JPL Intranet

The printer of John Grisham’s new book, A Time for Mercy, released the book with errors. Pages are repeated, missing, falling out of the binding, etc.

JPL has 3 copies — two of which are damaged and one which seems fine (although TS did not read it cover to cover). One of our patrons has one damaged copy and is aware it’s damaged; the other damaged copy is in TS.

Because of the massive nature of the problem, the publisher pushed back the release date to 12/13. We’re ordering replacement copies, but it will likely be around that date before they arrive.

We have two copies of the large print which are in cataloging. The CD book has not yet arrived.

As we continue into the fall, we are preparing for cold, snowy weather. On days that it may be slick, please respond to patrons with the following text: 

Thank you. I will bring your items to the table. Please text back if you would like me to bring them to your car due to the weather. 

If they would like us to deliver to their car we will do so. 

The Parks Department clears our snow regularly, but we will move the ice melt closer to the front doors. Circ staff will spread it periodically on slick days. 

Circ staff will need to dress appropriately for the weather. 

Let Molly know if you have any questions.

The PS/YS and Circ. desk schedules have been added to the header menu on the intranet. These are “live” documents so they should always be up to date.

JPL was voted “Favorite Northwest Polk County Library” by Iowa Living Magazine readers! Grimes and Urbandale were runners up. I’ll be contacting the directors there to wish them better luck next year 🙂

We are a polling site for the upcoming general election to be held Tuesday, November 3rd. Curbside pickup will be cancelled on that day. The gate in the commons will be lowered and voters will be directed to enter via the Commons doors, not the main entry. Voting will be held in the West meeting room. While Polk County is not requiring voters to wear masks and we won’t enforce our mask policy in the Commons and West that day, we will continue to require masks of anyone who enters the main entry that day to browse or use a PC. Let me know if you have any questions.

Starting now, when myself and Molly are not in the building, Assistant Librarians or public desk department heads will be the “Librarians in Charge”. Going forward, the goal is to have at least one Librarian in Charge (or myself or Molly) in the building during all open hours. The role of the Librarians in Charge is to direct the library’s response to emergencies, troubleshoot technology problems, handle building-related issues, and respond to patron complaints, policy questions, behavior issues, and other situations that cannot be managed by other staff. In short, if you have situations or questions you and your peers can’t manage, find an Assistant Librarian–Brittany, Jessica, or Peg–a public desk department head–Megan or Beth–or myself or Molly. See the full Librarian in Charge description via the link below and let me know if you have questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZqmLvtjo49mOCrRfmpVDx4Rbvicgu6R1a0wbAuDzKvI/edit?usp=sharing

I am sorry to inform you that there will be no New Year’s Eve Pops with the Des Moines Symphony this year.  However, please be sure to purchase your online access for the virtual concert on Thursday, November 12, at 7 PM.  https://dmsymphony.secure.force.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F1S00000I6iY4UAJ.  We are playing works by Copland and Vivaldi.

Patron question today about absentee ballots and how to submit them if people do not want to mail their ballots.

I called Polk County Election Office and for people that have requested absentee ballots but feel nervous about mailing them, completed ballots can be hand-delivered to the Polk County Election Office. An employee is standing right inside the front doors during business hours (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm) to collect all ballots submitted this way.
Polk County Election Office
120 2nd Avenue Suite A
Des Moines, IA 50309

From city hall:

Good Afternoon,

It’s hard to believe, but moving day is upon us!

This evening, shortly after 5 p.m., we will be shutting down the network at the old City Hall to move the servers and switches to the new City Hall.

This means that there will be no email for any department until the network is back up.  If you need an immediate response to something, please call or text the staff member you are needing to reach.  Our plan is to have the network back up and running this evening, barring any unforeseen hiccups.  I will send out another email when we’re back up.

As a reminder, City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday, with regular operations resuming on Monday, October 12 at the new building.

Thanks everyone!

Cyndee

We now have some smaller paper bags for holds for pickups with just a few items. They’re near the others behind the circ. desk.

Early in-person voting in Polk County is taking place only at the Polk County Election Office. Details are included below.

POLK COUNTY ELECTION OFFICE

120 2ND AVENUE, SUITE A

DES MOINES, IA 50309

Monday – Friday (Sat Oct 24 & 31st) : 8A – 5PM

A couple small changes to printing pickup. We have changed the appointments so now people are able to send us printing and pick it up same day (if they select that for an appointment time) during open library hours. Peg, Erin, Stephanie and Beth will continue to monitor the info email for print jobs coming in.

Print jobs will be kept in a file folder labeled with patrons name by the bouncer station. Patrons can collect their print jobs at their appointment time by calling the general library phone number and having staff bring their packet out to the table, or coming in the front sliding glass doors where the bouncer will hand over their items. Please ask Beth if you have questions.
Here is the updated link on the website:
https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/print-pickup/

I put the bypass key in the coin-op so staff can now make copies without payment on the public copier.

The conduct report form has two new fields: the time of the incident and the category of the incident. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

https://staff.johnstonlibrary.com/conduct/index.php?page=incident

The AEA Van is running right now. We can accept books from other libraries. We will return them via AEA/IA Shares or mail. The AEA Van picks up on Tuesday and Thursday. After the items are quarantined, Circ Staff enters the titles of the items we return to other libraries in the IA Shares/AEA Shipments spreadsheet which can be accessed from the Patron Assistance Menu on the Intranet.

Talking points for patrons are:

1. It can be a couple of weeks for delivery through the van. Libraries usually backdate to the date we received the item at JPL, but while the item is in transit, it will remain on their account at its home library.
2. The home library may quarantine the item after it is received, so patrons may want to build that into their timeline.

A schedule of the AEA Van schedule and buildings/libraries can be found here.

Please don’t hesitate to ask Molly if you have any questions about the AEA Van or Open Access questions.

If you can find it, take a few minutes during your shift to look at the list of the top challenged or banned books of the decade to celebrate Banned Books Week.

A library user wrote:

“An additional thanks to you and all the staff for the wonderful, user-friendly efforts you have developed during our COVID times. There are days that my library books have “kept me going” and having the library “open” helps me feel less isolated.  I know we all look forward to being back in the library together again.”

I would suggest putting issues of newspapers in a plastic Hy-Vee sack (we have many in our plastic bag storage) to provide a little protection. Recommend that the patron return the newspaper in the plastic sack so it doesn’t get torn in the book return. If it doesn’t get returned in the plastic sack, we won’t worry about it. They have a very short lifespan.