I am replacing our oldest hotspots with new devices. The new devices will be setup without a password and each will show on a user’s device as “JPL Hotspot”. The other circulating hotspots will be setup in the same way over the coming weeks.

City hall is borrowing the cart stored by the shredding bins. It will be back tomorrow.

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

We are no longer going to scan items found on the black carts or left out on tables or in study rooms using the In House Mode screen of the Check In window.

When you are collecting items that have been left out by library users, please just scan them in the Check In window to make certain the circulation status is In and to verify the shelf location of the item. Then you can put the item in the recently returned or pre-shelving area.

I have updated the closing procedure. Please let me know if you have any questions.

The library is closed this Sunday for Easter. Easter is NOT a paid holiday. If you would normally be scheduled to work Sunday and would like to make up your hours, talk to your supervisor to arrange it.

UPDATE:

From KCCI:

• Severe weather potential increasing across much of Iowa for Tuesday evening into Tuesday night.
• Tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds all possible!
• Prolonged period of gusty winds likely Tuesday through Thursday. Strongest winds Thursday, especially north.

Please review the tornado and wind warning procedure included below.

Tornado Warning and Wind Warning

A tornado WARNING is declared when a tornado had been sighted in the area.  The city’s tornado sirens will be activated.  A Straight Line Wind WARNING is declared when wind speeds reach 70 m.p.h.

Sirens will sound for approximately 3 minutes followed by a 2- to 3-minute silence and then sound again for another 3 minutes. This cycle will repeat until the threat has passed.

When the siren sounds:

• Announce the fact that we are under a Tornado Warning or Straight Line Wind Warning to staff and patrons and that they should move to the designated tornado shelter area (the men’s and women’s restrooms) or leave the library IMMEDIATELY.
• Public Services staff will gather patrons from the east half of the Library.
• Youth Services staff will gather patrons from the YS area including the Story Time room and YS restroom.
• One Circulation staff member will gather patrons from the Commons, Art Gallery, and Large Meeting Room
• The rest of the Circulation staff will lock the front door, put up the weather closure sign, and guide patrons to the restrooms
• A staff member from each department should grab the flashlights/lanterns from the emergency bucket behind their desk.
• If people come to the Commons doors seeking shelter, let them in.

The Johnston Public Library Board of Trustees has two openings for six-year terms that begin July 1st, 2022. The library board serves as the administrative board for the library and meets the third Thursday of each month at 5:30pm. Trustees must be Johnston residents over 18 years of age. Applications are available via the “Printables” menu on the intranet. Staff can print applications for interested parties at no charge.

Some libraries, like the Library of Congress, lend materials with the restriction that our patrons can only use them in our library. Our patrons can make copies of any relevant pages.

Unlike ILL materials that go home with patrons, these in-house use materials can be checked out / checked in an unlimited number of times to allow patrons to return to the library throughout the lending period to read the materials.

When a patron approaches the Circ Desk, please retrieve the item from behind the desk and check it out to the patron. There is a 4-hour limit on each check-out, but this time limit is not enforced. The patron can stay as long as the library remains open to read the material.

When the patron leaves, the patron is to return the item to the desk and let you know whether s/he is ready to have the item returned to the lender or if the patron intends to come back another day to continue reading the material. Either way, please check in the item. If the patron is finished, place the item on the TS shelf. If the patron plans to return, place the item back on the ILL shelf.

If you have any questions about in-house interlibrary loan, please ask Dreama or Lori Elrick.

There’s a basket behind the circulation desk self-check for collecting used softball equipment for Johnston softball.

The playground behind the library is open. The property surrounding the library–including the barn, the historical building, and the new playground–is city property but library staff are not responsible for policing/enforcing the rules there. Each city park has a sign like the one pictured below that lists the rules and who to call with problems. As JPL staff, you’ll undoubtedly have visitors report playground issues to you.  If it’s a non-emergency maintenance issue, leave me a note and I’ll contact the Parks Department. For damage to the playground that might cause injury, call the Parks Department at 515-727-8091 or the police at 515-278-2345. If the patron is reporting a park patron in violation of the law or park rules, explain that the police are in charge of enforcing park rules and ask them if they’d like you to call the police.

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

I’ve been aware for several years that some neighboring libraries pay their part time staff more than we do here at JPL.  To try to narrow the gap, for the past several years JPL’s part-time staff have received wage increases that are 1.5% to 2% higher than other city employees have received. In order to speed up this process, we requested and were approved for the following part-time wage increases for FY23 (which begins July 1, 2022):

• $2.00/hour increase for part-time Assistant Librarians
• $1.85/hour increase for Library Associates
• $2.50/hour increase for library clerks
• 3% increase for Shelvers

Similar increases are planned for FY24 but won’t be voted on until the next budget.

Good morning! Patrons who requested to pick up their card-crafting kit from the Sunday Card Crafting Program on Sunday, April 3 will find their packaged card kit on the hold shelf, labeled alphabetically by their last name.
The card kits are in small manila envelopes.

There are two different collections with biographies in the Junior Section. In order to facilitate discovery, biographies that are intended to be read aloud to and shared with younger children will be put in the junior picture book collection in the biography category.

Junior Biographies will have a spine label that begins with (JB)

Junior Picture Books – Biography will have a spine label that begins with  (JP – Bio)

With all the junior picture books, the JP-Bio books will be filed alphabetically by the last word on the spine label. For now, we are disregarding the category.

The junior biographies will be filed with the other junior biographies in alphabetical order.

A hint is to read the call number like an address. J – takes you to the junior collections. B takes you to the biographies section.

J – takes you to the junior collections. P takes you to the picture books.

Things will be less confusing when we finish categorizing the junior picture books.

Let me know if you have questions.

**EDIT: April Fools**

Someone broke into the library last night and knocked off a whole bunch of items, and we will need help re-shelving them.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause!

For those of you that could not attend on Sunday here is a recording of the March Circ Staff Meeting:

Topic: March Circ Staff Meeting

Meeting Recording:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/OBkwvalrStxe7HWD6p6O0w3ryvUz3SO0Z_UelW4DyvziUyaQ1y6-sgZUZd3BzTSG.dfxWjFIiyv56HR9t

Access Passcode: 123Johnston!

Unless weather delay things, the new playground behind the library should be open sometime next week.

I’ll get the link out for the staff meeting recording later this week for those that couldn’t attend live. I’m sorry for the delay.

If you like the Des Moines Symphony facebook page, you may have noticed a post that is offering some guesses as to how many times the orchestra has performed Beethoven’s ninth symphony, which we are playing in April.  Don’t forget to like the page and make a guess, as this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Don’t forget to purchase online access for the concert set, which will take place on April 9th at 7:30 PM.  https://my.desmoinesperformingarts.org/0/6042?queueittoken=e_newdmpasafetynet~q_5f582942-0536-4181-93e2-50b79c00d8e9~ts_1648581481~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_b8f25d1330155bff21fdc2802f58026674b3bf320245bbf22a1cf8b2fe3312e1.

We are also playing an opera overture by Beethoven, the Ukraine national anthem, a selection from Tristan and Isolde by Wagner, and a piece by Estonian composer Arvo Part.  The Iowa State Singers, Des Moines Choral Society, and soloists are joining us for Beethoven Nine.