Author: Molly Guerra

April Sigmund has joined the Circulation Department as a Library Clerk. She will be working Wednesday evenings and every other Saturday. Please take a moment to welcome her when you get the chance.

If you notice that the hold slips are printing in a shortened format – not including the title or barcode of the item, please follow these steps.

1. If you are at Circ 1 or 2, please double click on the icon in the lower right corner named Restart Print Spooler. This should correct the issue. If it does not, please use another machine to print your slip. Make a note on #it on Slack and Dreama or Lori F will follow up as soon as they can.
2. If you are at a computer station in the back, please restart the computer and the the printer. This should correct the issue. If it does not, please use another machine to print your slip. Make a note on #it on Slack and Dreama or Lori F will follow up as soon as they can.

I have updated the Lost and Found Procedure.

Please note that we are no longer locking items in the money cabinet.

The procedure can be found printed at the Circulation Desk.

Please let Molly know if you have any questions.

We have newly updated library phone extension lists available on the white cart behind the Circ Desk. Please stop by to grab one for your phone.

I will be in Los Angeles starting today through Sunday. I will be available via text, but Denise has offered to handle staffing issues that come up while I am out. Her cell is 515-441-6769 so please contact her now through Sunday if you need to call in for a shift.

In addition to Denise, Dreama is available if you have any questions today.

Outside of emergencies (see Librarian in Charge), if Denise or Dreama is not available, please use the Item/Patron Needs Attention form, and we can follow up.

The library will begin accepting donations of used books and audiovisual items. These donations will be used to stock our Book Sale Room and the Annual Lions Club Book Sale.

Please let donors know that due to limited storage at the library we can only accept up to two containers of items per donation. If they have more than two containers of items, please give them the contact information for Ron Lower, Lions Club Volunteer, at 515-371-7953. Ron will arrange a direct pickup with the donor.

Donations will continue to be placed on the black donation cart behind the Circulation Desk. 

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

Check-in has been much slower in the last few weeks. I would like you to please use some of your time off the desk to focus on some training available on Niche Academy.

If you do not have a Niche Academy account, please see me and I’ll help you get one set up.

On Niche Academy please watch or rewatch:

Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness (Core Training)

Mental Illness Part 1

Dementia and Alzheimer’s

If there are other videos that you would like to watch, please do so if time allows.

In addition to the above training, please spend some time looking at AncestryLibrary and LinkedIn Learning. Please watch the Niche Academy training (see the Johnston Public Library Academy rather than the Johnston Library Staff Academy) and visit the resources to see firsthand what is available.

There is no deadline to get these watched. As circulation increases, we will have less time to watch these, so let’s try to get some of this training in while it is slow.

We will hold our All Staff Meeting on October 27th (the 4th Thursday) at 8 am. Your supervisor will add you to When to Work if necessary.

Dani Christensen has joined JPL as a part-time library clerk. She will be working Monday evenings and every other weekend. Please take a moment to welcome her when you get the opportunity.

Circ 1 has been replaced. We believe that all the printers are connected and everything should be functioning. Please let Molly or Lori F know if you have any questions.

We have had an uptick of kids that want to leave their scooters or bikes behind the Circulation Desk. For the safety of staff (tripping hazard) and to discourage kids from riding them in and out of the library, we are asking that library users keep bikes and scooters outside of the library.

Since we have allowed some users to keep bikes and scooter behind the desk recently, you may get some questions or pushback. Please always remind people that we offer scooter and bike locks. If the bike or scooter owner does not feel comfortable locking their bike or scooter outside, please let them know that we cannot, for safety reasons, keep them in the library. You can use your judgment, but for younger library users, you may want to gently let them know that if they do not feel comfortable locking it up outside, they may need to return it to their home, and they may not want to ride it to the library anymore.

We are able to keep balls behind the Circulation Desk on or below the white cart.

Please let Molly or Beth know if you have any questions.

The library will be sending a bouquet in memory of Gloria for the service this week, but I will not be collecting donations from staff. Gloria’s family requested that memorials be made to the Library Foundation in lieu of flowers.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/sEoRMoAcsprIHOvf8QgBBPpiSLFgugqRRi-LFhpp8cR16Iu9ZnIT8yRJh_B7B6fZ.Ux7Lhh1piaSNyTOR

Above is the link to the Circ Staff Meeting 09/18/22. If you did not attend “live” via Zoom today, please watch it at a time that works for you, outside your regular library shifts. I have 1 hour on When to Work for all Circ staff and subs for this meeting, so please include it on your timesheet.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

You guys. I am sorry that I didn’t get this out there sooner. We have a Circ Staff Meeting, via Zoom, this Sunday, September 18th at 11 am.

I will record the meeting, as usual – if I remember, so please do not worry if you are unable to attend the meeting in live time via Zoom. As I always say, it is great if you can join us at 11 am on Sunday. Otherwise, please just watch the recording at home at a time that works for you.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Sep 18, 2022 11:00 AM Central Time

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82456850281

Cathy and Miren are working together on Home Delivery. Calls about Home Delivery can be forwarded to the new home delivery extension – 603.

We will not have that phone line staffed all the time, but we will do our best to respond to messages within 24 hours Monday – Friday. Typically Cathy works afternoons Tu, W, Th, and Miren works 12-4 pm M – F.

If patrons wish to reach Cathy or Miren about home delivery via email, they should use homedelivery@johnstonlibrary.org

There will be a memorial gathering followed by a service on Thursday, September 29th from 4-6 p.m. at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Grimes.

If you would like to attend and the service falls during a regular library shift, please contact your supervisor.

There will be six sets of flashcards over AP subject tests available to check out as learning tools. These flashcard sets have 500 cards, but we have decided that we will NOT count for missing cards. Patrons will get as many cards as were left by the previous borrower.

There is a check-in and check-out note, similar to the note that pops up about SD card reformatting, that will remind you that you do not need to verify that all 500 cards are in the set.

Please let me know if you have any questions about circulating these flashcard sets.

Melodee has moved the extra library cards to the shelves under Circ 2.

There was a file with forms. All of those forms are available under “printable” on the Intranet. Please access them from that menu and print on demand.

It is with deep sadness that I share the news that former JPL employee, Gloria Brewer, passed away yesterday. For those of you that did not know, Gloria had been ill since shortly before she left JPL.

I do not have details about her service, but I will share them when they become available.

I will put a card in the break room tomorrow for staff to share their condolences with Gloria’s four children, grandchildren and husband, Jay.

Gloria’s daughter, Angie, shared this today, “Working at the library was so fun for my mom, and I know she loved working with everyone there. She loved telling me about the library. Thanks for all that you have done for my mom.”

I am putting in a plug for the #buildingmaintenace slack channel. This is a great place to share non-emergency building issues. When you share an issue on this channel everyone will be on the same page. Here are some great ways it is being used:

• To list when a cleaning supply/paper project is out. For instance “Soap dispenser in YS bathroom is empty” or “I just used the last box of kleenex from the custodian’s closet”
• To list non-emergency messes “Patron reported markings on the building” or “Clogged Toilet in women’s restroom”

Guidelines:

• If you completely take care of the issue and there is nothing else needed, you do not need to list it on Slack.
• If you take some steps to handle an issue, but follow-up is needed, please list the issue and what you have done. For instance “Clogged toilet in women’s restroom. Put an out-of-order sign on the stall door.”
• Depending on the urgency of the message, the Librarian in Charge and/or Molly&Eric will respond to the slack when action has been taken.