Category: YS/PS News

This is a piggyback message to Eric’s intranet post about digital cards

Please update accounts with the driver’s license field marked “digital” with the driver’s license number – please do not leave “digital” in the driver’s license field.

Let me know if you have questions.

Julie Jewell will be dropping off artwork today or tomorrow. It can be placed in my office.

The library board approved a change to our Meeting Room Policy that outlines how we handle no-shows and last-minute cancellation and reschedules. These additions to the policy are shown in red below:

• Meeting rooms are available during regular library hours. Groups may hold meetings once per calendar month at no charge. A fee of $20.00/hour will be charged for subsequent meetings held in the same calendar month. Once invoiced, failure to pay for meeting room use within 30 days may result in the loss of meeting room privileges.
• No-shows and cancellations or reschedules made less than 24 hours before the meeting time will count as a room use for that month–groups may be billed accordingly. Multiple cancellations or no-shows may result in the loss of meeting room privileges.

[UPDATE] The camera had water damage. A replacement has been ordered.

One of our outdoor cameras (the one that shows the food pantry and the Commons exit doors) is not working. I’ve notified the vendor.

We don’t get a ton of reference questions on non-local historical subjects but I thought I’d share this resource that’s available via our New York Times digital subscription (accessible via the Research page of our website).

TimesMachine – a searchable, browsable database of every New York Times paper between 1851 to 2002

The Library Board approved some minor changes to the suspension periods in our Conduct In the Library Policy at their March meeting. Please take a minute to look at the red-lined policy via the link below.

https://board.johnstonlibrary.com/2022-03/word%20docs/Conduct%20in%20the%20Library%20Policy.docx

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?

Given the number of patrons we help apply for jobs, I thought I’d share this news from Iowa Workforce Development on changes to the requirements for continuing to receive unemployment benefits.

Effective Sunday, January 16, 2022, to maintain eligibility for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, you must:

1. register in IowaWORKS(link is external);
2. complete at least four valid reemployment activities per week, three of which must be job applications;
3. record and certify reemployment activities in the Job Contact and Reemployment Activity Log – see detailed instructions below; and,
4. file your weekly application for unemployment benefits.

More details at https://www.iowaworkforcedevelopment.gov/iowa-work-search-requirements-uirex

The windows PC in the Tech Lab has been replaced and the 8mm film scanner is back up and running.

Iowa Workforce Development to Launch Reemployment Case Management in January

DES MOINES, IOWA – Iowa Workforce Development will launch its new Reemployment Case Management (RCM) program next month, formally beginning a new chapter in how the agency will approach unemployment moving forward.

Beginning the week of January 9, the new program will offer extensive job search assistance to newly unemployed Iowans with the goal of getting them back to work more quickly. The RCM program has been specifically tailored to Iowa’s unemployment process based on proven national models. Its intention is to provide enhanced services so claimants can more quickly discover the best possible pathway toward a new job and minimize the amount of time spent receiving unemployment benefits.

“Like other states across the country, Iowa is experiencing a significant workforce shortage,” said Governor Kim Reynolds. “We are taking a holistic approach in revitalizing our reemployment process to ensure that Iowans have the access they need to match them with the successful career paths and opportunities that await them across our state.”

Governor Reynolds and IWD Director Beth Townsend announced the Reemployment Case Management (RCM) program in October as part of a series of steps to address Iowa’s urgent need for more workers in the economy. When fully implemented, the RCM program will include 18 new Career Planners who are assigned to meet individually with Iowans seeking reemployment beginning with the first week of their unemployment claims.

The Career Planners will work to directly connect unemployment claimants with training and educational opportunities in high-demand careers. They will be assisted by new technology that’s being added to Iowa’s existing IowaWORKS system, thereby making it easier to match an unemployment claimant’s work history with the skills in demand by Iowa companies with open jobs.

Union members will be excluded from participation in the program, per Iowa law. Most other unemployment claimants will be required to meet with Career Planners weekly (beginning with their first claimed week of unemployment) and attend any necessary training sessions as a condition for receiving their unemployment benefits. Intake into RCM originally will be focused on the newly unemployed. However, people who have been receiving unemployment benefits for 13 weeks or more will be earmarked for immediate participation in the program.

As part of the new program, the requirement that most jobless Iowans engage in two work search or reemployment activities per week to receive unemployment benefits will double to four activities per week. At the same time, IWD is narrowing the list of what qualifies as a “reemployment activity” from 27 items to 12. The change reflects a desire to focus unemployed Iowans’ efforts on those activities that are most likely to help them find new careers.

IWD encourages any unemployed Iowan to respond quickly if Career Planners reach out to gather information as part of the Reemployment Case Management program. Failure to respond to phone calls from Career Planners could delay the process of helping claimants find new work – and ultimately, could lead to unemployment claims being frozen until the proper information is provided.

Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development, emphasizes that this new approach will focus on getting unemployed Iowans back to work.

“Our goal with RCM is to give unemployed workers both extra help and extra incentive to find a new career path as quickly as possible,” Townsend said. “Iowa needs its people working, and we’ll do whatever we can to help get you there.”

