"Polar Express" Comes to Webb Wesconnett

Webb Wesconnett Branch created their own wonderland and held a Polar Express party, December 22, featuring the movie. Some attendees had the pleasure of "riding" in CW's "Express" (chairs lined up like a train and hemmed by garland as seen in picture at left) as they watched the film. Christmas carols were sung and popcorn, sugar cookies, and hot chocolate were served.

This was CW's second year hosting this holiday program and 122 people, including parents and grandparents, enjoyed the festivities. Staff gave out 50 tickets and both years they have had people waiting to get in, hoping to pick up tickets from no-shows.
Pictured right above are Merikris Boado, Laurie Mills, and Victoria Hill, some of the staff that made this program a grand success.

THANK YOU, DONORS TO UNITED WAY--OR ANY WAY YOU GIVE

$14.963.73 is JPL's final total for United Way funds collected for 2010. JPL people have caring hearts. Many of you give to UW and/or to many other needs in our community.

May all your giving and caring for others come back to you a thousand ways--each and every one of you.

In addition to UW donors, JPL's branch, Main, and SST United Way representatives are to be commended for their dedication and seeing that funds were turned in on time.

Special fundraisers at the library occurred for the first time. Center for Adult Learning Manager Sharon Jaskula brought in numerous items and Jennifer Martinez helped with CAL's raffle; they raised $200. Hazzel Sutton, Special Collections UW rep, raffled a beautiful vase with glass flowers and raised $70--on one vase! And we had the usual City wide Staff Sale in Hemming Plaza that garnered about $100, and most of that was on cookie sales.

Jim Patterson and Pam McClellan worked hard to get all the donations together and we turned it all in just in time to enjoy and wish Y O U Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

Capacity Plan Status Report

Key Information

The Board Capacity Plan Committee has requested three sets of capacity recommendations:
1. 10% budget reduction
2. Status quo operations
3. Ideal operations

Capacity Plan Components

Communications Plan - Four public meetings were held, and online comments were accepted, to introduce the capacity planning process, and gather community input about the library’s priorities and services for the future.

Received: 1) Stakeholder Interview Notes Summary, 2) Summary of Comments from Four Community Meetings, 3) Website Comments Summary

Expected: 1) Four additional public meetings will be held to report the key findings and recommendations, 2) Communications Plan to market the capacity plan and specific capacity plan elements, and to help ensure that staff, stakeholders and the community are familiar with the outcome of the planning process and understand how it impacts them, 3) Action Plan with timelines to achieve recommendations.

Reduction, Status Quo and Ideal Scenario Recommendations

Draft Reports Received: 1) Reduction Scenario - JPL Schedule Option, 2) Status Quo Scenario - Services & Facilities Functional Assessment, 3) All three scenarios – Alternative Model Libraries (defined as less than a full-service facility, with minimal staffing).

Expected: 1) Ideal Scenario – White Paper based on Buxton data for ideal library locations if starting “from scratch”, 2) A presentation from the consultants that ties all of the data together to present a clear, transparent plan to present to the Mayor and the Council.

Facilities

Received: 1) Space Planning Guidelines and Preliminary Standards, 2) Physical Assessment of Library Buildings, 3) Building retrofit costs, 4) Functional Assessment of Facilities (includes manager and staff input)

Expected: 1) Long Term Facilities Plan

Information Technology

Received: 1) Information Technology Report Draft

Services

Expected: 1) Service Capacity Report

Market Segmentation

Received: 1) Mosaic Descriptions of Customer Profile Groups, 2) Model Draft Report (includes drive time, trade areas, segmentation profiles by branch, customer profiles by material category and branch, and score sheets that indicate branch materials use compared to JPL average use).

Expected: 1) Cross Over Charts, 2) Computer use data added to score sheets

Funding

Expected: 1) Sustainable funding plan

Next steps

1) Capacity Plan Committee Meeting – December 17, 9-12, Conference Center, Room G4. Consultants will share key findings and recommendations.
2) Administrative Team visits to branches to share key findings.
2) Four Public Meetings are scheduled in January:
January 11, 2:30-4:00, Beaches
January 11, 7:00-8:30, Highlands
January 12, 2:30-4:00, Graham
January 12, 7:00-8:30, Southeast
3) Final Capacity Plan Committee meeting – February 8, 9:00-12:00, Conference Center, Room G4.
4) When the final capacity plan report has been received by the Board, JPL will have 60 days to provide the Mayor and Council with recommendations for action by the legislative and executive branches of government.
5) COJ Budget workshops will be held February – April.

United Way - Did You Know?

December 7 is the deadline to turn in United Way donations to your JPL United Way representative. Please help us complete this capaign on time. Many people will be helped by our donations. Here are a few facts about where our donations go:

United Way's phone number 2-1-1 offers free, confidential information and referral 24/7 to North Florida and 117,00 referrals to callers were made in 2009; of these, 21,000 to callers who needed food, shelter, and clothing.

In the past two years, the RealSense Prosperity campaign returned over $10 million to low-moderate income families through the Earned Income Tax Credit. Nearly $6 million was saved by tax payers using RealSense free tax preparation over this same period. Clients saved over $3 million using this free tax service, and 23,000+ student hours were logged in all classes for free financial education.

UW's Achievers for Life's Dropout prevention initiative focused on 6th grade students at risk for academic failure. Through 2009, this program achieved a 20% improvement in GPA and 36% fewer absences. Our local economy is affected and the safety of our neighborhoods because dropouts cost all of us big time!

