News for the Week and Several Bright Spots

KPL Outreach to Juneteenth was a great success. Thanks to everyone who braved the heat to bring books and activities to the Lincoln Park neighborhood!

It's shredding time again! – The City of Kenosha will offer an opportunity for residents to shred documents free of charge at three city locations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 10, 2021. Shredding will be offered outside in the parking lots at the Northside Library, 1500 27th Ave.; at Southwest Library, 7979 38th Ave., and at the Kenosha Water Utility, 4401 Green Bay Road.


We certainly had a great turnout for our recent Lab Girl Big Read and we're actively seeking grants to continue science programming for the public. Marcia is finalizing an application for KPL to become a NASA@ My Library Partner. Sixty libraries will be selected. NASA @ My Library Partners will use NASA STEAM Activity Toolkits, review Facilitation 101 Tutorials, and connect with NASA Subject Matter Experts to deliver programming, services, and/or outreach around three high-visibility NASA events:

Look Up!: Explore Our Universe
James Webb Space Telescope Launch (Fall 2021: currently scheduled October 2021)
James Webb Space Telescope First Images (Spring 2022: currently scheduled May 2022)

Our Planet: EARTH (Summer 2022)
Including programs relating to the Collaborative Summer Library Program ”Oceans of Possibility” theme, NASA Earth science, and/or environmental sustainability.


Lots of Bright Spot Nominations this week:

From Martha: All staff for completing the 21-week United Way Challenge!!!!!!

From Sue Vaal:
I'd like to nominate Gabriel Hernandez for help with replacing the removable seat in the truck when the two "backs" scheduled to include that in their pre-Harbor Market routine needed help. Bless him!
Also, I'd like to nominate Donna Hermann for "rescuing" boxes of children's books in great condition from Bose Elementary when they were getting rid of some very good stuff. At Harbor Market and at some of the daycares there are families who come in from Illinois who haven't yet decided to pay for a KPL card, and the bin of giveaways lets them walk away from us with something in hand for each child and good feelings that may translate into a card next time.

From Marcia:
I would like to nominate Tara Vasey for Bright Spot. Tara is always so helpful and prompt when we call her to ask for weird stuff for Outreach. This week she put her skills to the test when she located an obscure part for the Bookmobile's generator that is backordered everywhere else. Our whole department is extremely grateful!


From Heather:
I'd like to nominate Alejandria for a Bright Spot. Since restarting the Teen Volunteer program this month, Alejandria has conducted interviews and onboarding with 11 new teen volunteers. Those volunteers have already put in a collective 85.75 hours helping us prepare programs and services! Alejandria has been doing a fantastic job mentoring these teens and setting them up for success from the moment they arrive each day. Every part of their experience is so well organized because of Alejandria's hard work. She even has a little station just for them with snacks and an ARC lending library to make them feel comfortable and welcome!

Free Diaper Distribution, Telescope Launch Party, and other news

Fun @Simmons Storytime 

On Wednesdays this summer, Keeping Families Covered, a Lake County, Illinois charity, will distribute free diapers to families in need from the northeast corner of our SW Library parking lot. They'll start distribution at 9:30am, perfectly aligned with our 10am storytimes in the park. In the winter, the group will operate from our SW activities room. Thanks to Heather and the entire YFS team for pulling this partnership together. Let's all get the word out about this fantastic service!


We're hosting a Space Telescope Launch Party!
Science is a very popular topic in our community and we're continuing to give 'em what they want with Citizen Science and STEM themed KPL Kids to Go boxes. Today we heard more good news- we've been selected to host a telescope launch party! Thanks to Shannon for writing a compelling application!
The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space. KPL applied to host a launch party and NASA selected us!
Here's some more info from the launch website:
Launching from French Guiana in fall of 2021, NASA and its international partners want to help you celebrate this generational moment in our common exploration of the wider universe, through in-person or virtual events. NASA can support museums, science centers, planetariums, public libraries, nature centers, visitor’s centers, zoos, art galleries, community centers, and other non-profit organizations that communicate or wish to communicate science to the public. NASA can help connect host venues to trainings about Webb and the telescope’s launch process and science, as well as to subject matter experts to best engage with audiences either in person (where possible) or virtually. In addition, hard-copy event materials and handouts can be shipped to participating locations as resources allow.


From Shannon:
We are happy to announce that some of our adult programs will be in person this summer. In person programs still require registration and are limited to current capacity restrictions for each meeting space.

Programs currently scheduled to meet in person are:
Novels at Night Book Club, every 3rd Monday, 6-7 pm at Southwest Library
Coloring & Conversation, every 3rd Monday, 6-7 pm at Southwest Library
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book Club, every 4th Monday, 6-7 pm at Southwest Library
Classic Novels Book Club, every 4th Wednesday, 3-5 pm at Northside Library

Also, Outdoor Dye-o-Rama (Southwest Library) begins July 6 and is ongoing every other Tuesday through August with a different dying style each session. We are beginning with Shibori Dyeing. This will replace the In the Making Box for July and August.


From Heather:
Thank you for pointing people in the right direction for our outdoor storytimes last week (and thank you to Brandi for thinking to make some big signs for each location). Things got off to a really great start: 210 attendees across 12 storytimes!

A couple of important talking points if you get questions:

• Attendees should bring blankets or folding chairs to sit on.
• Storytime will be canceled in case of inclement weather.
• Northside storytime attendees must not park in the Fire Station parking lot. They should park in the Northside Library parking lot and walk across 27th avenue to the Fire Station lawn. It is worth mentioning this to every person who inquires about Northside storytimes.

Thank you for helping our families find us for storytimes again!

From Linda:
Saturday, June 19th, we will begin a soft reintroduction of accepting book donations. If the donation is more than a few bags, please let me know so that I can arrange for storage.

Coming up next week:

Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood (KIN) public meeting, Brown Bank, Tuesday, 5-7pm. Drop by and vote on your preference for the design and  amenities at the redeveloped Chrysler site. 

Recovery to Resilience Project Team, Tuesday 1:30-3 (virtual)

Barb on vacation Thursday through Monday.

Enjoy the warm summer weekend, Everyone!