Category: All-Library News

I just wanted to send out a quick reminder to everyone about Adventure Passes. This collaboration is a win for everyone involved – especially the community. Johnston PL users are some of the highest users, per capita, in the metro. The passes we purchase are similar in cost to the passes that individual families would purchase, yet our passes are used at least four to five times more than private passes are used.

It is vital that we very clearly communicate with library users how to use the Adventure Pass. Not specific to Johnston, there have been reports of people showing up at venues with just their library card in hand expecting to be admitted and families frustrated that a pass will only cover two of their three kids, etc. Those interactions are difficult for staff at the venues.

There will be times when the Adventure Pass isn’t a perfect fit for a family. I know I had someone very upset the other day because they have four kids. I tried to offer solutions such as going with another adult, but ultimately, that person was just upset. I simply pointed out that with the pass they (mom and four kids) would get in paying for three tickets less. I did my best to accept and process her disappointment here rather than place any blame on the venue.

When you mention Adventure Passes to new cardholders or help people reserve a pass, please do your best to clearly communicate the information below. While we cannot feel responsible for miscommunications, we do want to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep this partnership going for library users.

Thanks for your help!

• Passes are available for Johnston residents only on a first-come first-served basis and may be reserved up to 90 days in advance by cardholders 18 and older.
• The Library currently has membership with:
  • Science Center
  • Town Center Ice Rink
  • Brenton Skating Plaza
  • Blank Park Zoo
  • Des Moines Children’s Museum
  • Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden
  • Reiman Gardens.
• A printed pass is required for entry
• Passes for Blank Park Zoo, Science Center of Iowa, Des Moines Children’s Museum, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, and Brenton Skating Plaza (including skate rental) are for 2 adults and 2 children. Reiman Gardens allows 2 adults and 4 children- children must be from the same household. Town Center passes are for one person each (including skate rental).
• Passes may be reserved one time per year for each location
• The institution may check your ID. The name on the printed pass should match the name on the ID of the adult using the pass
• To cancel a reservation please call the library (515-278-5233) prior to closing the day before your visit.

The Parks Department has begun to prepare the green space south of the West Patio for the installation of the musical instrument purchased in memory of Kinney Caranahan by the Library Foundation.

When the instruments have been installed and the landscaping has been completed, there will be a ribbon cutting and small reception. When a time and day have been established, I will let everyone know.

On Saturday we received a complaint about a gentleman watching explicit videos on a library computer. I do like to touch on freedom of speech when we talk about porn at the library.

This is from the Law Library at the State Library of Iowa:

It is important to remember that adults viewing adult pornography are not doing anything illegal, and general monitoring by staff of the content or use of library materials and resources in any format by patrons is inappropriate in all instances with the exception of observation for purposes of protecting library property. Therefore, it is best to intervene only in response to another patron’s complaints about what’s being viewed and then handle the situation according to the library’s conduct policy. 

I understand it can be embarrassing to discuss this with library patrons. If you are uncomfortable, please don’t hesitate to get the Librarian in Charge to assist with the conversation.

Please review the information from “Responding to Patron Behavior and Complaints.”

___________

Viewing some types of explicit content online—child pornography, for example, and rape—is illegal and should be reported to the Johnston Police Department. Viewing other types of explicit content—like sex acts, nudity, and extreme violence—is not illegal for adults even in a public library. That said, we are committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment for all patrons.

So what should you do if you see someone viewing explicit content in the Library?

Evaluate the situation

• Is the patron viewing the content in an area out of view of other patrons—in a study room, for example?
  • As long as no one has complained, the patron is an adult, and the content does not appear to be illegal, monitor the situation.

• Have you received a complaint or is the patron viewing the content in an area within view of other patrons—on a public PC near the reference desk, for example?

Either approach the patron in-person or use PC Reservation to tell the patron that we’ve received a complaint about what they’re looking at. Generally, this will embarrass the patron into leaving or doing something else. If they continue viewing explicit content, either approach the patron in-person or use PC Reservation to tell the patron that, because they’ve continued viewing explicit content, you need to end their PC session.

Andrew will be playing with the Des Moines Symphony in their performance with Kelli O’Hara next Saturday the 22nd at 7:30 PM at the Civic Center.  Tickets can be purchased here:  https://desmoinesperformingarts.org/events/evening-with-kelli-ohara/.

This is your friendly reminder that you should be LOGGED OUT of the calendar system when registering patrons for programs or making study room or meeting room requests.

We have a couple patrons who are registered for programs before the programs are officially open. I don’t think this was intentional, but if you are logged in when registering you can bypass registration open dates, which will get messy for all of us when people ask why some people are registered when they are not yet able to be registered.

The only times you need to be logged in in our new calendar is if you’re cancelling a meeting or study room request or program registration or making a pending meeting room request for a room not available for the public. Thank you! Please ask beth or peg if you have questions.

Hi All,

This is for all employees. So please feel free share your ideas or even if it is “Please don’t put me in a spotlight!” (Which is my response) I will not be passing on any names or personal information when I compile the ideas to share with the committee.

I have recently been assigned to participate on the Employee Benefits and Social Planning committees. I was asked to gather input from my fellow library staff regarding employee recognition and social activities.

In particular:

• How would you most like to be recognized for the time you have spent as an employee?
• When do you think recognition should begin?
• How often should it occur?
• What social activities would appeal to you?

I appreciate any input you are willing to provide. Please feel free to email me or stop by my desk for a chat.

Here is a link to the obituary for Sandy’s dad, Larry. His services will be on August 5.

It seems no one had noticed, which is good, but we were short our spare key to the front automatic doors. I got a replacement. So while the key to the automatic doors remains on the keychain in the card catalog, if we are unable to find that key, in a pinch, we have an extra on the master keychain.

