Author: Molly Guerra

Patrons can now cancel holds with a status of Available from the website. When they cancel a hold that is available, the status of the item will change to Unclaimed and the item with be pulled with the unclaimed holds from the Holds shelf and put on hold for the next person or put back on the shelf.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

* Edit *Just a reminder that the Secretary of State provides a program called Safe at Home which allows participants to use a generic address rather than their actual residential address. This is offered to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, and assault.

If someone identifies themselves as a participant in the program, we will use the address they provide us.

We do not need to collect their actual address or have them show proof of address. Also – a reminder that phone numbers and emails are optional and they are not required for a full-access library card.

More information about the Safe at Home program can be found here:

https://safeathome.iowa.gov/

Beth and Peg have put together a training about Meeting Rooms and Study Rooms.

I will assign you time this month to watch it on the Daily Desk Schedule.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbJayOZwsuv-Id1EzZWIvuXkfxARF8IB/view?usp=share_link

Thank you.

Hello-

As you check out ILL items to patrons, can you please take a moment to go over the following with them:

-Review the due date of the item (remember to update it on Polaris) and note that it may be a different circulation period than JPL materials.

-Review the importance of keeping the paper slip on the cover of the item. Let them know that the barcode we use to check in the item is on that slip, so we need it in order to remove the item from their account when they return the item. It is to their advantage to leave that slip of paper on the book.

-Remind them that the slip has special instructions for renewals.

If you have any questions, please ask Molly or Lori Elrick

I will add time to everyone’s schedule to watch these webinars/talks this month. I’ll make a note on the Daily Desk Schedule when you should watch them. If you are watching them during a Backup or Backup/Check-In Shift, please watch without headphones (just lower volume) so that you can back up the desk if needed.

*A couple of you may have seen them before, but they are worth rewatching.

**Meredith, Dawn, and April have watched these in the last month – you don’t need to rewatch them- yet.

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

https://www.ala.org/pla/education/onlinelearning/webinars/ondemand/understanding

Just a heads up that the library now has a few PS5 games in Circulation. They will follow the same shelving rules as the other videogames.

I have received a few patron questions about the annual Lions Club Book Sale.

The Lions Club Website still lists the 2022 dates.

I don’t have the exact times, but per Ron L (Lions Club Volunteer) the 2023 book sale will be held March 2-4 at the Lions Club – 6501 Merle Hay Rd. 

We will get you the times and let you know when the website is updated. For now, the dates above are what we know.

Janet Wilwerding, Communication Manager, shared these options for getting information from the City of Johnston (and Polk Co.) regarding general information and emergency alerts. These are optional, but we wanted to make sure you were aware that they are available for staff and community members:

Johnston Alerts (Civic Ready) – www.cityofjohnston.com/JohnstonAlerts
The City of Johnston uses CivicReady to send emergency alerts and other notifications. Subscribers can register to receive emergency alerts via phone call, text message, and/or email. Non-emergency messages will be sent by text and/or email. If you wish to subscribe to emergency alerts by SMS text message only, text your zip code to 38276. You can sign up now to receive weather-related alerts – that part is quite nice.

Examples of messages sent through CivicReady:

• A snow parking ban is in effect
• Missing persons
• Local threats
• Road closures and traffic alerts
• Utility service disruptions
• Other incidents that require rapid communication

Johnston Press Releases –  http://www.cityofjohnston.com/list.aspx
The City of Johnston sends out press releases to local media. Once complete, they are also posted on the City of Johnston’s website. You can sign up to receive an email and/or text alert on the press releases.  Visit http://www.cityofjohnston.com/list.aspx and look for the “Johnston Press Releases” under “Notify me.”

Johnston Notifications (Civic Engage) – www.cityofjohnston.com/notifications

Stay up-to-date with general news and information from the City of Johnston by subscribing to Notify Me email and text notifications.

By signing up, you can receive automatic notifications for:

• Calendar Events
• News Flash updates
• City of Johnston Job Postings
• Board, Council, and Commission Agendas

City Newsletter – www.cityofjohnston.com/Enewsletter
This newsletter provides information on upcoming events, activities, or project updates. The newsletter is sent out every Thursday and the first of each month. However, only the monthly newsletter is sent if the first of the month falls within the same week. We also have an employee newsletter that is sent out each quarter. The next newsletter will be on December 1. Maddy also prints a copy and provides it to the department directors to hang in their designated areas. It provides information on new employees, birthdays, anniversaries and projects happening in the city.

Polk County/Alert Iowa – www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/reg.action?pa=polkcountyia

These notifications are sent through Polk County. If you were previously signed up for the Polk County alerts through SMART 911, the system did not transfer over the contacts. You will need to sign up to receive the alerts again.

