NWSnowed In W/Great Displays

 

With the strange state of programming, tech tutoring, and outreach during Covid, staff at Bradham and Brooks dedicated January to the beautification of our building with displays. All displays, both in and out of the public areas were updated from things such as our staff birthday board (by Gloria Buenavista) to a full sized interactive I-Spy dedicated to crafts and hobbies (by Kelly Strickland and Ericka Rider).  

Other featured displays were a love letter to romance (by Vickie Leonard), a simple but elegant highlight of our winter books (by Ericka, pictured, and Gloria), and a display dedicated to the compassion of MLK (by Gloria). Ericka Rider also found time to create a series of winter scenes featuring iconic characters and a glass case dedicated to Braille Literacy.

All staff are photographed next to their creations.  (Thanks to NW's Kelly Strickland, Librarian II, for sharing the wonderful pictures of displays and her article.) 

NW Celebrates 850 New JPL Users

Staff and customers at Bradham and Brooks Library recently celebrated reaching their annual goal of 850 new users.  Manager Donna Carroll said, "Mr. Timothy Roark (left) was the 850th customer on July 24th and received a complimentary JPL bag and chocolate for taking us over the finish line.  Staff celebrated our goal with an appropriately themed cake, July 29, 2019. 

"Pamela Branon (below)  received an extra gift, a copy of her favorite new game, Spot It, for registering TEN customers a day, helping us to achieve our branch goal. 

"Congratulations and thank you to all our employees at NW for working diligently this year towards our success.  What a team!" 

 

NW Honors Volunteer John McNeil

"Bradham and Brooks Northwest staff held a get together, June 6, 2019, to honor our longest running volunteer, John McNeil," reports Manager Donna Carroll.

"Last week John graduated high school with a full ride to EWC. While John has volunteered since he turned 16, most staff have known him much longer. We presented him with a gift and we all enjoyed sharing memories, a cake, and giving John good natured, honest advice on how to take the next steps into adulthood. We hope that as John goes off to college and eventually makes his way in the world that he remembers, if nothing else, that he is a member of our NW family."

All of us appreciate the volunteers who are critical to the efficiency with which we serve our JPL customers.

New U.S. Citizen Added

Highlands Security Guard, Albanus Uzoma Dimuna, received his USA Citizenship April 18, 2019.  Albanus is from Nigeria and has been in the USA for over five years.  In Nigeria he worked  as a police officer for 35 years.  He says he is very happy to be a United States citizen now.  Highlands staff helped him celebrate his accomplishment with applause, pictures, and a cupcake.  (Thanks to Marla Roberson for the input.)



Big Drum Roll For Jones & Branon

Donna Carroll, Manager of Bradham-Brooks Northwest Branch, proudly announced, "Two of my  competitive employees, Yvonne Jones and Pamela Branon are the first winners of NW's new JPL card sign-up contest.  They signed up 20 new cardholders in a two week period!
 
"Both are holding stuffed toys (similar to the Jaguar Study Buddy idea) that NW winners pass around. They will keep them for a couple of weeks and then pass them on to the next winners.  Whoever holds the stuffed animal the longest through the end of June gets to keep it.  Also, in the picture they are holding trophies filled with chocolate."

Congrats to Yvonne and Pamela from all of us!

Director Rogers Visits NW

Region Manager Marshelle  Berry said, "Our staff at NW were excited to have a visit from Library Director Tim Rogers."   

NW Visits The Polls

                        L/R: Gloria Buenavista, Library Associate, and Yvonne Jones, Library Clerk

Donna Carroll, Manager of Bradham and Brooks Library, said, "In early November, our staff showed up at the polls, for a library card drive that is! At various times, staff members would set up a table to hold a mini library card drive outside of a polling place, greeting customers as they entered and thanking voters for practicing their civil rights. In doing this, employees engaged with prospective customers that might not usually visit the library. We used these opportunities to promote upcoming programs for adults and youth and to develop a personal connection with our community--to put a face to the public library. We talked to residents about our many services, including educator cards, outside of the brick and mortar library, and we made a few new friends along the way.  

Job Well Done: Tyhedra Wilson

Bradham & Brooks Northwest Library's Linda Tucker awarded Tyhedra Wilson with a Job Well Done Award, August 8, 2018, because "Tyhedra is an outstanding role model. She operates in the spirit of excellence in all that she does and is a great leader who carries out the vision of JPL. She is also a great teacher who believes in the term team work.  Tyhedra is patient and kind and treats everyone as though they were the most important person on earth.  (No pic available.)

Friends of NW Agree: Libraries Rock!

Friends of the Bradham Brooks Northwest Library joined in the summer fun when they took this picture, June 8, 2018.  Pictured  from bottom L/R are Alma Smith, Mary Webster, Alisa Harrell; and top L/R are: Evelyn Eaves, James Cotton, and Antonia Bryant.  (Thanks to NW Branch Manager Donna Carroll for input.)

72 Attend NW SLP Opening

Bradham and Brooks Northwest Library Manager Donna Carroll said, "We held our 2018 SLP Kickoff Party, June 4, with 72 library customers of all ages converging in the multipurpose room for a whirlwind of activities. There was rock and roll bean bag toss to start and running concurrently was a presentation of the feature film, Sing, and coloring. We had a wildly popular rock painting session, which given its positive response, will be repeated later this year as its own stand-alone program. Another crowd favorite was the highly competitive Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament. This lively competition saw children of all ages facing against each other and library staff to see who could remain undefeated the longest.  The record was 10 wins in a row!"

