News for the Week

The Simmons air conditioner replacement continues to be delayed due to unavailability of mechanical parts. The good news is, it will get done while we don't need air conditioning! We'll keep you posted as we know more.

Melbourne Australia is using pop-up libraries to lure people back to their downtown. Love the way they have the quick picks on the back wall. They look like they're recessed but they're on acrylic shelves in front of painted circles. 

Book banning in the news:  Independent bookstores and libraries are facing many challenges. KPL is beginning to face challenges to books in the collection and we're hearing accusations of promoting pornography to children. The books in question include a YA book that is the memoir of a queer young black man and the other is Homegoing, our upcoming Big Read title.  Remember that arguing with people doesn't really get us anywhere, but reassuring them that the Big Read is not the same things as the Summer Reading Program for kids is a fact worth sharing and one that is being distorted. And that all our collection choices are based on professional reviews, which include advice about age-appropriateness. Listening will go a long way- they are likely very well intentioned and might have heard things that aren't true. Plus they like you. It will be hard for them to believe that you would intentionally "hurt" children. 

We have a collection development policy accessible from the website (see policies link at the bottom of the home page) and the Request for Reconsideration form is at the end of the policy if they are adement that they want to make a formal complaint. 

We're getting Wisconsin State Parks Passes for checkout! Patrons may check out the day use passes, place them on their dashboards, and receive free entry to any park in the state for a day. WLA will send us lots of promotional materials. Hoping to get this up and running mid-October.

The KPL Foundation has agreed to hire a professional fundraiser to solicit donations toward the new Uptown Children's Library!

This Week's Bright Spot Nominations
From Michaela:
"I would like to nominate Jeff for a bright spot this week. He took time in between cutting wooden hedgehogs for YFS to help me put up shelving in the OS office, fix cabinet drawers that no longer opened and overall just made the whole rearranging process go smoother.
I would also like to nominate the Outreach team as a whole. Thank all of you for welcoming me back to KPL and making my transition into Outreach so smooth and stress free. The amount of leg work that goes into this department is astonishing and all of you are amazing at what you do! I'm so happy to be a part of the team."

From Heather:
"I would like to nominate Jessica for a Bright Spot. While she has been doing a great job with Instagram reels in general, Brandi told me that her newest reel (starring Miss Karen) got 20,000 views within the first two hours of it being posted! Incredible work!"

Happy Banned Books Week

September 18-24 is celebrated as ALA Banned Books Week. ALA reports there were more challenges to books in 2021 than in the previous 20 years they've been keeping track. There have always been challenges to books, especially in school libraries, but the effort has become more organized. At Tuesday's board meeting, we updated our Collection Development Policy and the associated Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form. Phillip is working to update both documents for our website and the digital workspace so you'll have access to the latest materials. Remember that people generally have good intentions and listening politely is sometimes enough. Should they wish to make a formal complaint about an item in the collection, please provide them with a copy of the policy and the reconsideration form. We will only consider requests to reconsider KPL collection items from Kenosha residents. People living in other municipalities should contact their home library with their reconsideration requests.

Also on Tuesday, our library board reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the Library Bill of Rights and its Interpretations.  I encourage you to re-read this document as we prepare to meet book challenges here in Kenosha. Libraries are a forum for all ideas, even the ones we do not like. We serve all people, therefore our collections must reflect the diversity of our culture and our ideas. 

Ever wonder about the architect behind the Simmons Neighborhood Library? Daniel Burnham didn't limit his talents to library buildings. In fact, he only built 2 in his career, and Simmons is by far the most beautiful. Read about Burnham in this article from the Library of Congress. And if you're really interested in knowing more, the Simmons Historic Structure Report was commissioned for Simmons and completed in 2019- ask me for a copy.

Heather and Barb are both taking next week as vacation. Linda is your point person in Heather's absence and Linda or Rob can cover for me.

From Linda:
In addition to our Haunted Simmons Tours, this year we've added kid focused events called Slightly Spooky Simmons. Here is the info:
Slightly Spooky Simmons
Sunday, Oct. 16th and Oct. 23rd 12-4pm
Slightly Spooky Simmons is a frightfully festive event for the whole family. There will be games, crafts, and activities aimed at kids aged 2-12. Pumpkin bowling will be making a reappearance as well as a Halloween scavenger hunt and a super cute cupcake liner monster craft. There will be slightly spooky storytimes at 12:30 and 2:30 with a costume parade and trick or treating following the storytimes at 1:00 and 3:00. Kids are encouraged to dress up and show off their cool costumes!

This week's Bright Spot nominations:

From Michelle:

"My nomination for a bright spot this week goes to Jeremy Erickson. I am grateful Jeremy has continued to provide SW staff with beverage options in our breakroom after the departure of Sandy Bear. The additional selections are fun too! I especially like the caffeinated seltzer. This service takes time and energy and I truly appreciate it."

