A 7.8 On The Ricthter At EB

A recent school-age program "blew the roof off" at EB. Children were excited to learn how volcanoes form and why they erupt. Brown Eastside's Michelle Dubois, assisted by Karen Lewis, were surprised to see kids so eager to make their own volcanoes and learn how a volcano builds up to an eruption. Michelle concluded the program with a live example of a volcanic eruption.  Click on pics for larger view. (Thanks to Sharon Whitt for sharing the news.)

Thoughts

Leo Calvin Rosten (1908-1997) was an American author and humorist in the fields of script writing, story writing, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.  He  had a rare talent of saying a book full in a few words, which many call truisms, such as: "In some way, however small and secret, each of us is a little mad...everyone is lonely at the bottom and cries to be understood.  But we can never entirely understand some else, and each of us remains part stranger even to those who love us...it is the weak who are cruel; gentleness is to be expected only from the strong...you can understand people better if you look at them--no matter how old or impressive they may be--as if they are children.  For most of us never mature; we simply grow taller...the purpose in life is to matter--to count, to have it make some difference that we lived at all."

New E-Classroom At DU Gets 'Try Out'

Highlands Branch used their new E-classroom computers, April 16, when teens used Makey Makey kits to build banana pianos and carrot pianos; Hongying Song, YS Librarian II, conducted the hands on program. Teens read the instructions, connected the kits to computers, found a virtual piano program and connected the bananas/carrots with the kits. Hongying says, "The three boys and two girls had lots of fun."

Hongying plans another teen program in the new E-classroom in May when she will introduce Gale's Testing and Education Reference Center database.  

DU's new smart board has not yet been employed; however, future programs will include it. 

MRS. BALDWIN CELEBRATES 99 YEARS!

Mandarin Library employees Frances Wickes and Diane Lewis surprised retired librarian and longtime JPL supporter Eleanor Baldwin with a beautiful arrangement of hydrangeas just in time for Mrs. Baldwin’s 99^th birthday on April 24.  Mrs. Baldwin is the mother of Mandarin Branch Manager Lynne Baldwin.   

ALL OF US AT JPL WISH MRS. ELEANOR BALDWIN A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!

SST's Owly Award To Raisa Grigoryeva

Assistant Director for Support Services Gretchen Mitchell proudly announces,  "Congratulations to Raisa Grigoryeva as our latest recipient of the SST Owly award.  Raisa was given the award by Trisha Larrabee.  Trisha noted that Raisa enabled her to act by helping Trisha while she was learning to process new materials."

All of us add our cheers for you, Raisa.

Volunteers Honored At KR

In honor of National Volunteer Month, Mandarin Volunteer Coordinator Stacey Van Hoy surprised her volunteer staff with colorful gift bags filled with special treats.  Each volunteer also received a large plastic drink bottle made especially for volunteers.  Volunteer Holly Cleveland is shown with her gift bag.  Holly volunteers each Tuesday afternoon in the children’s department. 

Thanks to KR Manager Lynne Baldwin for the article and picture.

Kudos From Customers

Main - Popular: Both Kathy Tekin and Ryan Fix were very courteous, understanding, and helpful to me in getting some information via computer today because I am not a computer user nor do I know how to use the various screens, categories, etc. to achieve whatever I need to do on a computer to the end results. Ryan actually took his personal time to assist me with some very important data I need now. Great job...

 

Mandarin Branch: Thank you very much for Mr. David Foster and Ms. Alison Pulley in the Children's section. …They are kind and patient in speaking with my son…and are always ready to provide suggestions with the books and also with the CD and audio materials online. Thank you very much for employing such wonderful people in this area.

South Mandarin Branch: Overall, South Mandarin Branch and staff are A+.

Southeast Branch: Kate Holmes provided outstanding customer service.

West Regional Branch: For many years, as a student, I have been a member of the library. …I volunteered and worked over 80 hours of volunteer service at this library. The staff, especially Mr. G (Greg Pierce, former volunteer coordinator at WST, promoted and now at PCR) was always great to me and my family…

Displays Liven Up Southeast Branch

SE's Deborah Wainwright said, "For Women’s History Month, I did a display that included a multiple choice test and I made a gift bag for the winner (right). We had eight customers who took the test and we had a drawing for the winner of the JPL gift bag, which was filled with: a Lap desk, magnifying book mark, book light, stationary, a journal, Anne Geddes magnetic shopping list, serenity bookmark, 3-D sea turtle bookmark, and dragonfly page mark clip."

CLICK ON PICS TO SEE LARGER VERSIONS.

