News for the week

Thanks again to Brandi and Aaron for delivering pretty new t-shirts and polo shirts for us to wear. Some of you have wondered whether you can have both types of shirts. The purpose of the polo shirts is to provide easy visual identification of managers. Say, for instance, a family walks into the Youth and Family Services section of the library at Southwest and has a concern about the program they are attending. Heather's gray polo shirt is a visual cue that she is the department manager and the person to whom they should voice their concern.

We have great news from our SE Wisconsin training consortium. They will be offering access to an online version of the training we received from Ryan Dowd , author of Librarian's Guide to Homelessness, in 2020. It was definitely the favorite CE opportunity we've offered to staff so far, and now our newest staff will have the opportunity to learn from Ryan online. It will also be a great time for a refresher for seasoned staff.

We'll be sending out a little something for the holidays to each of you. Look for that Monday.

This week I received two nominations for the Bright Spot Award.
This from Martha:
"I nominate Linda Hinderliter for this weeks bright spot.  Two kids at Uptown just asked where she is this morning.  They love Linda!"

This from Heather:

"Rosa demonstrated excellent judgment and compassion while helping a teen who was in a difficult situation. Thanks to her, we have one more person who knows that KPL is a safe place with staff that really cares about the well-being of their patrons." 

I'll be out of the library from December 24th through January 2nd. (back the 3rd). Rob and Linda are your contacts for big issues while I'm away.
I wish you all a very lovely holiday surrounded by those you love. May the New Year bring you joy and prosperity!
Barb

Uptown Brainstorm, T-Shirts, and Bowling for Books

Thanks to all who came together last Friday to brainstorm solutions to our drop in use at Uptown. We began each session with this problem: Since 2011, use of the Uptown Library has dropped 50%.
It didn't take long for us to understand that our "problem" was really a symptom, and the underlying problem we could dissect and tackle was this:
The Uptown Neighborhood is disconnected from its library.
Together, we identified several possible reasons from a user perspective:
1. No one who works at the library looks like me. (At least one staff member has heard Uptown referred to as "the white people's library" in the neighborhood.)
2. You don't have anything for me.
3. I'm not welcome there.
4. You close at 6. You're closed on Fridays. You're open 4 hours on Saturday and never on Sunday. My work schedule is always changing. When do you think I can come?
5. You don't care about us. The Northside Library's children's section is all new and pretty, the Southwest library gets million dollar makeovers and the Simmons Library gets a 4 million dollar makeover. We're lucky if you plant flowers in the window boxes at Uptown.
6. I have to sit outside to use your wireless after 6pm. I need Internet access to do my homework and I need your computers to do that.
7. Dimensions in Learning used to bring classes. They don't come anymore. We should find out why.

We have a lot of work to do, but it's clear what we can do to reconnect with the Uptown Neighborhood. If you have ideas that you weren't able to share last Friday, use this link to access a form where you can tell us all about your brilliant idea. 
Thanks for participating!


Kenosha Rotary West is organizing an event to raise money to purchase materials for Outreach Services.  Mardi Gras Bowl for Books will be on Feb. 15th 1-5pm at the Sheridan Lanes. We get to bowl in formal wear- how FUN! Hope you can join us!

Monday is the big day! Our new logo will launch to the public. To support this promotion, we encourage you all to wear your new shirts every day this coming week. Don't forget the new dress code allows library issued t-shirts and polo shirts every day for all staff members.  We have purchased enough shirts for everyone to receive 2. Before we deliver the second shirt, we want to be sure you have the right size, so please provide us with any size change requests ASAP.
Here's more from Brandi:

New T-shirts and name tag inserts have been delivered to all the branches. Please work with your supervisor to get your T-shirts. With the logo launch being next week we are encouraging everyone to wear their T-shirts throughout the week. 

Each department has a different color T-shirt with one of our strategic promises proudly displayed on the back. 

Strategic Promises:

Keeping You Curious 

Strengthening Neighborhoods 

Inspiring Learning

These strategic promises are our pledges to the community that our user-centered services are here to help make all parts of Kenosha better. I’m so excited we get to share them in this fun new way! 

Each T-shirt has a tag with washing instructions to help your new favorite shirt live a long vibrant life. 

If you have any issues with your shirts or name that inserts please reach out. I’m happy to help! 

This week's Bright Spot Award goes to Alejandria and Susannah who describe their mission at KPL as "to create a safe space for teens where everyone can be who they are." How lucky our teens are to have such advocates at the library. Thanks to these young professionals who create that safe space with such dedication and passion.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Barb

Sneak Peek

Remember that new logo? Coming soon...

Kudos to Uptown!

Every branch has a suggestion box, but do you ever wonder what people say? Here's a great example of what we get in those boxes. Kudos to the Uptown staff for making Leon's day.

We're on PBS!

What a great video promo of our bookmobile service! Thanks to our Outreach crew for making us proud!

