JPL Staff News

Thursday, August 07, 2008

News from the Director’s Desk
July 29, 2008

First Coast Games. Climbing to ever greater heights, the City of Jacksonville Climbing Team led by Highlands Manager Donna Thomas defeated all comers last week as part of the First Coast Games. COJ teams and teams from 15 corporations in the city are competing in a variety of sports. The COJ Climbing team had 1,480 points with their closest competitor finishing with only 1,280 points. Way to go Donna and your team!

Sunshine Leadership Fellow Graduates: Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian in Special Collections will be graduating in August from the year-long Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. This is the fourth year of the program. Gretchen Mitchell who has been serving as Laura’s mentor will be going up with Laura to the graduation ceremony in Tallahassee. Congratulations Laura!

Willowbranch Branch Library: Public Works is close to determining their plan of action to deal with the continuing water penetration into the Willowbranch Library but in the meantime I have decided that we need to close the children’s library, which is the area most severely impacted, from public access until work has been done on the building. We will do this at close of business on Saturday, August 2 and with the help of our Facilities staff and the staff at the branch we will create a Children’s area in the meeting room. Most of the collection will be boxed and stored at UPK. We do not have a timetable from Public Works for the rehabilitation project yet but they are working on it.

Friends of the Library and the Library’s FY 2009 Budget: the Mayor’s proposed budget for FY 2009 (October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2009) is $38,366,961. Our staffing remains constant with 369 full time positions and there is no real change in the funding for part-time hours although some dollars and hours have been added to pay for Seeds of Change students next summer. Interdepartmental and indirect costs have increased by over $ 500,000 and the City is now fully funding our security services contracts which previously we had to pay for with our state appropriation. However, in order to accommodate these increases and increases in the salary and benefit line items the Administration cut the library materials budget (books, music, film, online reference services) by one million dollars. The Friends of the Library have begun a campaign, calling it “Libraries Need Books” and are collecting signatures on petitions and encouraging library supporters to contact their Council Members to protest the reduction in the materials budget. You can find more about the Friends of the Library campaign on their website.

Some staff has asked me how the reductions will impact our collections and purchasing new items. Until we have final numbers it is difficult to know those details and I will be working with Charlene Adkins on the budget for materials. We will be able to spend some amount of our state appropriation on library materials but Charlene is projecting an overall 14% reduction. There would be fewer periodical subscriptions and standing orders. We would no longer purchase additional copies of popular materials when the number of holds reaches a certain threshold and overall customers would have access to both fewer titles and copies of books, music and film. And we will have to do a thorough evaluation, title by title of the online information databases we license in terms of cost and use and decide which we can no longer justify.

Hurricane Season: Everyone needs to review the Library’s Emergency Management Plan on JPLNeighborhood. Branch Managers please take time at a staff meeting to highlight the important items and make sure you have accurate and up to date contact information for everyone at your library. The City will soon have a portal set up for all staff to go online and review the preparations we should all make for our own and our family’s safety in the event of a major event such as a hurricane or tornado. Keep checking for this as you go online to the employee website.

Comments or Questions? You can contact me at bgubbin@coj.net.

Barbara Gubbin

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THREE STAFF HONORED AT CW

In December, Deputy Director Julie McNeil presented service pins to Kristi Dorney (middle in pic) for 20 years at JPL; Cassy Manning (left) for five service years; and Helena Davenport for five years serving JPL. Kristi received a congratulatory letter from Mayor Curry, and Cassy and Helena each received a letter of appreciation from Director Tim Rogers. Cassy, Kristi, and Helena also enjoyed a socially-distanced party given in their honor. All of us send our thanks, too, for your years with the library.

MR. MOSELEY: CONGRATS ON 20 YEARS & A JOB WELL DONE!

DON'T NEED TO BE A DUMMY; JUST READ BOOKS FOR DUMMIES

PT shelver with help from Teen Associate Beverly Mason created a “I thought you said Mummy…No I said Book for Dummies” display to transition to fall/Halloween and highlight DU’s For Dummies series of books on a variety of topics. DU Manager Eric Soriano added, “There’s also a new ‘Interactive chess display’ by Librarian Benjamin Smith. Books and DVDs are available for checkout while customers enjoy actually playing the game. Ben is also planning to offer possible chess classes.”

