Notes from Collection Development

Titles recently released about the King of Pop--

Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin

In late December 2008, Ian Halperin told the world that Michael Jackson had only six months to live. His investigations into Jackson's failing health made headlines around the globe. Six months later, the King of Pop was dead.

Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Friends and associates paint a tragic picture of the last years and days of his life as Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the planned concert series at London's 02 Arena in July 2009. These shows would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but he could never have completed them, not mentally, and not physically. Michael knew it and his advisors knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. Why did it happen this way? After an intense five year investigation, New York Times bestselling author Ian Halperin uncovers the real story of Michael Jackson's final years, a suspenseful and surprising thriller

Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson by Life Magazine

His talent was spectacular, electric. He was a thriller beyond compare. And he left us too soon. LIFE was there to capture the excitement that was Michael Jackson, from his earliest days when the magazine's John Olson visited the Jackson 5 to the adult years when Jackson invited Harry Benson to tour Neverland for LIFE. This book is an intimate portrait of the artist and the chronicle of an extraordinary American life. There was never a performer quite like Michael Jackson, and in the pages of this special commemorative book a singular superstar is captured in full.


Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli

So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with a remarkable level of access to the very closest circles of the Jackson family - including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloid rumors, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind Michael Jackson, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming of his talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarre publicity stunts. This major biography includes the behind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life: his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children. Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all of Taraborrelli's best-sellers: impeccable research, brilliant storytelling and definitive documentation.

Kudos from Customers

Argyle Branch: I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this library. Barbara Hughes is always helpful and makes me feel so welcome.

Beaches Branch Library: I love your children’s section. I check out books weekly for my pre-k class. The librarians are helpful and knowledgeable. Nicole Saville, Children’s Dept., comes every year to read and do movement activities with our five classes of pre-k students. She does an amazing job.

Brentwood Branch: I would not know where else to go that supplies so much information, friendship, and satisfaction. Thank you especially for the marvelous staff (Gloria Armstrong, Margaret Miles, and Maude Scott).

Southeast Branch: Recently, I had surgery and was unable to lift books I checked out. A woman at the circulation desk named Joyce (Myllykangas) notified someone in the back that she would be assisting me to get my books to the car. She carried two book bags to the entrance and waited for me to pull up to the curb where she placed the books on my front seat. How is that for service! Please let her know that I have submitted this commendation on her service beyond the call of duty.

Webb Wesconnett Branch: My daughter and I go to the library every Saturday. My daughter adores Jackie Bartha. She knows my daughter’s name and takes time talking with her.

They Don't Call It "Special Services" For Nothing

Heather Campbell, Manager-Special Services (Interlibrary Loan and Books by Mail), and her team received a good review about their dedicated service and many customer accolades in a recent article in the Financial News and Daily Record:

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=528879

Ms. Campbell is assisted by Carolyn Hampton, CSA II; Betty Person, Library Assistant; and Tammy Crotts, a Part-Time Clerical employee. This department boasts 98 years of service to JPL, its customers, and the City of Jacksonville.

Westbrook Branch Summer Library Program Winners

Meet two of the cutest winners you will ever see:

Jhaniya, age 5, was delighted to receive one of Westbrook Branch’s grand prizes at the close of their Summer Library Program. The grand prize included a new backpack full of goodies.

Also pictured are Megan, age 8, who was another grand prize winner, along with her mother, Melissa.

Eve Harm, Children and Teen Librarian
at Westbrook, reported that over
29,000 minutes were turned in for the Summer Reading Program at Westbrook and over 300 people attended the Be Creative @ Your Library programs.

'Way to go, Westbrook!

Have You Suggested Ed's Resume' Maker to Job Seekers?

Are you familiar with Ed’s Resume' Maker? It is a wonderful program that Ed Lein, Librarian in the Main Library's 2nd floor Reference Department, wrote which allows a person to simply type information in blanks and it automatically formats the information into a beautiful resume'. Linda Eckersen, who suggested we share this valuable information, said she showed it to customers when she worked at San Marco Branch, who were working on their resumes' and did not know how to make them look professional.

http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/res/sites/jobs.html
http://edsplace.coolfreepages.com/resumemaker.html

"There was a period of time when it did not work," Ms. Eckersen said and she asked Mr. Lein if he would fix it and he did. She believes most staff members do not know it is now working.

There are many people out of work and some job seekers do not know how to format a resume'. This program does everything for them.

