Baby Bunny Rescue, AI, and the reopening of SImmons on Saturday

SIMMONS REOPENS SATURDAY NORMAL HOURS

The bed bug scare at Simmons turned out to be very minor. The exterminator found 2 dead bugs in the kids area, nowhere else. We had the entire building treated and will follow up with a second treatment in a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone for their flexibility and for welcoming SI staff at other branches during the closure. Special thanks to Jason who coordinated everything in Dan's absence.

City sponsored shredding events at NS and SW parking lots are scheduled on Saturday June 22nd,  9am-1pm

We have a regular board meeting at Southwest on Tuesday evening at 5:30pm. Rob and Zander will be presenting on Artificial Intelligence to prep the board for a future AI policy they are writing. If you can come, please do. If not, I'll ask them to present the same program for the staff sometime in the near future.

We'll start stocking the shelves at the new kids library this coming Tuesday. We'll also host UW Madison's Literacy Lab staff to talk to us about how they detect learning disabilities in young children and how those early disabilities can be offset through parent education.

This weeks Bright Spot nominations come from Patty:

Brent and Max, our amazing Network Administrators
Members of our Sister Cities Association and I would like to express appreciation to Brent and Max for working their "IT magic" by bringing in equipment and creating a 24/7 slideshow presentation (of at least 100 still images) inside the Northside lobby display case. The colorful and informative June exhibit celebrates the City of Kenosha's over 50 year relationship with Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Their project certainly enhances the impact of the installation.

Cathy, Customer Service Specialist
Throughout a recent evening at Northside, Cathy periodically worked with an older gentleman who was learning about, and navigating through, an onboarding platform. He had a smartphone, but was unfamiliar with using a mouse and had not previously received basic computer skills training. With patience, empathy, and humor she checked on his progress, helped guide him through the arduous process, and he accomplished the task as a new employee.


Jeff, Building Maintenance
While leaving Northside one evening, I saw an isolated and disoriented baby cottontail sitting in the parking lot near the driveway entrance. It had fur but its eyes were closed (7-10 days old?) and had difficulty moving toward the lawn. Several patrons saw me guarding it; one scooped it up (cradled in grass) and set it down, out of sight, under a nearby shrub (no nest was located). The next morning before opening, Jeff found it on the lawn, brought it inside, dried it with a towel and placed it in a box, called a local organization for guidance, and gave it some milk & cream, and a bit of honey, which appeared to revive it. Sadly, this little kit did not survive but it spent its last hours in a warm, safe, and quiet place, away from vehicles or predators. Jeff went above and beyond to help local wildlife. His actions exemplify the compassion and care with which he takes care of us and performs his maintenance responsibilities.