Words of encouragement and Lots of team love

What happened yesterday at Simmons was terrifying. I have witnessed fights between gangs with baseball bats in staff parking lots, intentional fires, constant gang-related graffiti tagging of library property, and dozens of angry unreasonable patrons in my long career. I've had guys with long bowie knives on their belts corner me in my office. I have been personally threatened and so have my children.  I had a man tell me he killed his father and would be pleased to do the same to me. But I have never seen a patron physically attack a staff member. 

Mental illness is a big problem and as public servants we see evidence of it everyday. I cannot tell you that we won't ever be threatened again, but I can promise you that we will do everything we can to keep you safe while keeping the library open and accessible to the community. Sometimes that's a difficult balance. Everyone has the right to use the library as a publically funded institution. Until they break the rules, we can't keep them out and even if they do break the rules, we need to be very careful about responding in a legally reasonable manner. In this case, the law is clear.

The man who attacked us yesterday has been charged with a felony. Battery is not always a felony  charge, but attacking a public employee is an automatic felony. That means he will serve time and he will get mental illness treatment. And the judge will ban him from visiting us for a very long time. 

I know many of you are rattled by this incident, and I can't blame you. You signed up to help people, not be hurt by them. I can't tell you what's right for you, but I hope you'll stay and have a long career in public libraries the way I have. Because for all the stories I can tell you about the people who were scary, I can tell you a thousand about the people whose lives I changed for the better by the work I've done in public libraries. You all have good hearts and that's why you chose public service. You want to help people. Stay. Help them. We'll do our very, very best to make your decision the best one you ever made.

Bright spot nomination from Zander: "I'd like to nominate Michaela in OPE and Aaron in the Marketing team for a Bright Spot.
Jason Rimkus with KCM asked if he could do a film program/presentation for May the Fourth last week. I said it sounded like a good idea and I'll see what we can do. I talked with Michaela who loved the idea and let me know exactly what information she needs to create and promote an event with a short turnaround time. Aaron also jumped in and was able to create a great image for the event on short notice. Event link is below.

Star Wars: How Did They Film That?

From Barb:
I nominate Phillip for his willingness to fill shifts at Simmons in support of their staffing needs. Thanks for always being so helpful!

From Karen:

"Thank you YFS staff!! You are the best!! I appreciate each of you for all the different talents you bring to our team! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Thank you Hilary for the book recommendation for my grandson. He is a reluctant reader and it's hard to find him something that he wants to read. Thank you so much!!

Thank you Lisa Rivers for your storytime book and music suggestions. The families really loved everything. Thank you so much!!!

Thank you Shawn for your help with the Sheep to Sweater program. The kids loved carding the wool and making beads. Thank you!!

Thank you Amy Rae for taking time out of your busy day to create a Star Wars scavenger hunt for me to put up on May 4th. Looking forward to kids and adults participating in this one. Thank you!!

Thank you Jessica for bringing in your spinning wheel to the Sheep to Sweater program. The kids really thought it was great to see and they loved being able to ask you questions. Thank you!!

Looks like it's finally going to get warm tomorrow! Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Barb

Kids Library Updated Schedule

First off, best of luck to the KPL Book Jockeys tonight at the Battle of the Bookworms! I know you will make us proud and Nancy, Atifa and I will be there to cheer you on!

Second, I talked with a staff member at Carthage who simply gushed over our libraries. He kept talking and talking with an animated expression about the layout changes, the obvious way we are attracting people you didn't see in our libraries 5 years ago, the staff picks displays that have him reading the most delightful graphic novels he would never have considered, but most of all he talked about YOU. Our libraries are warm, he says, because you make him feel so welcome. How lucky I am to work with all of you!

The Kids Library is really coming along, and by the end of next week it's going to be much closer to ready for furniture and shelving.  Here's what happens next week:

• carpeting in the staff offices
• anti-static floor treatments in the electrical and data rooms
• rubber flooring in the public areas
• cabinetry installed
• countertops installed
• backsplashes installed
• temporary lighting (selected fixtures will take a few more weeks to arrive
• data cabling installed
• washer and dryer installed

With the flooring installed, we'll be ready for the staff furniture to arrive first. Then comes shelving and furniture for the rest of the spaces. Rob will be able to set up and test our tech equipment. Then the AMH and security gates can be installed.

Construction is officially over  and inspected by June 1, which means we get a certificate of occupancy, allowing staff to work inside the space. Hiring for additional staff is going well.  There will be 6 total new faces. They will in just a few weeks to be sure they receive all the training they need to do a great job on opening day. OPENING DAY REMAINS JULY 13th noon-4pm.

Fundraising is going well. We're close to $1.8 million with a $32,000 gain this week. On May 16th we will hold a special event in the new space to hopefully entice a few more donations.

This announcement through WLA: Great Lakes, Great Read - Big Announcement Coming Soon!