Announcing the Uptown Project

Hello, all KPLers
Over the past few months, I have been talking about our challenges serving the Uptown neighborhood. Circulation at that branch has decreased by 50% since 2011. Visits are down 37% during the same period. This year has been particularly tough. We need to make some changes. Uptown is a challenged neighborhood with too many kids who are failing in school and too many adults who are failing in life. The library can be their lifeline to a better future. I'm ready to accept that challenge and I hope you are, too.
I can sit in my office and stare at statistics and formulate what I think is a plan for improvement. Or I can bring all of you together who have worked in that neighborhood for years or lived there or know the neighborhood dynamics well, and ask you. I think the second option is the one that's more likely to get us where we need to go.
So I'm inviting you to join me at Uptown Library on Friday, December 6th for two sessions, either 9am or 1pm,  where we'll use a tool called factor analysis to determine the reasons we think Uptown library service has not been successful and strategies to turn it around. If you have experience working at Uptown or you are passionate about improving equitable service across KPL, I need you there. If you cannot attend that day, I will send out a staff survey to collect your ideas after the session. If enough people express interest but can't attend, I'll schedule an additional session.

These factor analysis sessions with staff are one tool we'll use to figure out how to serve the Uptown neighborhood better. Here are several more strategies already underway:

• Curtis Strange and Grant Elementary schools will send a survey to parents about why they do or don't visit the library and how we can become a family tradition.
• We're hiring a Branch Manager to focus on collections, staff training, and space considerations.
• We're working hard to attract more diverse staff candidates who reflect the racial makeup of the neighborhood.
• We're finalizing a new contract with the Literacy Council to gain more first floor library service space.
• We're considering ways other libraries have tailored services in challenged neighborhoods.
• We're gearing up to partner with the job center to improve our workforce development training.
• We're pursuing a grant funded Preparing Adults for the Workplace program through the ProLiteracy Education Center that we'll pilot at Shalom, then repeat at Uptown.

If you are able to join us on Friday, December 6th, or if you can't attend but are interested in participating, please add your name to this list. 

Thanks so much!

Barb

News for the Week

Here's what happened last week:

• The Friends of the Library agreed to fund $25,000 worth of library programs and projects. Here's what they funded:
• Diaper Disposal System for YFS @ SW (Yay! No more smelly diapers!)
• Dishwasher for Southwest break room, perfect for Charlie Cart cleanup
• Bookpage and Book Club in a Bag bags
• Promotional items like pencils and cups for giveaways
• Sponsorship of KPL's spelling team at the annual literacy fundraising event (go team!)
• $10,000 toward the cost of constructing a new activities room at SW

Thank you, generous FOL, for your amazing support!

• At Tuesday's Board meeting, our library board was equally generous. Here's what they agreed to:
• 1.5% increase in our wage scale. When you receive your step increase in 2020 it will be 1.5% more than expected. If you're at the top of your range, you'll get a 1.5% increase. Most of you will see that increase on January 1. If you were hired in 2019, you'll see it on your anniversary date.
• We'll lease a car in 2020 for long range travel to conferences and meetings. So instead of going through the rental car hassle, you'll drive the "company car." 
• All public programs are generously funded next year with extra money for nutrition class supplies and special events.
• Our full time employees will continue to pay no premiums for our health insurance. Deductibles will remain the same. This continues to be an amazing benefit in comparison to industry standards. Everywhere I look I see libraries charging monthly premiums and high deductibles. Let's cross our fingers that our generous benefits remain the same for years to come.
• Once again the budget for training and travel is strong. I encourage everyone to be thinking of attending the exhibits and programs at ALA in Chicago this summer. We'll lease a bus and ask our vendors for passes to get as many staff there as possible.
• We'll finally have the funds to fix the back stairs and replace the old doors on the Uptown Library this coming year.

And finally, you might get questions from the public about why our budget was cut. It does look that way, but we didn't really get cut. We've been paying rent for CCB to the city, $165,710 in 2019. The money showed up in our income and expenses, since the city provides most of our income and is also the landlord that received the rent.  Since we'll be moving out of CCB, we won't be charged rent by the city any longer, so it doesn't show up in income or expenses, which makes it look like we took a budget cut.  The city actually gave us an extra $80,000 to pay for your wage increases.

I'll be taking the board-approved budget to the Common Council Finance Committee on Tuesday, November 26th for final approval.

Other news:

• Grace Welcome Center will be collecting food for their pantry at Northside and Southwest. Linda will follow up with details on dates and logistics.
• Richard Stanford has been banned from all library locations until further notice.
• There have been reports of patrons viewing pornographic images on our computers. Our tech crew tells me the perpetrator is accessing these through allowed sites like Facebook. Not much we can do but intervene when we see it. 
• If you are on the city's health, dental, or vision insurance, or if you  wish to enroll and are eligible to do so, open enrollment notices went out Sunday. You have until December 6th to respond. You need to respond every year, even if you aren't requesting any changes. Don't miss the deadline!

This week's Bright Spot Award nominations comes from two librarians who noticed their colleagues really rising to the occasion.
Marcia writes "I would like to nominate Patty Bajabir and Lori Mohr for Bright Spot Award.  Patty & Lori have several home delivery patrons that love them so much.  But a few weeks ago, Lori couldn't reach one for delivery and it turned out she had surgery and was in rehab.  Patty is the patron's selector, and she was able to connect Lori to a family member.  Patty visited her over the weekend and picked up some of our items.  The patron was so touched that the library cares about her so much.  The home delivery relationships are so very important to our patrons receiving this service."

