Author: Molly Guerra

Picture books should be shelved with the spine label in the lower-left corner and (if they have been categorized and relabeled) with the category/letter label in the upper-left corner. We want all books that fit to be shelved like this so the spine label and category/letter label are easy to find.

Books that are too wide to sit like this, may need to be turned on their side with the spine label in the upper left corner and the category/letter label in the upper right corner. Please only shelved books that are too wide to fit in the bins like this.

If you have any questions please reach out to Molly or Megan.

Thanks!

I forgot to add the All Staff Meeting to the When to Work for February. It is next Thursday, February 24th from 8 – 9 am. It is a face-to-face meeting.

It is really appreciated if you can make it, but I understand you all have other things going on beyond JPL. If you cannot make it next Thursday, will you just shoot me an email or respond to this email and let me know. I will take you off When to Work.

Thanks!

Hello! We have a slight change of plans for our next Circ Staff Meeting. Megan and Beth will be presenting about behavior management – part of our all desk training—and it will be a face-to-face training at the library from 11 am -12:30 pm Sunday, January 30^th.

Please attend in person if you can. If you cannot attend in person, we will record the training. It will be available to watch at a later date.

Thanks!

The Lions Club will not be holding the annual book sale this spring. It is possible it will be held later this year.

We should continue to let people know that we are not accepting book donations due to a lack of storage space. That being said, we will accept donations that people bring into the library without asking. They go behind the circulation desk on the black cart labeled donations.

Thanks.

Just a reminder to review the emergency procedures for straight-line wind/tornado sirens as high winds are in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon and evening.

There are procedure cards at each service desk and the emergency procedures can be found under Documentation/Emergencies/Emergency Manual or here: Emergency Manual 2020

Please ask if you have questions.

Hi All,

Probably not the most interesting meeting, but I hope the information is helpful. I will mark all of you off as having had the “official” paying and waiving fines and fees including how to run the cash register on the all desk training…hopefully everyone gets something new out of this. Please keep asking if you have questions. I will do troubleshooting training for the cash register in January.

Here is the link to the meeting

Thanks for watching 🙂

Hello!

I’m sending a reminder that Beth will be holding a training on Tuesday, December 14th from 7 – 8 pm. Please remember to register. Here’s the registration link: https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/events/?event_page=registration&did=37455

If you cannot attend on the 14th and have not already contacted me about it, would you mind responding to this email? Beth and I will make arrangements to get you trained during one of your regular shifts.

Thanks.

Online Circ Staff Meeting this Sunday at 11 am. Join live if you can! If you cannot join live, please watch the recording when I send out the link after the meeting. There will be no face-to-face meeting – just Zoom.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Dec 5, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88940678979?pwd=NlkvM3NBSGZHbE1qNUZsNUFhU0Vpdz09

Meeting ID: 889 4067 8979
Passcode: 941580

Hello – so I recorded the meeting on Sunday, but I closed the meeting as the recording was saving/buffering/something and it didn’t save 🙁

So I picked myself up off the ground, after an appropriate amount of time feeling sorry for myself, and made a slideshow. Fingers crossed this link works. I’m not sure my ego can handle any more technology mishaps:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WnkSbeo8TIlchUog8fFghcCIXkgc3ILPMcXPP4u_F7s/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WnkSbeo8TIlchUog8fFghcCIXkgc3ILPMcXPP4u_F7s/edit?usp=sharing

Please let me know if you have any questions after viewing the presentation.

I’m just posting this reminder about the staff meeting tomorrow. There is no face-to-face option – just Zoom – but I will record if you can’t make it for the “live” Zoom meeting. Thanks all. 

There is a Circ Staff Meeting on Sunday, November 7th from 11 am – 12 pm. It will be held via Zoom. I am putting you all on When to Work for that hour, but I understand that you may not be able to make it to the meeting on the 7th at 11 a.m. There are three options to attend the meeting.

• If you can attend via Zoom at the meeting time -This is the option I strongly encourage because meetings are more meeting-like if we have people 🙂
• You can watch the recording, which I will post after the meeting, at home, or before/after one of your shifts at the library.
• If you are unable to watch the recording or attend the meeting via Zoom, please let me know. I will make time for you to watch the recording during your regular library hours, and I will delete your meeting shift from When to Work.

The Zoom information is listed below, but I will resend it closer to the meeting date:

Molly Guerra is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85860221309?pwd=cGJNTS9TWkJJYjJFbkd1R210cUVaUT09

Meeting ID: 858 6022 1309
Passcode: 510348

We have changed the settings so that the Check-in screen defaults to backdate one day.

Reminder:

When unloading overnight book returns, please backdate the slip you put in the book pocket of the red cart. 

