JPL Intranet

Polaris Search Tips

All tips assume you’re searching either item or bibliographic records using the search options shown below:

Limit by material type

• For Books on CD add “cd book” to the end of your search (e.g. “peter pan cd book”) 
• For DVDs add “dvd” to your search (e.g. “peter pan dvd”)
• For Blu-Rays add “blu-ray” to your search (e.g. “peter pan blu-ray”)

Combine title and author to narrow your results (e.g. “grisham innocent”)

Use wild cards in between, in front of, or at the end of words

• To find items with particular call numbers (e.g. “DVD*FAMILY”)
• To search for terms with unknown endings (e.g. “frog*”)
• To search for patrons or items whose names you’re unsure of (e.g. “Peter Brog*”)

Our last in-transit delivery between JPL and UPL was done on 12-30-13.  Any Urbandale items that are returned here from now on should be treated as any other open access item; i.e. marked with a pink delivery slip, noted on the clipboard and placed in the box for pick up by the AEA delivery van.  If there are several UPL items, we may want to put them together in a box to help the driver out. 

Rita

Here are the details for our Holiday Party!!!!

When:  Saturday, January 11th

Time:  6:00 PM

Location:  The Tavern II

               1755 50th Street

               West Des Moines, IA 50266

We will be ordering off the menu.  NO buffet, based on popular choice.

We are inviting staff members who have left employment within the last year to our party, again based on popular choice. 

I will need your RSVP as soon as possible as I need to call the restaurant a couple days ahead with the number of folks attending, so they can set the room.  A few have already sent their RSVPs to me. 

Let me know by email, text, verbal, etc. 

Any questions, let me know!!

Jo

The new book, DVD, and magazine shelves in the YS area have been rearranged please take look. In addition, Family DVDs and Blu-Rays have been moved to the YS DVD/Blu-Ray shelves.

We have drawn for the Holiday Book Cover Contest which began during the Holidays in Johnston event. The winner (Armani Ramirez) has already picked up the Beaverdale Books gift card. In addition, there are five entries who may pick up a “Free Book” coupon at the Youth Services desk to be used in our Book Sale Room. Please refer any questions regarding this matter to the Youth Services desk.

Beginning January 2, we will begin doing holds phone calls directly from the discharge station.  When you check an item in and the receipt slip indicates that the patron should be called, just pick up the phone and make the call. Be sure to tell the patron the last date the hold will be available for pick up.  Once contact is made or a voice message is left for the patron, place your initials on the receipt along with the date you called and put it on the holds shelf or on the top shelf of the black truck.

There will no longer be a person assigned to phone call duty.  This procedure should be followed during the week and also on weekends.

Rita

There is a form laying on the black truck behind the circ desk that needs to be signed and dated by Diane Nelson.  She will be coming in soon to take care of this.  Once the form is signed, please lay it on Eric’s desk.  Due to circumstances related to her new job, Diane is officially done working at JPL as of today.  Originally we had planned to have her work her weekends through the end of January.  I will be circulating a card for all of us to sign as we wish her good luck and farewell!

Rita

We’ve hired two new circulation clerks -Amy McDowell and Sierra Stukenholtz. Sierra, of course, has been a shelver here at the library since March. Amy currently works part time at the Des Moines Public Library.  They will be trained sometime in the first few weeks of the new year. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Eric

Johnston Partnership for a Healthy Community will be here on either Jan. 3 or Jan. 4 to pick up the donations that are by the tree.

I’m printing a few more shopping lists….don’t be bashful about pointing them out to people 🙂  Please.

Thanks!

Cheryl

Just a quick reminder that AARP WILL NOT be here this year for free tax assistance.  At this time, I don’t have locations of where AARP will be offering tax assistance.  I’ll keep checking with them periodically to see if we can locate a list of other sites.

Let me know if you have questions.

Thanks,

Cheryl

The first group of TV Series DVDs are now available for checkout by patrons.  A few are already on HOLD and have been routed accordingly.  Those without Holds are now on the DVD/BLU-ray shelving where patrons can browse for items to check out. They are actually located right after the Blu-ray movies.