From Alejandria:

I think Karen R. deserves a Bright Spot. Karen is always finding ways to bring joy to others' lives. 8:00 AM is an early morning for many in our department, but Karen made it extra sweet by providing YFS with a 'chai bar' at our department meeting. She even made sure to get different kinds of milks for those of us who drink something different. Karen is a treasure.
I'd also like to give a shout out to Brandi Cummings. Last Friday, Brandi heard me mention that I needed to make a run to Woodman's to get more teen snacks since we were running low. Brandi offered to pick some things up at Costco and, right at closing, Brandi pulled up with several boxes of snacks to replenish our offerings. As a person who doesn't really enjoy going to the grocery store, I'm so appreciative of Brandi's kindness in offering to help out in this way.

From Barb:

Congratulations and effervescent thank yous to the YFS team for an incredibly successful and impactful summer reading program! Every year they conduct an after-SRP survey to find out whether kids were more engaged with reading and improved their reading skills because they participated. Once again, the caregivers just gushed about how much the kids enjoyed reading and yes, their skills improved just as we'd hoped. As we face year after year of disappointing proficiency test results in our county, our youth and family services team stands as a bright beacon for how to strengthen neighborhoods, inspire learning, and keep kids and their caregivers curious. Thank you for your amazing work, your huge hearts, and your endless creativity! We are so proud of the work you do!

Social Work Student Coming to SI and UPT

As you all know, we've been talking about Whole Person Librarianship and the relationship between social work and library work for a good year now. We've visited area social service agencies, attended WPL training online, and taken opinion surveys about the role of the public library in this type of work. This morning we received word that we'll have Savannah Bezotte, a social work student from Carthage, doing her field placement project at Simmons and Uptown for the coming semester. Savannah is here to learn as well as teach us the most effective ways to refer people to the social service help they need. We'll bring her around when she arrives so you have the opportunity to meet her.

If you're interested in learning more about social workers in libraries and Whole Person Librarianship in general, our City Library Collective has created a new website to provide public libraries with a "toolkit" that includes background and sample projects from the 11 mid-size Wisconsin libraries involved in this Resilience Project. The website is under construction, so it's constantly being updated , but there's already good stuff there.

Vacation carryover and SciFi citywide data network

As we approach the end of 2022, many of us have vacation to use, so now is a good time to repeat that those of you with vacation balances have the option this year of carrying forward up to 40 hours of vacation time into 2023. This benefit comes with the requirement that you use that 40 hour carryover in the first quarter of 2023. No exceptions, please!

The City is moving forward with its plans to bring high speed Internet to every resident. There will still be Internet Service Providers like ATT and Spectrum, so this is not a free service, but it is an opportunity for growth in a world that relies so heavily on technology and it will be part of the city's new buildings downtown, in the Uptown neighborhood, and in the new KIN project. Check your email for all the details I've forwarded from Public Works. We'll arrange for a special meeting with the SciFi rep and Public Services staff so we can have more answers in hand when the community calls on us with questions about this city project.

Brandi has arranged for us to showcase the new Children's Library project at the upcoming KABA Inspire event in October. You might see us filming a short promotional video late next week to take with us.

Those of you who work at SW might be wondering when the front door will be fixed. There is a supply problem keeping us from a quick fix. As soon as the parts arrive, we'll get it done. You might also be wondering what we're doing toward the back window with those new low shelving units. Our talented Jason Holmes (my Bright Spot nominee this week!) has crafted magazine shelves from pieces and parts in storage. We'll arrange this low shelving around the new soft seating on order and shelve the magazine and newspaper collection in plexiglass cubes on those low units. See the YA magazines section @SW for an example. Here's an example from Waunakee PL, as well. If you ever get up that way, do stop in. Their library is absolutely stunning.

Karen sent in these Bright Spots for the week:

"Thank you Megan for listening intently to a mom of one of our teen patrons who has had some not so great experiences in the past. Megan showed empathy and apologized for what had happened and really helped both the mom and daughter feel more at ease when using the library. Kudos to you Megan!!
Thank you Heather for always being so understanding when some last minute personal issues have come up and I have had to leave work. You are an AMAZING BOSS!! Thank you for being so flexible with our schedule!


Thank you Alejandria!! The Teen Books look great!! Lately, I have been showing this area to several parents of teens and they love how the shelves are labeled. They can't wait to show their teens! Thank you!


Thank you Alejandria for taking time out of your busy schedule to organize the craft, program supplies and updating the inventory spreadsheet. YFS would never be able to find anything if it weren't for your organizational skills! THANK YOU!!"

Have a fabulous holiday weekend, everyone! 

Barb