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I promised I’d share this in-house only. Count on Lynne to take care of any situation.

If possible, please have your completed timesheets and PARS turned into the green folder by noon on Thursday, October 26.

I will not be working on Saturday and thus must have them checked before I leave on Thursday. Otherwise, Eric has to check them. 

If you won’t be in the library before then, send me an email and we’ll work it out.

Thanks,

Peg

The door between the East Meeting Room and the staff area has a new handle that:

1. is always unlocked from the staff side
2. can be locked and unclocked from the meeting room side using the toggle on the side of the door below the latch (see image below).

If possible, when going between the meeting room and staff area during a noisy program or room setup, please set the door to unlocked and close it between trips to contain the noise.

The door should be locked when the East or West rooms are being used by public groups.

Family concert on Sunday October 29th at 1 PM at the Civic Center downtown.  See the Des Moines Performing Arts website for tickets (NOT Des Moines Symphony website).  Phantoms of the orchestra is the theme for this season’s family performance.  Night on Bald Mountain is on the program, so you will feel spooked!

The Des Moines Symphony is hosting a ReMix event for people 21 and over on October 20th at the Civic Center downtown at 5:30 PM.  Anyone interested is welcome to come and enjoy pizza and beverages and enjoy an open rehearsal that evening.  The repertoire for this concert set is Tannhauer Overture by Wagner, Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, and music from the ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.  Concerts are the 21st at 7:30 and 22nd at 2:30. 

Another reminder, family concert on the 29th at 1 PM at the Civic Center.  A great one for your kids!

Again, the ReMix on the 20th is only for people 21 and over, and no reservations required. 

Hello! There was a wallet left by the computers a little bit ago, and I looked inside for some type of identification. There was a Johnston library card, and the patron’s name is Carla Tolson. I called the phone number on the account and left a message, and the wallet is locked in the back. Thanks!

Longtime JPL volunteer, Polly Munck, recieved the Governor’s Volunteer Award on September 25th for her years of service at the library. When you see her, please take a moment to congratulate Polly, and thank her for all her hard work!

Don’t forget to compare your timesheet to WTW before turning it in. If you took PTO, be sure to fill out a PAR.

Thanks,

Peg

Update: Mobile printing is working!

Update: The public PCs and printing are functioning normally again.  Mobile printing is still not working.

Saturday’s power outage damaged the public server causing public PCs and printing to be unavailable Saturday.

I’ve configured a workaround so that public PCs are working, but printing is still unavailable.  Public Services staff can print documents for the public on staff printers.

Patrons may see a screen on a public PC asking them to select a location. It doesn’t matter which location they choose.

Good afternoon!  I just wanted everyone at JPL to know that I have been admiring the personalized JPL clothing and asked if we could order!  I have the catalog in my mailbox and want to invite anyone who wants to order to please grab the catalog and take a look!  Juli T

To try to clear up confusion about the procedure or lack thereof, we have decided that patrons can checkout without a photo ID or library card if they verify two of these three pieces of information: address, date of birth, and/or phone number.

Each of our physical magazines (the ones on the shelves) that we also subscribe to electronically now has a magnet directing patrons to more information about reading magazines on their computer, tablet, or phone. 

Find out more at https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/emags

Has the SIBR Spot outlived it’s usefulness (I’ve seen 10 people try to use it as a self-check for every 1 that know what it’s for)? Can we direct patrons to GoodReads or the website for series information?

Please send me your opinion if you have one.

Hi all,

There are two new artists on display this month. Tilda Brown is showcasing her fused glass in the display cases; it is so beautful. https://tbsglass.com/

And we have Tammie Harcharik in the gallery. Tammie is a mixed media artist who uses children’s book as her inspiration.

We recently purchased three additional Wifi hotspots.

We are going to try allowing patrons to request that a hotspot be available on a particular date.

To help with testing this feature, please take a moment to place a hold for yourself via the link below (use the “Pick a Date” option). This will only work from staff PCs.

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pac/?pac_page=bib-detail&Bib=155220

More details forthcoming following some initial testing.