Here are a few things to remember about the TV Series items.

* They checkout for a 2-week period.

* Each case holds 1 season. (please be sure to check the number of discs a case should have when checking in.)

* There are a couple of titles that have volumes, instead of seasons.  Such as Foyle’s War and Prime Suspect.    Each physical case/volume checks out for 2 weeks.

* Each item can be renewed up to 2 times, if there are no holds.

* Limit as to number of TV Series item format that can be checked out is 20, just like the DVD format has a limit of 20.  (DVDs, Blu-Rays, and DVD-TV-Series all count toward the checkout limit of 20 videos at a time.)

Please let me know if you have questions.

Jo

Hello everyone,

It’s staff picks time! Please send me your fiction and/or nonfiction picks to be used on signage on the endcaps in the Adult Fiction and Nonfiction stacks. These can be titles that you have read and enjoyed, or books that looked interesting as they crossed your path. The only qualification is that we own the title. Your name will not be attached to your choice, so feel free to recommend with wild abandon! Multiple titles are welcome. I will also add these staff picks to the Staff Picks link on our catalog.  

I appreciate everyone’s participation. Please have your choices to me by Monday, December 30^th.

 Beth

Hello everyone,

It’s staff picks time! Please send me your fiction and/or nonfiction picks to be used on signage on the endcaps in the Adult Fiction and Nonfiction stacks. These can be titles that you have read and enjoyed, or books that looked interesting as they crossed your path. The only qualification is that we own the title. Your name will not be attached to your choice, so feel free to recommend with wild abandon! Multiple titles are welcome. I will also add these staff picks to the Staff Picks link on our catalog.  

I appreciate everyone’s participation. Please have your choices to me by Monday, December 30^th.

 Beth

At tonight’s meeting, the library board approved a dress policy for the library. The policy includes three casual days each week -Friday, Saturday, and Sunday- when employees can wear jeans. Please refer to the full text of the policy (linked below) for details. Casual days will begin Friday 12/27.

http://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/staff/drupal/index.php?q=content/dress-policy

For those of you who could not make it to the staff meeting, the library now has a new iPad Air and Kindle Fire HDX. Both of these tablets have records in Polaris and can be put on hold like any other item. If you have not signed up to check out one of the devices, please put yourself on hold for one or both of them. When it’s your turn to check out a tablet, simply open a checkout screen and check the device out to yourself (JPLIPAD is the barcode to use for the ipad, JPLFIRE is the barcode to use for the Fire). The devices will check out for a week. You’re free to take them home. While you have a device checked out, please compete the accompanying ‘homework’ either at home or in the library.

I realize it feels as though you just submitted timesheets (because you did), however, next week will be tricky so I am sending you a heads up.  Timesheets will be due next Thursday, December 26…however, the sooner the better!  Please make sure that you have written in your holiday pay for the 24th and 25th (if you receive it), as well as any PTO you may be taking next week.  If you will be off much of next week, please make sure to get your timesheet in before your holiday begins.  I will only have Friday to work on them and may not see you to double check your schedule, so please take your time filling it out and remember to turn it in.  Thanks for your help!

Happy Holiday!

Missy

The 2014 Holidays and Closing schedule has been posted by the staffing schedule and is also linked in the Staff Resources & Training menu on the left-hand side of the intranet homepage.

I’ve created a post on Facebook asking for donations of old electronics (VCRs, DVD players, etc.) for use in a program I’ll start sometime this summer. Please put donated items in the box behind the desk.

We have a staff meeting this Thursday at 8am. For the first hour, Emily Price will be presenting the city’s new communications policy. The mayor and a city council member will be in attendance for this part of the meeting so be on your best behavior .

Eric

Please play with the SIBR (series information, bestsellers, and reviews) Spot at the north end of the circ. desk. It can be used to find and print  series lists via a search or via scanning an item’s ISBN or library barcode; to view and print bestsellers; and to view lexile numbers, summaries, and reviews. I’ll leave it there for a week or more so staff can get familiar with it before it goes somewhere publicly accessible.