Unique Gift For A Unique Library Director

Highlands Branch employees were quite creative in thinking of an unforgettable going away present for Director Barbara Gubbin. They had a gorilla named for her at the Jacksonville Zoo! Here she holds the certificate affirming the naming and Director Gubbin received a toy gorilla to remember Highlands staff by. She wanted to share this with you on June 30, 2017, her last day with JPL as our Library Director.

Director Gubbin Receives ALA's Earnest A. DiMattia Jr. Award

The American Library Association's 2017 Earnest A. DiMattia Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and the Profession was presented to our Library Director Barbara Gubbin, June 25, 2016, in Chicago at their annual conference.

Pictured are the President of ALA, Julie Todaro, on the left, and Mrs. DiMattia and her son.  

Scroll down to see the June 19, 2017, article in this blog about her retirement party and why it is no wonder that Director Gubbin was chosen to receive this award.

Director Gubbin Reads At KR

Director Barbara Gubbin (L, standing) is welcomed and introduced to children and caregivers in Mandarin Library's Children's Department, June 19, 2017, by KR Manager Mark Hohnadel (R) and David Foster (to Mark's right), 

  

Director Gubbin was there for Mandarin Library's Drop Everything and Read program and read from the book, Below by Nina Crews.  

Director Gubbin Honored At Retirement Party

Library Director Barbara Gubbin was honored with a retirement party at the Main Library, June 15, 2017. Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop, who MC'd the event, and other JPL executives made sure it was a memorable occasion.  A video was played of Mayor Lenny Curry and ALA President Julie Todaro enumerating Director Gubbin's many outstanding accomplishments. Library Board Chair Ronnie King, Chair Emeritus of the JPL Foundation Betsy Lovett, President and CEO of WJCT Michael Boylan and Dr. Jamie Self, Development Director of the JPL Foundation, followed suit. 

For an array of pictures of this event, click here:   https://flic.kr/s/aHskXjrBEW

The Resolution passed by City Council, copied below, covers Director Gubbin's many accomplishments not only with JPL but serves as a bio of her profession as a librarian and a Library Director, and includes what the speakers honored her for at the event.  One star in her crown, which should be listed is FLA named JPL as 2017 Library of the Year.

Introduced by Council Members Hazouri and Crescimbeni and Co-Sponsored by Council Members Brosche, Newby, Love, Bowman, Wilson, Anderson, Becton, Dennis, R. Gaffney, Morgan, Carter and Gulliford:

RESOLUTION 2017-330

A RESOLUTION HONORING AND COMMENDING BARBARA A.B. GUBBIN FOR HER EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP AS DIRECTOR OF THE JACKSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FROM 2005 TO THE PRESENT ON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

            WHEREAS, as repositories of literature, history, the arts and many other facets of our culture and heritage, libraries are the intellectual and cultural anchors of great cities; and

WHEREAS, for the past twelve years, Barbara A. B. Gubbin has been the Director of the Jacksonville Public Library, providing widely recognized leadership that has made Jacksonville’s library system an invaluable resource that  provides City residents access to a great collection of books, art, film, children’s projects, the information superhighway, various educational courses and more; the Jacksonville Public Library has 21 branches, employs about 400 employees, had 3.4 million customers in 2016, and has a $33 million budget; and

WHEREAS, born and raised in India, Barbara Gubbin has lived in England and West Africa; she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors at the University of Birmingham in England; a Master’s degree in Library and Information from the University of London followed; while teaching for a short period of time in West Africa, she worked in the school library where her interest in library work was piqued; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Gubbin’s first job in the United States was as “teen services” librarian at the San Antonio Public Library in Texas, 1977-1979; she subsequently served as Assistant Director and Director of the Houston Public Library from 1989 to 1995; and     

