Category: All-Library News

CITY OFFICES CLOSE IN EFFORT TO PREVENT SPREAD OF COVID-19

In an effort to implement social distancing practices recommended to slow the spread of COVID-19, the City of Johnston offices, including Public Works, City Hall, and Crown Point Community Center, will be closed to the public effective Wednesday, March 18 thru Sunday, April 12. The Johnston Public Library remains open for hold pick-up from 9:00 a.m. thru 8:00 p.m. through Wednesday, March 18. The library will officially close on Thursday, March 19 thru Sunday, April 12. While these facilities are closed to walk in traffic, City services will continue to be provided by City departments with customer service needs being either handled online, via email or by phone.

Returns

Our outdoor book return and the Beaver Creek book return are currently closed. Patrons have been notified. Due dates for all checked out items have been extended to April 16th.

Holds

From now until we close, the pickup date for all available holds will be extended to 4/16.

Due to the overwhelming number of hold requests we’ve received in the past couple of days, we will be suspending hold requests at 5pm today. Patrons can still pick up their holds until 8pm today and 9am to 8pm tomorrow.

Update: The staff printer is back in service.

The staff printer in the workroom has a “Fuser System Error.” Scanning is available; printing and copying are not. I put in a service call.

In the meantime, you can print to the YS printer or to the TS printer.

Thanks to all the staff who hustled today to pull holds. Over 1,600 holds were placed in the last 24 hours!

Items checked out over the next few days will have their due dates updated to 4/16 each night.

If you’d like to take time off while we’re closed–either unpaid or by using your PTO–please talk to your supervisor. I understand that this may be a challenging time to find childcare, that some may feel safer staying home, and that this would just be a good time to take a breather.

Feel free to wear jeans to work starting today.

Some may be wondering what we as staff will do if the library closes. If we close, staff will continue to work their regular hours (when you work your hours will be negotiable). We will spend time doing our regular work, cleaning up, doing projects, straightening shelves, etc.

I attended a meeting with city departments heads this morning regarding the coronavirus. The Police Chief has been in communication with county officials and recommends following their guidelines–not the actions take by schools, other libraries, or other public institutions–when it comes to implementing “social distancing”, like cancelling programs and meetings, and other measures to curb the spread of the virus. At this point, the cases in Iowa can be traced to cruise ship in a foreign country. The point at which health officials are likely to begin recommending that institutions and individuals take more extreme action will be when cases appear where the origin is either local or unknown. According to the chief, Iowa health officials predict that the course of the virus in Iowa will become much more clear before the end of the month. Health department recommendations and our own response will develop accordingly.

https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/health/programs/covid-19/

https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus

The following was posted on the library’s Facebook page this morning. Donations can be placed in the red plastic bin under the ledge behind the circ. desk. Procedures on lending forthcoming.

We are looking for donations of gently used basketballs, soccer balls, kick balls, and wiffle balls and bats for us to lend for use in the green space around the library. Donations can be dropped off at the checkout desk.

Below is a list of immediate actions and future plans related to the Coronavirus. Your supervisor will be in touch if she would like you to be responsible for anything in the list. 

Immediate Actions

• Begin wiping public desks, the Exploration Station (including touch screens), the Imagination Station, and the self-check and print release screens with disinfecting wipes once each day.
• Make a final delivery to home-bound patrons before suspending home delivery services temporarily.

Actions If the Virus Comes to Polk County

• Bag and store all puppets
• Put away puzzles, Imagination Station toys, YS tablets, and the Lego and train tables

Actions Based Upon Health Department Suggestions

• Initiate “social distancing” measures including:
  • Cancelling all library programs
  • Cancelling public meetings scheduled in the East, West, and Archive Rooms
  • Encouraging the use of the self check 

Today, the notice below was sent to patrons who have checked something out within the past 3 months:

We wanted you to know that the library’s restrooms are currently closed for renovations through April 6^th. We hope to have the children’s restroom reopened sooner. Portable toilets are available outside and a changing table is available in our Youth Service Area. Let me know if you have any questions.

• removing unnecessary items in children’s areas such as toys, puzzles and other playthings that are difficult to clean and sanitize.
• cancelling programs
• cancelling meeting room reservations
• regularly cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and equipment

Note that they are not wiping down books.

I underestimated patrons’ revulsion towards porta-potties. Even so, please do not allow patrons to use the staff restroom–don’t lie if asked, but it’s best not to bring up the fact that we have one. Don’t tell them this either,  but I believe 100% of patron porta-potty users will come out of their experience stronger, more capable people.

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

All,
I have scheduled two All Desk trainings to go over Public Services things including faxing, public PC’s, the public copier/printer, etc. Trainings are scheduled for Friday, March 27 at 1:00pm and Sunday, March 29 at 1:00pm. Trainings are scheduled to last 1.5 hours. If you are not already scheduled on W2W at the time of a training you wish to attend, please email your supervisor to be added.
Link for registration is here: https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/events/?events_q=PS%20All%20Desk

A reminder that you can now add staff picks via the website. If you’re logged in, you’ll see an “add to staff picks” link below each book (books only). Click the link to add your favorites to the staff picks page. Your first name will be shown on the staff picks page and patrons can limit the staff picks to a particular staff member.

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pac/?pac_page=browse&item_type=book&genre[]=21

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is increasingly in new reports and the situation continues to evolve rapidly in China and globally with a growing number of countries/jurisdictions affected. Cases in Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea are concerning and have sparked speculation about whether this epidemic may become a pandemic. The overall risk to Iowans continues to remains low at this time. There are no cases in Iowa. The CDC, Iowa Department of Public Health and Polk County Health Department continue to monitor the situation in the United States and in Iowa.

To help educate our community about COVID-19, the Polk County Health Department has created a comprehensive website containing information, resources and tools including:

• Situational Update
• COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
• COVID-19 Organization Specific Resources (schools, businesses, healthcare providers, first responders, community events)
• Communication Resources

Please visit this website often as we will be updating it to provide the most up-to-date information about COVID-19. https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/health/programs/disease-prevention/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19/

If you have any additional questions, please contact Nola Aigner Davis by email at nola.aigner@polkcountyiowa.gov or by phone at office: (515) 286-3848 cell: (515) 782-7236.