And on and on the help goes: the UW of NE Florida Community Fund invests in 87 programs in 60 agencies, all addressing our community's needs from infancy to the oldest in our five county area.

UW's Community Fund contributions are reviewed, invested and monitored by more than 100 local, trained, unpaid volunteers who themselves are contributors. Got more Qs? Find your answers at: http://www.uwnefl.org/about.asp

Staff Profile

Most JPL staff know Kathy Tekin, Youth Services Library Supervisor. You might not know the interesting path she took to her current position and all that she and her staff do so diligently to contribute to JPL's success.

1. What experience prepared you to supervise Youth Services?

I’ve spent many years working in a variety of library settings, starting as an elementary media specialist for Harper Creek Schools and then for four schools in Battle Creek, Michigan.

My first public library position was as a children’s librarian for Howell Carnegie District Library, housed in an 80-year-old building. After four years in that building, we moved to a newly renovated, expanded building. I worked closely with the contractors and architects during the building phase.

My next adventure was with the St. Johns County Public Library in St. Augustine where I served as a teen librarian and later promoted to branch manager of public service.

JPL is the largest library system I have worked for; I was hired as a children’s librarian at Highlands in June 1998, then promoted to Programming Supervisor in 2002. JPL is rewarding to me, working with staff and our community to create awareness of our library's many services.
Working in various library settings I saw how each area of a library can impact and influence other areas and the impact of programming in a branch and in a large library system like this. The Executive Leadership Academy helped me hone my skills with project management--as I worked on a project for JPL--and in communication. As a result of this course, the position of Early Childhood Specialist was created.

My most challenging role was as a branch manager and an Interim Library Director for the Howell Carnegie Library where I was involved in day-to-day operations and the project management aspects of the new building.

2. What programs have you seen JPL develop that have helped our community most?
JPL has had the opportunity to implement a number of youth services programs that have made a great impact in this community. After the Main Library was built, we could hold many more programs because we now had the space. We have dedicated children’s and teen spaces that were not in the Haydon Burns Library, and that has allowed Youth Services staff the opportunity to be creative and prolific with programs. Two of the most recent programs that have been a big success are Prime Time Family Reading Time and Teens Make a Difference.

Prime Time is a 6-week reading and storytelling program for families whose children are struggling to read and develop the necessary literacy skills to perform at their grade level. The program encourages families to read and discuss meaningful children’s books together and enables parents with limited literacy skills to create a home environment supportive of their children and their reading development.

The first stop of the three series program was at Bradham Brooks Northwest Branch, and after the six weeks concluded, we had served more than 26 family members. Each week we served a meal to the families and then had storytime. Families were sad when the six week program ended. All the families had grown close and had a rapport with the library staff, the scholar, and the storyteller. The case was the same at UPK as at NW, even though attendance nearly doubled to 49 family members.

Teens Make a Difference began in spring 2010 with seven teen interns. We are now in our second round of interns and as with Prime Time, we have nearly doubled our numbers. We now have 13 teen interns, who work at University Park, Regency, Webb, Argyle and Main. The teens work in a variety of capacities and in many different departments including, circ, reference, Talking Books, children’s and teen. They handle daily tasks such as shelving, helping customers with computers, finding materials, program planning, support and check outs.

3. How do you and your staff of three get all those youth programs ready and rolling?
A lot of planning and even more teamwork. I am so appreciative of my staff and their willingness to work hard to get the job done. Prime Time Family Reading Time is a great example of lots of teamwork within our staff and with our community partners. Planning and developing the path for successful programs is crucial and all players need to be on the same page.

Teens Make A Difference has been successful due again in part to community partners and JPL staff teamwork. The pilot for this program had seven teens working in three library locations that are easy to monitor and establish the criteria for success. This semester we have 13 teens in five branches and again we are successful due to partners and library staff. This Internship Program is reaching out to students who need that first break to obtain job skills that will be helpful in their future endeavors . They have a clear understanding of our expectations and they know they are contributing to their own growth.

4. How will Youth Services play a vital role in JPL’s future?
Through programs that meet the interest and needs of our youth. The interests of today’s youth are constantly changing--something that was new and exciting to them one day, will be out-of-date the next. By evaluating the trends, trying new programs and services, and asking for their involvement in helping determine their likes and dislikes, JPL's Youth Services will remain educational, fun, and relevant .

5. What is something you would like to share about yourself that most of us don’t know?
I thoroughly enjoy gardening and a variety of needlework styles like cross stitch and crocheting.

Mark Ely, Librarian, Southeast Branch, Retires

On December 3rd, Mark Ely, Librarian and resident cataloging expert, retires after 21 years with JPL. Mark has worked at three different libraries during his employment, Regency Square, Charles Webb-Wesconnett, and Southeast. Mark will be sorely missed as he has been the go to guy for difficult cataloging problems at Southeast.

Mark plans to begin his retirement by joining a gymnasium to improve his health and also start a gardening hobby. We wish Mark the very best in his future endeavors, and of course, as many as could came to add their personal wishes at a recent party in his honor. Pictured left to right, Theresa Barmer, Manager, Mark Ely, and Bob Silkett, Librarian Senior.

Latanza Sutton organized an employee art show at Mandarin in November. She modeled the way for her fellow staff members to show their artistic side. Congratulations to Latanza for using her leadership skills so creatively.

And check out Mandarin's new

display highlighting Imani the

Swahili word for faith. The

figures featured in the display are on loan from the collection of Carolyn Woods.