Thanks to these employees who did other displays:

Sally Doherty  - Humor Month

Brenda Javiar - Poetry Month

Deborah Wainwright - Frog Month, Great Decisions, National Library Week and Aquarian

Tiara Nelson - Women’s History 

Still Flowing Strong: River May/St. Johns River & Its People

Lyn Corley worked eleven years towards getting the painting of French Captain Jean Ribault's landing at La Caroline at the mouth of the River May on May 1, 1562, moved to Main's Special Collections.  La Caroline, now Ft. Caroline, is part of Jacksonville, and River May as Ribault named it, is the St. Johns.  By chance, Lyn discovered the painting in a local middle school. The original painting by Lee Adams was 38 1/2 feet; now it was 31x8 feet and in poor condition. (It originally hung in the Ribault Room dining room in Sears' then downtown store and chunks of it were lost when it was removed.)  Lyn recognized its important historical value and wanted the mural restored and placed in a public place for all to see.  Much convincing and fund raising was done to get the painting restored but that was completed in 2000. Then Lyn pursued approval from the City/JPL to move the painting to Main's Special Collections. Once that was accomplished, the logistics of safely transporting the painting through downtown had to be resolved and, again, funds had to be raised to move the painting to its destination. (Here's some interesting information: 
http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ribault/)

On May 1, 2012, a lovely reception was held on the 4th floor of the Main Library to celebrate the "Ribault's Landing" mural placement in Special Collections and was part of Jacksonville's Sesquiquardricentennial (1562 - 2012) celebration.  On May 3, JPL received a preservation award from the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission in the Hicks Auditorium.

Lyn still pursues preserving local history and has donated a copy of her detailed records, Conversations from Mayport, to Main's Special Collections and a copy is in the Florida Historical Society archives.  She will soon be formally awarded for her work by the Florida Historical Society, May 22, 2015, in St. Augustine.  Additionally, The City of Jacksonville Historical Preservation Award will be presented to her on May 7 at 6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium.

Thank you, Lyn Corley, for all your endeavors, which are much more than mentioned here, to preserve our history and better our community.

Please Note: The Florida-Times Union's Shorelines featured Lyn Corley in an article, April 11, and we thank the FTU for sharing the accompanying picture with us.

Main Children's Own One Spark

Main Library Children’s Department offered their own One Spark Children’s program, Super Creators in Training,  in which they kicked off with a Superhero Storytime.  Afterwards, staff offered stations in which kids could have super fun.  Children got to become their own “Who was that masked kid?” with Mask Making.  They could also try out their web crawling with our Spiderman Obstacle Course/Maze.

Building a tall building to leap over in a single bound was
also offered in the form of Legos and blocks. Lastly, children could show outwardly their own inner hero with super reading themed props with our Super cityscape.   One Spark creator, Hero Me, joined us as well.  (Pam Branon gears up with coffee for super strength every Superwoman needs.)

Thanks to Eve Harm for the pics and article.

KR Hosts New Citizens

Attached are photos of the Naturalization Ceremony on Thursday, April 16 at the Mandarin Branch Library. 

Mandarin Branch Manager Lynne Baldwin, is pleased to say, "The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service hosted a Naturalization Ceremony at Mandarin Branch Library on Tuesday, April 16, as a part of National Library Week.  It was standing room only as 30 immigrants from 24 different countries were sworn in as United States citizens.  The honored speakers were Library Board Trustee Ronnie King, Assistant Director for
Public Service Julie McNeil and City Councilman Matt Schellenberg.  Among the honored guests were Betzy Santiago from the Mayor’s Office and Library Foundation Director Janet Wesley. 

"The library staff decorated the branch with red, white and blue balloons and served a huge cake decorated with small United States flags.  Congratulations to all of the new United States citizens!

Staff counted over 100 people attending the ceremony.  Everyone was so happy!  

"Please note at the same time, we presented two story times with 40 kids at the 10:15 program and 45 kids at the 11:00  story time.  It was quite a morning."

Oh, Yes! Those Friends' Sundaes Are Good!

Lynne Baldwin, Mandarin Branch Manager, sent this pic of Robert Moseley, Sara Peretzman and Eric Cusaac enjoying their goodies donated by the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library this week.  

Brentwood also sent the Friends a thank-you.

Have you emailed Gail Hunyar, President of the Friends of JPL, or Margaret Smith, who diligently delivered the sundae makings, a thank you?  They would appreciate that. 
     Gail Hunyar: aghunyar@aol.com
     Margaret Smith:  margaretnsmith@comcast.net

Bunny Time At SE

Deborah Wainwright sent these in these pics with this comment, "Southeast celebrated Easter by decorating the Circulation Areas. Customers--large and small--really enjoyed the Bunny Feet."

          Don't you know kids were very hoppy they didn't miss all this!

Hearts & Flowers--And Others--At NW

Shamar Moore came to the library with his Dad and brother to see his collage displayed as part of the DCPS art show. Shamar is a 3rd grader at St. Clair Evans Academy.