In the event of an emergency or severe weather, an alert will be sent to the phone number and/or email address provided by voice, text and/or email. This is a free service provided by Polk County and the State of Iowa; however, normal message fees may apply. To receive text messages to your cell phone, your cell phone must have text messaging capabilities.

Some examples of the types of incidents or events where the Polk County/Alert Iowa system may be effective in notifying our citizens to include the following:

• Environmental and Natural Disasters: Floods, Dangerous Water Conditions, Water Safety Alerts, Dam/Levee Breaks
• Search and Rescue: Missing Children, Missing Elderly, Missing Disabled, Evacuation Notices, Evacuation Routes
• Crime: Law Enforcement Activities, Prisoner Escape Warning, Neighborhood Crime Watches
• Man-Made Disasters: Terrorism Threats, Bomb Threats, Nuclear Hazards, Bio Terrorism Threats, Chemical Spills, Hazardous Material Emergencies, Gas Leaks, Hostage Situations
• Public Works: Drinking Water Contamination, Utility Outages, Street Closings, Public Notifications

Hey All,

Since we don’t have a staff meeting, I did take you off When to Work this Thursday at 8 am. If you would like to come and watch some of the online conference in the Archive Room that Eric M has posted about before or after your regular shift, please let me know so we can get When to Work updated to match your timesheet.

Thank you.

We took down the Holiday CD Display. As CD/HOL music CDs come in, please change the shelf location to STORAGE and put them in storage.

The storage bins are on the pre shelving under J Fiction.

The Library Foundation funded the addition of some decodable readers for the Junior Readers Collection. They will be in bags, like the other red readers, and they will have eye-readable barcodes and JPL stickers on the back of each book in the bag.

The tag will list how many books should be in the bag and have a scannable barcode. At check-in,  you will count the books in the bag and double-check the barcodes to make sure the correct books stay with the set.

If a bag is returned without a tag, you can type the eye-readable barcode from a book in the check-in screen to check it in and put the item into repair where repair staff can look up the number of books to verify that the set is complete and create a new tag for the bag.

Please help me welcome Meredith Ackerman and Dawn Kasotia to the library as library clerks. Both Meredith and Dawn are going to be great additions to the JPL Team.

Please take a moment to welcome them when you have time.

If you are interested in making up the hours that you would normally work today and tomorrow or over the weekend, please visit Iowa Learns and create an account. If you watch webinars, please just shoot me an email with the total hours you watched (include the time to set up your account if you don’t have one). I don’t need proof, just the total hours. I will add them to When to Work so you can add them to your timesheet.

Another great resource is WebJunction. You will be required to create an account, but many of their resources are free. I thought that the webinar about working with library users with Dementia and Emerging Technology Trends was very applicable.

Making up hours from home is optional.

Let me know if you have questions or need additional resources.

Due to the weather, we will not empty the Beaver Creek and Horizon Book Returns this Friday. They will be emptied next on Tuesday, December 27th.

We will backdate items to reflect the last empty of 12/19. Let Molly know if there are any questions or concerns.

Please do not stack items on top of each other on the shelves.

If you are putting an item away and there is no room to add another item on the shelf where it belongs, check to see if you can do a minor shift (redistribute the items on the surrounding shelves while keeping them in order). If more than a minor shift is required, please return the item(s) to the Circ Pre-Shelving Area.

Leave a note for Molly, and she will work with shelvers to shift and selectors to make more room on the shelves.

Please ask Molly or Megan if you have questions.

In the past, the library has handed out “Star Cards” and collected gifts in collaboration with the Johnston Partnership and the JCSD to provide Christmas gifts to families in need.

This program has changed since the pandemic. It is now called Johnston Gives 2022, and all donations are monetary. Interested community members should be directed to this website for more information:

https://johnstonpartnership.org/home/johnston-gives-2021/

We are still looking for the solution to the short hold slips that have been printed at Circ 1 and 2. If you notice short slips, can you make a note on the #it channel on Slack including additional details (see examples below from Dreama’s message)

In the meantime, please remember that you may have to re-print hold slips in the back until we get this resolved.

 “If staff could report in more detail what they were doing before the short slips occurred, that might be helpful. For example, had they just logged in? Were they printing to another printer? Were the slips printing correctly and suddenly went short with no intervening activity?”

In case you get questions, the Johnston Historical Society will hold an open house this Saturday, December 3rd 10 -11:30 am at the Johnston Historical Society Museum – right next to the Simpson Barn.

Cathy has a great opportunity to be in Arizona this winter in January and February.

I have created a Doodle Poll to see if you guys can help pick up Cathy’s Saturdays while she is gone.

If you can work part of the shift or the afternoon shift on one of these Saturdays, would you please email me that info?

Thanks.

https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/b81x42od