The More The Much Merrier

Northwest Branch's Vickie Leonard really went all out for Christmas 2017 decorating these trees in different splendor. Isn't this a great idea! 

Fun With Coding At NW

Andy Gallegos, YS Librarian I, said, "NW held an Early Release Fun program, November 29, 2017, enjoyed by our school age kids. Thanks to NEFLIN, we obtained Osmo Coding game equipment to use and the children enjoyed the graphics and building on basic coding concepts with various pieces of the activity. They started with a simple tutorial and soon advanced to more complex coding commands--all the while having a blast!"

NW Presents 100% Of Teachers At Henry F. Kite With JPL Educator Cards

NW Librarian Andy Gallegos reports, "Henry F. Kite Elementary teachers--100% of them--received a JPL educator card, September 11, 2017! Regional Manager Marshelle Berry told me that, to her knowledge, up to this point there had not been a DCPS school that had achieved 100% of teachers with educator cards. I brought the idea to Principal Hill of Henry F. Kite and she thought it was fantastic to have all of her teachers with an educator card."

                            SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT:

Andy Gallegos (front, center) with 100% of the Henry F. Kite Elementary teachers holding their shiny, new JPL Educator cards.

75 Learn About Eclipse At Kite Elementary Thanks to NW Staff

Library Associate Sheenae Nelson and YS Librarian Andy Gallegos visited Henry F. Kite Elementary, August 16, 2017, to do a Solar Eclipse program they completed the week prior at NW.  Andy said, "The students have been excited about the upcoming solar eclipse and Principal Biannca Hill thought this program would be a perfect opportunity to bring the library to the school. We learned a lot about solar eclipses and why the Great American Solar Eclipse is so significant. Then the students had fun while testing their knowledge of what the phases of the eclipse will look like. There were a total of 75 students and we all had a blast!"

NW Eclipses Boredom

Andy Gallegos, YS Librarian. reports, "NW's Solar Eclipse program, August 11, 2017, attracted 40 school kids--all excited to.learn about the upcoming solar eclipse and how it happens. They watched

two short videos on the impact of a solar eclipse on Earth. We then did an art activity where we divided a piece of paper into fourths and painted and pasted the various phases of a solar eclipse and all were happy to receive solar glasses at the conclusion of the program." 

Healthy Is Delicious At NW

Bradham Brooks Northwest Library hosted a nutrition and health program, Publix Aprons Cooking School, August 5, 2017. It was presented by Chef James Carlin, who gave a one hour demonstration on how to select and cook healthy foods. There were two sessions during the day and attendees received good tips on the benefits of cooking the right foods--and NW customers received a few free samples. (Thanks to Andy Gallegos, YS Librarian for the pic and news.)

NW Says Aloha To SLP

NW held its SLP closing party and art gala, July 24, 2017, where staff had various booths displaying the school age mini-series, Collaborative Art, and teen mini-series, Go Native, for the 45 attendees who enjoyed seeing the kids accomplishments over the summer. 

YS Librarian Andy Gallegos reports, "We celebrated our progress during SLP, had a short Storytime for the young ones and let them choose a simple craft to do as we waited for ice cream to arrive. The kids enjoyed interacting with their friends, making their own masterpieces and taking a photo at one of our summer visuals, such as Maui seen here."

Police Officer Reads & Talks Safety At HIghlands

Highlands Branch Manager Pat Morrison reports, "Library Assistant Felecia Battle produced a wonderful storytime program for young children at Highlands Regional Library during National Police Week, May 26, 2017. In addition to covering the basic standards, Felecia invited Officer McDaniel of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to read two books to the children.  Officer McDaniel, a talented storyteller, imparted good safety tips via a tour of her service belt/holster and her police cruiser and stressed gun and general safety. The children were also given paper police caps/hats/bands that were made by Felecia. More than 30 children and adults attended the program."  

What a great way to teach children about the importance of safety and the many faceted role of a police officer.

Job Well Done: Erik Larsen

Librarian II Erik Larsen received a Job Well Done Award, March 1, 2017, for reaching all of NW customers with his contribution of his Read 66 daily reading.  And In the spirit of this year’s mission, “Everyone serves youth!”, Erik took this opportunity to go big. Instead of the typical reading that takes place in the corner of the children’s department (with an average of 5-10 listeners), he read a long poem, T S Eliot’s “Skimbleshanks: the Railway Cat,” over the intercom, reaching 60+ customers. It is a challenge to get people’s attention to listen to a Read 66 performance and Erik was able to lighten the mood of everyone who heard it. People in the circ line were smiling and teens stopped playing video games long enough to enjoy the full performance. This was by far our biggest Read 66 reading and it was a game changer in that we will probably continue to do our Read 66 performances. It was refreshing to see Erik go outside his comfort zone to deliver a wonderful reading of a classic poem, making everyone's day a bit brighter. Anthony Baltiero, who nominated Erik, said, "Coming from a children’s librarian that reads out loud to children on a daily basis, Erik did a fantastic job. Bravo!"

WST Hosts SLP Training Day

Summer Learning Program Training Day was held at West Branch, February 16, 2017. With all JPL Children’s staff in attendance, the day was filled with much needed information about our SLP planned events, and it was presented with zeal and creativity!  Pictured here is the staff from Children’s West, Northwest and Main holding their aluminum sculptures, which were put together as part of the Collaborative Art Program, the Summer Learning Program chosen by these three branches. Great minds think alike, yet a diverse array of artistic vision keeps us all in balance. Great job everyone!  (Thanks to Marcie O'Dell for the blurb and pic.)