News for the Week

From the Kenosha County Health Department:
WE NEED YOUR HELP to reach more of Kenosha County’s 65+ population and get them vaccinated. They can call the COVID-19 Call Center to get a guaranteed appointment! If your 65+ neighbor/family member/friend is anxious, has many questions, needs help with transportation to a vaccination clinic…our amazing call center staff is standing by with a patient listening ear to answer all the questions. 262-605-6799. Please help spread the word. Thank you! 

KPL will host Nick Eschmann from Kenosha KFD on March 3rd at 8:30am in person at SW and streaming virtually for a staff Q&A on upcoming vaccinations. Nick is the head EMT for KFD and KFD will be administering our vaccines.

The next election will be held on April 6th from 7am to 8pm at NS and SW. Linda will touch base soon about any additional staffing needs at SW to cover the day.

The next library board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 9th at 5:30.

The Big Read kicks off Monday evening with Emile Graslie. Watch her presentation live by signing up online. 

Food for Fines happens March 7-13 this year. We'll accept nonperishable items and toiletries for Grace Welcome Center and pet food and supplies for Safe Harbor Humane Society.

It's Aldo Leopold Week starting Monday! Wisconsin has a proud history of environmental stewardship and Aldo Leopold is one of its most famous native sons. Join us for outstanding programming sponsored by KPL and UW Parkside.

This week's Bright Spot goes to Jennifer Kozelou, our brilliant Mistress of the NEA Big Read! Jennifer started crafting the application for the upcoming celebration more than a year ago,  and finished her outstanding submission just a few weeks before her baby boy Hudson came into this world. She returned to KPL and immediately began in her new role as Northside Branch Manager, yet never skipped a beat keeping the Big Read program planning on track. Jennifer, you continue to amaze us with the creative programs you deliver, all so meticulously organized. Your hard work is so very much appreciated!

News for the Week

The Wisconsin library community put together a lovely set of three videos that show how bravely public libraries stepped up during the pandemic. KPL is featured in all 3! 

Marcia did a lovely interview with LDV Specialty Vehicles, the company that built our book truck.

Congratulations to these staff members on their work anniversaries. Some of these numbers will surprise you. I'm pretty sure Patty started when she was 5 years old.

January                                          Years @KPL

Patty Bajabir January 3 38

Lisa Rivers January 6 17

Lori Mohr         January 23 24

Barb Brattin January 27 7

February                                             Years @KPL

Janice Rovik     February 4     13

Nancy MacKenzie     February 8     20

Sandy Bear     February 9     15

Michelle Eisenhauer   February 15       9

Michaela Beltran     February 17       1

Cathy Polovina     February 20     20

Marcia Siehr     February 24      6

Kimmy Kittelson     February 26       1    

This week's Bright Spot nominations come from Jennifer and Sandy: 

Jennifer says I wanted to nominate Nate Herrera and Katie Engle as bright spots. They came to help our Northside team when nearly all of us were taken out by the snowstorm on election day. They both brought such positive energy with them and I received so many comments from the Northside staff about how grateful they were for the help and how nice it was to see other members of our KPL team. 

Sandy says We have such compassionate staff on KPL team.  There were two events that occurred that our staff went above and beyond to assist our patrons in need.    

-Patty and Emily served as a team to assist a gentleman who needed shelter for the night.  They used the resources available at the reference desk and in the end, the gentleman found the help he needed and found shelter for the night.

-Patty, Martha, and Shawn assisted two preteen boys this week at closing.  Their ride hadn't arrived at closing, one boy didn't have a jacket and neither knew their way home.  Our staff brought the boys into the library to help find an emergency contact.  Without any luck, they called the non-emergency police.  Our staff stayed with the young men until they were safely transported home.

Next week will focus on Bright Spots. So many people have stepped up so many times over the past year. It's your chance to pick one or two people and send me a few sentences about how they helped you or someone in the public or how something they said or did really made you happy when you needed a boost. I'll publish your nominations. Let's make sure the people who really stepped up get a pat on the back.

News for the Week and some very special stories from our patrons

Special thanks to Kristin, Zander, Tessa, Susannah, and Alejandria for pulling together a compelling schedule for our 21 Week Equity Challenge discussions. We know you will all be gracious hosts for these sessions and your leadership is much appreciated.
Remember, all  staff must participate in at least one of these discussions so schedule now to make sure you secure a spot.