Eric

The Library Board met Thursday, September 21st. I’ve highlighted some of what was discussed below.

RBdigital / Zinio 

Recorded Books, the vendor that we use to offer patrons downloadable magazines, has released an app called RBdigital that replaces the Zinio for Libraries app. RBdigital has some nice features such as allowing users to browse and check out magazines from within the app (as opposed to pushing users to the browser on their device to browse and borrow magazines)This summer, we have out about 445 Adult Summer Reading logs. To participate in Adult Summer Reading, patrons could complete a number of library-related activities. Each completed activity earned patrons the chance to win a prize. The chart below shows how many activities were completed.

Library Lists

For several months, library staff have used the “My List” feature of the website to compile lists of materials on various themes—often corresponding to library displays. We have lists called “Fun on a Stick: State Fair & Fair Foods”, for example and “ Out of This World: Books & Movies about Space Travel, the Cosmos, and All Things Extraterrestrial” and “Everyone’s read it but me: Books you’ve heard about but never picked up. It’s time!”. Up to now, a list was only accessible if we linked directly to it via a Facebook post or if it was featured on the library’s homepage. For the past several weeks, Public Services staff have been cleaning up and updating the lists in preparation for them being more accessible on the website. All staff-created lists are now accessible at https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pac/?pac_page=lists. The lists can be browsed by format and genre.

Website

A new “export” feature has been added to the website. This allows patrons to download lists of materials from their checkout history and their reading lists (called “My List”) and import them into Good Reads and sites or apps that offer similar services. 

Outreach

Our homebound services, where we deliver books to patrons unable to make it to the library (mostly residents of assisted living facilities), have been moved from the Public Services Department to the Circulation Department. While both departments venture outside the library to provide services, going forward outreach efforts where the primary goal is to circulate materials will be carried out by Circulation and outreach efforts based around programming, like our McAuley Terrace book club and technology help at Cornerstone Commons, will be done by Public Services.

Youth Services staff have rolled out several new programs this week. 

Toddler Obstacle Course, which will be held monthly, will be held in the Large Meeting Room and will feature a variety of physical activities for children ages 6 months to 6 years.

Press Play!, for ages 2-5, is another program featuring physical activities. It will be held weekly and will include a reading corner, an art corner, sensory bins, interactive play, and more.

Jessica, our teen librarian, just launched Teen Scene held every Wednesday (early out day) for kids in grades 6 and up. Attendees will play video games on the big screen (usually Smash Bros. or Mario Kart), participate in other fun activities and eat snacks.

Jessica is also starting a new book club called Pizza My Heart Book Club. Two sessions will be held the third Thursday of each month: one for 6th – 8th graders, one for grades 9 and up. The promo blurb reads: Do you love books? Do you love pizza? If you answered yes, then this book club is the one for you! Join us for PIZZA, fun, and friends on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. In this book club, we only read what we want to read. Bring along a favorite book, share why you love it with the group, get recommendations from other book lovers, and leave with great ideas for your next read!

One member of our Maisy/Ramona team perished overnight.  Ann will be cremating her. 

J FIC has finally been shifted!!! With only 59 paperback titles to be re-labeled, I thought it was a good time to go ahead and shift. Shelf ranges have not been updated yet, but they will be shortly!!

Thank you for all being patient during this transition. And thank you Tech Services for getting this project done so quickly!!!

We are up and running with Self-Serve Holds.

For those of you that ever trap holds at your workstation: You will need to adjust a setting on your checkin screen>Tools>Options:

 to select Hold Pickup Slip. You only need to do this once.

When a hold is trapped, a pick up slip will print. A call slip will print afterwards. The call slip lets you know the patron’s notification preference. Please place both slips in the book. If you find a random call slip, it technically should be shredded since it contains confidential information.

Please place holds on the black holds cart behind the Circulation Desk so that Circulation staff can determine if we need to call the patron and we can file the books on the holds shelf.

It would be helpful if you could remind patrons that they need to checkout the materials from the holds shelf at the Circ Desk or at the Self-Check Kiosk.

Okay probably more info than you needed, but now you know…

Let us know if you have questions.