Inspiring Story from San Francisco

Urban libraries are reacting to the homeless "challenge" by hiring social workers and nurses. Here is an inspiring story from San Francisco.
http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/03/humanizing-homelessness-at-the-san-francisco-public-library/475740/
We will be embarking on an "Inclusive Project" here at KPL this summer. We'll be talking about the different people in our community, what kind of services they need, and how the library can welcome everyone through our doors.
If you'd like to help put that project together, let me know. Team members welcome!

2015 Annual Report

It's bold, beautiful, and sings the praises of this amazing library!
The 2015 Annual Report to the Community is available now.
http://mykpl.info/iguana/uploads/file/kpl_annual(2).pdf

Thanks for the beautiful design, Aaron!

Thanks to Janet Frieman

Janet will be planning and planting the garden for the planters at the NS library entrance.  Thanks for making us beautiful, Janet!

KPL Foundation Support

Our KPL Foundation awarded us $29,500 in grants to support three different projects.

• To help us pay for a new $12,000 generator for the bookmobile, the Foundation will cover the cost of the computer bar we will install later this year in the SW lobby, a cost we had planned for in our budget. We will use the support to get the bookmobile up and running reliably! And we'll place some signage along the computer bar thanking the Foundation for their generosity.
• Migrating to SHARE means we need to transfer our website to a different software product. That's tremendously time intensive. This week the Foundation voted to provide $15,000 to hire a company to do that work for us! 
• Jill has been planning a Summer of Shakespeare for our community, and the Foundation enthusiastically supported that idea by offering to raise $2500 in support.

If you see any of our Foundation members, please let them know how much we appreciate their support!

Here's a list of Foundation members:

Gina Madrigrano Friebus

Carol Heide

Bill Althaus

Pat Demos

Len Iaquinta

Samantha Towner

Shavonda Marks

Karen Sconzert

Patty Mahoney

Angie Aker

Tip McGuire

Rosanna Molinaro

Nikki Payne

Nick Tryling

Rokus for Checkout

From Robert:

The records for the Rokus are now in V-Smart, and discoverable. 

What is a Roku?

It's a media player that streams select, library owned movies to a TV. To use it, you will need a TV with either RCA (yellow, white, and red) connectors or an HDMI connection, and high speed internet with WiFi. These devices have access to around 150 various movies and a few TV shows, and will circulate for 7 days with 1 renewal (if there are no holds). 

What comes with it? 

Each Roku includes: 1 Roku with power supply, 1 remote with batteries, 1 RCA cable, 1 HDMI cable, and instruction on how to use it. 

Are movies pre-loaded on the device?

No. The rokus are linked to accounts that are controlled by KPL, and all content is streamed to it over the internet. KPL is unable to see what has been watched on the devices. If a device is stolen KPL can remotely wipe it, thus preventing any of our content from streaming to it. 

Does each Roku have the same content?

Each Roku account has access to different content. The movies and TV shows that they are connected to are from the digital codes that come with some of our Blu-rays and DVDs.  Thanks to Joe and the Tech Guides, these codes were able to go to good use. While some content will overlap, each record will show what is available on each device.

What apps are preloaded? 

The main video app to use is called CinemaNow, Disney films can be found under the Disney Anytime app, and both PBS and PBS Kids apps are available. 

Can I add my own Netflix or Hulu account to this?

Not at this time. We are doing this for the patron's privacy. If a patron were to load their own account information onto a Roku and forget to remove it, then the next person to check it out would also have access to that account. If a patron tries to add any other apps onto the Roku, they will be asked to enter a security password. 

Uptown Bookmobile Backup

Our Outreach Team will be adding bookmobile stops at the Uptown Neighborhood Library Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week while the library building is closed for asbestos removal.
Monday at 10:15am and 4pm
Wednesday at 10:45am and 1:30pm
Friday at 12:45pm

Thanks to the crew for flexing their schedules to provide library service to this neighborhood!

LSTA Grants

I am so pleased to announce that KPL was awarded LSTA funding for all 3 grant applications this year. 

Kenosha Connects will provide kits of mobile hot spots and electronic devices to check out to our patrons with no home internet access. Award amount: $15,928 

A second grant provides $12,000 to help pay the costs of merging into the SHARE catalog.

The third award supports purchase of digital resources. Award amount: $9,000

Total award: $36,928

We also won a $16,710 joint grant with Lakeshores Library System to provide all member libraries with Digital Creation kits for public programming.