And Stephanie writes after an incident with a patron who needed medical help, "I'd also like to say that Phillip did a fantastic job of handling the situation and should get a Bright Spot Award for being so approachable and compassionate when Richard asked to speak with him. In fact, when we were waiting for the police to show, Richard didn't want Phillip to leave because he made him feel safe. Phillip also didn't think twice about throwing on some plastic gloves and searching through the garbage with me (which was particularly grosser than normal!)"

 It's people like Lori, Patty, and Phillip that make KPL so beloved in our community. Thank you for your amazing compassionate work!

And thanks to everyone who opened their offices, work rooms, and staff break areas to those of us at CCB who were out in the cold on Tuesday!

Barb

New Staffing Structure

Hello from Tulsa!
This week I'd like to talk about the upcoming changes to our organizational structure that will take place beginning January 2020.
First, a little background...
Over the past ten years, we've seen a dramatic drop in circulation. This reduced interest in collections is common to the majority of public libraries across America, and is countered at KPL by the dramatic increase in interest for public programming and digital products. Since my arrival, KPL has invested in staff to develop and deliver outstanding programs. We've taken our services out into the community through a robust Outreach Services program and increased Youth and Family Services staffing. We purchased a second bookmobile, expanded our digital products, and automated our processes so we could move more people into customer contact positions. We've had moments of rebound, particularly in 2016 when we merged our catalog with SHARE and our community's access to collections surged. But this year, we're back to the sad story of declining visits and collection use.
As we enter a new year, its time to take action. Like you, I believe in the value of everything we offer, including our wonderful collections and the people (You!) who connect the community with those collections. So, we're going to try something a little different to grab the attention of our community and reconnect them with all we have to offer.

Starting January 2020, we're going to hire Branch Managers, one to oversee the Northside Neighborhood Library, and one to oversee both Simmons and Uptown Neighborhood Libraries. These managers will be responsible for the success of their assigned locations. They'll support and guide branch staff, develop collections, choose the programs for their locations, and monitor the statistical data to measure the impact of their decisions. The Branch Managers will be MLS librarians, so they will also serve as the ADS staff in their branches. They won't sit in an office with a door shut. They will immerse in service, coach and train their teams to deliver the very best customer experience, join neighborhood associations, and collaborate with ADS and YFS  to tailor their facilities, programs, and services to their neighborhoods.

Cathy Jensen and Martha Coaty will continue as Circulation Team Leaders, both assigned to our Southwest location, which experiences 60% of our total use, and could frankly use the help. They are both excited (and a little relieved) to team up to support the large circulation staff at SW, and I thank them for their willingness to try this new arrangement.

Thanks to the Leadership Team for their input as we finalized this new staffing plan in preparation for Board approval this Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing fantastic results!

New dress code effective January 2020

Hello, KPLers
Over the past few years I have heard many of you wish for different dress code rules, and so, together with our leadership team, I have constructed a revised dress code that will go into effect January 2, 2020 on a trial basis.
This revised dress code has several goals:

1. A professional, yet vibrant, energetic feel to our library
2. Visual staff recognition of teams and managers
3. Staff safety and comfort
4. Alignment with community values
5. Communication of the library's strategic initiatives

This new policy is considerably more casual than before. Casual does not mean slovenly or sloppy. You should always look like you know what you're doing, you care about your job and respect the people you serve. If after several months of experimenting with this dress code we find that our appearance has negatively affected our work or our image in the community, this policy will be revoked and we will all return to business casual. So for the sake of the library and for your fellow coworkers, stay neat and clean and present yourself proudly to the public. If you personally like business casual, you are certainly welcome to remain the well dressed staff member you are!

Here's the new policy.

We will issue new t-shirts or collared shirts to you by year's end, based on your department assignment and position. The color of the shirt will be your team's color, the message will correspond with your team's primary focus. For instance, ADS will wear the Inspiring Learning shirt, Outreach will wear Strengthening Neighborhoods. 

Here's a mock up prepared by Aaron. 

Let's see how this goes!

Barb

FOL Book Store Opens This Weekend

From Michelle:

The Friends of the Kenosha Public Library Bookstore will be open this weekend to the public. Many of the volunteers have had training but not real world retail experience so this will be a soft opening with a more regular schedule to follow in the near future.

Saturday Hours : 10:00am to 4:00pm

Sunday Hours: 12:00pm to 3:00pm

There is a possibility that their credit card machine may not be up and running yet this weekend so please be patient if they send a customer to the circ desk for a purchase with a credit card. They will soon have a KPL phone with voicemail if you receive calls for them.  I will announce that number when I get it.

Please forward any questions or concerns.

Thank you!

______________________

• Uptown Library will be open on Fridays 9am to 6pm  starting January 17th. We'll throw a party at the branch to celebrate on January 15th in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday. 
• Fond farewell to Dana, our Simmons Children's Room treasure who brought delight to so many young readers over the years. Your legacy lives on! We wish you renewed health and lifelong happiness!
• Fond farewell to Traci who is transferring to Public Works. I'm sure we will see you often as we visit city hall and will be super jealous when you have a beautiful new building to work in! Thanks for all your years of service to KPL. 
• I'll be at a training event on Friday and a conference next week with a few scattered vacation days in between. While I'm out Linda and Rob are your go-to decision makers.