LIGHT BULB GOES OFF IN CREATIVE DECKER'S HEAD

YS Asociate Decker Cavosie hosted EB’s first “Minute to Win It,” April 9, 2019, where 15 teens competed in various challenges under a 60 second time limit. Participants discussed strategies and difficulties throughout the program and exhibited creative problem-solving to gain advantages. Each month at the end of the program, the teen with the most points writes their name on the “Minute to Win It Undisputed Championship” belt Decker made. The belt will be displayed until the following month when the reigning champion will defend their title.

HAIL, HAIL THE GANG'S ALL HERE FOR MELODIE BRUNSON'S 5 YEAR CELEBRATION!

January 17, 2019, Deputy Director Julie McNeil presented Melodie Brunson with Director Tim Rogers' congratulatory letter for her five years of service and her service pin. Melodie also enjoyed a big cheer from West Branch's staff pictured here. Back row: Jessica Carpenter (clerk), Eve Harm (YS Librarian 1), Shannon Buchanan (clerk), Larry Singer (volunteer), John Jessee (Assistant Branch Manager), & Manager Kathleen Brunner. Front row: Latisha Woolbright (clerk), Julie Horton (YS Library Assistant), & Melodie Brunson (YS PT Associate.)

THANKS, MANDY ELLIOTT, FOR 5 GOOD YEARS OF SERVICE

JANICE ADAMS CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS W/JPL

Library Associate Janice Adams received her 5 year service pin from Webb Region Manager Lynne Baldwin, January 31, 2018, along with a letter from Library Director Tim Rogers thanking and commending Janice for her service to JPL, the City and the community. Staff at Webb surprised Janice with not one but two cakes, a card, a bouquet of flowers and a gift card. Branch Manager Kathy Tekin joined Lynne to say, "Congratulations to you, Janice, for 5+ years of outstanding service to the Jacksonville community."

STUDY BUDDY SHARED BY 3 IN MAIN TEEN DEPT.

A Thank You From Denise Thomas

To the JPL Family: I wish to thank each and every one of you for your caring responses during my time of need. For those who were not aware, time was needed for surgery and recovery from breast cancer. I want you to know that all donated leave, words of encouragement, random acts of kindness and those beautiful smiles are appreciated.

I am a breast cancer survivor as a result of God’s Grace and an early detection of the cancer. May I suggest that each of you, if you have not already done so, take time to schedule health screenings of any kind knowing that these can be lifesaving methods for you.

To God be the glory for the things he has done. I am now free of cancer and want to say again that I appreciate what you did for me. Not knowing who my time donors were, I am not able to give individual hugs; collectively to the JPL Family I say THANK YOU a million times over.

Denise Thomas, JPL’s Center for Adult Learning at Main.

MARILYN JORDAN SENDS THANKS TO STAFF WHO DONATED TIME FOR HER RECENTLY

SANTA AND KIDS AT MAIN

Main's Children’s departmemt had a jolly great time with Old Saint Nick this year. We handed out jingle bells, read a sleigh ride picture book and, of course, sang the Jingle Bells song. Next, resident elf, Carisia Rooney, took over and kept the line smiling as they waited to verify that indeed, Santa’s whiskers were real and so was his tummy! Afterward, Jonathan Sandbach held a bell-decorating class (complete with glitter) so the kids could take some of the holiday fun home with them.

MATTHEW TAYLOR, LIBRARIAN I, WITH MAIN LIBRARY 15 YEARS

DENISE THOMAS CELEBRATES 15 YEARS WITH JPL

Denise is a Literacy Program Specialist in the Center for Adult Learning, located on the Conference level of the Main Library. She has done so much good for the community beside all the wonderful things she does for children in her position with JPL. Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop (far left) gave Denise a congratulatory letter from Mayor Curry and her 15 year service pin. Denise is 2nd from left, then CAL Manager Katie Devanny, & Tammy Owens. We join with them in congratulating you, Denise.