Category: All-Library News

This afternoon, patrons with over $5 in fines will receive a message like the one shown below. You may receive calls from patrons with questions about their fines and about food-for-fines.

Eric Melton,
Pay your overdue fees with non-perishable food items April 22-29.
One food item pays $1 in fees. Fees for damaged or lost items cannot be paid with food and are not included in the amount listed below.

Your current fees eligible for payment via food for fines:
$126.70

Staff
Johnston Public Library
515-278-5233

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.

It’s spring which means…it’s evaluation time. Part of the process is the self evaluation. This is your chance to tell your supervisor what you think you did well in the past year, how you’d like to grow going forward, and what could be done to help make your work or your experience at work better. The self evaluation form is linked below. Please have it to your supervisor by May, 5th.  If you’ve been at JPL fewer than 6 months, you are not required to complete a self evaluation. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ho3J_NpAiyCzyJdxDgdDychcHC9A4jmx/view?usp=share_link

Staff Internet and public access to our website will be down for a couple of hours Monday. Public Internet should be unaffected. Polaris should still be functional. Staff at the PS and YS desks may need to switch to our public wifi for web access.

From city hall:

Good Morning,

On Monday, April 17 we will be replacing our firewall.  This will cause internet outages between the hours of approximately noon and 2 p.m.  Please plan accordingly.

External email – in and outbound – will also be down during this time. Internal email will not be impacted. All email will be delivered once the firewall is reconnected.

Please ensure that your department is aware of the outage.

 Thanks,

Cyndee

A recent visitor to the library, Michael Hodges, has been banned from the library. If you see him, call the police and let them  handle escorting him from the building.

At the March meeting, the library board approved an update to the Circulation Policy.

In order to allow children whose parents are unable to visit the library to apply for a standard juvenile library card access to materials, provisional juvenile library cards will now be good for checking out four items at a time until the library card expires.

Provisional juvenile cards will expire after six months. If they are renewed by the child, another postcard will be mailed to the parent or guardian.

Quick reminders:

1. Children need to be able to provide their name, address, and date of birth to get a provisional juvenile card. Unlike computer cards where we will accept addresses like “next door” or “Des Moines,” we need to have a complete address so we can send the postcard to their parent or guardian.
2. Phone and email are not required for any type of library card. I would recommend that anyone provide those so we can help them by sending reminder notices, but no card requires a phone or email.

*Adult provisional cards are still limited to two items on the day they apply for a card.

Here is the updated procedure. I have also printed copies for all the service desks. We have updated postcards at all the service desks.

Please ask Molly or Denise if you have any questions.

An update on the shelter behind the library:

“The facility will be completed in the next couple of weeks, then a temporary fence will be put up where we seed. “

Cetrick Willis, JPL weekend shelver and VIP patron, has decided to step down from his paid position at the library. He is finishing up his senior year at Hoover High School, and he hopes to attend Grand View next year.

Cetrick says,”I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work at a amazing place with wonderful staff.”

I don’t think I have a current address for him on Polaris, but his email is cetrick904@gmail.com if you would like to wish him well.

Don’t forget to complete and staple PARS to your time sheet! Thanks.

I have had several people ask me about how to access the Employee Handbook or get information about other benefits for those that qualify.

There is a website with information about benefits offered at cityofjohnston.touchpointsonline.com (the password is CityofJohnston)

There is also an Employee Intranet on the City’s website. You can access it at http://www.cityofjohnston.com/434/Intranet

• You will be asked to create an account.
• On the City’s Employee Intranet, you can get the most recent copy of the Employee Handbook under Employee Policies and Information.
  • Here is a link to the Handbook. My understanding is that if it is updated, they will print everyone a copy to review the changes.

If you have questions about your benefits please don’t hesitate to reach out to your supervisor.

As we enter the season where the weather swings from warm to cool, our poor chiller is easily confused and often needs to be reset.

If you notice that the temperature is higher than usual, there is a thermometer at the Circulation Desk, the chiller needs to be reset. Anyone can reset the chiller, but please make sure you find coverage for your desk if you reset the chiller. If Molly or Eric are available, we are happy to do it. If we are gone, and no one volunteers, it will be the responsibility of the librarian in charge.

Instructions for resetting the chiller are under Documentation-Building/Technology on the Intranet. If I haven’t walked you through it, and you would rather learn hands-on, let me know. I am happy to show you how.

Beginning Saturday, patrons can pick up an entry form to create a bookmark for the Summer Library Program Bookmark Contest.

One winner will be chosen by a select group of library staff in each of five groups: Preschool-Grade 2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-7, Grades 8-12, and adults. Winners will have their designs turned into official summer reading bookmarks! Official entry forms can be picked up at the Youth Services Desk or downloaded from the link under “Attachments” on the event page.

https://johnston.librarycalendar.com/event/jpls-summer-discovery-bookmark-contest-27

Submissions are due on Sunday, April 30th. No late submissions will be accepted due to printing times.

For quick and easy reference, I have printed and laminated Section IV Leave Benefits – Paid and Unpaid (pages 18-24) from the City of Johnston Employee Handbook. The laminated pages can be found hanging from a magnetic hook on the shelving outside of Eric’s & Molly’s offices, near the green time sheet folder.

The statewide tornado drill will occur this Wednesday (3/29) at 10am. The outdoor alarms will sound but, to avoid disrupting patron meetings and other activities, we will not do a drill. This would be a good time, however, to review the tornado and wind section of the Emergency Manual and the emergency response cards at whichever public desk you work.

I reset the system clock, but it may take up to 24 hours for the building clocks to reflect the correct time.

I am going to be out of town until Thursday, March 16th. If you have anything that needs attention before then, please don’t hesitate to text me at 515-210-4441.

I will respond to emails when I get back. Please reach out to circulation staff with any circulation-related questions or feel free to fill out a patron/item needs review form from the green folder at the Circ Desk.

Shred Day has been confirmed! Here are the details:

THE SHREDDER company will be in the JPL parking lot from 9:00am to 12:00pm for on-site document destruction with 3 of their mobile document-shredding vehicles. THE SHREDDER is AAA certified by the National Association for Information Destruction.
Attendees need to limit material to be shredded to 3 disposable boxes or containers per household. To expedite shredding, traffic will route from Merle Hay around the library onto Morningside Drive and enter the west parking lot by the Simpson Barn. Please stay in your vehicle and a volunteer will collect your boxes for on-site document shredding. No registration is necessary. This event is sponsored by AARP in conjunction with Money Smart Week.

https://johnston.librarycalendar.com/event/free-shred-day