Category: All-Library News

The library will close at 12 pm on Friday, September 8, 2023 to allow staff working to attend this event without worrying about desk coverage. This event will be paid for staff that are regularly scheduled during the event. Everyone is encouraged to come have fun. Staff that are regularly scheduled on that Friday will be asked to return to the library to work until the end of their shift or they are welcome to speak with Molly and Peg about using PTO or taking unpaid time if they prefer to leave after the social event winds down.

Molly

The Employee Committee is excited that the library will be closing at noon in order to allow our staff to attend this year! They are looking forward to seeing everyone.

The Library Board would like to hear our opinions about the event. Please share your impressions with your supervisor or Lori F.

Thanks

Eric Gradeler has resigned from JPL effective immediately. While he is welcome as a patron at the library, he is no longer to enter staff-only areas.

Please let me know if you have any questions for concerns.

Molly

Over the next few weeks, YA CD Books – Fiction will be moving from the YA area at the east end of the library to the adult CD books area. YA CD Books –  Nonfiction and YA CD Books – Biography are already in the adult CD books area. The new call number format for YA CD Books – Fiction will be CD BOOK F AUTHOR YA. This format is consistent with other YA materials that are integrated into the adult collections.

This move will give us more room for YA graphic novels and manga. We will be separating out the manga and adding a genre label to the spine. More news on this change after the YA CD Books have settled into their new location.

If you have any questions about this change, please check with your supervisor or with someone in Technical Services.

It appears the addition of the WTW boxes at the bottom of time sheets is working very well to catch errors before I verify time sheets. Thanks for making the time to add this information!

At yesterday’s Library Board Meeting, the library board approved a quote to move www.johnstonlibrary.com to the same platform that the City of Johnston uses to host their website – CivicPlus.

Over the next eight to twelve weeks, the library will be working the complete the transition. We will continue to keep staff posted and provide an orientation to the new website and the new catalog, https://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/polaris/ , as we progress with the project.

Thank you for all of your understanding as we make necessary, but not always easy, changes. You are an amazing group of library professionals. Your flexibility with When to Work, desk schedules, and technology changes are not going unnoticed. Thanks for all your hard work.

JPL will be hosting an University of Iowa Practicum Student this fall.

Alexandra Bomhoff is pursuing her Masters in Library and Information Sciences at Iowa while working part-time at Des Moines Public Library as a Library Clerk.

You will see her at JPL on Mondays from 9-1 & Thursdays from 3-7pm. Her focus will be Youth Services, but she will be shadowing at various desks and learning more about all the things public libraries do!

Thank you for assisting our patrons in placing ILL and purchase requests.  We receive positive feedback on how much this service is appreciated. 

After placing the request information, please consider verifying the patron’s preferred choice of notification.  Often when a hold is not picked up, it is due to an outdated phone number or email address.  This last step will ensure that they are  notified as soon as the item is available.  Thank you !

Update: Erik Rasmussen will be coming and going from the library to work on web projects. We have him set up in the director’s office, and he’s welcome to go behind the Circ Desk into staff areas any time the library is open.

Erik Rasmussen (Peg’s son) has agreed to help us with some web projects. He will be using the director’s office evenings and weekends.

Lori French has made space in the office for Erik. Please do not place items in the director’s office. If you need a place to store materials, let Molly or me know, and we’ll help you find an alternate storage space.

I have created a folder called  Building Maintenance in the PDrive.

It has a map of the library – we use this to mark areas that need to be cleaned or I might mark areas for workers to explore.

I also have a sub-folder called Open Work Orders. I will do my best to put in documents with information for contractors that have been contacted for quotes or work in the library – including pictures and a description of what we are needing.

I will still try to be here to work with contractors directly, but I find that they often just pop in unannounced – and don’t seem to know what work they have been sent to do. Sigh. You are always welcome to call or text me when that happens, but I hope these documents will be a resource also.

If you can still Slack, text, or email me that a worker has stopped by, I would appreciate it.

This won’t be perfect, but I hope it will be helpful. Currently, I have two documents in there – one for exterior maintenance quotes I am collecting and one for a broken window in the East Tower.

Tickets for Art In the Barn, a library foundation fundraiser, are now available for purchase from the black binder at the circ. desk or online at johnstonlibrary.com/art-in-the-barn. Tickets are $20 each and can be paid via cash, check, or credit card (use the book sale iPad). Art In the Barn is Friday, October 2oth, 5:30pm-8:30pm. More information about the event is available at https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/art-in-the-barn/.

Thanks!

