Re-Enroll for City Health Benefits By 12/5/12

If you have City health benefits, you must re-enroll by December 5, 2012.  The City has a new provider for 2013.  For important details, check out these sites:

http://inside.coj.net/News/Pages/2013BenefitsEnrollmentInformation.aspx

http://inside.coj.net/News/Documents/City%20of%20Jax%20Flyer%202012.pdf

Getting To Know You

Ever wonder what a manager does to keep a department like Talking Books/Special Needs interacting with customers and the community? Scott Adams is the new Librarian Sr. in Talking Books/Special Needs and he has hit the road running.  Noting a few things accomplished  in his short tenure there: "This month I went to a health fair at Most Holy Redeemer Church, attended the Mayor’s Disability Council, SAGES, and the Senior Roundtable, did four radio shows at WJCT, attended residency meetings at Cathedral Towers, Cathedral Terrace, and Taylor Homes, toured the Low Vision Center, hosted the book club for Half Broke Horses and will tape a segment for Independent Living Resource Center. We showed Larry Crowne as our closed captioned movie.  This is what we do every month." 

Scott Adams also supervises some valuable employees; pictured above, L/R in back: Librarian Chris Eaton, Scott Adams, and Part-time Clerk Kareem Chambers.  In front: Library Clerk Jackie Curry and Part-time Clerk Tim Meusel.  Long-time Library Clerk Carolyn Hampton was not present for the picture.

Guitar Lessons and More at Main Children's

Main's new Librarian Sr., Margo Crafton, is off to a good start for FY2013, "Staff has been busy meeting the needs of school and child care groups wanting to visit the library for storytime and tours. We hosted the Jacksonville Symphony String Quartet in early November.  That talented group presented their musical storytime interpretation of Mole Music by David McPhail. Speaking of music, Mr. Josh has resumed his guitar lessons and already has a waiting list for the future ones. To celebrate the holidays, both the Junior League of Jacksonville and the Duval County Reading Council will present storytime/craft programs. We will also be decorating gingerbread boys and girls."

Brentwood Update

Betty Williams, Library Associate Sr. at Brentwood Branch, reports they had a busy, fun-filled time for their neighborhood children in November. Board games and coloring contests were held half days on Wednesdays. On November 21, ten youths attended a showing of Breaking Dawn, Part 1. Everyone received tattoos and the chance to win a movie pack prize that consisted of a popcorn bowl, theater candy, popcorn and promotional items for the new Breaking Dawn, Part 2. On November 26, kids colored holiday themed sheets to help decorate the library.

Kudos From Customers

Beaches Branch (two moved; one to San Marco & one to Pablo Creek ): The children's programs are what make me love my local library so much. I am a stay at home mom and began taking my 2 year old to Mother Goose with Ms. Dianne (Byrd). When he got older we transitioned to family story time with Ms. Lizzy (Elizabeth Bourland-now at SS) and Ms. Nicole (Saville-now at PCR). My son loves books and singing songs and "library day" is his favorite day of the week. The children's staffers even know my son by name. The programs are always very well attended and I have met several other moms there over the last two years. Now I have a new baby and hope the services continue so he can benefit from them too. Please, please don't cut the children's programs at Jax Beach!

Brown Eastside Branch: Helped by Mr. Tony (Williams).

Main - Children’s: I absolutely love your children's programs and staff. I have been taking my children for the past 4 years to the story and art programs at the downtown location and am sad that services are being cut in that department. So many children and parents utilize these services. My kids couldn't wait to see Mr. Josh (Jubinsky) and Ms. Marie Myers every Thursday morning. ...

University Park Branch: I have always found all the employees friendly and helpful. I especially want to commend Ms. Mary (Calcagni) and Ms. Kim (Hamilton). They are wonderful with children. I took my class on a field trip and then had them come to my classroom. They are able to entertain, educate and control children in a positive way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have much to be happy about and thankful for:  Family, employment, friends, a roof over our heads, an ability to be appreciative, sight, hearing, challenges and many blessings that are individual to each of us.  Every day is a good day to be thankful but it is WONDERFUL to have a whole day set aside for Thanksgiving.

New Fiscal Year - Sound Fiscal Advice at GB

Kicking off the new fiscal year, Dallas Graham Branch Children’s Senior Librarian Peggy Crawford reports, "We had our first guest speaker for the teens November 14. We had a total of 16 teens participate. A speaker from the Extension Office, Anita McKinney, offered advice we could all benefit from:  sound ways to manage and spend money, including handing out money and cards listing usual living expenses people incur. The students then had to decide how to spend their money – which bills to pay, and how much to spend on items like rent, utilities, car, etc. Even though a lot of the students are college prep and IB, they profited in learning how to create a budget and live within their means. It was exciting to see all of the teens really intent on making their budgets work and getting the most for their money."

