Northside carpet pics, vacations, and some lovely Bright Spots

 Great video about trauma-informed library staff and how we are at the forefront of service to people experiencing deep poverty and trauma. Ryan Dowd makes an appearance.

Speaking of videos, did you know that a horror film is being filmed right now at Simmons? The crew comes in overnight for the next couple of days. Thanks to Kahlil and Linda for watching over the process and making sure our beautiful building remains unharmed.

Starting May 3rd the Kenosha County Job Center will be offering Job Help at the Uptown Library on the first Wednesday of the month from 1-3pm in the Conference Room.

VACATION ALERTS 
I'll be walking across Italy for the next couple of weeks. Rob and Linda can help with most things in my absence and Brandi is your gal for all things capital campaign related. Dan will be out soon for the birth of his son and Jason will be the go-to guy in Maintenance for June.

This week's Bright Spot nominations comes from Jennifer and Amy Rae:

From Jennifer:

"I just wanted to give a shout-out to Donna, who is a huge bright spot for me this week. Donna is an incredibly dedicated and focused worker. As our only remaining ICS at Northside, her efforts sometimes fly a bit under the radar, but I see how she continually steps up to help her coworkers however she can (and without being asked), how she works through her checklist each day with laser-focus, and how she takes such care to do quality work. I am so grateful to have her on our team and I think everyone should know what an asset she is to KPL and especially to Northside."

From Amy Rae:

"Good morning!
I'm sitting at Panera on my day off, and I spent the last twenty minutes or so eavesdropping on the booth across from me. Two older women were catching up over coffee and talking about how great the library was. We have all the movies they could want, including "just about any Academy Award winning movie you could think of," we order in their books even when they're way out in Janesville, we offer games and ski equipment, and our programming is apparently AMAZING. Learning about succulents! Trying out tie-dye! Making sure homes are fall-proofed! They "never used to look at the emails the library sent out, but now [they] scroll through them all going 'hmmm, this looks great'."

When they were getting ready to leave, I introduced myself, and we had a great little conversation about KPL. They were quick to reiterate all their points to me - one even said, "You know, people say the happiest place on Earth is Disneyland, Disneyworld, but to me, it's our local library." I told them I'd relay their considerable compliments to my colleagues, so here I am.

I think that everyone in Public Services gets to share this particular bright spot, because any of us could have helped these patrons feel at home - but CPP deserves the lion's share of the recognition here. Your programming and marketing have clearly made an impact on Kenoshans, enough so that they'll hang out over coffee and talk about how great your work is."

--

Northside Carpet transformation:

Happy spring, Everyone!

Barb