Category: All-Library News

Please have your timesheet completed with PARs attached and placed in the green folder outside Eric’s office by Thursday evening at 8 pm.

As always, double-check that the hours on your timesheet match When to Work. If they don’t, please speak with your supervisor. If there are last minute changes, you may always send me an email and tell me that your timesheet is correct or that WTW is correct or whatever.

For those who missed it, a link to the recording of yesterday’s all-staff Zoom meeting is linked below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10EkJqIaqTo-idDkbrTcUoBm8m2_pWQet/view?usp=sharing

Just a reminder that the fitness room at the Public Safety Building is available to all city employees. If you’re interested in having access please let me know.

There have recently been several cases around the state of a man calling libraries and being verbally abusive and making vulgar noises. Any time that you feel a caller is acting in a harassing manner–using profanity, being vulgar, etc.–you are free to hang up. I’ve included some helpful guidelines from a library in Wisconsin below.

What is the requester’s intent? Is it for true research, or an attempt towards the requester’s self gratification? Or perhaps an attempt to waste time, or is it to cause embarrassment to the
librarian? A general rule of thumb is when a patron makes a request that becomes personal, and is outside the scope of your employment, is when the “line” becomes crossed.
• You do not have to answer personal questions, unless you have granted your consent.
o In example: a patron asking about your sexual preferences as compared to a
survey on library services. It is okay to hang up or tell a person no.
• You do not have to provide personal identifying information to a patron.
o Think identity theft. It is appropriate to give a person your first name or contact
information for your particular library.
• A patron has no right to sexualize, harass, or intimidate a librarian.
o If a librarian is uncomfortable with a phone call or an in-person patron contact
they do not have to engage in a conversation with them. It is okay to tell them to
stop. It is okay to hang up or tell a person no. It is okay to report criminal
behavior to law enforcement.
• A librarian can tell a patron that the librarian is busy or unavailable to help them (given
your own library policies). It is okay to hang up or tell a person no.
• A librarian can advise a patron that if they have been assisted you don’t have to continue
to provide the same information day after day.
o In example: calling a librarian asking for sexual references day after day with the
same questions.
• A librarian doesn’t have to listen to a person heavy breath over a phone or make
sexualized noises. It is okay to hang up or tell a person no.

From city hall:

Johnston employees,

With the construction of the new city hall we included a stage/entertainment area on the southwest corner of the building. On Thursday, July 1 around 8:45 p.m. we will be testing the movie screen set up at the stage. We would like to invite Johnston employees and their families to the first show.

For the test screening we plan to show Pixar Short Films which will give us an opportunity to test the screen, projector and sound system. These short films are geared toward younger audiences (rated G). Sample titles include: The adventures of André & Wally B. — Luxo Jr. — Red’s dream — Tin toy — Knick knack — Geri’s game — For the birds — Mike’s new car — Boundin’ — Jack-Jack attack — One man band — Mater and the ghostlight.

Bring your children/grandchildren, a blanket, lawn chairs, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages to enjoy the show.

hope you are able to join us.

Thank you,

Jim

We will offer a Zoom option for tomorrow’s all-staff meeting for those who can’t make it in-person. The link is included below.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85866636091?pwd=cnh5MEhjUEtXYmpoNHRtZUJETUdRZz09

This is another reminder about the Yankee Doodle Pops being broadcasted instead of having a live audience this year.  It will be broadcasted at the following times:

July 2nd at 8:30 PM on Iowa PBS

July 4th at Noon on Iowa Public Radio

July 4th at 6 PM on Iowa PBS

July 5th at 11 AM on Iowa Public Radio

https://dmsymphony.org/concerts-events/yankee-doodle-pops/

All times are CDT, and both the PBS video and Iowa Public Radio apps are free to download from the app store.  Will also be available for viewing or listening online.  Repertoire includes Ya Got Trouble from the Music Man, 1812 Overture, Stars and Stripes Forever, and much more!

Due to Covid, the Lions Club didn’t hold their annual book sale last year and their storage space is now full of donated books. To get rid of some the boxes of donations in our East Meeting Room (which would typically go to the Lions storage unit) we’re going to start giving them away. The free books will be offered from the Book Bike which will be parked in front of the Archive Room.  We will still charge for books from the book sale in the Commons.

The July 4th holiday is approaching. I’ve included a summary of holiday pay for full- and part-time staff below.

• Part time staff not regularly scheduled more than twenty hours weekly will not receive holiday pay (even if you come to work on Christmas 🙂 )
• Part time staff who are regularly scheduled 20-30 hours per week and who are also scheduled to work on a paid holiday can take as paid the hours that they’re regularly scheduled to work. If Jim is scheduled to work 6 hours on Christmas, for example, he can take 6 hours of holiday pay.
• Full time staff may need to adjust their schedules (take days off some other day(s) that pay period- 7/4-7/17) to ensure that their paid holiday hours don’t push them into overtime.

