Category: All-Library News

We have been receiving calls about Shred Day. Patrons do NOT have to register for the event.

Shred Day is scheduled for Saturday, September 10 from 9am-12pm

Patrons are asked to limit material to be shredded to 3 disposable boxes or containers per household.

Below are the Adult Summer Reading Grand Prize Winners

Sound Geek: Zach Ward

Park Explorer: Nikki Giddings

Ice Cream Lover: Mary Edwards

Winners have been notified and have until Sunday, August 7th to pick up their prize. Prizes are at the PS Desk with their names on it.

Thank you everyone for your hard work over the summer!

Zach Ward is the winner of our week #9 prize – a gift card to Hyvee. Please direct Zach to YS/PS staff to pick up her prize.

Note: Whomever gives Zach their prize, please write the date picked up and your initials on the envelope; keep the empty envelope and return it to the ASR drawer at the Ref Desk. Thanks!

Hello All,
Below is a little refresher script for responding to phone inquiries about day-of Study Room Usage. Also a friendly reminder that it is always ok to hand-off study room inquiries to staff working at the ref desk.

• We do not make day-of study room reservations but you’re welcome to come in and use any open study rooms on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition to our 4 study rooms, we also have seating in the Commons as well as multiple study areas tucked-away throughout the library. While I can’t guarantee a study room will be open and available when you arrive,  most of the time people are able to find an area in the library that is workable for quiet study or small group work.
• If the patron wants more specific information, feel free to look on the calendar at events.johnstonlibrary.com and tell them which rooms are reserved for the day, but then also provide a reminder that open rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so some rooms may be occupied by people who are utilizing the study rooms on a walk-in basis.

  Thanks!

Over the next 8 weeks, we will be transitioning to a new event calendar system for handling public and library room reservations and program registration. The new product is from a company called Library Market who provides websites and event calendars to a number of Iowa libraries. The link to Altoona Public Library’s calendar below will give you a sense of what ours will look like and how it will work. We are at the first stages of the switch and will provide more information as the process moves forward.

https://altoonapl.librarycalendar.com/events/month

In an attempt to make the status of study rooms accessible to all staff no matter what desk you’re at, I’ve created a simple spreadsheet labeled Study Rooms that can be found under the Schedules tab in the top ribbon of the Intranet.

The caveat is that this document may not be 100% accurate at all times, often patrons neglect to tell us when they’ve exited a study room, but we can try to keep it as accurate as possible. I use the security cameras to view the rooms when in doubt.

Instructions on how to use the document are in the document. Feedback is welcome.

Angela Evans is the winner of our week #8 prize – a gift card to Fareway in Johnston. Please direct Angela to YS/PS staff to pick up her prize.

Note: Whomever gives Angela her prize, please write the date picked up and your initials on the envelope; keep the empty envelope and return it to the ASR drawer at the Ref Desk. Thanks!

I’m publishing the first two weeks of August on When to Work today. Saturday the rest of August will be published.

Picture book shifting will begin on Sunday morning. During this time all picture books will be pulled from the shelves, organized by category, and then re-shelved alphabetically by author within each category.

Depending on how long the process takes, some picture books will be unavailable.

Molly and other circulation staff have worked on picture book pre-shelving and the changes will be made at the end of this week.

An update with the shifting and order of the categories will come out on Sunday or Monday.

Thanks!

Reminder:

Meeting room doors should be locked following programs and meetings. These doors should also be checked at close to make sure they are locked.

Thank you!

A crew will arrive tomorrow to begin routing cable for installation of equipment to extend the library’s wifi into the spaces to the north, west, and south of the library (see the diagram below). The project, which is being funded via a grant from Prairie Meadows, should be completed by August.

Mat Sandmann is the winner of our week #7 prize – a gift card to Starbucks in Johnston. Please direct Mat to YS/PS staff to pick up his prize.

Note: Whomever gives Mat his prize, please write the date picked up and your initials on the envelope; keep the empty envelope and return it to the ASR drawer at the Ref Desk. Thanks!

Rebecca Kyle is the winner of our week #6 prize – a gift card to Panera in Johnston. Please direct Rebecca to YS/PS staff to pick up her prize.

Note: Whomever gives Rebecca her prize, please write the date picked up and your initials on the envelope; keep the empty envelope and return it to the ASR drawer at the Ref Desk. Thanks!

Starting with the August card kits, we will be directing patrons to the Reference Desk for pick-up. The thinness of the card kit envelopes is causing the kits to get lost among the thicker books and media on the holds shelves. Patrons are already used to picking up craft kits at the Reference Desk, so this practice will be more consistent for adult craft kits.

I’ve already e-mailed the change to our card craft club mailing list, so there may be some confusion as to where to pick up the July card kits. They are on the holds shelves.

Kits are available for pick-up from noon the day after Sunday Card Crafting Club, and they will remain available for one week. After that, the kits are offered to people on the waiting list.

If you have questions, please see me or Lori French.

Bernita Missal is the winner of our week #5 prize – a gift card to Charlotte’s Kitchen in Johnston. Please direct Bernita to YS/PS staff to pick up her prize.

Note: Whomever gives Bernita her prize, please write the date picked up and your initials on the envelope; keep the empty envelope and return it to the ASR drawer at the Ref Desk. Thanks!

Links to today’s slides are included below as well as a link to the complete list of “Library Law FAQs”.

Molly’s slides

Eric’s Slides

Library Law FAQs

At this morning’s staff meeting, I talked about genre headings for picture books. Genre headings describe the form of the item as opposed to subject headings which describe the content.

See this handout for an example of how you can click on a genre heading and then limit the results to picture books. The handout also includes a list of genre headings commonly used for picture books.

Public Works staff will be here Friday morning to grind some concrete in the large meeting room where the wall is currently dragging along the ground. Expect an hour or so of annoying noise.