For more details, including the new list of allowable reemployment activities, see the accompanying FAQ document.

The Tech Lab, Teen Space, and Circulation doors are now keyed to the master and AA3 keys. Those with copies of the Teen Space key can toss them.

We now have a Zip drive for in-library use in the adapters drawer at the PS desk. Zip discs were a short-lived storage format similar to the 3.5″ floppy discs more of us are familiar with.

When creating an event that requires registration you’ll now see an option that allows patrons to indicate if they want to attend in-person or pickup the program’s supplies to go.

Yesterday, Megan, Beth, and I met with Vickie Merrifield Coordinator of the DMACC’s Adult Literacy Center. I’ve included a description of their services below.

The ALC at DMACC is available for adults who need to improve their reading, writing, and/or speaking skills, as long as an appropriate volunteer is available. We serve adults with dyslexia and/or learning disabilities and new Iowans who can speak English but need to learn to read and write English. Our students enroll because they want to complete high school education, enroll in community college, read to their children, find a job – or a better job, and be more independent. New literacy coaches will receive 2 hours of in-class training and additional online and in-person support in our office on Urban
campus. Volunteer literacy coaches provide one-on-one tutoring for 1 to 1 ½ hours once or twice a week. Coaches are asked to make a one year commitment. Computer-based instruction facilitates learning for both adult students and their volunteer literacy coach. Our literacy coaches meet with their student on any DMACC Campus, at area libraries or other convenient public locations.

Sign up today
Call Vickie Merrifield at 515-248-7517
Or email vlmerrifield@dmacc.edu

Heads-up! I have started using the large cart with the TV on it for Monday and Thursday night EL programs. To expedite putting things away at the end of the evening, the cart has been moved and is being stored in the small mechanical closet in the SE corner of the library.

I removed all of the gaming components from the cart and placed them on a black plastic cart in the large storage closet in the East meeting room.

I also removed the DVD player from the cart and placed it on the shelf in the small coat closet in the East meeting room.

I removed the components so none would grow legs and walk away when the cart may be unattended in the SE corner.

We had our first big public meeting in the large meeting room yesterday. This is the first time in many months that such a large group has used the space. A couple reminders: Prior to these types of meetings, please make sure that the tables are clean, that the white boards are wiped and have markers and erasers, that the trash bins are not overflowing from a previous meeting that day, and that items from library programs are removed from the space.  Thanks.

A staff member from Project Iowa reached out to me last week. We had a brief conversation today about their job training services. Project Iowa is a nonprofit organization that currently offers free, 8-week job training courses that include individual evaluation of class member’s goals as well as resume, interview, and job search help.  Classes are currently all virtual although they can loan laptops and hotspots to those without. (I mentioned that we, but maybe not all libraries, would be able to accommodate attendees with webcams, private rooms, and computer access.) We should be receiving some brochures soon.

I pointed out that many of the job seekers that we see are looking for employment sooner rather than later and may not have the luxury of attending an 8-week course before getting down to applying for a particular job. This did not come as a surprise to her. She brought up the idea of partnering on a workshop where attendees could get a sense of what the organization offers and could get hands-on help if needed. She is going to discuss it with other staff and get back to us.

In short, Project Iowa may be a good place to refer someone who doesn’t need a job right away, who has the time to attend a 90 minute course, 4-days/week, for 8 weeks and who could use help figuring out the type of job they want and how to get it.

You can learn more about Project Iowa via the link below.

https://www.projectiowa.org/programs

Several new links related to Iowa history have been added to the website’s research page. Links and descriptions are included below.

• Annals of Iowa

  The Annals of Iowa is published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Historical Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State of Iowa.

• Iowa Digital Library

  The Iowa Digital Library features more than a million digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners. Included are illuminated manuscripts, historic maps, fine art, historic newspapers, scholarly works, and more.

• Iowa Digital Newspapers

  A number of Iowa newspapers have been digitized from the microfilms in the State Historical Society of Iowa’s collection and made available by online.

• The Goldfinch

  The Goldfinch : Iowa History for Young People was published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa from 1975-2000. It is an Iowa history magazine for children, ages 8 to 13. Each issue focuses on a theme (ranging from Immigrants to Diaries, from Home and Family to Iowa’s Kid Heroes) and includes articles, games, photos, and fiction.

• The Palimpsest

  The Palimpsest was a historical magazine published the State Historical Society of Iowa beginning in 1920 until it was renamed Iowa Heritage Illustrated in 1996. The last issue of The Palimpsest was vol.76 no.4, Winter 1995. It was published monthly from 1920-1972, bimonthly from 1973-1985, and quarterly after 1986.

Tips for talking with patrons about fees during Food-for-Fines:

How do I quickly find and add up the eligible fees on a patron’s account? Here is a step-by-step guide for adding up fines and how to accept payment with food/personal care items. I’ve also printed it for the desks.

Remember to encourage patrons with lost items (You’ll see Replacement/Processing fees) to return items. Those fees can be reduced to a fine of $5, or less, per item, if they are returned. It is never too late to bring items back to the library.

We are collecting Food-for-Fines items at the Circulation Desk behind the Self-Check Kiosk.