JPL Intranet

Please have your timesheet completed with PARs attached and placed in the green folder outside Eric’s office by 8 pm Thursday.

As always, double-check that the hours on your timesheet match When to Work. If they don’t, please speak with your supervisor. If there are last minute changes, you may always send me an email and tell me that your timesheet is correct or that WTW is correct or whatever.

All Des Moines Symphony Masterworks performances will be livestreamed this season (along with having a live audience), and here is a link to purchase access to Masterworks 1. We are playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Egmont Overture, John Corigliano’s Promenade Overture, Piano Concerto in one movement by Florence Price, and Hector Berlioz’s Hungarian March.  You will have until 30 days after the initial broadcast to watch the performance.

https://my.desmoinesperformingarts.org/0/6043

Several new links related to Iowa history have been added to the website’s research page. Links and descriptions are included below.

• Annals of Iowa

  The Annals of Iowa is published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Historical Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State of Iowa.

• Iowa Digital Library

  The Iowa Digital Library features more than a million digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners. Included are illuminated manuscripts, historic maps, fine art, historic newspapers, scholarly works, and more.

• Iowa Digital Newspapers

  A number of Iowa newspapers have been digitized from the microfilms in the State Historical Society of Iowa’s collection and made available by online.

• The Goldfinch

  The Goldfinch : Iowa History for Young People was published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa from 1975-2000. It is an Iowa history magazine for children, ages 8 to 13. Each issue focuses on a theme (ranging from Immigrants to Diaries, from Home and Family to Iowa’s Kid Heroes) and includes articles, games, photos, and fiction.

• The Palimpsest

  The Palimpsest was a historical magazine published the State Historical Society of Iowa beginning in 1920 until it was renamed Iowa Heritage Illustrated in 1996. The last issue of The Palimpsest was vol.76 no.4, Winter 1995. It was published monthly from 1920-1972, bimonthly from 1973-1985, and quarterly after 1986.

• The drive-up book return has been installed in front of the library. As of now, circ staff have been assigned to empty it at open, and within thirty minutes of close. A midday empty is planned, but we are still working out when that might be scheduled.
• The timing varies, but our goal is to have items returned at JPL checked in within 24 hours. Items returned at Horizon or Beaver Creek may remain on accounts for up to five days since they are emptied two or three times a week. We always backdate at check-in if items are not discharged the day there are returned.
• The key to the book return is in the card catalog at Circ. We are storing the empty book cart in the commons.

Please ask if you have any questions.

The YS Department will be hosting a Ride with DART program tomorrow morning.

Please do not park in the spots next to the garbage cans on the West Side of the parking lot. I am saving that spot for the DART bus to park to make is safe and accessible for families to get to from the Storytime Room. I will place cones to block off those spots in the morning.

Thank you,

Megan

Tips for talking with patrons about fees during Food-for-Fines:

How do I quickly find and add up the eligible fees on a patron’s account? Here is a step-by-step guide for adding up fines and how to accept payment with food/personal care items. I’ve also printed it for the desks.

Remember to encourage patrons with lost items (You’ll see Replacement/Processing fees) to return items. Those fees can be reduced to a fine of $5, or less, per item, if they are returned. It is never too late to bring items back to the library.

We are collecting Food-for-Fines items at the Circulation Desk behind the Self-Check Kiosk.

Hello All!
Laurie and Cathy have asked me to ask all of you who may have a stash of clean plastic grocery bags to bring them in for library use. Patrons use them to carry out armfuls of library materials and our stash is depleted.

Thanks!

This morning, patrons with over $5 in fines will receive a message like the one shown below. You may receive calls from patrons with questions about their fines and about food-for-fines.

Eric Melton,
Pay your overdue fees with non-perishable food items September 11-19.
One food item pays $1 in fees. Fees for damaged or lost items cannot be paid with food and are not included in the amount listed below.