Tonight there will be a campaign event for Ron Desantis at the Simpson Barn. The First Lady of Florida and Governor Kim Reynolds will be speaking.  There will be children’s activities, provided by the Desantis Campaign, outside of the Simpson Barn.

Doors open at 5 p.m.

It is planned that there will be groups protesting the event. There will most likely be national media attention and a large crowd.

There will be security for the First Lady and the Governor. Johnston Police and State Troopers will be present also.

At the desks remember that we are not going to engage in debate about either group. Just sticks to facts and remain calm if you have questions or concerns from library users. Call or text me if you have any concerns.

This is a heads up from Nate O. at Parks and Rec. Tomorrow a Presidential candidate will be meeting the public at the Simpson Barn. A group is coming to protest also. They are allowed to protest but not block any entrances. If you have any questions or concerns, please check with Molly.

Circulation has been trained to open the Google Chrome shortcut when needing to access the Library Calendar events to view or modify reservations and not use the Firefox link.

When opening Google Chrome, the web browser used to open automatically to the Library Calendar URL.

Opening Google Chrome now will have one additional step. Users will see a screen asking “Who’s Using Chrome?” Please click on the Johnston Public Library option. The new web page to open will be the Library Calendar. Please do not modify the startup settings on this account.

If you open Google Chrome to access your personal Google accounts, please choose a user other than Johnston Public Library to sign in.

The Polk County Emergency Management extreme temperature plan will be activated today based on the forecasted temperatures exceeding 90 degrees today (7/3) and tomorrow (7/4).  This includes weather amnesty at area homeless shelters, activation of cooling centers at many public locations, and access to cooling centers via DART buses.

More detailed information and resources are available here: https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/emergency-management/our-plans/extreme-temperature-and-sheltering-resources/

I’ve posted In/Out schedules for the weeks of July 2-8 and 9-15 in the staff kitchen. When you have time, please take a look. Highlight errors and send me an email. If everything is correct, you don’t need to do anything.

I just wanted to quickly touch base and let everyone know how the library director search is going.

The library board has put out a request for proposals from consulting firms to lead the executive search. The hope is that the library board will choose a firm in late July. Once a firm is hired, we are thinking it will be 4 to 6 months until the new director begins.

Here is a very rough estimate of the timeline which is subject to change:

• September – advertise the position
• October –  review applicants and interview candidates
• November – extend an offer
• December – library director begins

I will keep you posted each step of the way, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Mark your calendars. The library will be holding an All Staff Meeting on Sunday, July 23rd. The meeting will have two components:

10:45 -11:30 will be time to socialize, enjoy some food together, and enjoy some informal meetings and talking.

11:30 -12:45 will be a traditional meeting with an agenda. The agenda is in progress.

If the first session doesn’t sound like your thing – you are not required to attend. We would love to have you come to both sessions if possible. Both sessions will be paid.

Please email Molly or Peg to let us know if you will be able to attend on July 23rd so we can get When to Work updated.

Here is a little trick that I have learned the hard way – When the locked money cabinet key is not wanting to turn – firmly push in all the drawers below the cabinet. I’m not sure why exactly, but the lock will not turn if the drawers are not firmly closed.

If the lock is still wonky – you can just put the money in the cabinet without locking it and leave a note on the buildingmaintenance Slack channel for staff the next day.

Step One of our plan to utilize WTW to reflect employees’ positions during their scheduled shifts is working well, albeit with some hiccups, but we expected some. Thank you for your patience during the rollout.

We now want to roll out Step Two of our plan to better utilize WTW, which involves exclusively using the Time Off feature to request time off work and “dipping our toe” into using the Tradeboard feature.

Starting immediately, all time off requests should come through WTW and should not be requested verbally, via email or text. Why? To streamline the request process, make it more efficient and reduce the time supervisors spend on this task. If you have not used the Time Off feature of WTW, please watch this video to learn how: https://youtu.be/WN0e8pnQJ10

The City of Johnston Employee Handbook (pg 19) states that time off should be requested at least seven (7) days prior to requested day/s off and that approval is subject to adequate coverage. If multiple employees request the same day/s off, supervisors may need to use a first-come first-served approach to approving the time away from work, but every situation is unique and will be handled as such.

This is how we see the process working:

1. Employee submits time off request through WTW which initiates a notification to supervisors.
2. Supervisors or designee will review the request and approve or deny it. Don’t worry, we expect denials to be rare; just be aware it may be necessary sometimes.
3. The supervisor will review staffing levels for the requested day/s and reassign scheduled employees to different positions as necessary.
4. Based on the positions the employee is scheduled to cover on the requested day/s off, the supervisor may ask the employee to post all or part of her shift to the WTW Tradeboard. If this happens, the supervisor will teach her how to post to the Tradeboard and what will happen next. Evening and weekend shifts are the most likely shifts to be offered for trades.
5. If shifts are posted to the Tradeboard, employees eligible to work the posted positions can receive a notification, if enabled, and submit their interest in trading a shift. Anything on the Tradeboard will be approved by a supervisor. Again, supervisors are available to teach all employees how to use this feature.
6. For last minute requests, i.e. less than 7 days, TEXT your supervisor, and GET AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, in addition to submitting a time off request in WTW.

For those of you already using the Time Off feature of WTW, the only thing new is posting to the Tradeboard. If you’ve not used the Time Off feature before, your supervisor is happy to teach you and answer any questions.

In the staff kitchen, you will find three printed charts reflecting each staff person’s In/Out schedule for the weeks of

June 18-24

June 25 – July 1

July 2 – July 8

Please look at each chart and make sure it accurately reflects your scheduled hours these weeks.

Place a check mark beside each time that is correct.

Highlight any dates that are incorrect and send Peg an email.

Thanks.