This week's Bright Spot goes to Martha and Jon who bravely worked  without complaint at Uptown without heat Monday morning. It got pretty chilly- into the 50s, yet there were many patrons who were glad their neighborhood library was open. Thanks for going above and beyond to keep vital library service available to this challenged neighborhood!

Bike Repair Clinic a Hit!

What a good idea from Tara to get bike repair stations. Library education diversified!

News Update

Adult Program News from Jennifer:

Hi Everyone!

We're getting back on this train. Here are four highlights in programming from ADS for the month of November! Please pick one (or a few!) of these programs to familiarize yourself with and share with our community members. Each program is linked to the entry in our public calendar, so you can read the description and get an idea of what it is about.

• Mingling Thru the Decades- 1950s & 60s
  Saturday, November 9th @ Southwest Library
  Registration is required.
  This is our final Mingling Thru the Decades!
  Contact Stephanie with any questions.
  
• Couponing and Meal Planning
  Wednesday, November 13 @ Northside Library
  No registration is required.
  This program is run by our community partner, WWBIC.
  
• Memory Café
  Tuesday, November 12 @ Southwest Library
  No registration is required, but it is recommended that first-time attendees call the Alzheimer's Association (1-800-272-3900), so they can gauge whether their progression of memory loss will make this program useful for them.
  This is a new, regularly-occurring program, run by our community partner, the ADRC.
  
• Internet Customization
  Thursday, November 21 @ Northside Library
  No registration is required. Computers will be available for the first 6 participants who need them -- it is recommended that people bring their own laptop, when possible.
  Contact Zander with any questions.

Thanks to all of you in advance for your help promoting these events throughout November - it makes a huge difference!

Best,
Jennifer

Kenosha Area Transit training and Nonprofit Tour Survey Contest!

Kenosha Area Transit Training & Nonprofit Tour Survey Contest!

Calling all Kenosha Area Transit training and Nonprofit Tour participants! All you have to do is email Linda Noyce your answers to this quiz by October 21st and your name will be entered into a drawing for a $10 Common Grounds gift card. 

1. Name four organizations that you learned about at the Kenosha County Job Center.

2. Share one programming idea that would incorporate KPL partnering with Kenosha Human Development Services or the Kenosha Achievement Center. 

3. In your opinion, what was the most impactful takeaway from the Kenosha Area Transit Training and Nonprofit Tour? 

News for the Week

The city will hold another shredding day on Saturday, October 26th from 9am to 1pm in the NS and SW parking lots and at the Kenosha Water Utility on Green Bay Rd.

Interesting article about academic libraries and how "reinvention" isn't necessary. From the text: "92 percent of the college students surveyed in a 2015 study, for example, said they preferred paper books to electronic versions. (Plus, a growing body of evidence shows that physical books and papers are more conducive to learning than digital formats are.)" 

A good reminder to those on the service desk, this short article about the value of admitting you don't know. People don't mind that you don't know as long as you're willing to find out what you don't know and ultimately solve their problem. Just saying I don't know without any follow through is not acceptable. And people have developed a real nose for when they're getting the run around. So don't be embarrassed. Find out, follow through, and you'll be ready for that question next time.

This week's Bright Spot goes to Frankie Narvaez Vega, our outstanding Custodian at Uptown Neighborhood Library. Frankie left this note for staff this past week:

Appreciate the Team
Good Morning, 
Just wanted to say Thank you to the teams at KPL, I have been getting complements on my work . It gives me encouragement and it is appreciated . As a small token i setup some flowers by the main desk at uptown. Enjoy them and have a great week.

Best regards

Frankie

Chicago Public Library eliminates overdue fees

Read all about it, and how the movement to eliminate overdue fees in public libraries is gaining momentum across the country.
Our fine income has been steadily dropping over the years, a combined effect of eliminating fines on children's materials and sending out reminder notices. For 2020, we expect $53,000 in fine revenue. That's the equivalent of a full time staff position, so it's tough to say we can do without it, especially as the city continues to squeeze our budget to zero per cent increases.
I know I often hear from the general public that the threat of fines or the accumulation of fines in the past keeps them away. But I wonder about the threat of loss or damage, which we will never eliminate? Is that as great a concern? Will eliminating fines be enough to bring people back?

News for the Week

Welcome to autumn!
Here's what's happening across KPL:

• We've submitted a grant application to the Kenosha Community Foundation to fund premium quality virtual reality headsets in support of our 2020 programming efforts. "Building Empathy through Virtual Reality" proposes programming with content offered though the United Nations , NASA, and The New York Times. Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab has been studying VR's effect on empathy with good results and VR has been quite useful in helping older adults with memory loss. If funded, we'll focus on teen and older adults with VR programming and see what effects we see here.
• Kenosha Parks Alliance holds its annual summer parks program wrap-up tomorrow at Lincoln Park from 12-2pm. KPL Outreach will be there with our bookmobile, handing out free books to kids and offering a craft. I'll be serving hot dogs, courtesy of the Kenosha Kingfish, and ice cream from Culver's. The city will provide free kites for kids and families. Come join us if you can.
• Thanks to everyone who participated in Voter Registration Day this week. We helped a good number of people register and checked the registrations on many more. Way to support democracy!
• We're planning a community forum with Building Our Future to connect with our community on issues of child care. Stay tuned for details.
• ADS and Circ staff will head out on a tour of nonprofits this coming week to strengthen their skills in referral to local agencies.
• The warm clothing sway for kids and families happens tomorrow at Northside. 

