Category: All-Library News

Megan hung out with someone over the weekend who has since tested positive for Covid-19. Megan is not displaying symptoms but, per city policy, will quarantine for 14 days. She’ll let us know if anything about her health changes.

The library’s phone will be down between 8am and 10am tomorrow morning as city hall moves the system to the new building.

[UPDATE 2] The voter registration/ballot drop-off table for this coming weekend is back on.

Lina Gill will be setting up a table for voter registration and ballot drop-off this Saturday and Sunday and the next from 12-2 outside the library. She doesn’t need anything from library staff. Her role is non-partisan; she is authorized to collect ballots from voters of any party affiliation.

The State Library of Iowa has a webpage with a Media Literacy Toolkit to aid librarians and the communities we serve. https://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/k-p/medialiteracytoolkit.

I’ve downloaded all of the Resources for the Public and Resources for Librarians listed at the bottom of the webpage and stored them on the P drive. Here is the path to find them:  P:>Media Literacy Toolkit_State Library of Iowa_10.21.20.

In this age of misinformation and disinformation, learning to evaluate media for not only ourselves, but more importantly our patrons is a valuable skill.

Patrons now have the option of requesting a copy of the latest Book Page when they make a holds appointment. The box of the newest edition is next to the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten supplies.

From Janet, the city’s communication specialist:

NORTHWEST POLK COUNTY RESIDENTS’ CHOICE FAVORITES IN JOHNSTON

When we grab a bag from curbside prep for a patron that comes early, can we make a note on Slack for the Circ Desk?

When we check out items from the holds table for patrons that stop by the library, can you ask the patron if they had a curbside appointment and ask if you cancel it if they did?

Thanks so, so much for everyone’s help!

Let Molly know if you have any questions.

The printer of John Grisham’s new book, A Time for Mercy, released the book with errors. Pages are repeated, missing, falling out of the binding, etc.

JPL has 3 copies — two of which are damaged and one which seems fine (although TS did not read it cover to cover). One of our patrons has one damaged copy and is aware it’s damaged; the other damaged copy is in TS.

Because of the massive nature of the problem, the publisher pushed back the release date to 12/13. We’re ordering replacement copies, but it will likely be around that date before they arrive.

We have two copies of the large print which are in cataloging. The CD book has not yet arrived.

The PS/YS and Circ. desk schedules have been added to the header menu on the intranet. These are “live” documents so they should always be up to date.

JPL was voted “Favorite Northwest Polk County Library” by Iowa Living Magazine readers! Grimes and Urbandale were runners up. I’ll be contacting the directors there to wish them better luck next year 🙂

We are a polling site for the upcoming general election to be held Tuesday, November 3rd. Curbside pickup will be cancelled on that day. The gate in the commons will be lowered and voters will be directed to enter via the Commons doors, not the main entry. Voting will be held in the West meeting room. While Polk County is not requiring voters to wear masks and we won’t enforce our mask policy in the Commons and West that day, we will continue to require masks of anyone who enters the main entry that day to browse or use a PC. Let me know if you have any questions.

Starting now, when myself and Molly are not in the building, Assistant Librarians or public desk department heads will be the “Librarians in Charge”. Going forward, the goal is to have at least one Librarian in Charge (or myself or Molly) in the building during all open hours. The role of the Librarians in Charge is to direct the library’s response to emergencies, troubleshoot technology problems, handle building-related issues, and respond to patron complaints, policy questions, behavior issues, and other situations that cannot be managed by other staff. In short, if you have situations or questions you and your peers can’t manage, find an Assistant Librarian–Brittany, Jessica, or Peg–a public desk department head–Megan or Beth–or myself or Molly. See the full Librarian in Charge description via the link below and let me know if you have questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZqmLvtjo49mOCrRfmpVDx4Rbvicgu6R1a0wbAuDzKvI/edit?usp=sharing

I am sorry to inform you that there will be no New Year’s Eve Pops with the Des Moines Symphony this year.  However, please be sure to purchase your online access for the virtual concert on Thursday, November 12, at 7 PM.  https://dmsymphony.secure.force.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F1S00000I6iY4UAJ.  We are playing works by Copland and Vivaldi.

Patron question today about absentee ballots and how to submit them if people do not want to mail their ballots.

I called Polk County Election Office and for people that have requested absentee ballots but feel nervous about mailing them, completed ballots can be hand-delivered to the Polk County Election Office. An employee is standing right inside the front doors during business hours (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm) to collect all ballots submitted this way.
Polk County Election Office
120 2nd Avenue Suite A
Des Moines, IA 50309

From city hall:

Good Afternoon,

It’s hard to believe, but moving day is upon us!

This evening, shortly after 5 p.m., we will be shutting down the network at the old City Hall to move the servers and switches to the new City Hall.

This means that there will be no email for any department until the network is back up.  If you need an immediate response to something, please call or text the staff member you are needing to reach.  Our plan is to have the network back up and running this evening, barring any unforeseen hiccups.  I will send out another email when we’re back up.

As a reminder, City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday, with regular operations resuming on Monday, October 12 at the new building.

Thanks everyone!

Cyndee

Early in-person voting in Polk County is taking place only at the Polk County Election Office. Details are included below.

POLK COUNTY ELECTION OFFICE

120 2ND AVENUE, SUITE A

DES MOINES, IA 50309

Monday – Friday (Sat Oct 24 & 31st) : 8A – 5PM

A couple small changes to printing pickup. We have changed the appointments so now people are able to send us printing and pick it up same day (if they select that for an appointment time) during open library hours. Peg, Erin, Stephanie and Beth will continue to monitor the info email for print jobs coming in.

Print jobs will be kept in a file folder labeled with patrons name by the bouncer station. Patrons can collect their print jobs at their appointment time by calling the general library phone number and having staff bring their packet out to the table, or coming in the front sliding glass doors where the bouncer will hand over their items. Please ask Beth if you have questions.
Here is the updated link on the website:
https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/print-pickup/