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.