Paycheck Protection Policy up for September Board Vote

Remember, Monday August 23rd we begin wearing masks in public areas of the building and on Outreach vehicles when patrons are present. To be clear, if you are at NS at 8am, you can move through the building without a mask. The mask requirement is  only in public areas when patrons are present. This is the staff's majority decision. Please honor your co-workers' wishes.

As the Delta variant continues to spread and as in-person school resumes, we expect more of us will be exposed to someone who tests positive. So Michelle will refresh our memories on just what to do about coming to work should we discover that someone close to us has tested positive. Look for that refresher shortly.

At this point, the federal programs that provided paycheck protection to people who needed to quarantine, or care for someone who needed to quarantine, have expired and I have not heard about any movement toward bringing those programs back. The City has not talked about any such program, either. As we enter the last few months of the year, most of us have used a good portion of our vacation and part time folks don't have sick leave benefits.  We understand that you may feel more vulnerable as we approach the fall season, especially  parents  who may be faced with erratic daycare and school closings in response to infection outbreak.  Michelle and I are drafting a proposal to the Library Board to create a temporary safeguard program to help cushion staff members who are faced with an isolation order. We'll get that in front of the Board at their September meeting. 

On September 21st and 22nd, David Vinjumari of Thirdway Brand Trainers will visit SW and NS libraries to evaluate our use of space and advise us how to create more modern spaces that serve the interests of patrons in a post-COVID world. David is the author of a 2019 PLA space planning manual and has been focusing on how libraries can respond to the new needs of patrons who are increasingly working and studying remotely, and are simultaneously worried about the pandemic yet desiring shared public spaces. Thirdway's Space Audit will deliver a full report of recommendations on how we can use the spaces we already have to give our community exactly what they need as a "third place."  This project is funded in part through a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

We'll be interviewing two excellent candidates for the Programs and Events Librarian position on Tuesday.

Bright Spot Nominations this week include:

From Stephanie:

"I would like to nominate the Simmons and Uptown Team for the Bright Spot Award. Lately, we have seen multiple patrons who are living with mental illness coming into our libraries (and sometimes screaming outside of them) and the SI/UP Team has been working hard to show compassion and wisdom when handling these sometimes very difficult situations. On Saturday the 14th, we had a perfect example of a very positive and impactful interaction where Simmons staff collaborated with the Kenosha Crisis Center and was able to get a patron the help they needed. It was a perfect example of everyone being in the right place at the right time and utilizing their experience and training with a great ending."

From Barb:

Thanks to Max for completing a federal Emergency Connectivity Grant application in the amount of $54,527  to bring more hotspots and Chromebooks to patrons in need and to outfit our Outreach vehicles with more powerful cellular modem/routers.