Thanks to Lin, Joe, Max and Brent for taking on the Kenosha Connects project and to Lin for her part in securing these funds. 

News from Admin

Hello, Everyone
Lots happening behind the scenes at KPL. Here's news to share:

• Congratulations to Jill Miatech, who has been chosen to take on the role of Outreach Coordinator. Jill will start in her new position April 18th.
• We will be posting an opportunity for Jill's programs replacement shortly. 
• Uptown will be closed for 2 weeks while we remove asbestos beginning Monday, March 28th. After the asbestos is cleared, the library will reopen while new tile is laid in the basement. Literacy will we using SW meeting and study rooms to accommodate students until the tile work is complete. Sean will reassign Uptown staff to help with library projects during downtime.
• While Uptown is closed, we hope to send the bookmobile, complete with a shiny new generator, to the neighborhood a time or two. 
• We will be conducting a Food for Fines Week May 23-29. Every non-perishable item collected earns $1 off accumulated fines. Sean and his team will devise full guidelines and share with everyone in advance. 
• We are bidding the RFID project and have three interested vendors. The full request for proposal (RFP) is on our website. We hope to get this project in motion within a few weeks. We'll begin by tagging our collection with RFID tags. Joe will serve as Project Manager.
• Statistics took a turn toward the clouds last month. Use was up everywhere except Simmons, and it would have been there, too without those days closed for heating. It's so great to see more people coming and checking out items to take home. Thanks to everyone for your part in making KPL such a welcoming place!

Did you bookmark our beautiful page on the DEMCO website? Here it is again. 

http://www.demcointeriors.com/project/kenosha-public-library-northside-branch/

Happy weekend!

Barb

Thank you, Chuck

It's been nearly a year now that we have struggled to complete a capital improvement project at Simmons, and I just wanted to shine the spotlight on Chuck Dykstra, our Maintenance Superintendent. Chuck came to KPL from a long career in the construction industry and as a building inspector. The combination of that experience has been a tremendous asset to KPL, as Chuck not only can manage complex building projects like the kind we do at our historical Simmons building, but he can evaluate the quality and the requirements that surround building systems. This recent project took all kinds of twists and turns as our contractor changed course. Chuck watched the work carefully and insisted that the work be done to specifications. He met with vehement disagreement from our consultant and from city staff along the way, but he knew he was right, and we persisted until the work was done correctly. We owe Chuck a big thank you for his integrity and commitment to the right outcome.
Please join me in saying how grateful we are for his leadership!
Barb

Off to Washington

Joe, Rob and I are heading to Washington next week for the annual Computers in Libraries conference where we will learn much about social media marketing, maker spaces, community engagement, gadgets, websites, user experience testing, and staff training. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing from Lee Rainie from Pew Research, who usually launches interesting new survey results at every major library conference- who knows what he has in store for us this time.
While we are gone, we are always connected, so please continue to reach out to us as needed.
We will bring back spring weather!
Barb

Linnea's Soft Opening

Linnea Bakery is heading for opening day. They have announced a soft opening to staff and visitors this coming Tuesday with a grand opening yet unannounced. Look for yummy goodies for Tuesday lunch!

Leadership Growing at KPL

As you all know, Staff Development has been one of the key goals of KPL's Strategic Plan. I am delighted to report that we have made great strides in meeting our Technology Competencies, and many of you have become active learners beyond the core training we have provided. This month we realized another milestone in that we have five (at least) staff members in leadership positions at the state and national levels. 

Lin Swartz-Truesdell was tapped to lead the Electronic Resources Workgroup for the Wisconsin Public Library System Redesign initiative.

Joe Davies was appointed to the Wisconsin LSTA Advisory Committee

Rob Nunez serves as Head of ALA's Heads of Library Technology Committee
Pam Penza serves on on YALSA's Teens' Top Ten Committee for the 2015-2017 term (ALA)

and I have just have been appointed to ALA's Training, Orientation, and Leadership Development Committee.

(If you are active in a state or national committee and I have not recognized you here, please let us all know.)

It is no easy task to fulfill the obligations of our busy jobs here at KPL and also contribute to our profession at the state and national levels. I commend these leaders, and all of you who embrace the learning opportunities that come your way. We never stop learning, no matter who we are or what position we hold, and the more we grow our knowledge and skills, the better service we provide to our community. Thank you for being a community of learners!

Barb