Books Announcement & Website Launch Earth Day – April 22, 2024   The Great Lakes, Great Read program will officially launch with the announcement of our selected titles on Earth Day, April 22, 2024.    Two books, one for adults and one for children, with themes related to the Great Lakes watershed will be announced. All Wisconsinites are encouraged to read these titles, and we also encourage our library colleagues around the state to engage your residents through book discussions and related activities.   Watch your email inbox and the WLA website for a special Earth Day announcement - or sign up for our email list to be the first to hear the good news! This week's Bright Spots: The entire YFS team for all the work they are doing to plan for the new Uptown Children's Library! Megan for her efforts to expand the Great Stories Club for teens to our middle schools. Outreach for always finding a way to squeeze one more community event into their schedule. Northside for their team effort making things work with two staff members on maternity leave. Justin for confidently leading the Simmons staff through multiple encounters with challenging patrons. Rob for leading us through the complicated tech decisions in the new kids library construction. Phillip for splitting his time between admin and Outreach. The KPL Book Jockeys for their immense courage Michelle for finding us new talent for YFS and constructing an excellent training plan. Jeremy for getting those banners hung! To the maintenance team for hauling the new appliances to the construction site. Katie S. for learning something new every day and quickly mastering it. Brandi for inspiring community members to give $30,000 gifts. For the appetizer cooks- thanks for treating us! Keep those nominations coming! I know there are dozens of superstars every day. Please tell us about them! Have a great weekend, everyone! Barb

Happy National Library Week!

Our assistant state superintendent of education, Dr. Darrell Williams, wrote a lovely letter expressing his admiration and gratitude for school and public librarians in honor of National Library Week. It's always nice to be recognized as a public servant. Sometimes I know you feel like your work isn't important or all your efforts don't make much difference. You would be wrong on both counts. Your work is important and none of your efforts are wasted. You change lives for the better every single day! Know how important each of you are to everyone else at KPL and to everyone who walks through our doors. You are the reason KPL is a great library. Never forget it!

This week's Bright Spot nominations:

From Emily:
"I'd like to nominate Kristen from Outreach for a bright spot this week. During Call-In Book Club, one of my regulars Sue, who lives at an assisted living facility Outreach visits and a big film buff, had this to say:

"Your home delivery system for DVDs is so great! I love seeing Kristen every time she comes! Last time she even put eclipse glasses in with my movies. She is so thoughtful!"
All my seniors in book club love Kristen and the Outreach team! They tell me every month. Way to go!!!"

National Library Week 2024!

Happy National Library Week April 7-13! Our staff celebration team has some lovely surprises in store for you on National Library Workers Day, April 9th. April 8th is Right to Read day, encouraging people to try a banned book, and April 10th is National Library Outreach Day, a special day to celebrate the tremendous impact our OPE team makes on the Kenosha community all year. April 11th is Take Action for Libraries Day, encouraging us all to speak out on behalf of adequate funding and intellectual freedom.

April is also Citizen Science Month, and we at KPL love citizen science! If the weather cooperates, we'll all have a chance to experience a true solar eclipse this weekend. Look for Heather and Shannon's messages about distribution of solar glasses on Saturday at all locations.

The FCC is winding down the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) which subsidized internet plans for low income people during the pandemic. The last month of ACP subsidies is April 2024. We promoted this program with our community, so you may get questions about this. 

Bright Spot from Luiza:

"I would like to nominate Jason for a Bright Spot for taking the time to help us make the Southwest desk more comfortable to work at and for replacing the wheels on the chairs with roller skating wheels. They now silently and effortlessly glide around the desk as we work and I'm very excited about them. It's greatly appreciated, thanks Jason!!

And from Phillip:

"I wanted to give a secret shout-out to Rob for all his support! He's absolutely awesome! Rob has an answer for everything, and today, he really came through with the stats for the Board packet. He is like a quiet resource we all can rely on, but whose absence can really be felt. I'm really grateful to work with him, and thought you should know!"

We've got Tree Tops and many, many Bright Spots

 

New Bright Spots from Karen:

Thank you DJ! I really appreciate that you have put up the wall in the activities room the last few weeks when I had programs in there. Thank you so much!! 

Thank you Alex!! You have been a great help to me the last month or more with computer issues, copy and printing issues with some of our patrons. I know they have appreciated your help and so have I. Thank you!!

Thank you Ben!!! You have helped me with some language barriers that  I have had with patrons lately. Thank you for the computer and printer help too!

Thank you Elliott!! I asked them for help to change a date on a document I want to use for this year's solar eclipse. They had it done the day I asked. So amazing! Thank you!!

Thank you Jason! You are amazing and so fast with requests. I asked you today (Monday, April 1st about 11:00am) about a cleaner and you had it on my desk within an hour. Thank you so much!! 

And from Barb, thanks to everyone who covered for me while the grandkids were in town. It was really restful to step away from email for a few days!