Domestic Violence Donation Basket Near Breakroom

The Domestic Violence shelter dropped off a basket for staff to donate items. They’re in need of the following:

-Diapers (size 2-6), pull ups, baby wipes, bottles, baby shampoo and lotion
-larger size diapers are most often needed
-Bath towels and wash cloths (new or gently used)
-Deodorant, soap, women’s razors
-Feminine hygiene products
-Shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash
-Brushes, combs, and hair accessories
-New underwear and socks for all ages and genders
-Blankets and comforters-Twin size(new or gently used)
-Pillows (new or gently used)
-Twin size sheets (new or gently used)
-Phone, gas and grocery gift cards, $10 gift cards to Walmart
-Alarm clocks, desk lamps (new or gently used)
-Hair dryers and curling irons (new or gently used)
-Purses, make up bags, and luggage (new or gently used)
-Journals and pocket planners
-Underwear and personal care items for male teen adults
-Ethnic hair products

Welcome Lydia

Lydia Ponder has joined the library as a substitute clerk. She will be training at the Circ, PS and YS desks over the next month. Please take a moment to welcome her to JPL when you get the opportunity.

Havana Nights

Havana Nights pops concert with the Des Moines Symphony this Saturday the 26th at 7:30 at the Civic Center.

Masterworks three on November 9th at 7:30, and November 10th at 2:30 at the Civic Center. Dvorak 8 and Grieg Piano Concerto plus two contemporary works!

2020 Holidays and Closings

The 2019 Holidays & Closings calendar was approved at last week’s board meeting. Find the link below and under Staff Resources to the left.

http://catalog.johnstonlibrary.com/share/Holidays%20Calendar%202020.pdf

Time sheets due on Thursday

Voting Info

We received our first question about voting for the combined City/School Vote that will take place on November 5. JPL is a voting location on November 5th but we are not a location for in-person absentee voting.

If people are interested in In-Person Absenstee voting (otherwise known as early voting), they can do that at the Polk County Election office, located at – 120 2nd Ave., Suite A Des Moines, IA 50309. The Polk County Election office is open for in-person absentee voting beginning October 7 through November 4, (Mon-Fri 8am – 5pm).

October 25 is the voter preregistration deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail. Voters may use Election Day registration procedures to register to vote after the preregistration deadline. If people want to request an absentee ballot by mail, the form is here: https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/media/330976/absenteeballotapp_campaign.pdf
The form should be mailed to the Polk County Auditor’s Office at 120 2nd Ave., Suite A Des Moines, IA 50309

Sample ballots for the November 5 election are available at the Polk County Auditor’s Office: https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/auditor/election/city-school-combined-11-5-19/

If a person wants to know if they are registered to vote or wants to register to vote online, that can be done at the Secretary of State’s website: https://sos.iowa.gov/

Polling Place/Precinct info can be located at the Secretary of State’s website: https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterreg/pollingplace/search.aspx

New Email a Patron Form

For those who don’t have a JPL email address or who do have one but don’t have outlook open while working at a public desk, there’s a new “Email a Patron” form in the lower right corner of the intranet. (This takes the place of the desk stats form which is going back to paper.)

Here are some examples of what you could use it for:

Sending a patron a link to the Adventure Pass webpage or a link to a search of our website for a particular author
Sending a patron information copied from the IRS website or the city’s website

The message will be delivered from the notices@johnstonlibrary.com email account which Molly and I monitor.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Email to JPL’s Bridges Users

I forwarded the email below to JPL patrons who have used Bridges within the past year.

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As a borrower of Johnston Public Library e-books and e-audiobooks, I think it’s important that you know how decisions by book publishers impact wait times for library users and how publishers’ pricing of library e-books and e-audiobooks limits the number of copies that we can make available. The email from the State Library of Iowa included below includes information on these issues as well as how you can give feedback to publishers about how they do business with public libraries.

Here are the main points for those in a hurry:

Libraries often get a discount on physical books and audiobooks but publishers charge libraries three to five times more than retail for e-books and e-audiobooks. This limits the number of copies we can buy and increases wait times.
Macmillan—publisher of John Grisham, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and other popular authors–has decided to prevent libraries from purchasing more than one copy of all new e-books and e-audiobooks for the first eight weeks after their publication. This will result in even longer wait-times for new titles.
The easiest way to let your voice be heard is to sign the petition at https://ebooksforall.org/. You can also contact Macmillan directly be emailing press.inquiries@macmillan.com

Eric Melton

Director

Johnston Public Library

6700 Merle Hay Road

Johnston, IA 50131

515-278-5233 ex. 604

melton@johnstonlibrary.com

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

October 16, 2019

Please Share This with Your Staff & Patrons

Publishers Are Changing E-Book Access for Libraries

It was a dark and stormy morning…

You run to your car through the rain to start your drive to work and open your favorite e-audiobook app for some rush-hour listening. To your dismay, the audiobook you purchased has vanished from your library. After dinner, the rain still falls as you settle into your favorite chair with a cup of tea to finish the thrilling ebook you bought last week, and you discover it too has vanished from your e-reader’s library. You search for the missing titles and find your ownership has expired and you must purchase them again, and the price has risen to $60!

