The city has lifted the curfew immediately. We'll still continue service till 5pm at all locations this week and change back to full service hours beginning Tuesday of next week.
Don't forget, we're closed Monday for Labor Day.
Kenosha Community Media will move into the SW Digital Media Lab (The HUB) over the next few weeks. They are losing their home on Washington Road due to the Spectrum merger. Jason and Ralph will set up some office space within the green room. No public visitors will be invited in to use the lab until we open SW to the public. KCM staff will follow all our virus safety protocols. Please welcome them!
A group of citizens will use the far ends of the parking lots at Northside and Southwest this Thursday to collect signatures on petitions. While solicitation is prohibited inside library buildings or immediately outside blocking entryways, Free Speech is generally allowed on public property. Public entities can restrict certain zones for the smooth operation of their business and for safety. We can't restrict Free Speech because we don't agree with the message, but if the Klan decides to hold an event on our property, we can deny them if we feel they are causing a safety concern by inciting violence. I'll be introducing a policy draft to the Library Board on Tuesday that sets boundaries outside the library buildings and parking lots as Free Speech Zones. The policy also contains behavior rules that prohibit harassment toward library visitors and other aggressive behavior. In the meantime, this group will stay far away from curbside pickup traffic and our entrances in recognition of the pandemic.
Yesterday morning I sent out a staff survey to collect your input regarding our future services. (See your email.) The community wants a lot from us, and we can't be all things to all people, so we need to decide where to concentrate our energy so we invest in programs and services that best fulfill our mission. We all know that if you try to be good at everything, you'll be good at nothing. Let's aim to be very good at the things that matter most. We face some tough choices ahead and I want to hear from you about where your passion for library service is focused. Please take the survey by September 15th!
Please be sure your personal social media and email messages are clearly stated as your own and not those of the organization or the City of Kenosha. To create a clear separation, I suggest you remove your work information in your profile, as I have. People may still know you work at the library, but you're not advertising the connection. And as always, personal social media posts and/or email should not be done on work time.
The City has received a $900,000 grant to hire election workers and will be adding the Public Museum as an additional polling location. Ballot collection boxes will be installed at Northside, Uptown and Southwest library locations in time for the November election.
Simmons Library is listed on police reports as one of the sites in the city where attempted arson took place. Please know that the library building was not severely damaged. Someone threw an incendiary device into the north facing window wells and the wood frames burned a little and the storm window glass was cracked. Nothing got into the building. The police witnessed the attempt and acted quickly. The device was removed by ATF. We will have the windows rebuilt. There was no damage at any other location.
Enjoy the beautiful day, everyone!
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