WHEREAS, innovation has been the hallmark of Barbara Gubbin’s tenure at the Jacksonville Public Library since her arrival in 2005; she is credited with leading the library into the technology age; under her watch, digital materials are now as much at the core of the library’s resources as traditional books; self-service checkout has replaced long lines; in 2015, the library partnered with the Duval Public Schools to introduce “virtual library cards,” a program that provides over 130,000 students with access to the Jacksonville Public Libraries; with its G.E.D. program, the library has become a center for adult learning, community interaction and work force development; in 2015, Project LEAP – the Library Enhanced Access Program – was created to send librarians, armed with computers and other materials, to community centers in underserved neighborhoods to promote literacy for all age groups; in 2016 the library won acclaim for its Careers On Line program that enables high school students to earn their high school diploma; and

WHEREAS, in 2017, in recognition of Barbara Gubbin’s outstanding leadership and accomplishments, she was awarded the 2017 Earnest A. DiMattia Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and the Profession by the American Library Association, an award that recognizes a public librarian from among the more than 9,000 systems in the country who demonstrates leadership in anticipating emerging trends, services and technologies that enhance the library’s position in the community; and

WHEREAS,  Jacksonville has been truly fortunate in having an individual of Barbara Gubbin’s caliber and commitment to lead our library system and enhance the library’s image and use in every neighborhood and community of our City, and it is our honor to recognize, commend and honor her for her exemplary achievements; now therefore

            BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Jacksonville:

            Section 1. The City Council does hereby honor and commend Barbara A. B. Gubbin for her exemplary leadership as Director of the Jacksonville Public Library from 2005 to the present and extends its best wishes on the occasion of her retirement.              

            Section 2. Effective Date.  This Resolution shall become effective upon signature by the Mayor or upon becoming effective without the Mayor's signature.

Form Approved:

__/s/ Paige Hobbs Johnston

Office of General Counsel

Legislation Prepared By: John J. Jackson, Council Research Division

Several gifts were presented to Director Gubbin, including a bouquet of flowers from Mrs. Lovett; a lifetime membership in ALA from many well wishers; a wonderful caricature of Director Gubbin drawn by Roosevelt Watson, III; a handcrafted bowl from the Friends of the Beaches Branch, which was made by Mark Wood; and the staff at the Highlands Branch made her an Honorary Zookeeper at the Zoo and named a gorilla for her. Other gifts were also left by some well wishers for her to open later. 

Attendees enjoyed the event, shared good memories over hors d'oeuvres and cake, and everyone lifted their glasses in a toast made to Director Gubbin led by Deputy Director Mark Merritt.

Director Gubbin thanked everyone heartily for coming, the many gifts and acknowledgements, and for an evening she enjoyed immensely and will not forget.  

Deputy Director Giltrop expressed her and JPL's appreciation to the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library, Inc. and the Jacksonville Public Library Foundation for sponsoring the event.

Brentwood Friends Award Director Barbara Gubbin

Above front (L/R): Director Gubbin, Jashaiya-Lee Daniels, Mrs. Coon; back (L/R): Library Board Chair Ronnie King and FOBL President Melvin Turnage.

Sharon Coon, Founder, Organizer and Chair of Friends of the Brentwood Library presented an award to JPL Director Barbara Gubbin at the June 8, 2017 Library Board meeting in appreciation for Ms. Gubbin's twelve plus years of outstanding service. Mrs. Coon asked her 8 year old great granddaughter, Jashaiya-Lee Daniels, to read the award for the audience.  

Mrs. Coon  announced that Jashaiya-Lee has made all A's and just finished 2nd grade.  She is enrolled in the National Gifted and Talented program and as such will study next summer at Emory University. (She has to be 9 years old.)  

There was a resounding applause for Jashaiya-Lee and Ms. Gubbin. 

Mrs. Coon said she wanted everyone to see how much libraries influence children's lives. Jashaiya-Lee is an avid reader and has to read 23 books this summer.  She is enrolled in NS' Summer Learning Program and is a NS cardholder. Mrs. Coon said it was important to her personally and for the community to keep Brentwood Branch open when it was being considered for closing. She noted that Jashaiya-Lee is just one example of the value of urban core libraries and she will always advocate for them. She added that we can all see the benefit of working together in unity to keep libraries open.

