Thanksgiving Edition - Who are you thankful for at work?

Lots of love from your co-workers! Thanks for participating, everyone, and if you didn't get a chance to send in your list for this post, please be sure to thank your coworkers in person. Personally, you all make me so happy to work with you! Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and if you're working Friday @SW, I'm your PIC. 

From Nora: "I wanted to say that I am very thankful for Brandee Thompson and Claudia Dahl. I see the ways they go above and beyond to help patrons. If she is able, Brandee helps patrons complete tasks on the computer correctly and will stand there for an hour just to make sure they understand how to do it. Claudia has helped a patron wrap gauze around a burn but that is just one of the many examples of the kinds of services she provides. At the same time, they also help me promote the youth events when I am not at Uptown and knows many of the community members' names. Without them, the Uptown Library community would not get the services they truly deserve."

From Michaela: "I would like to nominate Diane Smith at Simmons Library for a Bright Spot. Every morning I come in I'm greeted with a smile and a "Good Morning". She makes sure all of our displays on the main floor are diverse, inclusive, and fun, and helps me with ideas for my mezzanine displays. Her experience and knowledge from working at Simmons ensures nothing gets missed and I just overall enjoy working with her!"

From Linda: "My Thanksgiving Bright Spot is Rob. He has literally stepped up to support the Public Services Team. Thank you for being willing to be a SW PIC, for making me laugh, and for teaching me on a daily basis."

From Martha: 

"I am thankful this year for Michelle who is always there for us to talk to about any concerns we may have. She listens and provides excellent feedback. Thank you, Michelle!
I am thankful this year for the circulation staff who make me laugh every day and provide balance to the weight of materials we move through our department. We get it done! Thank you."

From Joel: 

"I want to thank Rosa for always bringing a different perspective about work and life to me, she always makes my Saturdays more cheerful!"

From Heather: 

"Below are a few notes of gratitude. I wish I could spend all day writing these for each person who works at KPL. I’m grateful for everyone who makes KPL a fun, inventive, collaborative, and safe place to work. I am grateful for the entirety of the YFS team. Their dedication to providing fun, engaging, and educational experiences for children, teens, and caregivers is inspiring. They've always worked hard, but the past 1.5+ years have really demonstrated how they are willing to go far above and beyond for the community we serve. They are always thinking about how to make the lives of our young patrons better, and the lives of our caregivers easier. I’m grateful every day for their kindness, compassion, innovation, commitment, and unfailing senses of humor. They’re simply the best!
I am grateful for Brandi Cummings. Brandi trumpets every success we have as a library, and shines a light on every service we provide. She is one of our biggest advocates, ensuring that every person she meets knows what the library has to offer. I’m grateful for Brandi’s active listening, her superpower to positively spin just about anything, her easygoing laugh and smile, and her compassion.
I am grateful for Shannon Urban. Shannon is a great listener and problem solver. I am grateful for how she stays calm and collected in a crisis, her straightforward and logical approach to just about everything, her willingness to collaborate, her killer sense of humor, and her kindness to both patrons and coworkers.
I am grateful for Katie Engle. She has an eagle eye for spotting anomalies on the children’s shelves and bringing them to YFS Librarians for correction! I’m also grateful for her friendliness, sense of humor, and professionalism.
I am grateful for Jason Holmes. He has such a kind, positive, “can do” attitude. I am grateful for how quickly he responds to any request we have, and how well the job gets done—and it’s always with a smile!"

From Shannon: 

"Thanksgiving Bright Spot for ADS:
Thank you for your continued dedication to the library and each other. You're always flexible, creative, motivated and caring towards patrons and staff and I'm really proud of you all. And welcome Joel, Benjamin and Madelynn. You've already made your mark here with numerous compliments from staff and patrons, thank you for joining our team! "

From Ben: 

"I wanted to thank my fellow RTGs here at Southwest, Emily, Amy, Joel, and Rosa. Each of you have been a pleasure to work with and make my hours behind the desk much more lively and enjoyable. Between the conversations we've had and the advice I've received, I really am grateful that I have such funny, kind, and helpful coworkers.
I also want to thank Zander, Shannon, and Madelynn for going out of their way to support me in moments when I've been alone or very busy on the desk. As someone who is a bit of a worrywart, knowing that I have people to rely on truly soothes me.
I really want to thank all of you here at Southwest for bringing me into the library and going out of your way to help me learn, as well as helping me feel welcomed not just to my position, but to Kenosha itself."