Jennifer M writes: I wanted to nominate Katie Engle for a bright spot award. She is always so on top of her work, prepared to offer thoughtful opinions and ideas, and ready to go above and beyond to help with whatever anyone needs. No one instance that stands out here, I've just been noticing!

Thanks, Jennifer, and thanks, Katie, for your outstanding work!
Happy weekend, everyone!

Newborn Kits Ready to Deploy

Our partnership with Kenosha Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families to provide “welcome bags” at area hospitals that include info about the library, a library card application for the new baby, early literacy tips, developmental milestones, and a board book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) are ready to go! The bags are diaper bags and also contain a couple of diapers and wipes. Lifecourse is providing funding for 20 kits! Thanks to Heather and her team for making this happen.


Other News for the Week:
Milwaukee Public Library's new delivery service lets people place a hold on a book, have it delivered to their home and picked up when through. Read about it here.

The second round of KnowB4 cybersecurity training is available- check your email. This is mandatory training for all staff so we can keep our computer systems safe from threats. Please do your best on these assessments. You're not expected to be a security expert, just a smart consumer for the health of the organization and for your own personal online safety in this tricky cyber world we live in. Training like this may prevent you from identity theft and scams that are becoming more common. Please take the time to educate yourself!

Health Risk Assessments (HRA)- Instructions

Health Risk Assessments for employees enrolled in the City's health insurance are scheduled for October 15th - 18th, 2019. In order for you to access the City's Health & Wellness Clinic and avoid a 5% monthly health insurance premium contribution, you must complete an annual Health Risk Assessment (HRA). Additionally, retirees and spouses must participate in the HRA to use clinic services. Healthstat will conduct the HRAs at the Transit Building (4303 39th Avenue) during the following dates and times:

Tuesday, October 15th	6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday, October 16th	6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Thursday, October 17th	6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Friday, October 18th	6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Online registration begins Tuesday September 17, 2019 allowing you to schedule your HRA appointment as well as complete your health questionnaire electronically.

HRAs include a healthy life survey, a fasting blood draw (glucose, triglycerides, total HDL and LDL cholesterol) a blood pressure check, and height and weight measurements. Healthstat will mail each participant a report with their results to their home address. Please note the report is confidential, and the City of Kenosha will not see individual results. If you have the results of a fasting blood test that was completed in the last 90 days, you may bring a copy with you to your appointment time in lieu of another blood draw.

New employees hired in 2019 should not participate in the group HRA in October.

Employees who wish to complete an HRA must do so during the group event in October.  Therefore, you may only schedule an alternate HRA appointment if you have an approved absence such as an extended medical leave or vacation. Thank you for your cooperation. Please contact Human Resources if you need to schedule an HRA outside of the appointment times provided in this email.

Flu Vaccines 

Flu Vaccines will be available during the same days and hours (see chart above and attachment) as the HRAs at the Health & Wellness Clinic. Vaccines are available for all employees, spouses and retirees. No appointment is needed. 

News for the Week

Heather is working with Kenosha Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families to provide “welcome baskets” at area hospitals that include info about the library, a library card application for the new baby, early literacy tips, developmental milestones, and a board book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). The “baskets” are just high quality, water resistant, closing file folders. Lifecourse will provide funding for 20 kits!


Congratulations to Zander for his appointment to the BadgerLink Advisory Board!

KCLS (our library system)  has won LSTA funding to tag Community Library's collection. CL will tag at their locations and we'll tag their items coming through the AMH at NS and SW to speed things along and greatly reduce our exceptions bins at those locations. As soon as those tags arrive, we'll hold some tagging refresher courses for Circ staff.

On September 24, National Voter Registration Day, our staff will be joined by Forward Kenosha
volunteers to offer sign-up tables in our lobbies. Only city and county clerks are authorized to register
voters in Wisconsin, but we can verify registrations online and help people navigate the online registration
system, as well as answer any questions about polling locations and registration requirements. This
activity supports our Civic Literacy efforts.

The libraries are officially "zoned up." We've done this to set the expectations for staff and provide a
means to talk to people about their behavior in any zone. For instance, if two people are holding a friendly
but loud conversation back in the stacks, I can intervene by saying, "Hi, I'm Barb. I work here at the
library. I don't know if you noticed, but you're in the library's Study Zone. Only quiet conversation is
allowed in this area. I can show you where the Social Zone is if you'd like to continue your conversation."

Posters and table tents are up. Please familiarize yourself with the zones in place. We welcome any feedback
about this system as we implement it. We're open to shifting zones as needed- let us know how it's working.
This system is in place and working well in Oak Park, IL and Miami-Dade libraries. We're hoping it makes
things easier for everyone.

