled and accurate!  Thank you for your due digiligence before turning in your timesheets.  I appreciate it.  

With the Thanksgiving holidays closings next week, please turn in your timesheets on or before Tuesday, November 24, 8 pm.

Thank you!

Peg

Johnston Community Education has delivered Project Share Star Cards to the library.  Project Share has been implementing a holiday giving program for 21 years. 

I have placed the cards in the Foundation Supplies drawer. 

Cards for BOYS are in an ORANGE file folder. 

Cards for GIRLS are in a YELLOW file folder. 

RECEIPTS for cards taken should be placed in the GREEN file folder.

When a patron requests a card or cards, please offer them the folders.  Once the cards are selected, ask the patron to fill out the bottom of the blue sheet and return it to you.  Cut off the bottom of the blue sheet, place it in the RECEIPTS folder; hand the rest of the blue sheet to the patron to take with him or her. 

If you or a patron has questions, please refer them to Johnston Community Education 278-0552.

We’ve added several Adobe applications to the iMac in the Tech Lab. These include applications for editing digital photos; producing and editing films, music and other audio; building websites; doing graphic design and publication layout; and editing and creating PDFs. More information available here.

When making room for book discussion sets in the workroom, Lori Elrick and I didn’t realize the impact of down-sizing our rag supply. 

To make-up for the loss of rags for general cleaning, Eric has purchased RED microfiber cloths for all departments to use.  I’ve place a few of these cloths under the workroom sink and also on the cleaning supply shelf in the check-in area of the workroom.  In addition, there is a bottle of Mr. Clean next to each stack.  As with any cloth, once used, please put it in the bin in the staff kitchen for laundering and Lori Elrick will handle it.

Please do not use the GREEN microfiber cloths stored in the check-in desk drawer for general cleaning.  These were purchased with the specific purpose of cleaning CDs and DVDs.  Microfiber is a wonderful material because it traps everything; however, this isn’t beneficial to cleaning media.  Lori Elrick launders these cloths separate from all other laundry to avoid small particles of abrasive materials from getting trapped in the fabric.

If you have questions, just let me know.  Happy cleaning!

Peg

We all know that what we do here makes a difference in peoples’ lives but we don’t often hear about it or witness it directly. Peg shared an email that is a good reminder of the impact of our work.

Dear Peg,

Thank you so much for your email and I am so very sorry that the DVD was cracked. I apologize that I did not catch that before I returned it. I checked it out for my father to watch and I am sure he didn’t realize it either.  I will take care of the balance this week. I am so grateful it can be replaced so that others can enjoy it. I know that my dad truly enjoy watching all of the DVDs.

Speaking of my father, I thought I would just take a moment to write and say what a joy and a privilege it has been to check out so many wonderful DVDs and books for my father recently. He is 83 years old and a few months ago I was trying to think of some interesting things to share with him. He is in Iowa City and has never taken advantage of going to the library there. I stopped in to the Johnston Library and shared my thoughts with Lori (not sure of her last name.) She was so very helpful and was as enthused as I was to find some items that my dad would enjoy. Since then, I have checked out  dozens of books and DVDS for him to watch and he has been delighted with all the interesting things he has learned and enjoyed reading about. It has given him new things to think about and share with others in conversation. He even called me last week to share a funny story that he had read about in one of the books. It came from a book about interesting facts about Iowans. He was laughing so hard as he was reading that page that I could barely understand what he was saying.

I have also enjoyed finding books on farming history and the 30’s as those have special meaning to him.

Every time that I check out items for him, I think to myself about how much those items would cost if we had to buy them.

All that to say that again, I am very sorry the item was damaged and I will take care of the fine quickly. I am certainly grateful for the library!

Sincerely,

Teresa Cramer

That’s right friends, the holiday music is out!

Holiday music is in it’s rightful spot, over by the hamsters, but we don’t have enough room for all of it in the brown baskets. The last part of the alphabet (Mo through Y) holiday music is in a blue basket underneath the holiday music. When CD’s start to get checked out, please refill the baskets. 

Thanks. 

I apologize for the uncomfortable temperatures in the staff workroom this week. I am working with the company that services our HVAC system to get things resolved. 

The cake pans have moved to their new home next to the adult cookbooks. We will soon be adding several chocolate/soap/jello/ice/candy molds to the collection in the same location.

Molly, Beth, Kinney, and I met recently to update procedures related to patron PC use. The procedure linked below (and also linked under staff resources) defines responses to common scenarios. As I stressed to the department heads involved, it’s essential that we respond to patrons consistently across departments. Over time, feedback on what we’ve developed may lead to revisions. Until the procedure is formally revised, however, all staff should base PC use decisions on this set of rules which is effective immediately.  

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http://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/staff/drupal/index.php?q=content/computer-use-guest-passes-extra-time

Session Lengths & Extra Time

• All patrons are allowed one two-hour session per day
• Patrons 14 and older may be granted extra time if no one is waiting to use a PC
• Patrons under 14 will not be granted extra time unless exceptional circumstances (completing an application, doing research, typing a paper, etc.) warrant it

Computer use by patrons with and without accounts

  With a library account:

• For patrons clearly 18 and older, issue a guest pass
• For patrons who may be under 18, confirm their age and Internet status in Polaris. For those under 14, provide a slip of paper with their barcode number. For those 14 and older, issue a guest pass

   Without a library account:

• For patrons clearly 14 and older, issue a guest pass
• For patrons who may be under 14, ask their age. For those under 14, issue a computers only card. For those 14 and older, issue a guest pass

Patron use of another’s account

•  When a patron uses another’s account for PC use, we should assume the account owner has consented unless he/she states otherwise.

You will undoubtedly encounter situations not covered above. In this cases, please use your judgement or consult your department head or the library director.

A shout-out to all of you for doing a great job completing and totalling your timesheets.  I’m finding very few discrepancies between When to Work and your timesheets.  Well done and thank you!

With the Veteran’s Day holiday, please sign and complete your timesheet on or before Thursday, November 12 and place it in the orange folder outside Eric’s office.  If something happens and you don’t end up working the hours you wrote on your timesheet, try to correct it before the 12th or tell your supervisor and he/she will communicate it to me.

Peg