JPL Intranet

Just a reminder that the library will be closed next Wednesday for Veterans Day.

Voting will start at 7am tomorrow morning and go until 9pm. Molly will be here to open and I will be here from 6pm-9pm. The gate will be down and signs will direct voters to enter via the Commons doors. Patrons who need to use the restroom can be directed to the YS restroom. If they prefer the larger restrooms, they’ll need to exit the main entrance and enter via the Commons.   Johnston has four polling locations (listed below). This website can tell Johnston voters which is theirs.

• Precincts 1 and 2: Johnston City Hall (new building)
• Precinct 3: Crown Point Community Center
• Precincts 4 and 5: Stoney Creek Inn
• Precinct 6: Johnston Public Library

I reset the system clock this morning, but it may take up to 24 hours for the building clocks to reflect the correct time.

[UPDATE] The holds pickup schedule page now includes a section at the top that lists appointments that were made on the current day. This should help your stay on top of prepping holds for new appointments. The page has also been updated to automatically refresh periodically to it stays up to date.

Patrons can now make curbside appointments up to one hour in advance. If you make a same-day curbside appointment over the phone for a patron, would you follow this process:

• collect the holds
• check them out and place them in a bag labeled with the name, date, and time
• place the bag in the commons or with the other curbside items for that day
• make a note on #publicservicedesks

Please ask Molly if you have any questions.

Eric and I are happy to announce that Denise Ramsey has accepted the position of Circulation Assistant Librarian. Denise and I will be working together to plan the transition from her current position over the next few weeks.  Congrats, Denise.

A reminder that on election day, next Tuesday, curbside is cancelled. Browsing and computer appointments are available as normal.

[UPDATE] The following has been posted to social media:

During the weeks of October 26th and November 2nd, some children and teen JPL programming will be canceled due to reduced staff at the library. One library staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 and she and those who worked closely with her are quarantining for 14 days. The employee did not contract the virus at the library and immediately quarantined once it was known that exposure had occurred. The Johnston Public Library values the safety and health of our patrons and staff. Since reopening the library building in June, we’ve introduced several precautionary measures including quarantining returned library materials, extra cleaning procedures, limiting the number of patrons in the building, and requiring masks and social distancing. Curbside pick-up of library materials will continue and the library building will remain open for computer use and browsing by appointment. Visit www.johnstonlibrary.com to learn more.

Megan has tested positive for Covid-19. She met with four other staff outside of work last week before knowing she was exposed. Megan and the four other staff will be quarantining for 14 days. Molly, Beth, and I are meeting this morning to determine if we have coverage to continue in-building services.

YS and PS have been so gracious to help answer the phones as time allows since we re-opened. They will have less desk coverage for the next two weeks. Eric and I will also be covering more desk shifts, so the library will have less coverage in back to answer the phones.

We should be striving to answer incoming Circ calls within two or three rings if we aren’t directly helping another patron or on Curbside. This means that if you are at Curbside Prep or Check-in or near the desk doing another duty, you are “on-call” to answer the phone if it rings.

I’ve mentioned several times that since we are so busy grabbing holds for curbside prep, we have some more freedom to leave Circ 1. That being said, we need to keep the desk covered and give the other desks and/or our coworkers the courtesy of knowing where we are if we are out of sight of Circ 1.

• If you need to be in the pre-shelving area or empty the book return, please give the bouncer the doorbell so they can ring you if a patron needs assistance.
• If you need to run to the restroom or the quarantine room, let the bouncer/PS desk know & only be gone a few minutes.
• If you are grabbing holds, keep your eyes on the Circ Desk and be prepared to head back if needed.
• When you are covering Circ 1, it is not the best time for pre-shelving, shelving, or visiting with co-workers.

Thanks for all your flexibility.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me directly.

I am discontinuing our new item newsletters. These were periodic emails sent to subscribers that listed new items from various categories–DVDs, Fiction, etc. This year, a “hacker” subscribed hundreds of emails to the newsletters of people who don’t want them. On top of that, viewing new items on our website is easy enough that I doubt their utility.

Megan hung out with someone over the weekend who has since tested positive for Covid-19. Megan is not displaying symptoms but, per city policy, will quarantine for 14 days. She’ll let us know if anything about her health changes.

The library’s phone will be down between 8am and 10am tomorrow morning as city hall moves the system to the new building.

[UPDATE 2] The voter registration/ballot drop-off table for this coming weekend is back on.

Lina Gill will be setting up a table for voter registration and ballot drop-off this Saturday and Sunday and the next from 12-2 outside the library. She doesn’t need anything from library staff. Her role is non-partisan; she is authorized to collect ballots from voters of any party affiliation.

Up to now, PC and Browsing appointments have been set to allow scheduling no sooner than one hour from the current time–e.g. if it’s 10am, no appointments could be scheduled sooner than 11am. In order for staff to be more accommodating in scheduling patron appointments, that gap has been removed–at 10am, for example, we can now schedule a browsing appointment for a patron for 10:20am. If you schedule an appointment that’s within 30 minutes of the current time, please post it on the Slack public service desk channel.

The State Library of Iowa has a webpage with a Media Literacy Toolkit to aid librarians and the communities we serve. https://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/k-p/medialiteracytoolkit.

I’ve downloaded all of the Resources for the Public and Resources for Librarians listed at the bottom of the webpage and stored them on the P drive. Here is the path to find them:  P:>Media Literacy Toolkit_State Library of Iowa_10.21.20.

In this age of misinformation and disinformation, learning to evaluate media for not only ourselves, but more importantly our patrons is a valuable skill.

I put out the Foundation cash drawer this morning. Please put it in on the mornings that you put out the register cash drawer. I have updated the opening and closing procedures to reflect that change. If you notice anything that should be updated to the opening or closing procedures, please let me know.

We should be using the Foundation iPod and cash drawer for foundation book sale transactions.

The Check-in Computer has been replaced. Nothing should change from your end.

We survived our first few days of curbside in the snow!

Patrons now have the option of requesting a copy of the latest Book Page when they make a holds appointment. The box of the newest edition is next to the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten supplies.

From Janet, the city’s communication specialist:

NORTHWEST POLK COUNTY RESIDENTS’ CHOICE FAVORITES IN JOHNSTON

When we grab a bag from curbside prep for a patron that comes early, can we make a note on Slack for the Circ Desk?

When we check out items from the holds table for patrons that stop by the library, can you ask the patron if they had a curbside appointment and ask if you cancel it if they did?

Thanks so, so much for everyone’s help!

Let Molly know if you have any questions.