Here are the initial zones:

Uptown 

All areas - Study Zone

Simmons 

Upstairs - Study Zone

Downstairs in Children's - Social Zone

Southwest 

Children’s Area, Lobby, Meeting Room/Conference Rooms, Study Rooms,                         

The Hub, Teen Space - Social Zones

Adult and YA stacks, public computers, circulation & ref desks and all tables not along the windows -
Study Zones

Tables along the windows - Quiet Zones

Northside 

Area from the public Printers to the Children's area and the Teen Space - Social Zone

Area from the public computers to the tables along the windows - Study Zones

Tables along the windows - Quiet Zones

This week's Bright Spot Award goes to the KPL Outreach Team for continuing service in the wake of the unexpected bookmobile downtime. Reloading, rescheduling, pushing carts around, calling contacts... you made it look so easy! Way to provide exceptional service! 
Sharing honors is our amazing maintenance team who fixed the bookmobile generator in-house and got us back on the road ahead of schedule. What talent! 

Brandi reminded me earlier today what the public always says they love most about KPL- the friendly
atmosphere. Thanks to all of you who greet the public with a smile. They feel your warmth!

Barb 

Have a greet weekend, everyone!

News for the Week

Congratulations and thanks to our outstanding Youth and Family Services Staff for another incredible Summer Reading Program. The team surveyed parents and caregivers of participating youth and here's what they said:
92% reported their child maintained or increased their reading skills.
79% reported their child reads more often
86% reported their child is a more confident reader
75% reported their child uses the library more often
What an impressive report card!

Also, Congratulations to Karen Rozzoni for graduating from DPI's Youth Services Development Institute!

Marcia and I visited LDV Vehicles in Burlington last Friday to brainstorm an additional delivery vehicle for Outreach. Looking forward to seeing the prototype they develop!


The first round of capital budget talks with the Mayor went well. If approved in the next two rounds, we'll move forward with some restoration work at Simmons, replace the exterior doors and back stairs at Uptown, and start the first phase of work at Southwest that will create a larger central activities room. Check out the September board packet released later this week for pictures of the new spaces planned.

No additional information on just when we'll move out of the Civic Center building. The new Shalom Center Food Pantry addition needs to be finished first, and that project isn't on schedule, so we're waiting. In the meantime, the air conditioning at CCB breathed its last breath, and the cost of repair is astronomical, so conditions are worse than ever till heating season.
Which leads me to this:
This week's Bright Spot goes to all the staff at CCB who have stoically endured the heat and stale air since the air conditioning broke several weeks ago. You are amazing!

I'll be heading to San Francisco for a long weekend, starting tomorrow, back Monday. We'll be in Yosemite on Friday so I'll be offline. Please contact Linda Noyce for any major decisions in my absence.
Enjoy the beautiful change of seasons!
Barb

Most Beautiful Public Library in Every U.S. State

This article is actually published in a business magazine. How cool is that?
Feast your eyes on some gorgeous library architecture.

Admin and Collection Services find new home

It's official. Library staff working in administration and collection services will create a new home on south Sheridan in the building currently used by Shalom Center for its food pantry. Shalom will break ground shortly to construct an addition on the shelter on 39th Ave that will house the new pantry.
One CS and Admin are settled in, we'll be configuring space to relocate Outreach Services to the same location. The layout of the 12,000 square foot building includes tall garage bays and enough room to comfortably house both the bookmobile, the book truck, and a tall book van we'll be purchasing this year. It will take some time to design and construct the bookmobile platform at the new location, but we hope to transition by next summer.
The large garage on the building also allows us to move the donations and weeded books out of branch garages and into one storage area. Friends of the Library will have the option to hold one large public sale annually at the Sheridan location. Maintenance will also have room to store seasonal equipment like mowers and plows. Empty library garages mean more space for YFS storage and inside parking for our maintenance vehicles. Empty Outreach offices at Northside mean the crowded NS staff can spread out and offer more study rooms for the public.
We hope to make the move by the end of the year.
CNS is happily moving into the lower level at Simmons where they will have the best data connection for our server equipment.
We'll keep you posted as we make progress.
Barb

Interesting news for public libraries

Wall Street Journal "Library e-book lending poses rising problem for publishing industry" 
Interesting headline aside, Macmillan plans to change the way it sells e-books to libraries by limiting each library system to only one digital copy of each new book it publishes in the first eight weeks of the book’s release – the delay, known in publishing circles as “windowing,” is intended to boost the sale of new books by pushing readers to buy the book instead of dealing with long waiting periods that are likely to develop if libraries have only one digital copy. See also ALA's e-books landing page for more information about these developments and sample messages for an #eBooksForAllcampaign on social media.

GeekWire “University of Washington lands $5 million to study fake news and misinformation” 
The University of Washington announced a $5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that will fund a new Center for an Informed Public to study “how and why fake news, misinformation, and disinformation are created” – the Center will live at the UW Information School and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.

News for the Week

Thanks to everyone for your generous and enthusiastic send off for Jill. What a lovely way to send off our friend toward the next phase of a long and happy life. She will be missed!

Do you know we've switched our WE Energies consumption to wind power? KPL's energy footprint just went renewable. One more way we're contributing to the health and sustainability of our community.

