Author: Elizabeth Stevens

We no longer receive the physical copy of the New York Times Newspaper. Old copies of the NY Times will be withdrawn in the next couple of weeks. Should you have patrons inquire, please let them know they can access the NY Times at johnstonlibrary.com  *for free* under the Research menu.
Thanks! Ask Beth if you have questions about accessing the NY Times as a digital resource.

Hey all,
Please join us to celebrate Peg’s retirement with treats in the breakroom this Friday, September 13. Peg will be in the breakroom from noon to 1:30 for those that want to pop in.
For interested parties, we’ll also meet up at Backpocket in Johnston after the library closes around 6pm.
Thanks! See Beth if you have questions.

In previous years, the Polk County Health Department has offered community flu vaccination clinics at various locations (schools, churches, etc.).  After reviewing data, Polk County has decided to focus on the most vulnerable and underserved populations by providing Flu and COVID vaccination clinics at the Polk County Health Department during extended evening and weekend hours.

Once vaccine becomes available, individuals interested in being vaccinated may call 515-286-3798 to make an appointment at the Polk County Health Department.  Walk-in’s will be taken as timing allows.  The extended vaccination hours are:

• • Thursday evenings September 19 thru October 31, 2024 until 7:00 p.m.
  • Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on September 28, October 5 and 19, 2024.

Polk County Health Department has purchased DART passes for those who may need transportation to obtain a flu vaccine.  These individuals would need to call (515-286-3798) PCHD to schedule an appointment for the Flu vaccination and inform staff that they are in need to transportation assistance which will prompt PCHD to mail them a pass.  Please ask Beth if you have questions.

September is Hunger Action Month, Feeding America network’s annual nationwide campaign designed to inspire people to take action and raise awareness about food insecurity. I have program handouts and calendar events calling out Hunger Action Month encouraging people to donate food to JPL.
This is not Food for Fines. There is not fine waiving for donating–that happens during National Library Week in the spring.
The paper handouts have a most-needed at the Johnston Partnership shopping list that includes the following:

• Peanut Butter
• Hot or Cold Cereal
• White Rice
• Canned Fruit in its own juice
• Baby Food & Formula (can’t be expired)
• Pet Food
• Laundry Detergent
• Toilet Paper
• Deodorant
• Bar Soap
• Diapers & Pull-ups
• Feminine Hygiene Products

When people bring in food or personal health items, please put them in the plastic bin under the Circ Desk behind self-checkout where we normally put donated food items. I will keep my eye on the bin and will run items to the Partnership as needed. Please ask me if you have questions. Thanks!

Hello All,
Art in the Barn 2024 Artist Registration is full. Should you receive phone calls or emails about exhibiting artists who are interested in participating, please let them know that we have reached capacity for artist registration this year.
If artists are interested in participating in future years, I can add their email to a list that will be sent out for the artist call in future years. If an artist is interested in potentially exhibiting in coming years, please take their name and email, and send it to me at stevens@johnstonlibrary.com.

Tickets are absolutely still available for individuals who would like to come to Art in the Barn as an attendee. Tickets for attendees are available in person at JPL, online at www.johnstonlibrary.com/art-in-the-barn or at the door on the night of the event (October 18, 2024).
Thanks! Ask Beth if you have questions.

Art in the Barn call for artists is now being highlighted on the homepage of www.johnstonlibrary.com. The fee for artists to register to exhibit their work at the Johnston Public Library Foundation Art in the Barn event is $25.00 (+$3.52 for the Eventbrite ticket site hosting fee–this is calculated automatically when people register through our website.) All artist registration sign-ups need to go through our website. If an artist is having trouble registering, you can help them sign up through the website, or direct them to Beth.

Tickets for Art In the Barn attendees are now also available for purchase online through our website (also will include the $3.52 ticket hosting fee) or from the black binder at the Circ Desk by the magazine checkout holder thingies. Attendee tickets purchased in person at the library are $25 each and can be paid via cash, check, or credit card (use the book sale iPad as the sale is for the Johnston Public Library Foundation).

When using the Foundation iPad to help a patron purchase tickets in person, please use the Art in the Barn ticket button (similar to the paperback or AV book sale buttons). Make sure to write the person’s name in the black binder and give them a paper ticket.