DCPS' Larry Roziers Thanked By Library Board & JPL Director

Assistant Superintendent Larry Roziers (L) has served as the Board of Library Trustees' ex-officio board member from the Duval County Public Schools since mid-2014.  Library Board Chair Ronnie King said, "Mr. Roziers has always been eager and willing to foster communication and cooperation between DCPS and JPL at meetings, projects, and public events, where he himself has often participated. During his time on the Board, all DCPS students received Student Library Accounts, and visits began between DCPS and JPL with students brought to libraries and librarians brought to students."

As a thank-you, Director Barbara Gubbin presented Mr. Roziers with a red rose boutonniere. 

JPL Wins 2017 FLA Library of The Year Award

Library Board Chair Ronnie King and Director Barbara Gubbin were on hand in Orlando, FL, to receive the Florida Library Association's Library Of The Year Award, May 10, 2017, and they were accompanied by a special cheering section.   

Below, L/R:  WB's Librarian II Alison McCarty, (front) Bibliographic Systems and Access Manager Lynn Jacobson, Assistant Director for SST Gretchen Mitchell, Library Director Barbara Gubbin, former Library Board Chair and currently Board Trustee Dr. Brenda Simmons-Hutchins, Highlands Region Manager Marshelle Berry, WB Manager Scott Adams, Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop, just behind her is E-Library Specialist Luis Terron, E-Library Specialist Donna Peretzman, Main/Urban Region Manager Michael Sullivan,  E-Library Specialist Yuri Jewitt, and PCR Manager Jackie Spiritas.  

Not pictured:  The rest of you, minding the library, who made the 2017 FLA Award possible.  
CONGRATULATIONS, ONE AND ALL!

More Accolades For Library Director Barbara Gubbin

Director Barbara Gubbin recently received  a bouquet of spring flowers, along with the Folio edition acknowledging her being named the winner of ALA's 2017 Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession. She will be presented the award in June in Chicago. 

CONGRATULATIONS, DIRECTOR GUBBIN, FROM ALL OF US!

Outstanding Staff Development Day

Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop opened SDD, May 1, 2017, and welcomed JPL staff and introduced Director Barbara Gubbin, who confirmed her plans to retire, June 30.
Director Gubbin reviewed some of her exceptional experiences while at JPL and mentioned some of the many Board members, Friends of JPL and employees who had made those memories possible. She thanked all JPL employees who contributed to her winning ALA's 2017 Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession and for JPL being named Library of the Year by FLA. During the closing session, the Admin team, one by one, named her many other accomplishments over the last 12 years.

(L/R:  Julie McNeil, Chris Boivin, Keli Likins, Lynne Jacobson, Gretchen Mitchell, Marshelle Berry, Mark Merritt, Richard Mott and Charlene Adkins all hailed Director Gubbin's many achievements. 

Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop presented Director Gubbin with a bouquet of red roses and a picture of the JPL team taken in Main's courtyard two hours before. During the closing assembly, Director Gubbin received a standing ovation from everyone in the auditorium. 

Below, JPL's super charged team cheerleader, Katie Devanny, started us off with a repeated cheer, the SDD theme: Passion + Purpose = Impact!

Each branch and support department prepared its own Imagination Squared (emulating the many artistic Imagination Squares displayed on Main's conference level wall.)  JPL's squares, however, were 3" bigger (8"x8") and each expressed their vision of the SDD theme: P + P = I.  The squares, displayed outside the auditorium, drew a lot of attention.

                                          L/R: Katie Gaurino and Sara Roberts

SDD Committee Chair Sara Roberts and her team--Katie Devanny, Lynne Baldwin, Tracy Pigott, Nicolle Burton (R), Diane Alexander (L), John Carter, Shirdella Grouix, and Shai Ford--were aided by the Conference Center's Mandie McKenzie and Will Daniel's expertise. Additionally, other volunteers contributed their valuable time and effort.  

Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop kept the well organized SDD on a fast track. After the morning kick off, classes and lunch, she assembled staff for a group photo in short order, had the picture printed and ready for Director Gubbin at the closing session.

Julie McNeil suggested a memorial table at SDD for employees who had passed in the last two years and Lynne Baldwin volunteered to make it happen.  Arthur Finley designed and organized the table with information, photos and help from Laura Minor, Kathy Tekin and Sara Gunter.  Arthur did a wonderful job with the memorial table and many stopped to pay their respects for Ananth Subramanian, former Director Judy Williams, Jane Harris, Amy Swisher, Alan Clark, Mary Ann Pearson, Gail Marion and Mary Cardell. 