From Brandi: 

"Aaron- for his ability to pivot and always find a way to make sure our teams have what they need to showcase all of their hard work.
Jason - for always being willing to lend an extra hand or find a solution for problems that seem unsolvable.
Michelle - for being a guiding force of reason for all of us as we have navigated two years of change.
Barb - for setting vision and believing in us to do great things.
Shawn Wolf - for embodying warmth and welcome in everything she does.
Madelynn - for hitting the ground running and bringing fresh talent to our team.
Zander - for being willing to try new things and chart new courses with our programming and services.
Tara, Carol, Scott, Melissa, Alex, and Kelly - for keeping us running smoothly with all the unseen work that they do - it is like magic, but better because it creates a public library.
Linda - for bringing brave thoughts and ideas to the table. "

From Stephanie: 

"To my KPL Co-workers,
Thank you for your support, understanding, and inspiration in my third year as a public librarian. You kept me motivated to be my best self and I thank you for seeing the potential.
To the Simmons & Uptown Team, and anyone that has worked in those spaces,
2021 was a year of many highs and a few lows, but we worked through it together as a team. The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying, "The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation of goodness." I hope you know how much I appreciated your dedication and empathy over the last year. A manager is only as good as their team, so I guess I must be the best manager in the world!"

From Michelle:
"Jason Holmes - Jason is a kind soul who always exhibits genuine care and willingness to make things right. He has such a big heart.
Linda Noyce - Linda places others first and is always asking where she can help.
Barb Brattin - Barb brings me back to a kinder place when I'm not thinking so kindly and makes me grateful she is our leader.
My Admin Team:
Sandy Bear - Sandy supports and helps me, always with a smile!
Brandi Cummings - Brandi's energy and positive outlook are contagious.
Aaron Gunderson - Aaron is kind and genuinely compassionate and pushes me to be the same.
Jeremy Erickson - Jeremy brings joy to us with his Christmas enthusiasm!

News for the Week

This past Wednesday I presented the 2022 KPL budget request to the Common Council's Finance Committee. It should easily pass in early December when the full council calls a vote. They positively beamed when I described all the things we're doing and engaged me with lots of questions to learn more. I know they are hearing good things about the library from their constituents. Thanks for all you're doing every day to delight the Kenosha community. 

Don't forget curbside hours @NS and SW will be reduced to 11am-3pm Mon-Sat starting November 29th. This change is for staff safety (dark + icy = danger!) 

We expect to hear from DPI by the end of November about 3 separate grant applications to fund various projects. We're hoping to upgrade our study and meeting rooms with sound insulation, and add in some technology to support virtual learning and telehealth appointments. We've asked for water bottle filler machines for the public and public address systems @SW and NS. In a separate application we're hoping to receive funding to place book vending machines at the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA.

The Friends of the Library voted this week to provide funding for pop-up tents, rain covers for outreach carts, an exhibit case at Simmons, new tables and chairs for the Northside children's room, and new display furniture for NS and SW.

This week's Bright Spot Award goes to Aaron Gundersen for designing such a beautiful palette for Northside. The colors are simply gorgeous and highlight all the architectural features of the building. Thanks for showing us what a beautiful building we have in Northside, Aaron!

Don't forget to send me your pick for the special Thanksgiving Edition of Bright Spot Awards!

Curbside Service Hours Changing

One of the things Michelle heard in her interviews with you all is that trudging across the parking lot for curbside service in the snow and the dark isn't a great experience. Last year, with so many people still keeping their distance at the height of the pandemic, we asked you to power through so we could continue to serve our community the best way we could. But curbside service use is way down, and we're coming up on another cold, dark winter. So, in the interest of your safety and due to declining use of the service, we're reducing standard hours for curbside service.

Beginning Monday, November 29th, we're reducing curbside service to 11am to 3pm Monday-Saturday. There will be no curbside service available on Sundays.

As always, if someone calls with a legitimate need for an exception outside this time frame, please use your outstanding customer service skills to accommodate the best you can. 

Brandi and Aaron will get the word out. They'll also create some bookmarks to add to all curbside orders so we can alert our regular users of the upcoming changes. 

Draft of the Northside Space Plan and other news...

 

Last month David Vinjamuri from ThirdWay Brand Trainers visited Northside and Southwest and studied our floor plans. He made suggestions as to how we can better utilize the spaces we currently have to accommodate how the public is expected to use our spaces in the future and how how we can create a more interesting and dynamic series of displays to entice people to check out more library materials. David has finished the Northside plan, and I'm sharing the plan with you here to see what you think, both as a staff member, and as a member of the public. Can you see yourself using this space as a patron? What do you think works? What do you think doesn't?