Staff Profile

Laura Minnich is JPL's Westbrook Branch Manager and has an astute way of serving customers and teaching computer classes. Laura is pictured here with her husband, Michael, when they were hiking in the mountains. (Click on the photo to get a better view.)

Why did you choose a career as a librarian?

Serendipity, really. I didn’t set out to become a librarian. I was teaching young toddlers in a daycare/preschool and working on my portfolio for grad school, where I was intending to pursue an MFA. But I wasn’t happy with the way my portfolio was coming together, and I didn’t feel like early childhood ed. was exactly where I wanted to be either. So, in a bit of a last minute panic, I applied to two programs at the University of Pittsburgh—public policy and library science. I didn’t even think of library school until the day before the deadline to apply, so you can imagine what a stellar application that was!

You won the 3rd quarter 2008/2009 R&R award as "Good Trouper" and are lauded for dropping everything to serve a customer and providing computer classes. What talents do you use to provide such customer service and your computer classes?

Hmm…I’m not sure that I have any special talents in this area, but here goes:

CUSTOMER SERVICE: One talent, if you can call it that, is being able to remember customers’ names pretty easily. That really goes a long way. Also I think it is important to just genuinely be nice and not let past bad experiences get in the way of how you handle a customer.

COMPUTER CLASSES: The computer classes were developed because we observed a need. Many customers were coming to the library to apply for jobs but didn’t have any idea how to use a computer or find the appropriate website. We decided to use the ASPIRE center because there is almost always a line for computer use at WBK, and taking students to ASPIRE center wouldn’t deprive customers of the opportunity to use the public computers. Again, I don’t think any particular talent is involved—these are VERY basic skills that we tackle, like using a mouse or finding the enter key or creating an email account. Patience is a good quality, as is a willingness to teach the same thing over and over.

Tell us about the kinds of computer classes you provide and a couple of customer successes because they took these classes.

We offer two different computer classes at Westbrook Branch:

OPEN ACCESS is a two hour walk-in session for customers who are working on employment application/skills or applying for various state benefits. We noticed that customers were frustrated at trying to complete food stamp applications or job tests in the 30 minutes allotted by Pharos. Open Access allows customers an extended session and a library staff member available to answer questions.

ADULT COMPUTER CLASSES are one hour sessions with pre-registration recommended. This class focuses more on skill building. It is somewhat free-form in the sense that I often have customers who are varying degrees of beginner. Because these classes are 5 or fewer people, I am usually able to work one-on-one with students. I generally try to determine how comfortable/knowledgeable a customer is before he or she gets to the class so I can prepare some activities/practice bits for him/her to work on while I am with another student. For example, I might have one student starting out on the Mousing Around Tutorial*, another student working on creating an email account and a third using Word to create a resume. This system works well for us because we’re small and it doesn’t bother me to work in a fairly non-linear fashion. I think it would be more difficult to set up a computer class in this manner at a larger branch. On the other hand, I have never been able to offer a class focused on one particular program (Word, excel, email) and have anyone sign up or express interest here, which is one advantage of a larger location.

*Pablo Creek Branch has some great resources for computer classes and one is a page with links to computer related tutorials online.

SUCCESS STORIES: I know that several of my Open Access attendees have found jobs as a result of being able to complete an application. They usually come back in to let me know, which is nice. One customer who attended my adult computer classes was able to polish her computer skills enough to take some online classes and go back to school. A mother and her daughter (who lives out of state) were able to communicate more frequently because the mother came into the library and attended classes until she was truly comfortable using email. One of the things many of my customers are most excited to learn is how to attach a resume to a job application—that’s a little success, but it makes their job applications go so much faster!

What do you believe is your greatest accomplishment in life?

Career wise, two things that I am most proud of are the preschool storytime program I developed at West Regional and the great rapport we’ve developed here at WBK between staff and customers.

What book has most influenced your career and why?

There are many books that have influenced me over the years, but one that stands out right now is The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I read this in junior high/high school and it’s a great book about finding & following your direction in life. It’s also one of the many books that sharpened my interest in children’s literature.

Northwest Library's Outreach Program

Gloria Buenavista and Davi Harmon represented the Northwest Library at the Carter G. Woodson Community Day held at the elementary school on Saturday, August 22nd. They had a terrific time talking to parents and students about library services and signing up 66 people for library cards!