Changing Quarantine Period and Other News

We're changing our rules for quarantine beginning today.

On Tuesday, after reading the REALM Project: Test 2 Results, DPI and Wisconsin library system directors met and are recommending that the quarantine time for library materials be increased to 4 days from the previous standard of 3 days.  While round one of the REALM test concluded that the virus does not survive more than three days on a book cover, the evidence in round 2 concluded that it can survive up to four days on the inside book pages and on the surface of board books and magazines. The research conducted and data collected by Battelle’s REALM project were requested by librarians as a response to the pandemic.  Librarians will follow the research and data to make decisions.

We are making this change for the protection of library staff and library patrons.

The sharing of library materials is the bedrock of our service and puts libraries in a a unique position to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across large geographic areas. It would be too difficult to try and separate out materials with different quarantine rates, so we're choosing to apply the longest quarantine period identified to all library materials.

Americans trust libraries and librarians.  We want to continue that positive relationship. It is our responsibility to society to follow the advice of our health officials who know best, and we will do whatever is necessary to keep people safe.

Other News

We had great intentions when we moved the red tables outside SW. It's been a pleasant place to have lunch or for our tutors to meet with students during this COVID crisis. But it also invites teens to hang around and disrupt the neighborhood after hours and it's spinning out of control. So our maintenance crew is removing the tables and placing them at Northside along the grassy section between the parking lot and the Pig. Now the NS crew has a lovely place to lunch!

We're purchasing yet another wonderful online product, this time for homework help. BrainFuse Online Tutoring should be a tremendous help to kids stuck in an online learning environment with limited access to their local teachers and librarians. All SHARE libraries will offer this product starting in August.

KPL's 2021 Budget

I'm sure you've all been hearing some deeply troubling stories about libraries losing operating money, resulting in layoffs, furloughs, and even branch closures. Madison will be closing one branch, hopefully only temporarily, and Milwaukee has furloughed staff. It's scary and worrisome, but in Kenosha the news is better, at least for 2021.
The city contribution to our 2021 budget will be a zero per cent increase. In past years, a zero per cent increase was disappointing. This year I'm grateful we won't take a cut. The city's contribution to our budget is about 63% of our total income. The rest of our income comes from our service to library patrons that live outside Kenosha city limits, fines and fees, system money for technology, and gifts and memorials.
While a zero per cent increase sounds like we can spend exactly what we did this year, that's not really true. We have new expenses, like all the wipes and masks we buy. And we have expenses that always increase like utilities, gas for our vehicles, and contracts for equipment maintenance. While we've been closed we lost significant revenue for faxes, prints, and overdue materials, and we are creating a 2021 budget that predicts a slow return to the kind of revenue from fees we realized before. 2022 will be a bigger challenge. Our payment for service to "nonresidents" which brings in over $1.5 million, is based on statistics for 2 years before. In 2022 it will be based on 2020 numbers, so you can imagine the big hit we'll take that year as we've been closed for so long. So we need to be careful with our money in 2021 so we don't get into a situation where we need to reduce our services or our staff in 2022.

Bottom line, there are NO PLANS FOR LAYOFFS OR STAFF FURLOUGHS now or in 2021.
Here's what we will do:

1. As staff retire or resign we will hold those positions open until all locations return to full service and we experience the work level we experienced before the closure.
2. Staff  who receive a "proficient" rating on performance reviews will receive their step increases as scheduled through the end of 2021.
3. Staff will not receive a COLA (cost of living adjustment) in 2021.

I have no word from the city about healthcare benefits. Healthcare benefits come from the city and are determined by the city. It is very unusual for employees not to pay part of their healthcare premiums. I would not be surprised if that is on the table in the coming year or the next. That decision will be out of our control. I will let you know as soon as any decisions are made by city administration.

You can rest assured we're doing everything we can on our end to keep us thriving in these tough times. Your hard work and high spirits are the fuel that keeps us strong and I am grateful every day that you are all on our KPL team! Thanks for all you've done and all you plan to do to continue to strengthen neighborhoods, inspire learning, and keep Kenosha curious! Your community adores you!

Barb

What are they doing behind that plastic drape?

Those of you assigned to SW might be curious just what's going on this week in our construction area and how close we are to finishing.

Here's what's scheduled over the next 2 weeks. 

• Partition track will be installed
• Balance of drywall work will be completed once the partition track is installed.
• Drywall taping/finishing is going to start on Wednesday, July 15, 2020
• Aluminum framing and glazing is to start the week of July 13, 2020
• Millwork will be delivered week of July 13. 2020 
• Plumbing rough-in will be complete by Wednesday, July 15, 2020 
• Electrical rough-in is on-going 

Then all that's left is installing the partition walls (room dividers like we have in the old activities room, only prettier)  and finishing the HVAC. The partition walls is delayed and won't get here until the end of August but otherwise we'll have a new activities room shortly!

Thanks for your patience with the dust and noise. You're going to love the finished product!

Barb

News for the Week

Happy Summer!
A little different this year, for sure, as we social distance, but we have a lot to be grateful for! No one on staff tested positive for COVID-19. That means that our social distance, cleaning, and mask efforts are working! Thanks to all of you for complying with these sometimes annoying rules. I think we can all agree that the sacrifice is worth staying healthy.

Construction of the new activities room at Southwest is going well. The room should be completely finished by the end of August.

We will host the August 11th elections at both Northside and Southwest, spacing voting booths and limiting the number of people in the building. Access to library service including curbside at NS and SW will not be available that day.  There will be no construction activity at SW. We will take phone calls. Staff should consider vacation or personal time for the day or if you are eligible to work remotely, that will be a great day to do that.

Curbside pickup is incredibly popular. In fact, we checked out over 21,000 items that way in June. As we reopen our buildings, it's clear that curbside is a service that's here to stay. So we're purchasing a software called Curbside Communicator. Here's how the product works with a nice little video to explain the system. We'll have this ready to go as we announce reopening of NS and SW.

We are purchasing SenSource Occupancy Monitoring software to monitor the capacity of our large branches.  Here's a video that explains that technology. It will keep track of how many people are in the building and as we reach the capacity we set in the system, patrons will be alerted not to enter. We'll set these up at the entrances to NS and SW, at the children's rooms entrances of each of those branches, and also at the entrances to the activities rooms.

Looking forward to restoring library services, Northside is next on the schedule. We'll need to install plexiglass before we make that decision, but hope to open before Labor Day.

This week's Bright Spot Awards are nominated by Michelle:

"My nominations:

Linda Hinderliter, Lisa Langsdorf, Lori Mohr

The three Ls have supplied us with beautiful masks, using their time, talents, and own supplies to support our mission to keep each other safe at work.  I applaud their willingness to keep the mask supply flowing while also working to help get our building open.  Thank you all!

I also nominate Jason Holmes.  Jason worked diligently and tirelessly in Dan's absence to keep our buildings operational, clean, and welcoming for all.  He dealt with difficult situations with grace and never hesitated to answer the call day, night or weekend.  I thank Jason for filling the gap during Dan's absence!"