David's reports are based on objective observation. He doesn't know how much money we have to spend or who comes through our doors. But he does know what works in other libraries, and there have been libraries that doubled their circulation by adopting David's suggestions. David will present his reports for both locations to the Library Board in December. I invite you to take some time and look through his recommendations. Let me know if you have some opinions to share. We expect the Southwest report to arrive on November 19th.

Thanks to all of you who met with Michelle these past few weeks to recommit to our Civility Agreement and to share your views on what's working well and what isn't. Michelle has provided me with a comprehensive report that I'll be studying with an aim to solve any problems you've identified. 

Happy Birthday to Linda, November 16th!

I'll present our 2022 budget request to the Common Council Finance Committee on Wednesday evening, November 17th. The Committee of the Whole will vote on our budget 12/1 and 12/2.

This week's Bright Spot comes from Michelle:

I nominate Donna Hermann at Northside Library for a Bright Spot.  While at Northside, I needed to quickly access and print a document from my Google account.  Upon my request for information, Donna immediately directed me to a computer that I could use that had the ability to print and then led me to the machine where that document would print. She was gracious and accommodating and I greatly appreciate her support!

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I'll be putting together a special Bright Spot blog post specifically to thank staff. Please send me your nominations for this post. Which of your coworkers are you thankful for every day? Who makes you glad to come to work, who is always available to help, who always greets you with a smile when you walk into a room? Let me know and I'll make sure that person is recognized as someone you're thankful for. Or if you prefer, we'll have thank you cards sitting around the branches so you can write a personal note to someone who brightens your workday. 

Enjoy the beautiful change of season, everyone!

Barb

Trading Spaces and Other News

TRADING SPACES KPL EDITION

Wondering what's up with all the staff trading spaces at Southwest? It's been a couple of years since we had to leave the Civic Center Building, and all along we've hoped that the city would offer us an alternative building for an Administrative Center. There have been a few false alarms when we thought we'd really get it, but they've all faded into other big priorities in the city's plans. Somehow we've managed to find the space we need at SW. But we've had to take over public space to do so. And now that the pandemic is waning, we need that public space back.

We have a very big goal: Give the teens a dedicated space for out-of-school time. The best space is the old Activities Room A/B. So we're getting creative and redistributing our staff spaces to free up the old Activities Room. Brandi is moving in with Aaron, Zander and Madelynn are moving into Brandi's old space next to Shannon, and Collection Services is moving into the ADS workroom. Any RTGs needing off desk space can find it in the SW Circ area or can find a cozy space with a laptop. To help Collection Services with their space needs, the mail meters are moving to Circulation. Circulation staff will be handling the mail. 

Timeline? Our goal is for the full transition to be in place by the end of the year.

Thanks to all our staff who have generously and graciously adjusted to these changes. I know we will all heave a sigh of relief when our young visitors have a dedicated space to freely be themselves away from our common spaces.

BOOKMYNE REPLACED BY NEW MOBILE APP
The current BookMyne catalog app will be retired by Sirsi/Dynix in March 2022. Lakeshores Library System has applied for an ARPA grant that will fund the upfront cost of ~$60,000 for a Sirsi/Dynix Blue Cloud Mobile app for the entire SHARE consortium. If the ARPA funding isn't awarded, then the funding will be coming from SHARE Enhancement funding, so either way, we'll see a functional catalog app in 2022!

NORTHSIDE CLOSED NEXT THURSDAY/ FRIDAY FOR PAINTING
The public areas at the Northside branch need a new coat of paint and we're getting out of the way. We'll be closed at NS next Thursday and Friday to the public, but we'll offer curbside service and Outreach will operate as usual.

KCM/ KPL NEXT STEPS
As John Bloner, the KCM Director retired, he came to us and proposed a different arrangement for the future management of the community media station. A few weeks back we presented a concept to the library board that envisioned KPL as the administrator for Kenosha Community Media. In the meantime, the KCM board is putting a hold on the plan while it considers other options to maintain their own program director. So we'll wait and see and be ready and willing to help, if needed.


CLOCKS "FALL BACK" THIS SUNDAY
This Sunday marks the end of Daylight Savings Time. Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour before retiring Saturday night.



I'll be visiting my grandchildren in Louisiana Friday through Monday. Please refer any major issues to Linda or Rob in my absence. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Barb