JPL Intranet

I brought some bagels and chive and onion cream cheese to the staff meeting last week, and more are in the freezer.  Please feel free to help yourself!

Don’t forget and the symphony and Star Wars!  https://dmsymphony.org/events/star-wars-a-new-hope-in-concert/.  This could be a one-time event!

When signing kids up for the Mix-It Up Program, please make sure to sign up the child for the correct time and age group. Kids going into Kindergarten-2nd grade are welcome to attend the 10AM session and kids going into 3rd-5th grade are welcome to attended the 1PM session. Please tell the parent/guardian that we request that everyone comes 15 minutes early to check-in and to allow us to start on-time. This information is in the description, but a reminder is always helpful! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask or send registrations over to YS. 

From the City Clerk:

There has been some recent information circulating among state HR folks that there have been First Amendment Auditors working in the state – there has been no mention of their presence in the metro, but I thought a heads up may be warranted.  For those who may be unaware, this is a social movement that tests the right to photograph and video record in public spaces. These are individuals who typically travel to areas considered public property such as sidewalks, post office or government buildings and openly record those spaces and persons in their view.  They make the point that their movement promotes transparency and open government, but often times these interactions result in confrontations which are filmed and then uploaded to various social media platforms. 

If you haven’t had discussions with your staff about the proper methods to handle these audits, please take time to do so.  The bottom line for most of us (PD has additional considerations) is that as long as the ‘auditors’ are in public areas, are not putting themselves or others in danger, are not interfering with business, or persons doing business they have a right to film, record, or photograph.  The best practice is to ignore them and allow them to be there so long as they are not putting anyone in danger or interfering with business.

Beth asked, “I need clarification: do individuals who wish to photograph or video in public spots have a right to do so to other members of the public within the building, without their permission? I was working under the assumption that they could film employees but not other members of the public without their permission. Is this correct?”

My response: “While we’ve inferred from our policies that patrons have the right to not be recorded by other patrons I don’t think that would stand up legally given that patrons can’t have an expectation of privacy when they’re in a public space. When the sole purpose of the person doing the recording is to catch public employees violating first amendment law, it’s probably wise to err on the side of leniency.”

Adventure Passes are now limited to Johnston residents. This change does not affect existing reservations by out-of-towners. The software is not sophisticated enough at this point to allow rural Polk County patrons. Please refer any rural patrons to me.

There is a notepad by the volunteer log in workroom. If you or a patron notice an area that needs to be straightened or shelf read, can you please enter it on the notepad and be as specific as possible with the call numbers? The shelvers, volunteers and I will be checking this notebook daily.

Please register here > https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/events/?event_page=registration&did=32665

Are you intimidated at the thought of helping romance readers? Whether your readers are fans of category romances or paranormal romances, let NoveList and LibraryReads break down the best romance has to offer your readers — from bouncing back to secret babies.

The staff printer is out of order again. Please send print jobs to a different printer until the staff printer is fixed again.

The toner waste container has been replaced. The staff printer is back in service. 5/24/19 lf

The bad news is that in working on our browse genres on the website I lost all of our staff picks. 

The good news is that you can now add staff picks via the website. If you’re logged in, you’ll see an “add to staff picks” link below each book (books only). Click the link to add your favorites to the staff picks page. Your first name will be recorded to be used on a coming feature where patrons can view a list of picks limited to a particular staff member. Plus, you will get rewarded with a small affirmation each time you choose a book. 

https://www.johnstonlibrary.com/pac/?pac_page=browse&item_type=book&genre[]=21

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/arts/design/chicago-public-housing.html

The staff printer got (another) new fuser is up and running again.

I’ve placed a service call, and a Premier technician will be in today to fix the problem. In the meantime, if you need assistance printing to the Youth Services printer, please let me know.

Update: The printer is back in service.

I’ve placed a service call, and a Premier technician will be in today to fix the problem. In the meantime, if you need assistance printing to the Youth Services printer, please let me know.

Article on the Des Moines Register web site about the Sensory Spaces program.

YS is now accepting your egg cartons. While we are grateful for any, we would especially appreciate the cardboard variety. Thanks!

Exciting news to announce–

Kathleen has accepted the Director position at Van Meter Public Library. Her last day will be May 23. Best of luck to Kathleen at her new gig!

David Wilwerding, Johnston’s Community Development Director, sent the report linked below ahead of a Comprehensize Plan meeting that will take place Monday. The report includes interseting data about who lives in Johnston–their race, education, income, etc.–and how that’s changing as well as the makeup of the city’s housing stock and other information. It even has a point about the Library!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kzbTV9oSsi_IsuYFqw3se_M2rTgQ4zLc

Megan B. has accepted a full-time position at the Hawkeye Community College Library. She’ll be moving to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area in June. Her last day with us will be June 3rd. Congrats Megan!

Yep, I’m asking for you to get your time sheets turned in early AGAIN. My daughter is graduating college on Friday night the 10th and I’m taking Saturday off to celebrate with her.

Thank you for being diligent in getting your time sheets turned in – and proofing them before you do so. As always, send me an email if you need me to pay attention to something on your time sheet.

You may have heard already that our own Megan B. will be serving as our AmeriCorps member this summer. She’ll be doing a lot of outreach–at parks, free lunch sites, and community events–and helping with summer reading sign-ups and programs. Rachel Vaughan will fill Megan’s circulation hours during June and July.