                                            Arthur Finley and another staff member remembers... 


SDD closed to the music of resounding applause from JPL staff for this well planned, very successful event.

We all had an unforgettable time, learned a lot in the morning and afternoon classes, met employees we did not know in the ample time between sessions and enjoyed the delicious food and drinks provided.  Thank each and every one of you who made 2017 SDD happen and did it SO well.  

We will practice Passion + Purpose to make lasting Impact! 

Director Gubbin Receives ULC Innovation Award For JPL

Library Director Barbara Gubbin (far right facing audience) received one of the Urban Libraries Council Innovation Awards given to JPL at ULC's conference in San Jose just before she and others attended ALA in San Francisco this past week.  JPL won the award in the category of Customer Experience.  Ms. Gubbin said, "Our application was for recognition of a different approach to marketing our online products such as Transparent Language...as part of a 'learn a language' free series at JPL ..."  Ms. Gubbin congratulated everyone on the team for this success, including SST/E-Services, SST/Collections, the Marketing team and everyone in a JPL library where we are holding or promoting classes to learn a language.

In the application to ULC, Ms. Gubbin noted, "The 'learn a language' series sign-ups far exceed our expectations...In September 2014, prior to the new promotional approach, 251 people used the database.  In December, usage more than doubled, with 600 people using it."

Karen Walker, Manager of e-Services and Digital Access, gives these 2015 monthly figures:
January – 513

February – 501

March – 559

April – 396

May – 481

Karen added, "This is an average 80% increase in usage.  We had language learning programs all of these months except February."   

Director Gubbin at ALA's Advocacy Day in D.C.

Library Director Barbara Gubbin, pictured front left, joined others with ALA on Capitol Hill recently to advocate for libraries.

She said, "You could not miss us in those T-shirts."

Important Social Security Information

Barbara Gubbin, Library Director, wants staff to know that Linda Eckersen has placed links to the Social Security's 'Retire Online' web page. Also, Ms. Gubbin asks that all staff read the message received from the State Librarian of Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, and use this information as needed:

"The Social Security Administration is involved in a wide variety of new and important initiatives. They have asked libraries around the country to partner with them to share information about these initiatives with the public.

"Specifically, they have asked public libraries to help promote their new national campaign Retire Online. It’s So Easy! This campaign features a new online retirement application that can be completed in as little as 15 minutes. The application, available at www.socialsecurity.gov , can easily be completed at library computers. You may view a brochure on the subject at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10522.pdf .

"Partnering with the Social Security Administration to promote this initiative and others like it will benefit the populations we serve. One way you can help spread the word is by linking to the agency’s website at www.socialsecurity.gov . Another method is to publish articles about these initiatives in your newsletters or other printed materials.I

"If you have any questions and need additional information from the Social Security Administration, please contact Carolyn Houston at Carolyn.Houston@ssa.gov or 410.965.7603.

"Please consider assisting Social Security in this important effort. "

The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog

The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog

Click the link above to see NEFLIN congratulations to Barbara Gubbin!

Library Board Honors Director Barbara Gubbin for Outstanding Leadership

The Jacksonville Public Library Board of Trustees (front, left to right: Mark Wood, Chair, Rocelia Roman de Gonzalez, Director Gubbin with plaque, Rita Cannon, Brenda Simmons; l to r, back: William (Bill) Scheu and Jim Selzer) presented Barbara Gubbin, Library Director, with a plaque at their November 12 meeting and congratulated Ms. Gubbin on her outstanding leadership and work.

Director Gubbin thanked the Library Board and took the opportunity to recognize the library staff for their hard work during a challenging budget year.

Director Gubbin also announced in the board meeting that JPL would receive a "Star Library" rating in the second year of the new ratings index from Library Journal.

Director's Town Hall Meeting Notes

Greetings:

Notes and Q&A from the April 2009 Director's April Town Hall meetings have been posted to the Team Site on the Portal:
http://inside.coj.net/li/dnext/imp/Shared%20Documents/Town%20Hall%20Meeting%20Notes

To leave questions or comments, click on the word "comments" below.

