TikTok Library Fun and Bright Spots

If you're on TikTok, a fun librarian fellow to follow is also there- Mychal the "sunshine librarian." I must say his love for children and reading is infectious. Take a look.
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I haven't seen a lot of patrons come in with service animals here at SW, but the airport is full of them and one of my library groups brought up some questions the other day. Since we have a lot of relatively new staff, I thought I'd remind everyone what legal questions we have the right to ask someone who comes in with a dog. Service animal rules are part of the Americans with Disabilities Act which is a long list of rules about how we all can make life a lot more comfortable for people with disabilities. According to the FAQ's about service animals, there are only 2 legal questions we can ask someone who walks in with a dog:
In situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two specific questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person’s disability.

You should also know hat the dog does not need to wear a Service Dog vest. So generally people can say their companion is a service dog and we really don't have any way to investigate the validity of that, but even if they are valid service dogs, they can't misbehave. They need to be under control at all times and not make a lot of noise. 

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As part of the next book sale (February 16,17,28 at SW) we'll be offering Hometown Mugs in exchange for $50 toward the children's library capital campaign. I'll send you more details as we get closer to the date. 

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The February Library Board meeting is scheduled a week later than normal in February to accommodate our need to complete a complex annual report for DPI. So the next meeting is February 20th.

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I'll be in Madison for Library Legislative Day both Monday and Tuesday.

This week's Bright Spot comes from Megan:
"I would like to nominate Ben for a Bright Spot. One of our teens was working on his math homework in the teen space after school. 7th grade math is apparently a struggle for several of us to recall, but Ben was familiar enough with the material that he was able to confidently explain the homework and help our teen get his worksheets done. Thanks, Ben!"