We have a very busy week ahead:

• The annual African American Read-In is scheduled this Saturday via Facebook Live starting at 1pm.  KPL continues to partner with many community organizations to bring this important event to Kenosha and Zander has been our representative. As  always, there will be a great performance to start us off, followed by short readings from local celebrities and students. Don't miss it!
• We're hosting Tuesday's election at SW and NS again this year. Monday is setup, Wednesday is takedown.  NS library service hours will remain the same on Tuesday since election activities will be confined to the activities room. At SW, the election will be held in the new central activities room, which means we'll be open for library business from 7am to 8pm to coincide with the election. Thanks to everyone who is adjusting their schedules that day to accommodate this change.
• Library Legislative Day is also on Tuesday, February 16th, and we'll be meeting with our state legislators online to thank them for their support and brag about all the good things we're doing at KPL.

Hopefully you've noticed the Love Your Library story survey on our library website. This is a SHARE group effort to collect stories that we can use when we talk to our funders about how important library service is to their constituents. We've received some beautiful responses, and I want to share them with all of you, who are the main reason Kenosha loves their library so much. Just in case you wonder if all your hard work matters, wonder no more:

During the week, the library offers a quiet place that I can breath as a mom of many.  My friend watches my toddlers while I come for some "me" time at the library... free, restful, and productive.  I wouldn't trade my library time for anything!

I love the library for a variety of reasons! 

I have a learning disability. 

The teams working at the library have ALWAYS assisted professionally and kindly! 

I am THEN ABLE to achieve goal!

I attend classes, check out materials.

Not having a computer or cd/dvd players I'm grateful for the building itself where I go to utilize services and resources available.

I'm especially grateful for the copy/print services and am always happy to pay for this.

The neighborhood wouldn't be healthy without our libraries! they serve ALL ages for many social reasons also.

Love taking my grandchildren on a date to library!! Zoom Rooms ok yet face to face a must for humanity!!

Libraries are an important highlight to me. I've actively used libraries for over 55 years and it's the place I can afford to attend. Ever grateful for the education through numerous resource's!

Growing up was challenging for me: my parents were divorced, we were very poor and spent a lot of energy trying to hide that we did not have enough for clothes, food, toys, school supplies. 

After school was done for the day, I would not rush home; there was no-one there, and nothing to eat. 

My sister and I wandered around local stores, but our favorite place became a bookstore. We would sit on our school book bags, and read all the stories that ended with “happily ever after!” I became addicted to those stories. They made my heart lighter. 

I read every book that had similar themes in our classroom’s library. Then I started borrowing books from other students... I consumed books like food. I was transported... away from shame, hurts, abuse and ugliness. 

I finally joined a library but had to pay for membership! People don’t know how lucky they are to have access to so many reading materials in public libraries for free. 

When I came to this country, the library was my favorite haunt.. so many books! No limits to how many I could check out! Growing up, books saved me. Gave me a place to hide. A place to identify with characters going through similar struggles. There really is no way to say how books have held my life together, and raised me in very trying circumstances. 

This week's Bright Spot Award comes from Rosa:
Bright Spot for Heather and Martha who helped me last week Saturday jump start my vehicle in the bitter cold weather. Thank you for your help and willingness to bear the cold so that I could get home safely. 

(Heather and Martha, thanks for your perpetual kindness! - Barb)

Kenosha County COVID-19 Updates

The Kenosha County Health Department held a public meeting this morning. Linda attended and took these notes:

• COVID Testing is still going on. There isn’t a shortage of tests. Even if someone has just a cough please they should be tested. 
• Short supply of vaccines in WI. 1a is open. plus first responders and 65+. Education and Child Care sector will open on March 1st. 
• State of WI is getting 70,000 doses a week. All Counties have been asking for way more doses than what is coming to Wi. 
• By May they want to open mass community vaccination sites. They also want to work with Churches, apartment complexes, barber shops, etc. when there are enough doses available. 
• Mostly Moderna vaccines in Kenosha County. 
• Vaccine is safe and is effective. f you get a variant of covid19 and you have the vaccine you likely won’t die of it. 
• Something we don’t know yet is can a person spread covid19 if they have both doses. Even if one has had the vaccine they should follow covid procedures if they have been exposed. 
• Trials are being done with vaccines for children. It may be ready by next fall. 
• WI is the best in the Midwest as far as getting vaccines in arms. 
• If you have Covid19 in the last 10 days you shouldn’t be getting a vaccine because you should be isolating. If you have had Covid19 in the last 11 days or more you can have the vaccine. 
• Our infection rate started to come down after the holidays for the percent of people that were positive. Less people are getting tested. Death Rate is still too high. We are averaging about one to two deaths a day. Death rate isn’t coming down in Kenosha. We are still a highly infectious county.
• The state recently opened up the vaccine to parents and child caregivers caring for children birth-3. No credentials required.
• “Essential workers” have yet to be defined in WI. They will begin to be vaccinated in mid March. 
• We are currently 10% vaccinated in Kenosha County. One can check here for most up to date info on how many Kenosha County residents are vaccinated.
• We don’t know yet if the covid19 vaccine will become an annual requirement. By May will know that answer. 
• Health Dept. is already giving out second doses of the vaccine. 
• There is no list for leftover doses. At the end of a clinic day there are some doses at the end of the day. They will give out the doses to walk-ins or they will contact 1a employers to see if they have anyone that can come to Health Dept. by a specific time. 
• Call 262-605-6799 for Kenosha County Vaccination call center to get help to make an appointment for the vaccine. This went live last Wednesday. 
• Homebound populations will be vaccinated soon via a Health Dept. strike team.
• Racine County residents cannot get vaccinated in Kenosha County, unless they work in Kenosha County. 

Barb attended a meeting with city department heads this morning and received the following update:

• KPL staff will begin receiving the vaccine in the mid-March Essential Workers grouping.
• The vaccine and vaccine administration is free to all employees, even those with no health insurance. If you get the vaccine at the doctor's office, United Healthcare will cover the cost of the vaccine, but not the cost of giving it to you.
• The vaccines will be administered over a series of 2-3 Fridays and our staff will be divided among those dates just in case we have more than a couple people who feel sick and can't come to work the next day. 
• We'll probably go to the new Fire Department location on 52nd St or to city hall to get the shot. 
• Only employees will be vaccinated, no spouses. The Mayor had hoped to include spouses, but the vaccine just isn't available.
• We have no other information about logistics. We'll do our very best to make sure it runs smoothly.

News for the Week

Looks like we dodged another major snow storm this week, but the week ahead promises to be very cold, so if you're assigned to curbside service, please make sure you're extra bundled up. For those of you on the last shift of the day, please also watch out for each other to make sure everyone's car is started and in motion before heading out yourself. 

Remember, if you're wondering whether we're open or closed and your supervisor hasn't called yet, call 564-6163 to hear any updates. We'll post a message to that number as soon as we make a decision.

Our next library board meeting is on Tuesday at 5:30pm. Among the items discussed will be Alejandria's proposal to begin a Read it Off program for teens. Over 200 teens currently have library overdue fines that prevent them from checking out library materials. Alejandria wants to give them the opportunity to read off their fines so they can use the library's collections again. It's  terrific idea and I know the board will be happy to give their approval. Alejandria will follow up with detailed procedures on how to implement this program as soon as we have the green light.

Also in this packet is a temporary paid leave proposal that would act as a cushion for anyone forced to quarantine because they test positive for COVID-19 or have been instructed to quarantine by the health department. The federal wage protection  expired at the end of last year. The library is proposing to offer up to 10 days pay for those affected between January 1 and March 1. See this month's board packet for details.

Shawn Wolf and Erin Mendoza will be speakers at this year's Early Childhood Conference through UW-Whitewater: https://www.uww.edu/ce/ecc.  They are going to be doing the same workshop about early literacy and public libraries that they are offering through KPL. Congratulations and thank you for making us proud!

Zander is also a star! Check out his Badgerlink Story  to learn more about Zander and his love of libraries.

Bright Spot Nominations this week:

From Martha: I nominate Alex Schutz for creating a Google Doc version of the 21 Week United Way Challenge Tracking Sheet!

From Barb: Standing ovation to Dan, Scott, Jeff and Jason for tackling our big snow storm and keeping us all safe. You guys are so appreciated!