Your current fees eligible for payment via food for fines:
$126.70

Staff
Johnston Public Library
515-278-5233

Please have your timesheet completed with PARs attached and placed in the green folder outside Eric’s office by 8 pm today.

As always, double-check that the hours on your timesheet match When to Work. If they don’t, please speak with your supervisor. If there are last minute changes, you may always send me an email and tell me that your timesheet is correct or that WTW is correct or whatever.

Hello All,
Beginning tomorrow, September 9th, study rooms will be locked when not in use. When a patron comes in to use the study room, whether they have a reservation or not, please direct them to the Information Desk where a staff person will have them sign out the room on the Study Room Sign Out Sheet that is kept in the top drawer to the right of the Ref computer. The sign out sheet is in a green folder labeled “Study Room Sign Out Sheet”. We will also ask patrons to sign the room back in when they are done  so staff know to relock the rooms.

Anyone still has the right to use the study room, so long as other library behavior policies are being met.
Thanks! Please ask Beth, Megan or your supervisor if you have any questions.

Per the city ordinance, the library must submit an annual report to the city council after the end of each fiscal year. Kelly McAlister, the current board president, presented the report at the city council work session last night. A link to the report is included below.

https://board.johnstonlibrary.com/2021-08/10%20FY21%20Annual%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf

Hello All,
We’re going to tighten up our system for in-house “check-outs” for mobile phone chargers. If a patron wants to borrow a mobile phone charger from the PS Desk, please have them sign out the phone charger. The phone chargers are on the floor to the left of the PS computer. Right by the chargers is a green folder. Please have the person record their name and the date and time of check-out, and then write in the last four digits on the barcode of the phone charger. Please also record the time the charger is returned in the folder.

Thanks! Please ask Beth if you have questions.

JPL had a mobile printing system called PrinterON that allows people to email or upload documents from home, and then come in to the building, input their email addresses in the print release computer, and pay for and print their jobs. For awhile now the system has been very buggy and not working correctly.

For this reason, we have made the decision to discontinue mobile printing services offered through the JPL website. If you speak to someone on the phone who is interested in emailing a document to print, you can either transfer the call over to the person working at the Ref Desk  or give the person the following information:

1. Please email all documents for printing to ps@johnstonlibrary.org with the subject heading Print Request.
2. PS staff will sort any emails with that subject heading into an email folder where they will stay until the patron comes in to the library to pick up (and pay for) their print jobs.
3. Print jobs will NOT be printed in advance but rather printed at the time the patron comes in to pay for the job.

Laminated cards with the ps@johnstonlibrary.org email address are at the Circ and PS desk for quick refreshers. Thanks! Ask Beth or your supervisor if you have any questions.

Thursday Night Book Club meets on September 9th. They will be distributing copies of the book to discuss next month, Hamnet. While we typically have copies of the next book club book available a few days before the meeting, we are going to wait until 09/09/2021 to mark these as available because we don’t want all the copies snatched up before the book club crew gets the opportunity to get theirs.

With that being said, some book club members are used to picking up their copy a little early. If someone asks for the next month’s Thursday Night Book Club book, to be discussed in Ocotober,  you can grab a copy from Lori E’s desk. You will need to check it in before you can check it out to them. They don’t have to prove that they are in the book club or will attend the October meeting. Basically, if they ask, they can have one but we are keeping them less visible. Does that make sense?

Let me know if you have questions. When in doubt – error on the side of access 🙂

Documentation for the meeting room AV controls can be found via the path included below.

P:Public ServicesHow toHow to Control Large Meeting Room AV Controls.docx

Kris from the Tiffin Public Library is coming today or tomorrow to pick up the cart shown below. It’s near the shredding bin outside my office.

Final reminder about the FREE symphony pops concerts this weekend at Waterworks Park near Gray’s Lake.  Saturday the 4th at 7:30 with Aretha Franklin music, and Sunday the 5th at 7:30 with John Williams music.