I have printed a new Weekend Schedule chart and posted it outside the director’s office. Please look it over carefully and make sure your schedule is accurate; if not, let me know and I will correct it.

Thanks!

Andrew will be playing the cello in the Des Moines Symphony Water Works Pops concerts Labor Day weekend.  Saturday, September 2nd, at 7:30 PM, is music of ABBA.  Sunday, September 3rd, at 7:30 PM, is Heroes and Legends.  Both will take place at Water Works Park across from Grey’s Lake in Des Moines, and both are free.  Please feel free to bring lawn chairs and picnic baskets!

https://www.dmsymphony.org/concerts-events/direct-from-sweden-the-music-of-abba/

https://www.dmsymphony.org/concerts-events/heroes-legends/

Library Director Search Update:

The library board has signed an agreement with the recruiting firm, Bradbury Miller. We will begin working with them at the end of November. This pushes our timeline for a new library director to April/May 2024.

Library Services Reminder:

JPL has two remote book returns at Beaver Creek Elementary and Horizon Elementary that are generally emptied on Monday and Friday mornings. We always backdate until the last empty. Thanks to our awesome volunteer, Layne, for emptying the book returns for the library!

Holiday Gathering Committee:

We are looking for social librarians to help plan this year’s Holiday Gathering. If you are interested or have ideas for a gathering in November or December to celebrate with your co-workers, please shoot me an email. I would like to get a group meeting in October to begin our planning.

Library Numbers:

In July we circulated over 1,043 items each day.

FY 23 (July 22 – June 23) JPL spent $84,416.87 on print and e-books for our collection.

Bittersweet news everyone: Stephanie Gibb-Clark’s last day will be Saturday, August 19. Stephanie has been at JPL just shy of 5 years and has worked in the Public Services, Youth Services and Circulation departments. We will miss her intelligence, empathy, and ease with patrons very much.

The sweet part of this bittersweet news is she is leaving us to devote more time to future plans, which include teaching and research. She has picked up an additional teaching class at DMACC and has research opportunities opening up with Kurdish people living in Nashville that will be instrumental in her research as she writes her dissertation.

During her time at JPL, Stephanie facilitated Tech Help with Teens, multiple JPL Drum circles, JPL Skill Share programs for adults, Lonely Readers Club, the Ultimate Reading Challenge, book displays, countless genre bookmarks, and many JPL social media posts, not to mention her work on the desks.

Please join me in wishing her the best of luck in her future endeavors!

After six years, Denise has decided to resign her position at JPL. We’re sad to see her go and we wish her well.

A few of you may notice a 15-minute tweak in some of your shifts. The primary reason for the tweak is to better align your start or end time with an On Desk shift without reducing or increasing your hours. If WTW shows that your end time is the exact time as closing, you are free to leave at that time. At the present time, other staff shifts will be ending 15 minutes past the hour and they should still leave as scheduled.

Couple things I noticed from last pay period:

1) A few employees still used the old time sheet form, please begin using the new form

2) In the new form remember to enter your name

3) Manually entering the numbers in the “review WTW grid is fine, you don’t need to enter them digitally

4) If your hours between WTW and your time sheet don’t match, don’t fudge the numbers to make them match, write a note explaining what you think might be wrong and I’ll dig into it.

The Teen Summer Reading Prize Pack winners have been chosen and notified by phone!

I have also posted the winners on Facebook, Instagram, and posted signs in the library at the YS Desk, on the Teen Space doors, and on the whiteboard in the YA section.

Winners have been told to pick up their prize packs at the YS Desk. Prize packs are located on the back counter in the YS workroom to the left of the sink. All prize packs are labeled with the winner’s name.

If the winner seems really excited and you feel comfortable, I’d love to get a picture of the winner with their prize. You can use the YS iPad to do this. It will be plugged in on the back YS workroom counter to the right of the sink. This part is completely optional — just if you want to and the kid seems into it. 

I’m out of the library for the next week, but if there are any problems or questions, you can call or text me — 515-491-2590. Thanks very much!

Jessica

Hello All,
Terra Park Art Walk Boards have returned to the library after being on display at Terra Park. Artists have been notified that they can come into the library to retrieve their board should they want it back. Painted boards are in the director’s office. Some of the boards have the artist’s name on the back, some do not. When people come in to retrieve their painted boards, I have instructed them to let staff know their name and a description of their painting. There are only about 12 paintings, so it shouldn’t be too hard to identify the right one. Artists have until closing time on Sunday, August 20th to pick up their artwork.

Please ask Beth if you have any questions. Thanks!