Veterans Day

From George Washington, who knelt to pray for victory as this nation was in a tug of war as to who would rule over this land, to now, we thoughtfully, thankfully remember all of those who have served honorably to preserve a country that stands for freedom. 

I remember a young man who took leave from the Viet Nam War to fly his first cousin's body home.  John Rowland had been shot to death there.  His uncle got out of the hospital--in a cast from his neck to his waist and another cast on his left leg from thigh to ankle incurred in an auto accident--to bury his son.  That uncle really appreciated his nephew for accompanying his son's body from Viet Nam to home.

Many of us have memories of the many experiences of war--and long after--for many who tried, and those still trying, to recover from physical, emotional, and mental trauma from the horrible experiences of war.

May we reverently remember our veterans of all wars and conflicts, who have paid dearly for the preservation of the United States of America.

More Filipino Pride Day Pics

Nothing connected with the Filipino culture is dull or bland.  We thought you would enjoy another look at the beautiful dancers and the quilt wall hanging, too.  Our thanks to Cranston Burney who sent these pics in today--and applause to Eric Soriano for the previous write-up and pictures on Filipino Pride Day celebrated at the Main Library.

New Life/New Hope At NS

One of the many victories JPL employees experience with our community members can be found at Brentwood Branch where Youth Services Librarian Denise Thomas has been tutoring a 23 year-old who dropped out of school in the 10th grade.  Not being able to read, this young man and five other classmates/dropouts began selling drugs and venturing into crime.  Now three of his former classmates who dropped out with him are in jail and two are dead.  Eric decided his life had to change when he became a single parent raising a daughter.  Thanks to Ms. Thomas, he is comfortable expressing his frustration as he struggles to learn to read.  With his learning disability, Eric knows he probably won't be able to read a book fluently, but just being able to read simple books to his daughter will be the joy of his life.

Ms. Thomas says, "Although Eric can't read yet, his listeing skills are superb.  His vocabulary exceeds that of a person who can't read.  His listening and descriptive skils are very deep.  He can take the words he hears and use them in correct form.  During our sessions, Eric is learning how to connect between letters and sounds, blending sounds to words, recognizing words and relating them to everyday life.  Computer reading software, audio, and place cards help develop Eric's phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, reading and spelling.  Many students, such as Eric, act out a defense to hide and shield that he/she cannot read."     

Staff Profile

Paralleling the many ingredients Michael Shell is working with,  he himself is a myriad of talents, education, and characteristics.  He knows how to laugh at himself, serious when needed, anyalytic, not one to tolerate boredom, inquisitive, smart--you get the picture.  Just knowing him can expand your horizons and we are fortunate to have him as the new leader in JPL Training.

Q: Working under the direction of Mark Merritt, JPL’s Deputy Director of Administration & Finance, you will be our Training Department’s Librarian Senior. You bring a lot to the table. What initial plans do you have for Training that you can share at this time?

A: First of all, I want to thank Sara Radovic, Kate Holmes and Diane Alexander for doing such a great job of pointing the way into the new fiscal year. In addition to their planning efforts, they greatly enhanced the Training Resources pages on JPL Neighborhood. Learning Resources is the most important of those pages. In 2011-12, 85% of JPL training was online, and most of it is still available here.

Going forward, reorganization training is the obvious first priority. Ron Block and colleagues have been bringing cash handling and circulation refresher training to the branches. Susan Mankowski has done the same with Storytime Boot Camp for new Children’s staff, and she has hosted a three-hour workshop for all Children’s staff, led by Keri Corey of the Jacksonville Children’s Commission. There will be follow-ups for all these trainings.

New Person in Charge (PIC) Orientation for Main and PIC Refresher training for all the branches are also priorities. I’m looking at the PIC training outline Richard Mott used several years ago and gathering collaborative help from Michael Soto in Facilities and from various current PICs.

Later this calendar year, Lynn Jacobson’s staff in ILS will prepare and present training on an upgrade to WorkFlows and a migration to a more user-friendly online public catalog called Enterprise.

Finally, the Balanced Scorecard training goal for fiscal 2012-13 is that at least 8 training hours of each person’s minimum 16 be focused on library technologies. We are updating the Technology Competencies and beginning needs assessment at the Region level, so that we can identify and/or create the necessary training opportunities.

Q: How long have you been with JPL and what experience have you gained that will benefit you and us as JPL’s Training Manager?

A: I came to JPL in 2000 from the University of South Carolina’s MLIS program.

