Category: Circulation News

City hall is borrowing the cart stored by the shredding bins. It will be back tomorrow.

We are no longer going to scan items found on the black carts or left out on tables or in study rooms using the In House Mode screen of the Check In window.

When you are collecting items that have been left out by library users, please just scan them in the Check In window to make certain the circulation status is In and to verify the shelf location of the item. Then you can put the item in the recently returned or pre-shelving area.

I have updated the closing procedure. Please let me know if you have any questions.

There are two different collections with biographies in the Junior Section. In order to facilitate discovery, biographies that are intended to be read aloud to and shared with younger children will be put in the junior picture book collection in the biography category.

Junior Biographies will have a spine label that begins with (JB)

Junior Picture Books – Biography will have a spine label that begins with  (JP – Bio)

With all the junior picture books, the JP-Bio books will be filed alphabetically by the last word on the spine label. For now, we are disregarding the category.

The junior biographies will be filed with the other junior biographies in alphabetical order.

A hint is to read the call number like an address. J – takes you to the junior collections. B takes you to the biographies section.

J – takes you to the junior collections. P takes you to the picture books.

Things will be less confusing when we finish categorizing the junior picture books.

Let me know if you have questions.

For those of you that could not attend on Sunday here is a recording of the March Circ Staff Meeting:

Topic: March Circ Staff Meeting

Meeting Recording:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/OBkwvalrStxe7HWD6p6O0w3ryvUz3SO0Z_UelW4DyvziUyaQ1y6-sgZUZd3BzTSG.dfxWjFIiyv56HR9t

Access Passcode: 123Johnston!

I’ll get the link out for the staff meeting recording later this week for those that couldn’t attend live. I’m sorry for the delay.

Hi All,

I am holding an online Circ Staff Meeting via Zoom this Sunday, March 27th at 11 am.

I will put all of you on When to Work. If you cannot attend online at 11 am on Sunday, please just watch the video at a time that works for you at home.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Mar 27, 2022 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87853960479?pwd=cng4U0wxalhjeVFOWENHOXFXSnEyZz09

Meeting ID: 878 5396 0479
Passcode: 114731

Ok. This is super long, but it is really how I want to see claims returned handled, so I hope it makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions.

When a patron states that they brought a book back but it is still showing on their account, we should be able to resolve the issue with the claims returned function or by escalating it to Molly or Denise with the Patron Needs Review form.

Very rarely will we want to go to the shelf to look for the item(s). 

Before moving an item to claims returned or escalating the issue, please make sure you are asking the following questions and having a conversation about our check-in timeline when appropriate:

• Do you remember approximately when you brought it back?
  • We don’t need an exact date but was it two hours ago, two days ago, a week ago…
• Did you return it to the library or one of our remote book returns at Beaver Creek Elementary or Horizon Elementary?

The above questions just help us provide education and establish expectations on the time between returning an item and when it is check-in. This is my script:

• Our goal is to have items checked in within 24 hours when using the book returns at the library. Holidays or weekends occasionally put us past that timeline. If you return something to the book return at the library, I recommend waiting two days before contacting us to let us know if it is still showing on your account. We backdate at check-in to reflect the date the items were received at the library.
• For Beaver Creek or Horizon, we generally empty the book returns twice a week (backdating to the last empty), so I generally recommend that people wait one week after returning a book to the remote book returns before they contact us to report a discrepancy.

If the patron is calling about five items or fewer, I put the items to a status of claim returned regardless of the timeframe. I just want to make sure I educate them so, hopefully, they will wait an appropriate amount of time before calling next time.

If the patron has more than five items out, and it seems that the items on a cart waiting to be checked in or in a remote book return waiting to be emptied based on the timeline they provided you, I thank them for calling. I give them a date by which I would expect their items to be checked in. I ask them to check their account or give us a call back after that date if they still detect any errors.

If the patron has more than five items out and from the timeline, it seems like they should have been checked in, please transfer the call to circulation so we can look on the shelf for the book or take a look for the books yourself.

• If you find the books, check them in backdating, and call the patron to apologize and let them know we have checked in the items.
• If you don’t find the books, call back the patron and let them know you are looking for the items but you do not see them on the shelf. If possible, renew the items in question and fill out a patron needs review form so we can follow up with them after looking for the items again. If some of the items have holds and are not renewable, please move them to claim returned (even though there are more than five) and fill out the patron needs review form.

Here are instructions for moving items to claim returned.

*For any of the above scenarios if the item is an ILL or a book club book, would you also send a message to Lori Elrick letting her know the status?

Picture books should be shelved with the spine label in the lower-left corner and (if they have been categorized and relabeled) with the category/letter label in the upper-left corner. We want all books that fit to be shelved like this so the spine label and category/letter label are easy to find.

Books that are too wide to sit like this, may need to be turned on their side with the spine label in the upper left corner and the category/letter label in the upper right corner. Please only shelved books that are too wide to fit in the bins like this.

If you have any questions please reach out to Molly or Megan.

Thanks!

I forgot to add the All Staff Meeting to the When to Work for February. It is next Thursday, February 24th from 8 – 9 am. It is a face-to-face meeting.

It is really appreciated if you can make it, but I understand you all have other things going on beyond JPL. If you cannot make it next Thursday, will you just shoot me an email or respond to this email and let me know. I will take you off When to Work.

Thanks!

Hi Everyone! Beth and I hosted an in-person All-Desk training that focused on Behavior Management & De-escalation Techniques. For those of you who were not able to make it, we did record the training.

When time allows, please watch the training to fulfill this piece of All-Desk Training.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e8LNA9rvQvd1p1uW5TAgUZHGb2demvO8/view?usp=sharing

Thanks! Megan & Beth

Hello! We have a slight change of plans for our next Circ Staff Meeting. Megan and Beth will be presenting about behavior management – part of our all desk training—and it will be a face-to-face training at the library from 11 am -12:30 pm Sunday, January 30^th.

Please attend in person if you can. If you cannot attend in person, we will record the training. It will be available to watch at a later date.

Thanks!

I spent some time alphabetizing the picture books this morning.  I worked on L-Q.  I also printed new shelf labels for this section to remove gaps.  So at least for a little while, you should find it a easier to shelve and pick in this section of the picture books.

Hi All,

Probably not the most interesting meeting, but I hope the information is helpful. I will mark all of you off as having had the “official” paying and waiving fines and fees including how to run the cash register on the all desk training…hopefully everyone gets something new out of this. Please keep asking if you have questions. I will do troubleshooting training for the cash register in January.

Here is the link to the meeting

Thanks for watching 🙂

Hello!

I’m sending a reminder that Beth will be holding a training on Tuesday, December 14th from 7 – 8 pm. Please remember to register. Here’s the registration link: https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/events/?event_page=registration&did=37455

If you cannot attend on the 14th and have not already contacted me about it, would you mind responding to this email? Beth and I will make arrangements to get you trained during one of your regular shifts.

Thanks.

Online Circ Staff Meeting this Sunday at 11 am. Join live if you can! If you cannot join live, please watch the recording when I send out the link after the meeting. There will be no face-to-face meeting – just Zoom.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Dec 5, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88940678979?pwd=NlkvM3NBSGZHbE1qNUZsNUFhU0Vpdz09

Meeting ID: 889 4067 8979
Passcode: 941580

We have a new box of welcome brochures that need folded as you have time when working the checkout desk. The two ends fold inward toward the middle.

Hello – so I recorded the meeting on Sunday, but I closed the meeting as the recording was saving/buffering/something and it didn’t save 🙁

So I picked myself up off the ground, after an appropriate amount of time feeling sorry for myself, and made a slideshow. Fingers crossed this link works. I’m not sure my ego can handle any more technology mishaps:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WnkSbeo8TIlchUog8fFghcCIXkgc3ILPMcXPP4u_F7s/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WnkSbeo8TIlchUog8fFghcCIXkgc3ILPMcXPP4u_F7s/edit?usp=sharing

Please let me know if you have any questions after viewing the presentation.

I’m just posting this reminder about the staff meeting tomorrow. There is no face-to-face option – just Zoom – but I will record if you can’t make it for the “live” Zoom meeting. Thanks all. 

There is a Circ Staff Meeting on Sunday, November 7th from 11 am – 12 pm. It will be held via Zoom. I am putting you all on When to Work for that hour, but I understand that you may not be able to make it to the meeting on the 7th at 11 a.m. There are three options to attend the meeting.

• If you can attend via Zoom at the meeting time -This is the option I strongly encourage because meetings are more meeting-like if we have people 🙂
• You can watch the recording, which I will post after the meeting, at home, or before/after one of your shifts at the library.
• If you are unable to watch the recording or attend the meeting via Zoom, please let me know. I will make time for you to watch the recording during your regular library hours, and I will delete your meeting shift from When to Work.

The Zoom information is listed below, but I will resend it closer to the meeting date:

Molly Guerra is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85860221309?pwd=cGJNTS9TWkJJYjJFbkd1R210cUVaUT09

Meeting ID: 858 6022 1309
Passcode: 510348

We have changed the settings so that the Check-in screen defaults to backdate one day.

Reminder:

When unloading overnight book returns, please backdate the slip you put in the book pocket of the red cart. 

At check-in, read the slip to determine how many days you should backdate, if any, and adjust if necessary.

There is a Circ Staff Meeting on Sunday, November 7th from 11 am – 12 pm. It will be held via Zoom. I am putting you all on When to Work for that hour, but I understand that you may not be able to make it to the meeting on the 7th at 11 a.m. There are three options to attend the meeting.

• If you can attend via Zoom at the meeting time -This is the option I strongly encourage because meetings are more meeting-like if we have people 🙂
• You can watch the recording, which I will post after the meeting, at home, or before/after one of your shifts at the library.
• If you are unable to watch the recording or attend the meeting via Zoom, please let me know. I will make time for you to watch the recording during your regular library hours, and I will delete your meeting shift from When to Work.

The Zoom information is listed below, but I will resend it closer to the meeting date:

Molly Guerra is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Circ Staff Meeting
Time: Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85860221309?pwd=cGJNTS9TWkJJYjJFbkd1R210cUVaUT09

Meeting ID: 858 6022 1309
Passcode: 510348

Thank you!