Don't know what Shamar would call this exuberant collage, but here it is aptly dubbed Hearts and Flowers--gorgeous! (Click once on the collage to see larger version of it.)

Thanks to Gloria Buenavista at NW for sending this for our enjoyment.

Students, Teachers & JPL Proud To Show Student Art

Hallie Spell, a fifth grader at Hendricks Elementary School proudly poses next to her art work being displayed at the Mandarin Branch Library.  The art work is part of the Duval County Public School Art Program on display at libraries throughout the county.

Duval County Public School Art Teachers from the Mandarin area are proud to display the art work of their students at the Mandarin Branch Library.

A HUGE THANKS TO THE FRIENDS OF JPL

Hope you have had a chance to get one of those wonderful sundaes provided by the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library:  nuts, whip cream, cherries, bananas, ice cream, bowls and spoons--all of it just for you.  WHAT A DELICIOUS SURPRISE from the Friends; we appreciate their thinking of all of us!  

If you would like to thank two of the Friends who carried out this feat (Gail Hunyar, President, and Margaret Smith, who delivered the goodies), here are their email addresses:

Gail Hunyar: aghunyar@aol.com

Margaret Smith:  margaretnsmith@comcast.net


It would be nice to overwhelm them with thanks as they have overwhelmed us with goodies and thoughtfulness.

Bee Happy

Partime Library Clerks, Jessica Preston and Dorrael Johnson, made this refreshing spring display at Bradham - Brooks Northwest Branch Library. 

A Bit Of Civil War At SOM

Keli Likins, SOM's Branch Branch Manager, reports, "Approximately 70 people attended the Civil War Living History program Saturday, April 11, at South Mandarin.  The customers really enjoyed it!  A special thanks to Mark Merritt and his fellow reenactors.

"Bob Nay from the Mandarin Museum brought Maple Leaf artifacts to view in the library after the program."

KR Knows How To Throw A Party

On Wednesday, April 8, the Mandarin Branch Library Children’s Department hosted a Mad Hatter Party to celebrate National Humor Month. Kids played Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat, made silly top hats, and had tea and cake. Seventy-six children and parents attended the party, and everyone was on their best behavior for tea party etiquette with Miss Frances. In addition to celebrating humor month, 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.  (Thanks to Lynne Baldwin, Mandarin Branch Manager for the article and pics.)  

Hope Bissell Recognized By Library Board

Hope Bissell was recognized by the Library Board of Trustees at its April 9, 2015 meeting for her 34 years of service to the Jacksonville Public Library.  Hope retired January 23, 2015; she was a Library Assistant in Collections.  Hope is holding flowers presented to her by the Library Board.  Director Barbara Gubbin is on the left and Library Board Chair Erin Skinner stands on the right.  Drum roll for you, Hope! THANK YOU!

Come See; Come Ahhh

DCPS teachers are shown after putting up their Elementary School Art Exhibit at South Mandarin Library recently.  The exhibit is up April 2 – 16.

Gaon Ha, a 3^rd grade student at Loretto 

Elementary standing with his art (cat).

Thanks to South Mandarin Branch Manager Keli Likins

for the heads up; there is nothing as refreshing as kids' art work.

Staff Profile - April 2015

Highlands Branch's Beverly Mason sincerely cares about people and invests her time in helping them learn and do whatever it takes to succeed in their pursuits.

Since Beverly began managing Highlands Branch volunteers, she has accomplished much. From September 2014, to present, DU has gone from two to eight volunteers and their hours are up from 6.5 hours to 64.5 hours. As her Branch Manager Kristi Dorney says, "That is an increase of 400% in number of volunteers and over 800% in number of hours."  How DID Beverly do that?

Q: What promulgated your interest in managing DU’s volunteers?

A: I began assisting with teen volunteers last summer since I was the teen library associate.  I enjoyed what I was doing so when I returned to the children’s department, I was asked to be the temporary volunteer coordinator while we were having some staff transitions.  I had come to love the teens so I was very interested in giving them an awarding volunteer experience; therefore, I expressed interest in continuing as the coordinator.

Q: Did you have a plan in mind before you took on this extra responsibility of managing DU’s volunteers, and if so, would you share that with us?

A: Originally, I was hoping to start a Teen Advisory Board at Highlands.  This is what led me to work with teen volunteers during the summer.  As I began to show interest in this, Rebekah Mitchell suggested that I speak to Greg Pierce, who was at that time volunteer coordinator at West.  Greg was kind enough to spend about an hour with me one morning reviewing the required paperwork and his methods for a successful summer volunteer program as well as during the year.  He encouraged me to start small.

When I took over the coordinator role, I asked Greg Pierce, Kimberly Keen, Kimberly Kirkland, and others lots of questions.  Each person was very patient with me as I learned the process.