Art in the Barn is Friday, October 18th from 5:30pm-8:30pm. More information about the event is available at www.johnstonlibrary.com/art-in-the-barn.

Thanks!

Notary service will not be available this Saturday, August 3 from 9am to 10am. Please pass this info on to patrons if you receive notary inquiries.
Thanks!

Emily Osweiler is the 2024 Adult Summer Reading Grand Prize winner! She has been notified via voicemail. Her prize is on my desk labeled with her name. Thank you!

Hello!
This is a friendly reminder to please make sure you are logged out of the LibraryMarket event calendar when placing Study Room and Meeting Room requests for patrons.

JPL meeting room policy states that patrons have access to book 3 months out. When you are logged out of the calendar system while placing a meeting room or study room request, safeguards are in place that will not allow reservations for dates beyond the 90 day mark. The system will also check for more than 1 study room reservation made in the same calendar week by the same individual. In other words, when you’re making meeting and study room requests while logged out, the system will do some of the work of following our meeting room policy for us.

Please ask Beth or Peg if you have questions. We’re more than happy to show you in person.

Thanks!

Beth

Hey all,
We’re going to give patrons who participated in the 2024 ADULT Summer Reading Program a grace period until closing time this Thursday, August 1 to turn in their logs and collect prizes. Please follow all the same protocol:
1. Patron will turn in the filled out section of the bottom of their orange summer reading log.

2. Write the patrons name in the ASR binder behind the Circ Desk

3. Give them a mug!
Thanks. Ask beth if you have any questions.

If any JPL staff participated in the Adult Summer Reading program, completed logs can be submitted to Beth or placed in the green folder located in the drawer labeled Adult Reading Programs behind the Reference Desk. Thank you!

Hey all,

We seem to have entered Summer Proctored Test Season. As you have time, please take a second to review the documentation in Confluence for our proctored test procedures. The direct link to proctored test info on Confluence is here: https://johnstonlibrary.atlassian.net/wiki/x/1YL_Ag

Here are a couple highlights:

Inform instructor or test taker that JPL staff will follow the guidelines set out by the instructor or organization, but we are not able to have eyes on the test taker 100% of the time. Staff will be within viewing distance. If an organization requires that testees be monitored at all times, test takers will need to go to a place like Sylvan Learning Center that offers proctoring services for a fee.

• Provide the Public Services Librarian’s (Elizabeth Stevens) name to instructor or test taker as the primary contact, but let the individual know that the proctor will be whichever library staff person is scheduled at the Reference Desk at that time. Public Services Librarian is the position or title.

• Provide info@johnstonlibrary.org as the email address to send exam instructions to.

• Inform instructor and/or student that it is the student’s responsibility to schedule the test date with library staff. Study Rooms 1 or 2 or the Archive Room (especially during the day when the Archive Room is less likely to be booked) are good choices to book for proctored exams because they’re within eyeline of the Reference Desk.

• When scheduling a room for a proctored test, you need to be LOGGED IN to the Library Market event calendar so you can name the event as Proctored Test.

• After you are logged in to Library Market >Reserve a Room > Choose Study Rooms 1, 2 or Archive Room. If individual will be taking the test in a Study Room, select Edit to change the name of the event. Event name should not say Study Room 2, e.g. but rather should say Proctored Test for Firstname L. (Pic A)

• Ask the testee to confirm with library staff a couple days before the exam to make sure the library has received all of the testing materials.

• One testing information comes in to info@johnstonlibrary.org, Beth or Peg will print testing info and file it in the student’s folder in the cabinet labeled Proctored Exams behind the Ref Desk.

• Beth or Peg will send a reply email to info@johnstonlibrary.org letting staff know that this test inquiry has already been responded to and test info is printed.

• When student arrives for test, verify identity by asking for ID.

• Follow all instructions as provided by the professor.

