Category: YS/PS News

The library homepage has been updated with a link for patrons to create PC/Fax/Notary appointments for next week when we reopen. To prevent confusion, the link for notary-only appointment scheduling that we’ve been using while we’ve been closed has been removed. If you need to make a notary appointment for a date between now and when we reopen use this link > https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/notary-scheduling/

You can continue to schedule notary appointments on this page for dates through 1/16. Notary appointments for dates after 1/16, need to be made on this page (the PC scheduling page).

When the PS and YS desks are unstaffed, please forward calls to the circ. desk (601) or the extension where you’re working using the steps below:

1. Press “Features”
2. Press “Forward”
3. Press “Follow Me To”
4. Enter extension and save

Follow steps 1-3 then press “Clear” to cancel forwarding

Library account expiration dates have been extended to 3/31/2021.

A quick tip when trying to find a name on the curbside list or any other text on a webpage: Press Ctrl+F to bring up the browser’s “find in page” function then type the text you’re trying to find.

The following message was just sent to learning tool borrowers:

We typically ask that the library’s learning tools be returned inside the library. The library building, however, is currently closed to the public due to the recent spike in cases of Covid-19. Because of this, we’ve extended due dates on learning tools to December 15^th. When you arrive at the library to return your learning tool, please call us at 515-278-5233 and we’ll meet you outside to retrieve it. The hours when we can accept returns are included below. Let me know if you have any questions.

Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays 10am-2pm

Tuesdays & Thursdays 2pm-6pm

Saturdays 10am-1pm

Sundays 12pm-2pm

These cards are at the bouncer desk to handout to patrons we turn away.

Up to now, PC and Browsing appointments have been set to allow scheduling no sooner than one hour from the current time–e.g. if it’s 10am, no appointments could be scheduled sooner than 11am. In order for staff to be more accommodating in scheduling patron appointments, that gap has been removed–at 10am, for example, we can now schedule a browsing appointment for a patron for 10:20am. If you schedule an appointment that’s within 30 minutes of the current time, please post it on the Slack public service desk channel.

I put the bypass key in the coin-op so staff can now make copies without payment on the public copier.

The conduct report form has two new fields: the time of the incident and the category of the incident. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

https://staff.johnstonlibrary.com/conduct/index.php?page=incident

We now have an iPhone for curbside so patrons can text and call us directly rather than going through Google Voice. Messages and calls from patrons to the old Google Voice number will be forwarded to this new phone. Until all patrons are sending calls and messages to the new phone’s number,  which may take a week or so, we may still experience the delay we’ve seen with Google Voice.  Let me know if you have any questions.

FYI both Crown Point and Simpson Barn are taking reservations for meetings. Interested parties should contact  the Parks Department.

The spacing between PC appointments has been increased from 20 to 30 minutes to accommodate more walk-ins.

FYI If you’re remoting into another PC from the bouncer desk and want to use both monitors, you’ll need to click “options” on the remote dekstop app and check the box to use all monitors.

A phone number is now required for browsing and PC appointments. Should we lose power and need to close again, this will allow us to call the rest of the day’s appointments.

I hooked a larger monitor up to the bouncer laptop. To access settings like whether to extend or duplicate the displays, search for “display settings” under the search icon in the bottom left corner.

It’s good to see more use of slack for communication. I’ve installed Slack on the laptop that will be in the Commons as well as the iPod in the Commons. If you need help installing or logging into slack on your work PC or another device, let me know.

As I mentioned yesterday, since we’re allowing same-day appointments for PC/notary/etc. and for browsing the person at the PS desk and at the front door will need to use the live schedule (rather than a printout) to keep up to date on each day’s appointments. I added a thing to the schedules that we’ll cause them to reload every 10 minutes. Just keep each open in a tab, either on the laptop at the table in the front or the PS iPad mini, and they should be up to date whenever you need to look.

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/browsing-schedule/

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pc-schedule/

As we try to continue answering patron phone calls about online resources 9am-5pm M-Sat and 1pm-5pm Sundays,  use the following method to have calls to the PS phone forwarded to your desk, to the YS desk, or wherever:

1. At the PS desk phone, press the button underneath where the screen says “Features”
2. Navigate to “Forward” and press the OK button
3. Highlight “Follow Me To…” (it’s the first on the list so should already be highlighted) and click the OK button
4. Type the extension you’d like to forward the call to
5. Press the button underneath where the screen says “Save”

To stop forwarding, follow steps 1-3 above, press the button under “Clear”, then the button under “Save”

If a YS or PS staff member is not available, forward the PS desk phone to myself (604) or Molly (606).

The programming that turns a driver license scan into a Polaris account has been updated to accept the newer IDs. In addition, you’ll no longer hear a sound on a successful or unsuccessful scan. Instead, you’ll see a message letting you know whether or not it worked. The ID scan screen at the checkout desk has been moved next to the book sale iPad. It can be left on at all times.