At check-in, read the slip to determine how many days you should backdate, if any, and adjust if necessary.

There is a Circ Staff Meeting on Sunday, November 7th from 11 am – 12 pm. It will be held via Zoom. I am putting you all on When to Work for that hour, but I understand that you may not be able to make it to the meeting on the 7th at 11 a.m. There are three options to attend the meeting.

• If you can attend via Zoom at the meeting time -This is the option I strongly encourage because meetings are more meeting-like if we have people 🙂
• You can watch the recording, which I will post after the meeting, at home, or before/after one of your shifts at the library.
• If you are unable to watch the recording or attend the meeting via Zoom, please let me know. I will make time for you to watch the recording during your regular library hours, and I will delete your meeting shift from When to Work.

The Zoom information is listed below, but I will resend it closer to the meeting date:

Molly Guerra is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85860221309?pwd=cGJNTS9TWkJJYjJFbkd1R210cUVaUT09

Meeting ID: 858 6022 1309
Passcode: 510348

Thank you!

https://doodle.com/poll/7awxrvx32rg9wchh?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link

Attention Library Clerks, Associates and Assistant Librarians:

Something has come up unexpectedly, and Riddhi will not be able to work at the library after November 11th for an unknown amount of time. For the first month, at least, I am really hoping that we can rally together to try and pick up most of her shifts on a temporary sub basis.

The above link is a Doodle poll with the available shifts for the first month. If you can work part of a shift listed, please shoot me an email and we can see if that will work with desk coverage.

Please email me if you have any other questions.

Here are two common scenarios that come up with ILL and TV Series and the best way to explain it to patrons. You can always grab Molly or Denise if you have questions.

Can I order all the seasons of this TV show via Interlibrary Loan?  While we can place up to five ILL requests for patrons at a time, it is helpful to talk patrons through the ILL process:

Remind them that each season might be borrowed from another library. We can’t guarantee which season will arrive first or what the due dates will be. It is not uncommon for the last season to arrive a week or more before the first season and to be due back within days of the first season arriving.

I always strongly recommend that they request no more than two or three seasons at a time. Then when they finish a season, they can call or visit us to request the next season (up to five at a time).

Why are we giving some people longer than the standard two-week circ time for TV Series? I want to watch this season and isn’t due for almost a month? Patrons wanting the next season in a TV Series can be frustrated to see that the due date is more than two weeks out.  ILL accounts (libraries that borrow our materials for their patrons) are given a standard check-out period of 30 days for DVDs/Blu-rays/TV Series and 60 days for all other materials. This is to allow extra room for delivery and processing to and from the libraries.

• The drive-up book return has been installed in front of the library. As of now, circ staff have been assigned to empty it at open, and within thirty minutes of close. A midday empty is planned, but we are still working out when that might be scheduled.
• The timing varies, but our goal is to have items returned at JPL checked in within 24 hours. Items returned at Horizon or Beaver Creek may remain on accounts for up to five days since they are emptied two or three times a week. We always backdate at check-in if items are not discharged the day there are returned.
• The key to the book return is in the card catalog at Circ. We are storing the empty book cart in the commons.

Please ask if you have any questions.

Tips for talking with patrons about fees during Food-for-Fines:

How do I quickly find and add up the eligible fees on a patron’s account? Here is a step-by-step guide for adding up fines and how to accept payment with food/personal care items. I’ve also printed it for the desks.

Remember to encourage patrons with lost items (You’ll see Replacement/Processing fees) to return items. Those fees can be reduced to a fine of $5, or less, per item, if they are returned. It is never too late to bring items back to the library.

We are collecting Food-for-Fines items at the Circulation Desk behind the Self-Check Kiosk.

Thursday Night Book Club meets on September 9th. They will be distributing copies of the book to discuss next month, Hamnet. While we typically have copies of the next book club book available a few days before the meeting, we are going to wait until 09/09/2021 to mark these as available because we don’t want all the copies snatched up before the book club crew gets the opportunity to get theirs.

With that being said, some book club members are used to picking up their copy a little early. If someone asks for the next month’s Thursday Night Book Club book, to be discussed in Ocotober,  you can grab a copy from Lori E’s desk. You will need to check it in before you can check it out to them. They don’t have to prove that they are in the book club or will attend the October meeting. Basically, if they ask, they can have one but we are keeping them less visible. Does that make sense?

Let me know if you have questions. When in doubt – error on the side of access 🙂

We no longer need to put it out.

Those that wish to use curbside should be instructed to call the main phone number for assistance.

The curbside cell phone is forwarding calls to the main library number.

We will return to publishing When to Work monthly rather than weekly. The monthly schedule will be published on the 21st of the month going forward.