We're in the thick of budget season, which means we're finalizing KPL's operating budget, capital budget, and the county library systems's budget. Next steps are meetings with city administration to discuss our needs and plans for 2020. Budgets will continue to be scrutinized until late October when the approval process moves to Common Council and the County Board of Supervisors.

Happening Next Week:

• Northside parking lot repaved Monday and Tuesday
• KPD discussion with staff regarding incidents Northside Tuesday 9am (remember to park on the street or in the Pig parking lot)
• Architect Friday 1pm @CCB

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!

New Mythbuster Segment

Sometimes we get questions from patrons that make me realize there are some common myths that cause confusion, and sometimes undue blame. For instance, we periodically get questions (or pushback) about events scheduled in library park. We don't have jurisdiction over Library Park, even though Simmons sits in the middle. If the grass isn't mowed on time for a public event, or if a controversial demonstration is held in the park, people are quick to complain to us. So I'll be including a new short segment in our weekly newsletters titles Mythbusters. I thought KPL staff would appreciate the same "internal mythbuster" Q&A.

So here's a couple short mythbusters for you.

1. Myth: The Library owns Library Park
The library doesn't own any real estate and under Wisconsin law, we can't. The city owns our buildings and our grounds and we are a city department. The understanding between us is that the library will maintain the buildings and grounds where the library sits. That includes parking lots and lawns around library buildings. Library Park is owned by the city and the parks department decides who can use the park for events. We take care of the snow out to the first perimeter sidewalk and we mow all the grass simply because the parks dept doesn't keep up with it and its embarrassing. We also tend the bushes and gardens near the terrace. Parks takes care of tree issues and lighting further away than the parking lot and terrace areas. So we share responsibility for upkeep of library park.
Here are more details:

• The park at the end of the SW parking lot is a city park. If patrons are banned from library premises, they can be in that park.
• The access roads around Northside behind the library parking lot and between the library and Piggly Wiggly do not belong to the city. The new stop sign at the back of the Northside parking lot is a warning. If people don't stop, the police can't enforce it. It isn't technically a city road. 
• Sidewalk and curb strips are city maintained.

2. Myth: KPL has authority over Community Library 

You will hear people often refer to KPL as the Kenosha Public Library System. Typically libraries with multiple branches are referred to as systems, but in Wisconsin, a system means something different. Library systems were set up by the state back in the 1970s in order to provide technology, delivery, ILL, and reference support to all libraries, large and small. It was an attempt at equalization of services, and the structure still exists today. There are 17 systems in Wisconsin, many of them serving a very wide multi-county district. Kenosha County has its own one-county system and Community Library and Kenosha Public Library are its only members. The money for the services provided by the system comes from Kenosha County and the state and buys things like our Overdrive electronic books and the internet lines that feed our libraries. Since KPL is the larger of the two libraries, we serve as the system's Resource Library, meaning we agree to provide the reference and ILL support to CL which doesn't have as many trained librarians on staff. Michelle advises CL on HR matters, and I help advise on legal and financial issues. We purchase training for both libraries. We also arrange for delivery services for all the system locations, prepare budgets, keep our system board, appointed by the County Executive, informed, and calculate reimbursements for service to libraries in Racine and Walworth counties. There's a bunch of planning and state reporting involved. This is much more responsibility than most Resource Libraries. In fact, KPL serves as the administration for the county system and I serve as the system's director in addition to my position as the KPL director.

That's where our legal relationship with Community Library ends. CL is independently funded by four municipalities: Salem Lakes, Twin Lakes, Randall, and Paddock Lake. It's called a joint library. They have their own board, their own budget, and make their own decisions.

So this hopefully clarifies two very confusing questions. If you have other questions you'd like me to clarify, please send them my way and I'll highlight the answer in a future edition of the KPL Staff News.

Enjoy the beautiful weekend. See you at Tall ships!

Barb

Barb

Unstaffed Libraries in the UK and other news

Well, our funding hasn't fallen this far yet... And I don't expect it will. Sympathy to our UK friends.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/21/backlash-grows-against-unstaffed-libraries


Budget season is in high gear and our noses are pressed to spreadsheets in the Administration office. 2020 is looking good for keeping excellence on track.
Our proposed budget includes restoring open hours at Uptown on Friday and expanding Youth, Adult and Outreach programming. Full details provided after we get the ok from city administration.

Busy week ahead:
Plumer Lovelace from WLA will be visiting our libraries on Monday.
We meet with the architects for the SW space plan again on Tuesday.
We meet with DPI officials about a project to measure the impact of summer reading programs on Wednesday.
I'm out to a systems meeting in Wausau Thursday and Friday.

Tall ships come into the Kenosha harbor Thursday evening. Thanks to library staff who have signed up as volunteers for weekend festivities. I'll be in the ticket booth Saturday and Sunday. Stop by and say hi!

This week's Bright Spot goes out to all staff at CCB, as they waited patiently for a final decision on the future home of our offices. Today we received official word that we will establish a permanent Library administration/ service center in the current Shalom Center Food Pantry building on south Sheridan Road. (across from McDonald's) Administration and Collection Services will move in by the end of 2019 and we'll be crafting plans for Outreach to join us in spring 2020.