As a consumer this has likely never happened to you; when you buy an ebook you assume you’ll own it forever and the prices are roughly comparable to the price of print books. But publishers have different prices and rules for libraries which determine how long we can own a copy. And now Macmillan Publishers is restricting libraries to one copy of all new titles for the first eight weeks after publication. These policies imposed on libraries by publishers create challenges as we strive to purchase sufficient digital copies to minimize wait times and meet the increasing demand for these formats; at Bridges in 2018 ebook use increased 18.6% and e-audiobook use increased 22.7%.

Libraries No Longer Own eBooks and e-Audiobooks

When a library purchases a digital copy of an ebook or e-audiobook, the publisher determines how long the library is allowed to own that item before it must be purchased again. This is called metered licensing. A perpetual license allows the library to purchase a digital copy once and own it forever, a situation which is becoming increasingly rare. Most major publishers have recently adopted a metered license policy where each purchased copy expires after two years, and some publishers also add a limit on the number of times a digital copy can be checked out before it expires so that very popular titles may expire before the two years have ended.

The publisher’s intent with metered licensing is to approximate the wear-and-tear which a physical copy would get through repeated use, wear-and-tear that does require libraries to decide whether to remove or replace worn out physical copies. In that context the two-year metered license doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable, until you factor in the significantly higher prices libraries pay for ebooks. Metered licensing also means that older titles simply vanish from our collection because we can’t always afford to replace those titles due to the high prices and the need to spend our limited funds on copies of newer, more popular titles. This robs our patrons of a rich back catalog of titles which are just as fulfilling now as they were when they first came out.

Macmillan Publishers has made an already difficult situation considerably worse with a new policy which prevents libraries from purchasing more than one copy of all new ebooks and e-audiobooks for the first eight weeks after publication. This will result in pent up demand among Bridges patrons who will wait even longer for new titles from Macmillan, titles by authors like John Grisham, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts. With a checkout period of two weeks for ebooks, only four patrons will be able to check out the single copy of new Macmillan titles while the library waits for the eight-week purchase embargo period to end. This shortsighted policy is detrimental to both libraries and to the community of book consumers that libraries foster and publishers need.

Libraries Pay Much Higher Prices For eBooks and e-Audiobooks

Many patrons assume libraries pay the same price for ebooks and e-audiobooks that consumers pay. This is true for print books, where libraries receive discounts comparable to the discounted prices one sees on Amazon. But it is not true for e-copies where libraries pay three to five times the consumer price. To illustrate this, let’s put together a shopping cart of the September 2019 top 5 New York Times fiction bestsellers and compare prices.

Per copy prices for consumer vs. library copies September 2019. Consumer prices are from Amazon. Note that a two-year metered license also applies to all of the ebook copies and most of the e-audiobook copies.

Title	Consumer ebook	Library ebook	Consumer e-audiobook	Library e-audiobook
The Institute by Stephen King	14.99	59.99	14.95	99.99
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood	14.99	55.00	14.95	95.00
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens	14.99	55.00	14.95	66.50
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt	11.99	65.00	14.95	65.00
The Titanic Secret by Clive Cussler	14.99	55.00	14.95	95.00
Total cost	71.95	289.99	74.75	421.49

Once you multiply these prices by the number of copies we need to purchase to satisfy demand, the prices become prohibitive. For example, Bridges has purchased 50 ebook copies and 34 e-audiobook copies of Where the Crawdads Sing at a cost of $4,977. And to satisfy demand we honestly need to purchase even more; over 1000 patrons are waiting to check out an ebook copy and 728 patrons are waiting to check out an e-audiobook copy. The popularity of this title is an extreme situation, but it’s easy to see ebook pricing is a challenge for our collection budget; spending $5,000 or more on a single title restricts the number of other titles we can purchase.

You can help!

The prohibitive pricing and unfavorable contract terms put libraries in a difficult position with little leverage for negotiation. The only way for libraries to exert economic pressure would be to boycott publishers who impose the policies which are detrimental to our ability to provide materials to our patrons. Unfortunately, this isn’t a realistic option unless we want to deny our patrons access to the authors and titles they want most. Macmillan is not the only publisher making their licensing terms more difficult for library collections. And while some patrons would be able to purchase their own copies, many wouldn’t have the means to do so; we would be failing in our mission to provide equitable access to all if we stop buying these titles.

What libraries are doing is registering our protest to these unfair policies with a united voice. And we encourage you to add your voice as well. Publishers need to understand that libraries foster an active community of readers and those readers are the people who purchase books. Libraries don’t harm publishers; we help them.

Let your voice be heard by joining with the American Library Association, Public Library Association, Urban Libraries Council, Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and even ebook platform companies like Overdrive, in strongly opposing the increased restrictions on digital library lending, especially the new Macmillan eight-week purchase embargo and the recent elimination of perpetual licensing by all of the major publishers.

The easiest way to let your voice be heard is to sign the petition at ebooksforall.org. But you can also contact Macmillan publishing directly be emailing press.inquiries@macmillan.com.