Melonee Slocum

News from the Director's Desk

It’s hard to believe that we have already begun a new fiscal year and are about to close out another calendar year!

The Board of Library Trustees held a planning retreat with senior staff and representatives of the Friends and the Foundation. Much was accomplished, but additional work has yet to be done as we evaluate strategic direction and plan ahead for the 2010 budget.

Performance measures are in place for FY2009 and I am looking forward to seeing the October reports. I congratulate each of you who have participated in destination:LEADERSHIP by developing your own action plan to integrate leadership practices into your day to day activities. I am also pleased that branch and department teams have identified and adopted local customer satisfaction measures this year. Thanks to all the staff members who participated in developing these and other performance measures with an eye toward insuring good customer service outcomes.

I will look forward to discussing these and other issues with you at the first Town Hall meetings this year.

I have directed my staff to schedule town hall meetings each quarter this year. A senior staff member will join me at each meeting to discuss his or her area of operation and answer questions. Keith McLaughlin will join me at the first round of meetings to be held Monday and Tuesday, December 1 and 2nd at the Main Library Conference Center, Room MP1. Town Hall meetings will be from 2:30-4:00. For the convenience of staff attendance, the meetings will also be broadcast to two other libraries, details forthcoming.

In addition to taking questions at the meetings, I will be happy to answer other questions submitted via this blog (yes, your questions can be anonymous). To submit questions via the blog, just click on the word “comment” below and follow the directions. All questions and answers will be posted after the town hall meetings.

Very best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving holiday,

Barbara Gubbin

FY 2009 Library Budget

The City Council approved the budget for all City departments last night at their regular Council session. The vote was 13 in favor and 2 opposed. No changes were made to the budget which the Mayor recommended for the library. The good news is that all of our services will stay as they are this year, with staffing and operations at the same level. Unfortunately, the reduction taken in the library materials budget also still holds. This represents $1M fewer General Revenue dollars for materials. I anticipate we will spend some of our state appropriation dollars on materials but there are not sufficient funds available to "make up" the $1M reduction and so there will be fewer titles and copies of titles purchased in all formats. We also expect to reduce the number of periodical titles we will be able to subscribe to and there will be fewer electronic databases. Unit managers and Charlene Adkins and her staff have been working on what this new, reduced budget will look like and will now move ahead to finalize it.

I want to recognize the tremendous support JPL has received from our Library Board who worked very hard in support of this budget and that of the Friends of the Library who turned in 9,000 signatures to the City Council in support of restoring the "book" budget.

Our customers regularly tell us how important we are to them - in finding a job, keeping up with email or current news in newspapers and magazines, in providing a place to study and a wonderful selection of books, DVD's, CD's and audiobooks (now also downloadable!) for them to read and listen to. As we enter into a new fiscal year it will be important for each of us to retain that community support, to stay customer focused and to become more involved in the communities we serve. Our goal must be a renewed community commitment to ensuring that JPL can continue to be the best it can be!

Barbara

News from the Director's Desk

September 17, 2008

Rally Jacksonville. Saturday saw over 3,000 children and parents attend the Rally Jacksonville event in the Main Library and Hemming Plaza – it was a crazy, busy day. 102 new library cards were issued and in addition to registering four year-olds for the Book Club there were other activities including screening for dyslexia, many storytimes for toddlers and preschoolers, the red wagon parade and family art programs. Congratulations to all who were involved in making this such a successful day – those who planned the event, presented programs, set up the conference center for the event, checked out books, registered new library card holders and managed the crowds!

Golden Apple Award won by Jacksonville Public Library. On Friday at the NEFLIN annual meeting Richard Mott accepted NEFLIN’s annual award to JPL, the library with the greatest number of staff attending continuing education classes. JPL also received kudos for partnering with NEFLIN to purchase and use OPAL software to design and push out online training. Kate Holmes has been hard at work designing mini-workshops we can all learn from using OPAL. Look for her notification in email of an upcoming class you can do right at your desktop. I have been elected to the NEFLIN Board of Directors to represent public libraries and attended my first Board meeting last week.