We are just starting to get adults turning in their Adult Summer Reading Log. Remember, to complete summer reading, participants need to have finished 12 of the 16 action items. When this happens, please  do the following things:
1. The bottom of patron log with their name and phone number can go in the Grand Prize bucket.
2. Write the patrons’s name in the Summer Reading Stat Binder and mark that they have received their mug. That Stat binder is located by the Grand Prize bucket.
3. Give them their mug. They can choose between light blue and dark blue. Please take mugs from the boxes beneath self check rather than from the display.
4. Ask the patron if they would like a Bonus Reading Log. Same rules apply for bonus log as the first adult reading log, but upon completion they just get an additional entry into the grand prize drawing–no second mug. The bonus logs are behind the Adult Summer Reading logs at each service desk.
Thanks! Let me know if you have questions.

Heads up everyone:
This Saturday, June 15, from 3 to 4pm, we’re going to have a Library Loud concert in the library proper. NOLA Jazz Trio will be in and will put on a concert for patrons in front of the Archive Room. We have done this several times before (Harry and the Potters, Damani Phillips). I will be here Saturday and will take care of all setup and tear down.

I am going to move the display tables in front of the Ref Desk out of the way in the afternoon and set up some chairs theater-style for those who would like to sit. I will leave aisles by the Circulation Desk and Reference Desk so people can still get to service desks. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks!

Thank you for all your efforts in promoting the Summer Reading program! We’ve had a great start, and as a result, we’ve printed a lot of extra logs and quizzes for the Adult Summer Reading program. If you need additional Adult Summer Reading logs or quizzes, you can find printed extras in the drawer labeled “Adult Reading Programs” located to the bottom left of the Reference Desk computer. If you require more, please let me know, or you can print your own. Both logs and the PDF with all Adult Summer reading puzzles can be found on the P Drive here: P Drive > Beth Stevens > Adult Summer Reading > 2024ASR. If you print your own, please send me an email with the number of extra logs or puzzles printed so that I can update our tally sheet. Thank you!

FEMA announced on May 24 that federal disaster assistance is available to the state of Iowa to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding from May 20-21, 2024.

Should you have patrons inquire, FEMA info is linked below:

Disaster Assistance Registration Flyer English and Spanish

FS Help for Survivors with Insurance

SPANISH_FS Help for Survivors with Insurance 06042024

FS How To Appeal a FEMA Decision 06052024 DR4778NE _ DR4779IA _ DR4784IA

Staff learned that we are still listed as an eyeglasses donation site on the Johnston Lions Club website. For expediency, we have put an eyeglasses donation bin back out under the community handout display by the Self Check station at the Circulation Desk.
There is still an outdoor collection bin for eyeglasses in the Lions Club parking lot, but if requested, patrons can donate glasses in the bin and I will make sure they make their way to the Lions Club.
Thanks!

New artwork is here! When you have a minute be sure to check out our featured artist for June and July, Lisa Cooper. Her acrylic + ink and watercolor works are on display in the JPL Art Gallery.

Kristy Niemeyer is displaying her work in the JPL Display cases during June and July as well. More info about both artists is available on our website: https://www.cityofjohnston.com/1428/JPL-Art-Gallery

Exciting news! The new fax/copy/printer at the Reference Desk is live and ready to go. Instead of using the Brother to fax, copy or print, you will now use the Epson 5850 if you are working at the Reference Desk. Here are a couple need-to-know items with this new machine:

• Epson 5850 is an inkjet printer versus the laser printer in the staff workroom.
• Unlike the Brother printer, the Epson 5850 DOES print color.
• Same costs apply: $.15 for B&W; $.50 for color, per side.
• If you have a print job where quality if really important, i.e. a person is printing their resume for an interview, you might consider printing it to the Workroom Toshiba–quality will be nicer.
• If a patron has a really long print job, I would send it to the Workroom Toshiba instead of the Epson.
• Scanning is functioning now. Here is an example of what the fax confirmation sheets look like:
  Fax Confirmation Page
• The Epson makes a much quieter fax dialtone noise than the Brother did. While it’s dialing and sending, there is an orange triangle that appears on the screen.
• I have printed and laminated faxing documentation for the new Epson 5850. It is by the public printer documentation by the print release station.
• I will be checking in with staff over the next week to go over any questions you might have about the new machine. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions.
• Finally, high-five Lori French when you walk by her. She used her powers of tech persuasion to make the Epson 5850 do what we needed it to.