Have a wonderful summer weekend, everyone!
Barb

Safety Improvements

In response to a few unfortunate incidents in our parking lots, we are adding pedestrian crosswalk signs to SW and NW. We are also adding a stop sign to the back exit of the NS parking lot. Hopefully this will cause people to slow down and watch for people.

In response to our trouble with teen visitors lately, I have met with Alderman Curt Wilson, the city attorney, and the KPD Deputy Chief to discuss tactics for more control. Currently there are no "NO Loitering" signs in the SW parking lot, which makes it difficult for KPD to remove unruly children from the SW parking lot after hours. The neighborhood is complaining that they are blaring music and bellowing curse words at all hours from our parking lot. We will be adding those signs shortly.

To support our staff, we will be offering a three part training we're calling "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."
Part 1, "The Good" will focus on a scenario where many teens show up unexpectedly. Although we are glad they have chosen the library, their sheer numbers call for some quick tried and true classroom management techniques to control and engage large numbers of young people in a positive way that provides a great experience for visitors and staff. We'll bring in a seasoned educator to help us understand how to do this.
Part 2, "The Bad" deals with the same scenario as "The Good" but adds a few troublemakers who consume your energy and sour everyone's experience. We'll ask a community professional who deals with  crowds of kids including at-risk kids to help us with that scenario.
Part 3 "The Ugly" deals with large scale gang like behavior like the destructive team of 11 who have swept through NS lately and wreaked havoc. We'll bring in the experts from Gang Prevention to coach us through repose measures for this segment.

We'll schedule training before the library opens so everyone can attend. If you are in direct contact with the public, this training will be mandatory, but I encourage all of you to attend, as these skills will be useful not only at work, but in your personal lives, as well. Our intent is that you feel more confident and more safe as these incidents continue. As a public institution, we cannot control who comes into our buildings. Dealing with the broad array of personalities and age groups is one of the things we have to become good at. Look for training opportunities soon!

KPL WELCOME!

It's been just over a month and I continue to be grateful to have the opportunity to be working with the KPL team! Thank you to Michelle and Barb for welcoming me on my first day and for getting me setup with payroll, benefits, introductions, tours, an email, a super cool office, and a lovely bouquet of flowers. Special thank you to Rob for sharing loads of info with me over time so that I'm not overwhelmed. To Shannon, Jill, Heather, and Marcia thank you for taking the time to meet with me on several occasions and to your teams for their patience with my questions. Kudos to Gina, Zander, Jan, Cathy J., Rosa, Donna, Amy, Traci, Martha, and Bennett for showing me the ropes at the service desks! For those who have, I especially appreciate you taking the time to impart the history of KPL. I've already had some adventures, including getting the opportunity to be in two parades so far (Thank you Jeff!) Some things about me: I am from Lake Mills, WI. Although, I'm second to youngest of eleven. My immediate family consists of a significant other, named Bryan and a half St. Bernard, 82 lb, puppy named Sunny. We have been enjoying the run/bike around Lake Andrea out near the RecPlex.

News for the Week

Hello, KPLers
Here are some updates to keep you in the know:

• Teen librarians and managers continue to work with InSite architects to design new spaces at SW. Included is a teen area that can be shared with a children's program space, including a demonstration kitchen. A new meeting room increases our capacity for larger events and will likely land where the current teen space sits. To compensate for the increased activity within the library, we're creating a quiet reading room at the back of the library under the skylight with a cozy fireplace. When we can do the work and create the spaces relies completely on finding the funding. I'll keep you posted every step of the way.
• Opening Uptown yesterday was a great decision. There was no line out the door, but we saw plenty of people glad for the shelter from the miserable heat. I hope you stayed cool!
• Thanks to our maintenance team who fixed the Northside air conditioning in time for the heat wave and replaced the hot water heater, as well, while still getting all the other maintenance duties done and cleaning three branches in the absence of cleaning staff. We are so lucky to have such great skills on our team! Jeff, Jason, Scott and Dan, we appreciate you so much!
• Luckily, we have found two great new staff members for our custodian team. Frankie D. and Frankie N. (seriously) start on Monday at Northside and Uptown.
• We had three great interviews for the Outreach Coordinator position left empty by Jill's retirement. Announcement Monday as to who will serve as our new OS leader.
• Plans for the new city hall are taking shape. The library's administration and collection services groups will have space on the second floor and the clinic will move from Transit to the new building downtown. The municipal court and the city council chambers will occupy one wing and there will be meeting rooms for the public, taking the pressure off our busy rooms. The building will be built on the land where the Civic Center stands now, so we plan to move to the Shalom Center food pantry on Sheridan Road during the two years of construction. As soon as the food pantry moves to their new facility on 39th Ave, we will focus on getting the building ready for us.
• Volunteers are still needed for the city's Tall Ships event August 2-4. If you can help, please contact Kris Kochman kkochman@kenosha.org

This week's Bright Spot Award goes to Brandi for suggesting we open at Uptown on Friday and serve the neighborhood as a cooling center. Special thanks to Bright Stars Jake, Sandy, Linda, and Shannon for helping keep that branch open, and for Sheri Zaionc for returning as a volunteer just in case we were overwhelmed. Your community thanks you!

Stay cool, everyone!

Barb