News for the Week

• Monday is our big day! We're back to evening hours at NS and SW! Our community will be overjoyed!
• The City of Kenosha's mask mandate is NOT on Monday's Common Council agenda. All I can tell you is, as long as there's a city mandate, we wear masks at work and ask our patrons to do so, too. Racine has lifted theirs, and Rock County lifted theirs. If you hear any official word that Kenosha has done the same from now till Monday, please alert me. I check my email every day, so that's a good way to let me know.
• Zander worked with the statistics we've kept since the beginning of the pandemic. Here are some clear graphs to help you see how library use has been returning to pre-pandemic levels. (be sure to look at all the graphs.) It's interesting to see how much adults like virtual programming and how tied children are to in-person programming. We'll listen to this information and continue virtual programs in addition to in-person as the restrictions get lifted. YFS already has dozens of events in parks this summer to safely offer programs to families in person. The graphs also show that our reference interactions are very robust. A higher percentage of people who walk in are stopping to ask questions than pre-pandemic. It may be the main reason they are returning- to interact with us!
• The American Recovery Plan Act will provide lots of money to Wisconsin libraries. We're waiting for DPI to release the list of grant opportunities and then we'll get going on our applications. Much of the money will be earmarked for technology, but there will be some for community engagement and other programs, as well.
• Our contract with Unique Management for collection agency services has been discontinued. We will no longer be using a collection agency for delinquent patron accounts. There are several reasons for the change. One is simply compassion, another is the return in dollars just didn't match the collection agency fees. The Library circulation policy has been updated to reflect the change.
• Clarification to help you talk with patrons who want to report a theft or accident on library grounds: If a patron wants to see library camera footage because they had something stolen at the library or their car was hit in our parking lots, please explain that they need to file a police report. The police will then call me for permission to see the footage. We'll provide the officer with the footage we have, if any, and the patron can resolve the issue with the police. It has to work this way in order to follow the law on patron privacy.
• Bad news: We didn't make the final top 3 to receive the National Medal for Library Service from IMLS. Good news: We're still getting t-shirts! We were a finalist, and only 15 libraries in America were named for that list, so let's brag!

Reminder:
Meg Medina joins us one week from now on Friday, May 21st at 6:30pm. Be sure to sign up on our website and tell all your friends!


Don't forget to send me your Bright Spot Award nominations! Make a co-worker's day!


Enjoy the beautiful weekend weather, everyone!
Barb