Mark Hohnadel, Manager of the Murray Hill Branch has been selected to attend the Sunshine State Leadership Institute in 2008-2009 – congratulations Mark! Carol Bailey will serve as his mentor. Laura Minor, Genealogy Librarian, Main Library graduated from the program in August.

Learning from Tropical Storm Fay. Thank you for the input you provided on what we did well and what we could do better in handling the closure and re-opening of the libraries when Fay came to town. Here are some of the things we heard and responses:
Staff needs to hear earlier in the day that the library system will be closing down for the storm. We can only tell you what will be happening once it is announced by the Mayor. Unfortunately we did not get any communication that a final decision had been made until the announcement was made on TV at 6 p.m. We lost some time communicating the announcement as some senior staff saw the Mayor on TV but others like me did not, but we began our communication tree as soon as we could. Storms never come at convenient times but we will always do our best to communicate with staff as quickly and efficiently as possible.
You need to do your part by being sure you have given your supervisor your current contact information so that when we have to activate a phone tree we can reach you or a family member with the information.
Book drops. In future you will be asked to lock or tape shut the exterior book drops and put up signs we will send you that customers should not return items until after the emergency and that we will adjust the due date. Many customers left books hanging out of book drops where they got wet and some staff braved the weather to empty the drops which we don’t want to have happen in future.
Where were your “hurricane kits?” Apparently we did not buy enough supplies for each location when the kits were first planned and set up. Luis Flores is purchasing supplies to have a kit for each location. More about these in the revised Emergency Management Plan.
We all need to change the message on our phones – personal and for your location and we need to do a better job of updating our website for those who don’t lose power and can reach the website. In error, the power to the computers handling the website was turned off so the website could not be updated remotely. We won’t do that again! Each of us needs to change the message on our own phone and have a procedure at every location to change the unit’s phone message for the public.
Saturday was pretty overwhelming for all locations with customers ready to get out of the house, check out a new book/DVD, and check their email and so there was little time to handle bookdrops and all those back room tasks that build up after closing for 3 days. We will delay opening on the first day “back” and allow time for staff to prepare the library so they can then focus on customers.

You will find all these issues and more addressed in the revised Emergency Management Plan. Luis and his staff are updating the Plan and will provide training throughout the system during the fall and spring before next year’s Hurricane season.

Library Budget for FY 2009. There is no “new” news about the Library’s budget for the new fiscal year. It remains as the Mayor proposed it with all hours of service as they are currently, the same level of staffing, city funding for all the costs of security services at a level which has a few more hours than the current year, and a materials budget of $3.6M down from $4.6M. In October the Library Board will approve the allocation of our state aid grant and will allocate funds from this grant for library materials bringing that budget up to at least $4M. Members of both the Library Board and Library Friends have worked hard on the Library’s behalf for a restoration of the funds for materials and we are grateful for their commitment and support.

Our community continues to show its support for the services you provide: through July there is a 7% YTD increase in circulation with 9 libraries seeing double digit increases. Gate count is up 4% YTD and web site usage up 20% YTD. There is a 45% increase in meeting room use and with a re-arrangement in the location of their self-check machines Webb Wesconnett’s customers are now checking out 80% of their items on self check!

Pharos Upgrade. Over the next two weeks staff from ITD will be visiting every library to re-image your public computers and upgrade the Pharos print management system. This project has been in development since last fall so it will be an achievement to have it completed. Lynn Jacobson is managing the project for JPL.

Destination:leadership has six new staff trainers. Thank you and congratulations on your selection to Marshelle Berry, Library Supervisor, Regency Square; Robbie Crabtree, LA, San Marco; Kate Holmes, Librarian, Training; Susan Mankowski, Early Childhood Specialist, Youth Services; Laurie Mills, Library Associate, Webb Wesconnett; and Karen Wishart, Literacy Program Specialist, CAL.

If you have questions or comments you can comment on the staff blog or send me an email.

Barbara Gubbin

Congratulations to Barbara Gubbin!

Congratulations to Barbara Gubbin, recently elected to the Board of NEFLIN as a representative of large public libraries!

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