A nod to our work from Common Council

Congrats to Shannon and Jessica on their poster sessions at ALA! Having your poster session get accepted at a national conference is a a really big deal and we are so proud of you both!

Congratulations to Luiza for landing a GIS internship with the city's Community Development department!

Alderperson Brandi Ferree has sponsored a resolution to declare April 17th Library Worker Day in Kenosha. When I reached out to thank her, she replied this way:
You're very welcome! The resolution also recognizes Librarian Day as well. I appreciate you and your staff's dedication to making reading accessible to all, and also for all the resources that are offered to the community through the Libraries!

Best regards,
Brandi

If you read the April board packet, you're up to speed on our building projects. Here's a recap:

• On Monday we begin the air conditioner replacement at Simmons. There will be no interruption to patron service. The back terrace and the east side of the terrace will be closed off for safety purposes. We don't expect the noise to be disruptive. This project involves removing and replacing an historical window, so the project is expected to last 6 weeks.
• Our grant application to the National Endowment for the Humanities has been drafted and reviewed positively by NEH. The final version will be submitted mid-May.
• Our children's library is coming along. The architect is meeting with the YFS team once a week to brainstorm the design of the interior. 
• Our fundraising efforts for the new library are going very well. We're over halfway to our goal for the 100 Extraordinary Women campaign. 

Joe Huberty from Engberg Anderson, our architect for the Children's Library, will be on site next Friday. He and another architect will tour NS, the new UPT space, and SW. 

We had hoped to work with an additional vendor on children's museum- type interactive displays at the new library but the city's procurement rules don't align with their business model. That's disappointing, but not to worry- our architect is quite good at building these things, too.

We're hiring a summer intern for YFS to help over the busy summer program months while Tessa is on maternity leave. We're also hiring for an Enrollment Guide to help people sign up for reduced cost Internet plans. That position is funded through DPI. A third position is an internship also funded through DPI to inspire high school students from diverse backgrounds to consider librarianship as a profession.

This week's Bright Spot nominations come from Heather, Elliott, and Linda:

"Amy Rae and Justin are not just bright spots to us, but also to the kids they serve! Two weeks ago, a tween looking for AR said that "Miss Amy Rae is my good friend," and today, a young boy wanted to say hi to Justin because "Justin is my best friend. He helped me check out books." Thank you to AR and Justin for being so approachable and kind with our young patrons! You're clearly making a lasting impact." Heather

"I just want to brag about Jessica a little bit - Big congrats to her on getting her poster accepted to ALA Annual! All of her amazing work on these reels has been really paying off both in terms of our own library marketing and now in terms of professional development. So proud of her for this and fingers crossed that her other presentation applications go just as well!" Elliott

"Although I was only at NS this week for a handful of hours, I was impressed by their preserving teamwork. As each team member did their tasks (whether weeding, packing or shifting for the up and coming reno, attending to delivery, or helping patrons) they supported each other. NS continues to be a place that I always feel welcome and look forward to returning to each week. Thank you NS team for being you!" Linda