At that time, all previous volunteers had stopped coming.  I began to receive new applications and I dove into the files and began contacting teens who had previously expressed an interest in volunteering but had chosen not to continue during the summer.  When I learned that we were losing some part-time hours, I began to take on more volunteers.  I now have a waiting list of teens who want to volunteer here. 

Q: What would you say was the key ingredient in your overall success with the volunteers?

A: Patience and Flexibility – Most of our volunteers are teens.  They have many things going on in life--homework, athletics, family vacations, etc. that sometimes interfere with their volunteer schedules.  Most of them are very good about contacting us and keeping us informed when there is a conflict. 

Q: What are some of the successes you have seen DU’s volunteers accomplish during this short period of time—September to present?

A: One of our teen volunteers became part of Highland's Teen Advisory Board.  This past  month, we were able to clean up our children’s department with the help of one of our volunteers who weeded nonfiction, shelf read, shelved, and straightened shelves on a daily basis.  He also helped us find some of our books on the shelves that were on our missing list.  It is great to see teens finish up their volunteer hours, which they need to graduate.

Through one of our volunteers, we were able to plan a Fire Safety program for one of our upcoming storytimes. One of our volunteers is very active in soccer and hopes to earn a scholarship based on athletics.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in life?

A: I would like to mention two big challenges in my life.  The first was trying to find a job during my Mom’s sickness/death.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had been blessed with a period of unemployment so that I could focus on my family.  Shortly after my Mom's death, I became employed with JPL. 

The second biggest challenge was working with children in Romania on a church missions trip.  I didn’t know the Romanian language and they didn’t know English.  We quickly learned that they enjoyed playing outside games, blowing bubbles, and having their pictures taken.  So we focused on playing games with them, and when class time came, we had to use an interpreter.  It is challenging to slow your pace and pause while teaching so that an interpreter can repeat what you just said.    

Beverly is pictured above with a fish she caught on a trip to New Hampshire. Fishing is one of her favorite hobbies, as well as bowling, watching movies, and teaching children at church.

Let's Hear It For the River

The second branch to install a “Year of the River” display (that we know about), including  appropriate books, was done recently by Vickie Leonard and Gloria Buenavista of Bradham - Brooks  Northwest Branch.

SOM Hosts Student Artists

Palm Avenue Exceptional School students took a field trip to South Mandarin Library to view their art on display there for three weeks. SOM staff held a reception for the students and served refreshments on March 25.

These young people are so talented.

Meet Brent, NS' Library Bear

A Story for the Young at Heart: Lead worker Betty Williams was cleaning the workroom on the second floor of the Brentwood library when she thought she heard a wee voice say, “Help me, help me!”  Betty looked around the room; seeing nothing, she continued to clean.  Eventually Betty worked her way to the top of a large storage cabinet.  There she discovered a large object all red, brown and furry – too large and too furry to move by herself.  Betty called for back-up, and thus began the charmed life of Brent the library bear.

Brent was dressed in a Santa suit and was covered in so much dust the white fur on his Santa suit was limp and grey.  The staff thought Brent was a delightful find, but only one person, Aquilla Stewart, saw his true potential.  Aquilla dusted Brent off, cleaned his fur, and gave him a new wardrobe.  Soon Brent began participating in activities at the branch and would show up in the most surprising places.  Below are a few shots of Brent in action.

Brent loves to read and can be found enjoying a good book most anytime.  Here he is enjoying a little Curious George on his first Christmas after the adoption.  He attends story time with Ms. Crawford every Friday morning and sets the perfect example of how to behave in story time.

Brent chose to be a rooting-tooting cowboy for Halloween.  No guns allowed; just a good book about the holiday.

Brent is supportive of all library initiatives.  Here he is jumping for joy over hoopla.

This is how Brent claims to spend his time after hours when staff goes home; he and the other library toys gather on the staircase for a read-off.  Yeah, right!  His outfit looks a little too ___ for such a sedate activity. 

In addition to good grooming habits and good manners, Brent’s adoptive mom (right) also takes time to teach him a good work ethic and how to “Get to Yes.”

Whether decorating the branch for Black History Month while wearing his kofia, dashiki and scarf (above), or playing his favorite game of hide  and seek (right), Brent loves his library and he loves all of the attention. 

There is only one thing Brent loves more than his new life. He loves when he can just be himself -- Brent the Santa-bear. 

Aquilla Stewart is responsible for Brent’s care and grooming.  It is always a delightful surprise for the staff and the young customers to see what Brent will be wearing or what Brent will be doing next.  Now if she could just get him to change his expression sometimes…

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Please Note:  Space at top--for some reason--will not remove. ......THANKS TO PAT MORRISON FOR THE ARTICLE AND PICS