Find more Holidays and Closings on the website or under the Staff Resources menu on the Intranet

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Our bi-monthly all-staff meeting will be held next Thursday at 8:30am IN PERSON in the West Meeting Room.

Hello all,

This Saturday there is an online Zoom program for adults called Life Tools for Managing Stress. The Zoom link has been/will be sent when people register, along with some documents the  presenter wanted people to have. Registrants are also able to stop by the library to pick up a printed packet of the handouts. The printed paper-clipped handout packets are behind the Reference Desk on the green paper cutter. Packets can be given out to anyone who asks for one. If anyone needs the Zoom link resent to them, please take their email and give it to beth.
Thanks!

It hurts me to write this post, but Brittany will be leaving us later this month. She has accepted a Children’s Librarian position at the Ankeny Library. However, she assured me she will still be using JPL as her home library!

We will be posting the open position on the city’s website later this afternoon. The position is a full-time Assistant Youth Services Librarian position.

We decided to remove the bouncer station a couple of days early to allow staff to focus on work elsewhere in the building. The table that took its place is now setup as a checkout station. Circulation staff can use this next week to checkout holds for curbside customers without the need to make another trip behind the circulation desk after retrieving patrons’ holds from the hold shelves.

I’m going to place a name tag order this week. To those of you who have had yours for a while, if it’s looking rough and you’d like a replacement let me know by the end of the day Friday.

Department heads met yesterday to discuss reopening. We all know that the public’s perception of the threat of Covid-19 has changed rapidly since vaccines have become widely available. The CDC’s recent announcement that “Fully vaccinated people can…Resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing”, has created additional pressure on institutions to relax Covid-related restrictions. The impetus for our discussion yesterday was the difficulty in continuing to justify many of the restrictions that we planned to lift in July or August including keeping play areas closed, limiting capacity, and restricting entry to those 14 and above. Beginning Monday we will take the following steps to make our services more in-line with where the community seems to be with Covid-precautions (measures that are new or that have been moved from July or August are highlighted):

• The Archive Room will reopen for public meetings
• Curbside holds will move to an on-demand, rather than an appointment-based, service available all open hours
• Book sale will reopen
• The capacity limit will end
• The bouncer station will be removed
• The Youth Computer Lounge will reopen
• Children under 14 will be admitted without an adult (per the Unattended Child Policy)

The complete reopening plan for 2021 can be found here and is always accessible via the link in the Covid-19 menu on the intranet. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hey all,
The first weekly prize winner for Adult Summer Reading is Katie Schlawin. She has been notified by phone (left a voicemail). She can come into the library between now and next Tuesday, June 15 and pick up a prize of her choice off of the red Cart O’Weekly Adult Summer Reading Prizes located behind the Reference Desk. All entries from last week’s weekly drawing have been sorted into buckets for the grand prize drawing of the participant’s choice.
Thanks!
beth

A couple of weeks ago, other city buildings instituted a policy that allows staff to work without masks if they prove they’ve been fully vaccinated. JPL will now follow suit.

WHO IS FULLY VACCINATED

People are considered fully vaccinated:

• 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
• 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnston’s Janssen vaccine.

If you do not meet these requirements, you are NOT fully vaccinated.  Keep taking all precautions (wearing masks and social distancing) until you are fully vaccinated, or the mask requirement is lifted by the CDC.

IF YOU’RE FULLY VACCINATED

If you’re fully vaccinated and would like to work without a mask, please provide me a copy of your vaccination card or some other proof of vaccination (a photo taken with your phone is fine–you can text it to me if that’s easiest at 515-250-5381). Once I receive proof of your vaccination, you may immediately start working without a mask.

If you have not been vaccinated or do not want to show proof of vaccination, you will continue to be required to wear a mask.

COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC 

You may get questions or comments from the public related to your wearing or not wearing a mask. If you get a question about not wearing a mask, it’s fine to say that the city’s current policy is that masks are not required for vaccinated employees. If you get a question or comment about wearing a mask, it’s fine to tell them that you’ve chosen to continue to wear one.

Let me know if you have any questions.

The 2021 Yankee Doodle Pops will only be available via Iowa PBS and Iowa Public Radio, and here are the broadcast dates and times:

July 2nd: 8:30 PM on Iowa PBS

July 4th: Noon on Iowa Public Radio

July 4th: 6:00 PM on Iowa PBS

July 5th: 11:00 AM on Iowa Public Radio

https://www.dmsymphony.org/concerts-events/yankee-doodle-pops/

Hope you all can tune in!

Daily Grab-n-Go breakfast and lunch meals will be provided at each location June 10 – August 6 (No meal service July 5^th) for anyone ages 0-18.

Meals will be provided to ALL CHILDREN without charge at the sites and times as follows: