Category: YS/PS News
While I am out of town Aug 28-Sept 6
I will be out of the country with limited access to email and phone from August 28 – Sept 6.
While I am gone specific areas of my responsibilities have been delegated to specific people. Since we are already a little short-staffed, it will work best if we can try to follow these lines of communication as closely as possible. This will help evenly distribute the work.
Dreama is in charge while I am out. She will be the person to contact with escalated general library issues – escalated behavior, building maintenance, human resources issues, library bills, etc.). Her cell phone is 515-422-6791.
For all scheduling needs that impact a desk (YS, PS, CIRC or Teen Sp), please contact Peg. For immediate issues(within the next 72 hours) please text her at 515-991-0713. If it is a minor thing more than 72 hours out, you can email her.
Mary Bush will be the main point of contact for escalated circulation questions – library charges (fines/replacement costs), accounts, and anything circulation-related. She has been promoted to Assistant Circulation Librarian. Her work email is bush@johnstonlibrary.com. If you need immediate assistance and Mary is not working, please remember that there are the Patron/Item needs assistance forms at the Circ Desk. Mary will follow up if you fill out one of those forms.
Beth and Peg are both available to back up any public desk with things outside desk duties. They are also happy to answer questions about desk duties while I am out.
Librarian in Charge – Remember that Assistant Librarians act as Librarians in Charge and are an immediate resource. There is an Assistant Librarian on staff at most times.
All Desk Duties and Staffing
I just wanted to send out a message regarding desk duties and departments. We have been successful in moving toward our goal of integrating staff from different departments at all of the service desks. This will continue to happen as a part of our All Desk Service Model. The All Desk Trainings are intended to be the core duties at each desk regardless of the name of the desk or the department. The tasks you do off the desk or during slow periods at the desk will still be specific to your department.
We are working to create more uniform workstations at each desk to facilitate moving between the desks with ease. For instance, each desk has a blue folder with printed instructions on how to open and close each desk area, but please ask your coworkers when you have questions. I will work with you to facilitate shadowing at opening and closing so everyone gets a chance to see how other desks close.
Here are some examples of when it would be smart to try to use a new muscle at a desk and when it might be wise to just go ahead and ask for help:
A few weeks ago I was at the Youth Services Desk. I was chatting with a family that I have talked with before. They were browsing for books in a very leisurely manner. One of the girls was looking for a book series but she didn’t remember the title or much about the series. I knew that I probably wasn’t going to be the best person to find the series, but they seemed very willing to work with me as I looked. So I did some Google searching, I did some catalog searching, and I asked them the questions I knew to ask. We worked together for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then I said, “Let’s pull in the big wigs” and I grabbed Megan and Jessica. Of course, Megan and Jessica found the series in a few minutes. I didn’t feel bad at all because I learned a lot about children’s book series during the search and I got to practice a skill that I don’t use that often. The family didn’t seem upset at all. They even discovered a book series while we were searching. It was a win-win. If the family had been with a crying baby or seemed like they needed to leave ASAP, I probably would have only looked with them for a minute before grabbing help.
That same day, we had a woman come in to use the computers. She began her interactions at the PS Desk in a surly manner. The PS Desk was already fairly busy, and Cathy went ahead a grabbed me right away. In that situation, Cathy did the right thing. Cathy had other patrons that needed her attention and the woman made it clear that she was in a hurry and didn’t have the time or inclination to wait and I was available.
We can’t always give the rushed patron an extra hand, but if there is a backup and you get the sense that this will be escalated, don’t be afraid to ask for help. That being said, don’t be afraid to try new things like readers advisory or helping with a library resource you rarely use. You can always ask for help after you give it a shot. If we never practice our All Desk Skills, they won’t stick. Most of the time patrons are very understanding if you are unsure and when you frame it correctly, it can be a learning experience for everyone.
Please note that Meeting Room Technology/Approval is not an All Desk Skill. So while you are going to approve study rooms and let people into study rooms as a desk task, letting groups into the Meeting Rooms and/or setting up Meeting Room Technology is a task that associates/guides and assistant librarians are trained to do. Clerks do not need to worry about learning that.
Also, know that All Desk Skills include only the basics of technology. You should be able to help a patron print a document, PDF, or email. You do not need to know how to reformat a resume, troubleshoot advanced technology issues, or assist patrons with in-depth Help Desk or Tech Lab tasks that are going to take more than 5 to 10 minutes. If they need a lot of assistance, you can schedule pending a help desk appointment.
Please continue to ask Molly and Peg if you have questions about the desk training, and we will do our best to schedule you with a staff member to review the skill you feel unsure about.
I have printed off a list of general All Desk Tasks and a list of things that are not All Desk Tasks.
Assistant Librarians and Library Associates/Guides will do some non-all desk tasks while on a desk – especially during the evenings and weekends.
This list is at each desk to look over. This is not going to cover every scenario, but I hope it helps clarify.
When to Work Schedule this Summer
Thank you all for your understanding as we worked through some changes with how we use When to Work.
I wanted to reach out and give you a few updates:
- This summer we will plan to publish the schedule 2 weeks at a time for Circ, YS, and PS. This Friday we will put out the next two weeks June 25 – July 1 and July 2 – July 8. Then each Friday this summer we will release one more week.
- This fall we hope to get back to scheduling out a month at a time and putting the schedule out on the 21st of the month.
- If you don’t know which weekends you work, your supervisor can let you know which weekends you work more than two weeks out.
- As always – ask if something on When to Work doesn’t seem right to you.
Fine Coupons or Book Sale Coupons
The Ultimate Reading Challenge will be giving fine coupons as a prize. In past years, we handed out fine coupons for Summer Reading Program prizes. There are coupons out there for free book sale books.
If you are presented with a fine coupon:
- Fine coupons are only good for fines or “overdue item” fees. They cannot be used for replacement, damage, or processing fees.
- Coupon transactions are NOT put in the cash register. You will mark the amount “paid” with coupons as “coupons” from the payment drop-down menu. Coupon transactions will NOT go in the cash register. So for instance:
- Molly has $.90 in fines. She presents a $1 fine coupon. You would mark the fine as paid with a coupon on Polaris. There would be nothing else to do. We do not offer “change” for coupons. Do NOT enter it in the cash register.
- Molly has $1.50 in fines. She presents a $1 fine coupon and $0.50 cash. You would mark $1 in fines paid as a coupon in Polaris. You would mark the remaining $0.50 paid as cash in Polaris. You would ONLY enter $0.50 into the cash register.
- You can recycle the coupon after you have cleared the fee. We do not need to save them.
If you are presented with a book sale coupon:
- Take the coupon(s) in exchange for the item(s)from the book sale room.
- There is nothing to enter in the iPad cash register. You can recylce the book sale coupon. We do not need to keep the coupons.
The cash register/foundation register is only for real money (cash, credit cards, checks) – not coupons. The bank doesn’t want our fine coupons 🙂
Please let me know if you have questions.
New Foundation Book Sale App
Paypal is discontinuing the app we use to accept book sale payments so we’re switched to their new app, Zettle. It’s pretty intuitive but check out the video below for a tutorial on completing transactions. If it logs out, the username is “notices@johnstonlibrary.com” and the password is “123Johnston”.
https://www.zettle.com/gb/help/articles/1084729-taking-card-and-contactless-payments
Tech Lab Update – Scanning now on Windows PC
Tech Lab Update: I moved the scanner and its software to the Windows PC as the Mac was allowing the scanner to sleep in between slide scans. By default, scans will be saved to a “Digitized Photos” folder that has a shortcut on the desktop. That folder is also accessible on the Mac for anyone wanting to edit their scans there in one of the Adobe apps. I’m still working on getting the audio digitization software to work. There are alternatives but none that are as full-featured for digitizing analog audio or as intuitive.
Safe at Home Program
* Edit *Just a reminder that the Secretary of State provides a program called Safe at Home which allows participants to use a generic address rather than their actual residential address. This is offered to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, and assault.
If someone identifies themselves as a participant in the program, we will use the address they provide us.
We do not need to collect their actual address or have them show proof of address. Also – a reminder that phone numbers and emails are optional and they are not required for a full-access library card.
More information about the Safe at Home program can be found here:
Affordable Connectivity Program
Some of our patrons have no Internet access at home. I’ve included some information below about a federal program that provides discounts for citizens who meet certain criteria (see the link below).
The Affordable Connectivity Program is an FCC benefit program that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more.
The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.
Shelving – What if there is not room for the book?
Please do not stack items on top of each other on the shelves.
If you are putting an item away and there is no room to add another item on the shelf where it belongs, check to see if you can do a minor shift (redistribute the items on the surrounding shelves while keeping them in order). If more than a minor shift is required, please return the item(s) to the Circ Pre-Shelving Area.
Leave a note for Molly, and she will work with shelvers to shift and selectors to make more room on the shelves.
Please ask Molly or Megan if you have questions.
Johnston Historical Society Open House
In case you get questions, the Johnston Historical Society will hold an open house this Saturday, December 3rd 10 -11:30 am at the Johnston Historical Society Museum – right next to the Simpson Barn.
People’s Law Library – Introductory Webinar
Introductory Webinar
State Library staff have already scheduled an information webinar titled “Legal Resources for You and Your Patrons” to help library staff feel more familiar with the People’s Law Library. The date is November 17 (10:00AM)
The class description from IALearns: “Do you struggle to know how to respond when patrons approach the desk with legal questions? Have you been looking for a centralized repository of legal information? The People’s Law Library website makes it a snap to answer patrons’ questions in three major categories: landlord-tenant law, consumer law, and family law. The goal of this webinar is to help you better serve your patrons with these kinds of legal questions. Additionally, presenters will cover the structure of federal, state, and municipal laws and how they interact.”
Register in IALearns
New Legal Resource
A link to this new legal resource will be added to the research page of our website.
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New Tech Lab Switch
The new Tech Lab switch has been installed. The replacement’s interface is nearly identical to the old one but it only has four inputs–four fewer inputs than we had before–so one piece of equipment had to go. I’ve removed the record player which has only been used a handful of times since the Tech Lab opened in 2015.
Documents available for parent/caregiver review
The school district is required to make the student assessments linked below available to anyone who requests them. I doubt anyone will, but if someone asks for them print them at no charge.
Art Walk Painting Pickup
Art walk artists have been notified that their paintings are available for pickup. The paintings are behind the circulation desk. The artists can be allowed behind the desk to find their work.
LSI Brochures/Services
Myself, Megan, Beth, and Peg have recently met with a handful of metro-area social service organizations to get a better understanding of what they offer and to make us better able to refer patrons to places that offer services they might need. Of those we’ve met, Lutheran Services of Iowa (LSI) seems to offer the most comprehensive and accessible services. I’ve placed some brochures that detail some of those services in the display by the inside book drop. Scans of each are accessible via the link below. See more of their services on their website. We plan to continue these meetings and will discuss how what we’ve learned can be shared with PS/YS staff.
Picture Book Shelving
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!
Overdrive/Bridges News
Please take a look at the following announcement from the State Library regarding discontinuation of the Overdrive app.
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Meeting Room Wall
The moveable wall in the large meeting room is acting up. Workers are coming Thursday to look at it. There are not meetings before then that need it closed.
Don Schreiber Photos
Don Schreiber will be picking up his photos sometime this week. They’re under the tan cart behind the checkout desk.