JPL Intranet

It’s good to see more use of slack for communication. I’ve installed Slack on the laptop that will be in the Commons as well as the iPod in the Commons. If you need help installing or logging into slack on your work PC or another device, let me know.

Update: The cutover is complete. All Polaris functions should be working. If you run into any problems, check with your supervisor or with Eric or Dreama.

We will be switching Polaris to a new server early Thursday morning. If all goes well, Polaris will be available by 9:00 a.m.

Lori F. and I will be walking around re-installing the Polaris software on all staff PCs. You won’t be able to use Polaris until the software has been re-installed on your PC and the Polaris database is on the new server.

Circ1 will be left on the old server until the cutover is complete. If necessary, staff will be able to do offline circ from that PC.

Do not check in any materials Thursday morning until the cutover is complete.

I will be double-checking time sheets on Friday morning. Please contact me if you’re not able to turn in your time sheet by Thursday night.

Peg

We set up the Book Bike Laptop in the Commons for the staff working curbside to have access to Polaris. It can be shut down each day at the end of curbside.

All the staff working the “bouncer desk” have been explicitly instructed by Megan and Beth to share with browsers to use Self-Check. I think we will continue to have people use the Circ Desk for a variety of reasons. We can certainly give affirmations to browsers for using the self-check kiosks and remind people that there is a new self-check kiosk in the youth services area. If you have specific safety concerns about patron interactions and the Circ Desk, please reach out to me directly.

I have printed instructions for accepting credit card payments over the phone and placed them near the cash register. They can be found here.

James put together a little bit of information about using Slack. Please read it carefully and reach out to me with any questions. If you aren’t using Slack, it will be hard to stay in communication. Please take a few minutes to check Slack and the Intranet at the beginning of each shift and throughout your shift. Please let me know if need help building that time into your schedule.

I’ve updated the opening and closing procedures. Please read these documents before the next time you open or close.

Now that some of the items that were borrowed in March have been past due for more than 30 days, items are moving to a circ status of lost and bills are being mailed.

If a patron gets a bill for an item(s) and calls you wanting to negotiate the fees before the items have been returned, please encourage them to:

1. Double-check their contact method with the library. Before someone gets a bill in the mail, if they have email or text, they should have received four messages from us. Encourage them to check their SPAM and mark notices@johnstonlibrary.com as safe
2. Return the overdue and/or lost items as quickly as possible. If they are quarantined or can’t make it to the library, pass the call to Molly
3. Wait for the items to make it through the quarantine and check-in process (five to seven days)
4. Check online, call us back or email us at notices@johnstonlibrary.com to make sure everything was returned and verify the overdue fees on their account
5. We are happy to waive fines on a one-time basis if there has been a miscommunication during the pandemic and items have come back.  This would apply to fines assessed after July 1. This applies to fines – not replacement costs, damage costs, or processing fees. For other fee-related questions, please refer to Paying or Waiving Fines or Fees in the All-Desk Documentation or pass the call to circ staff.

*Please don’t encourage patrons to bring back lost books to the Circ Desk and expect them to be processed immediately. Explain that we have a quarantine process and tell them to use the book returns.

*If the item has moved to a circ status of lost and they think they returned it or they seem very concerned/upset in general, please don’t hesitate to send them to Molly for additional assistance.

At last week’s meeting, the board ok’d sticking with the casual dress code until we’re more fully reopen.

Hello All,

Today we received a couple calls from parents inquiring about usage of study rooms. At this time, study rooms are not open to the public. The services that we offer, (computer use, browsing by appointment, and even curbside hold pickup) are really intended to be sort of grab-and-go type services, and thus have time limits.
These calls got Friday JPL staff thinking about what parents might really be concerned about. Internet access or just a change of scenery? Peg contacted Johnston School admin, and like most other school districts, Johnston is providing hot spots to households who need them. We were told that if parents need to request a hotspot, they should contact the building administration at the school where the child will attend. Here is a link with contact numbers for different schools in the Johnston district.
https://www.johnstoncsd.org/schools/​

Thanks!

In a meeting last week, I let department heads know that we’d be sticking with the same hours and services through September.

I was having trouble submitting a report for an AEA item via the intranet this morning (8/17), but Eric said he would fix it ASAP.

If patrons arrive at the front door or west staff door to pick up a book club book that has already been checked out to them, they are in front of dreama’s office–again, already checked out and labeled with their name. I have instructed my book club people to let me know if they want a book club book, so that all staff need to do is grab it and hand it over to them.

As we know, sometimes people don’t follow instructions. If people show up wanting a book club book and have not made prior arrangements, current book club books for all 4 adult book clubs are now behind the circ desk, where they used to be.

Thanks! Ask beth if you have questions.

Johnston Public Library is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Circ Meeting 08/13/2020
Time: Aug 13, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88529218323

Meeting ID: 885 2921 8323
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Meeting ID: 885 2921 8323
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/keFUBaCi3I

We’ve implemented a grace period of 7 days to all checkouts. This means that if someone returns or renews their items within 7 days after the due date, fines will not be assessed.

I’ve hijacked the Johnston Arts Council website to host our holds scheduling. The links on the intranet to create holds appointments, view the schedule, and cancel and edit appointments have been updated to point to the new location. (Printing, browsing, and PC scheduling have not been moved to the new site.)  I will email all patrons with holds soon with the new link.

Calls to the circ. phone will now be broadcast to PS, YS, myself, and Molly on the first ring.

Overdrive has implemented a temporary fix for patrons to login to Bridges. I sent the message below to Bridges patrons this morning:

We’ve implemented a temporary fix for logging into Bridges. You should now be able to login, place holds, and check items out. Let me know if you have any questions.

As you know, patrons cannot make their own appointments as the website is inaccessible from outside the library. To avoid confusion and frustration, I’ve temporarily turned off hold notices. I’ve also updated dues dates for all items due 8/10-8/15 to 8/22.

I sent the message below to all patrons active on Bridges in the past 90 days:

The recent storm damaged some of our internet provider’s infrastructure making our website inaccessible. Until it’s repaired, which may be several days, you’ll be unable to log-in to Bridges to access your holds and checkouts. I’m working with Overdrive, the company that manages our Bridges site, to see if they can institute a temporary fix for patrons to log-in and if they can give patrons a few extra days to checkout available holds. I apologize for the inconvenience. Let me know if you have any questions.

I just notified Shawn, our current cleaner, that we will be switching to a new cleaning service sometime in October.

https://doodle.com/poll/848hrkd8itrb7vvc

Can you guys do the above doodle poll to let me know when you might like to meet for a quick Zoom meeting this week? It will be paid.

I’d love to have as many of you as possible so I can get as much input about how the reopening is going for Circ. If you can’t come, I’ll try to chat with you soon. I anticipate it will take 30 minutes to an hour.

Thanks!

Internet

Staff internet is back. To get it working, the city’s IT guy tapped into our public internet service through Mediacom. This means that our public internet is now down.  For PC appointments, I have disabled the Envisionware login screen on PCs 10 and 16 and connected them to our hotspot. Printing is working as usual.

Overdrive

Because our Polaris server is not connected to the Internet, patrons cannot log in to Overdrive. I’ve contacted Overdrive to inquire about a temporary workaround for authentication (like sending them a list of barcodes) and to see if patrons can be given a few extra days to checkout available holds.