Category: Uncategorized

Our outreach season is winding down. We no longer need to collect J and YA books in the box behind the checkout desk. Please put future donations in the book drop room with the others. 

The curated lists on our website are now searchable by list name and description and item title and author. This will make it easier to find read-alike lists or lists that contain particular titles like “Wimpy Kid” or “Harry Potter”

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pac/?pac_page=lists

Megan and I have put together a short guide with tips on handling various types of patron behaviors and complaints. As important as the specific strategies mentioned is the tone that’s encrouaged througout and that is summarized on page 2. A copy will be kept at each of the service desks. Please take a look through it as you get time and let us know if you have suggestions for additional categories.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jN4BPZIuRTJ3H7KrTgRNHHSo8UiqYXrt

 Agenda – All Staff Meeting 7/25/19

• TS/IT

  • Printable list of book club sets

    • Dreama has added a printable list of book club set to the intranet under the “Helping Patrons” menu. She’s also added a list of the several new adult sets added recently.

• Public Services

  • Summer Reading Wrap-Up

    • Adult summer reading went well. “Official” stats will be available soon. 

  • PS Staff Change

    • Stephanie will be reducing her hours when she returns to classes in August. Beth is interviewing candidates next week. 

  • Preview of Fall Programs

    • Beth shared information about fall programs for adults:

      • Investment Basics for Women

      • National Voter Registration Day

      • Nancy Drew Humanities Iowa program

      • NaNoWriMo and Write All Night

      • Dreama and Lori’s Sun Paper Crafting Club

      • Estate Planning

    • Community Reads

      • The Community Read Fest is coming up Saturday, August 17th, 1-4. The event will feature food, a virtual visit from author Thanhha Lai, and a chance to have your photo taken by local artist Liz Brown for JPL Humans of Johnston Photography Project, create your own mini family story podcast, and make a storytelling craft.

• Molly

  • New Staff  have joined the circulation department: Sarah Gehrke and Jennifer Thompson. Sarah is a regular library user and has a background in teaching, education, historical research, customer service, and archival practices. Jennifer is currently the Assistant Director at the Mercy College of Health Sciences Library.

• Staff Leaving – Hunter and Rachel

  • Hunter and Rachel will be leaving us soon for UNI

• Eric

  • DVD/CD Duplicator

    • A new piece of Tech Lab equipment allows fast duplication of DVDs and CDs; up to five at once. 

  • Responding to Patron Behavior & Complaints

    • Megan and I have put together a guide that provides tips on how to approach difficult situations you may encounter in the library. I’ll be posting information about this in a separate intranet post.

  • FY20 Stats

    • Eric shared some stats from the past fiscal year–July 1, 2018 to June 20, 2019–including top circulating titles, circulation by age and gender, e-book borrower stats, and more. 

      • https://drive.google.com/file/d/12sR9RN69BbL0tPeh3wGiYBOKVSStzMAL/view?usp=sharing 

The Adventure Pass authentication issue with rural Polk County patrons has been resolved. They should now be able to reserve passes as Johnston residents do. 

Rural Polk County Patrons, unlike other non-Johnston residents, are eligible to checkout Adventure Passes but they’ll be blocked from logging into the Adventure Pass system. To get around this, temporarily change the city in the patron’s address in Polaris to Johnston. 

Alyssa left her purse at the Sips and Stories program tonight. We locked it in the money cabinet and I sent her an email. Her phone did not have voicemail set up.

Sunday July 28th at 7:30 PM at Water Works Park will be the final Des Moines Symphony concert this summer, and it’s free.  We will be playing music by John Williams. 

The season is coming up soon, and here is the website with information:  https://dmsymphony.org/.  I will let you know about open rehearsals and re-mixes when I get more info. 

I’ve put a couple of piles of the postcard-sized fliers on the upcoming sales tax vote at the checkout PCs. Circ. staff, each time someone checks out please place one in one of the items.

UPDATE:

If asked about the election while at work, you’re free to offer facts or point people to the website on the flier BUT, while on the clock, you cannot advocate for yes votes. 

One pass to the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden has been added to our Adventure Pass options. 

Ivan and I woke up on Tuesday and felt like getting married, so this happened:

All I have is this picture as proof of the marriage, but if you are willing to take my word for it my name is now Molly Guerra. When my email changes, I’ll let you know 

The HVAC software/hardware update was completed a couple of weeks ago. Since then, the building (especially the west-half/YS) has felt clammy and warm.  The HVAC guy came back today and discovered the system was dumping too much of our cold air back outside. He was confident that this was what was causing the uncomfortable conditions and that things will better now. 

 Johnston residents will vote Tuesday, August 6th on instituting a 1 cent local option sales and services tax throughout the city. Here are some facts regarding how the tax would work:

• Anyone, including Johnston residents, who shops in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Waukee, Windsor Heights, Altoona, Pleasant Hill, or Norwalk is already paying this tax. 
• Money generated by the tax in these communities goes into a pot which is then divided up (according to an obscure formula) and given back to those communities. 
• Because Johnston has so little retail, residents do a lot of shopping in the communities mentioned above. If the tax is not instituted in Johnston, none of the revenue generated by the tax elsewhere will come back to Johnston. In other words, if the vote fails, like it did last time, Johnston residents will pay the tax nearly everywhere they shop in the metro but won’t benefit from increased funding for city services like the police, the fire department, roads, and the library–sales tax paid around the metro only goes to the communities who have instituted the tax.
• With the tax, Johnston residents as a whole will pay about $1.7 million more in taxes inside Johnston (they will likely pay much more outside Johnston) but, because of the formula mentioned above, $3.25 million is expected to come back to the city.

If approved, half of the revenue generated will go toward lowering resident’s property taxes. The other half will be used for city projects like a new security camera system for the library. More information can be found via the link below. 

https://johnstonlocaloption.com/

Update from Willona (7/15/19):

I sent a text to Maurine today and discovered that she went home from the hospital on Friday. She said home never looked so good. Her text sounded upbeat. :>)

Here is her address:

174 Bayberry Drive

Ozark, MO 65721

—

Update from Willona (7/10/19): 

“Maurine moved out of ICU late yesterday afternoon. She is now in Room 210, Cox South Hospital, in Springfield, MO. It is good news that she is now in a regular room.”

Our former assistant director, Maurine Myers, is in the hospital in southern Missouri. She had a significant malignant mass removed from her pelvic region. She will be undergoing chemotherapy when she is strong enough. Current expectations are for her to remain in the ICU until Tuesday or Wednesday while they stabilize her blood pressure, which is currently too high. She is weak following the surgery, but she is making slow progress towards recovery.

Her husband, Hugh, has asked us to send healing wishes via text to Maurine’s cell phone (515-681-5511). Be sure to include your name in the text in case you’re not in her contacts.

Today the Simplex alarm started going off about every 5 minutes alerting us that the smoke detector in the storage room of the meeting room is dirty. Eric stopped in and cleaned it out. Hopefully that takes care of the problem.

Peg

Do you have a bunch of old neckties hanging out around your house. (Sure, we all do, right?) If you are looking to repurpose those old ties, Youth Services would love to have them! We will be using them Tuesday, July 10! Thanks!

Belin Quartet Moved Indoors due to HEAT

If Patrons ask, please let them know this new information.

Thanks!