Librarianship is my third career. Starting in the mid-1970s, as e-technology went from electric typewriters to desktop computers, I learned how to learn, in a changing information management world, through a series of administrative assistant jobs. From 1985 on, with a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from USC, I spent almost 15 years as a clinical social worker/counselor, mostly in the South Carolina prison system. As you can imagine, I learned to give professional customer service in the most challenging of situations. I also learned to facilitate teamwork across professional disciplines, and how to teach my colleagues as well as my clients.

On my first assignment at Webb Wesconnett Branch, I developed and taught a basic PC/JAXCAT customer class for seniors. That led, after a term at Southeast Branch, to an invitation to join ILS as they prepared to train staff for the migration from DRA Library Systems to Sirsi. The ILS job, in turn, required me to learn and teach other new technologies. In 2005, I joined Julie McNeil’s Main Reference staff to supervise the Call Center and to develop, implement and manage JPL’s Ask a Librarian service. As both of these services evolved, I kept learning and kept teaching staff.

The core of my growth as a trainer, though, lies in my daily work with customers and staff. To me, effective training, like effective reference work or counseling, depends upon hours of vulnerable, face to face interaction with people who want to learn. These people lead me, as I struggle to hear and understand their needs, so that training is a discovery interaction, rather than merely a doling out of organized information.

Q: You have worked successfully with other organizations and other public libraries. How do those strong relationships benefit JPL?

A: The most significant partnership has been with the state’s Ask a Librarian (AaL) network, housed at Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC). Since 2004, when AaL was a pilot project of Florida Electronic Library, I’ve grown and learned along with the project. JPL joined in 2006 and now draws one of the largest public library customer bases in the state. As part of AaL Advisory Committee, I helped as the chat service expanded and texting service was added. This is very much a two-way relationship. AaL staff teach JPL staff a lot about providing quality virtual reference and about managing a system-wide team of remote customer service agents.

Northeast Florida Library Information Network (NEFLIN) is another primary partner. As members of this network, JPL staff have access to free online and in-person training on a wide array of topics (check out the Events List). I encourage supervisors and staff to pay close attention to every NEFLIN announcement, to take advantage of the opportunities
and to convert completed NEFLIN training experiences into formal or informal peer training efforts whenever possible.

Finally, American Library Association, Public Library Association and Florida Library Association all offer trainings and conferences. For example, in 2010, I took part in PLA’s Turning the Page 2.0, a six-week series of live webinars and practice, designed to help local library advocacy. Though I didn’t use the TtP 2.0 model directly here in Jacksonville, that training has informed all my advocacy efforts, and it also put me into partnership with the PLA staff who run the program.

Q: Why is training important to JPL staff right now?

A: Our extended JPL family has experienced several years of escalating challenge and uncertainty because of City budget cuts, staff losses, and reorganizations. I’ve always been impressed by the readiness of JPL staff to support and back each other up, and by the resilience with which we adjust to difficult changes. Even so, I imagine that we all feel like “displaced persons” at present, survivors of a crisis which has lost us friends and broken up strong, supportive team relationships.

When most of us went through the Destination: LEADERSHIP program a few years ago, we discovered how powerful it could be to step up as individuals, to teach and coach each other, and to offer our insights and guidance to JPL. I want JPL Training to be a vehicle for recovering the enthusiasm and sense of competency which many of us grew into at that time.

There are obviously many practical, hands-on skills which we need to learn or relearn in our new assignments. However, the heart of what we need to do is to train each other as we go forward, to call up that sense of community and of commitment which has always enabled us to share what we know with each other—just as we do with our public customers. Lifting each other up is what public library is about.

Q: Where--in all the world--would you most like to visit?

A: In my early 30s, I had the good fortune to spend almost two months traveling in India and Nepal, from Mumbai (Bombay) to Delhi, Agra, Varanasi (Benares) and Kathmandu. My traveling partner and I lived for several weeks with a Hindu family in Delhi, and we used local trains, hotels and restaurants in order to stay close to the people. The Indian subcontinent is one of the most populous, fastest growing regions of the world, and one of the most culturally diverse. I’m still drawn to return to that beautiful and complex land.

Time for Thanksgiving & Main Is Ready

Kema Roseberry, Main's Librarian/Readaer's Advisor in the Popular & Fiction department sent in this picture and said, "Our super pages, Lauren Lazar & Abbra Pyle, created a wonderful display that highlights our Thanksgiving resources.

NW Ends October On Frightening Note

Gloria Buenevista at NW said although no Halloween program was held, kids of all ages showed up in costume and staffs had candy ready--and some employees dressed in costumes just for fun.

Gloria said NW is getting ready to move their collection and getting ready for the temporaty closure, so this was a welcome break in the day.