Read more news about publisher restrictions and policies affecting your library access to ebooks and e-audiobooks at the Urban Libraries Council’s Fair E-Book and E-Audiobook Lending for Libraries information page.

Original blog post by Nathan James,Deputy Executive Director of Central Arkansas Library System. Updated to reflect Iowa (Bridges) information.

(https://cals.org/blog/publishers-are-changing-e-book-access-for-libraries/)

I Love Libraries

Thank you for being a Bridges member library!

1112 East Grand Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50319

Bridges is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of Iowa.

First pops concert of the season

https://dmsymphony.org/events/havana-nights/.

This is a link with info about our first pops concert of the season. If you like Latin and Spanish music, this may be right for you!

Pleasant Hill Halloween party, another reminder!

The Pleasant Hill Halloween party will be held this Friday the 18th, from 6:30-8 at the Doanes Park Youth Center in Pleasant Hill. It’s free and you may wear a Halloween costume, and there will be lots of games and excitement!

Parameters for cancelling an Adventure Pass

New language clarifying our rule on cancelling an Adventure Pass has been added to the website:

“To cancel a reservation please call the library (515-278-5233) prior to closing the day before your visit. “

8th grade library card application humor for your Monday

Lynne’s Dad

With the extra funds received for the flowers, I made a donation in Robert’s name to Blessman International.

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Lynne’s dad passed away on Friday morning. A sympathy card is in the break room for anyone that would like to sign.

I am purchasing flowers on behalf of the library and will collect money from those interested in contributing. An envelope will be placed in the breakroom.

Services will be held on Tuesday, October 15 at McLarens Resthaven Chapel & Mortuary in West Des Moines. Visitation is at 10am and the service is at 11am.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/desmoinesregister/obituary.aspx?n=robert-r-thompson&pid=194144259&fhid=11274

Ice Skating Rink Coming to JPL

I received this messge from the parks director yesterday. I’ll provide more information as I get it.

Eric,

We have been working with the Iowa Wild to encourage more skating/ice hockey in the metro area. They are donating a rink to the City of Johnston to install and use this year. This will just lay on a grass surface. My thoughts are the commons there by the library represents the best site. It has plenty of flat ground and parking adjacent to it. I wanted to touch base with you to make sure that you didn’t have any issues with this location. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

John

John Schmitz

Parks and Recreation Director

Patron request to relocate a book

I thought staff may be interested in my response to a patron requesting that we relocate a particular book. There may be cases where relocation is appropriate (and I believe we’ve done it once or twice while I’ve been at JPL) but, in my opinion, this is not one of them.

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Hello!

My nine year old recently checked out “Breakaways” by Cathy Johnson in the children’s section. I was surprised to see it had a picture of two boys kissing in bed. I want to state I would also think it is not age appropriate for my nine year old to read a book with a boy and girl kissing in bed. I do not know what you think of this, but as a parent who visits this library often, I would like to suggest this book would be better suited in the young adult section.

Thank you

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Thank you for your message about The Breakaways. I looked through the book and can appreciate that some of the content is not what you’d like your child reading. Some parents, however, may not find it objectionable for their child. We feel that these kinds of decisions are best left with parents and not librarians.

We are cautious about moving books into sections of the library meant for books intended for an older audience (the recommended age-range for The Breakaways is 8 to 11 years). Doing such would make them less accessible to their intended audience and would also put us in the position of “deciding” that, in this case, a book written for 8 to 11 year olds should be less accessible than other books written for that audience.

I have decided that The Breakaways should stay in the library’s Juvenile Graphic Novels collection. I’ve attached the library’s Collection Development Policy which includes details about how we select library materials as well as a form you can complete to have the library board reconsider my decision.

Let me know if you have any questions or additional comments.

Time Sheets Due on Thursday

WDM Library closure

The West Des Moines Public Library will be closed from October 14-26 to prepare for renovations, so please don’t be surprised if a lot of WDM residents request cards from our library.

Building Air Pressue

The HVAC guy came today and thinks he solved the building pressure issue that was making it hard to open the staff door.

Requesting Renewals for ILLs

Requesting renewals for ILLs over the phone or in person just got easier

All ILLs that we lend have a wrapper that instructs them to email Dreama for renewal requests, but if a patron calls the library or stops by a public service desk to request a renewal for an ILL, we can submit the request through the Purchase/ILL Request in the Helping Patrons view of the Intranet.

Look up the patron using the barcode or last name.
Click on the ILL link in blue to the left of the name.
Click submit next to the title(s)

If they have an email address on file, the patron will receive the following email:

We received your interlibrary loan renewal request. We will let you know when we hear back from the lending library about extending your due date. In the meantime, hold onto the item (we’ll waive any overdue fees that accrue while we’re waiting for a response). We will let you know as soon as we hear back from the lending library.

Funny Reference Questions

We are compiling a list of funny reference questions for a presentation we are doing at the beginning of next week.

If you have any that you’ve received while working in the library, please send them my way! If you have the answer to the question, that’s even better!