News for the Week

Congratulations to Jill for publishing "How to Hold a Successful Tech Outreach Program for Seniors" on the Demco Ideas and Inspiration blog. What a lovely article! We are so proud!

The Library Board met last night and approved a new organization chart that replaces the Customer Experience Manager with a Division Head for Public Services and replaces the Assistant Director for Support Services with a Division Head for Support Services. Rob has been appointed to Division Head for Support Services, effective today. I am very grateful to him for the terrific work he has done recently in his Interim Assistant Director position. I know he will be awesome in his new role.
We continue to search for the perfect person to lead the Public Services Division.

The Board would like for us to expand on the Staff Recognition Schedule that outlines what rewards are assigned to each milestone in service. For instance, when you reach 15 years of service, you receive a certificate, 15 hours paid time of, and a book honoring you for the collection. The Board thinks we should do something extra special at 35, 40, 45 and 50 years. If you would like to brainstorm ways we can honor staff with very long tenure, please let me know. We'll form a team of 3-5 people to decide how to expand the recognition schedule.

The Board approved a full day closed for staff training on May 22 at SW. We have invited Miguel Figueroa from ALA's Center for the Future of Libraries to engage us in fun activities about matching trends in society to future library services. Will drones deliver holds? Will driverless cars conduct delivery service? What about augmented reality? Is a new information format coming soon? How will Blockchain technology change the way we conduct business? How do we prepare now for these changes in customer expectations?
In the afternoon, we will immerse in some fun hands-on activities like film making in The Hub, computer coding in the youth area, story time yoga, and "merchandising" of the collection. If you have an interest you'd like to dabble in or if there's something you'd like to teach, please fill out this form.

Zander Miller will join us for an orientation period next week in his new role as Digital Strategy Librarian. Once he finishes library school, he will join us full time (June 2019). Among his many talents, Zander is a very serious gamer. If that describes you, please introduce yourself to Zander. You'll make an instant friend.

Welcome to Jeffery Linders who joins the Maintenance team. Jeff comes to us from Parkside. I hear he is an exceptional carpenter- one more skill to add to this talented team's list!

UW Parkside's Marketing Research class will be conducting an Outreach Needs Assessment from now until April 30. They will be considering how best to deploy our staff, services, and programs to positively impact third grade reading levels in our community. I'm looking forward to reading their report!

We have offers for volunteer hours from KUSD (high school and grades 4-5) and from a local company, which sends teams of 10-20 people for half days. If you have ideas for volunteer projects, please let me know!

This week's Bright Spot Award goes to Jennifer for her incredibly successful Big Read planning and execution. Jennifer, you're a rock star!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Barb