Jacxson de Ville Plays Cupid

Jaxson de Ville played Cupid at a special early morning Valentine’s Day appearance at the Westbrook Branch Library, February 14. 2020.  On hand to give him a special welcome were L to R: , Tori Quante-Dulaney, Scott Adams, Susan Williamson, and Shaunda Jenkins.

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE.

Jenkins Presents Black History Month Fabulously

Westbrook Branch’s P/T Library Clerk, Shaunda Jenkins, was assigned the task of creating a book display and bulletin board for Black History Month. What evolved from her vision was a full-fledged celebration of Jacksonville’s rich African American history. She created an interactive bulletin board with a historical map of the City of Jacksonville as the background and pop-out information cards on sites of historical significance for African Americans. She spent hours researching local historical sites, including the Kingsley Plantation, The Ritz Theatre and Museum, the Norman Film Studio, and the Clara White Mission and Museum. Shaunda worked closely with Main Special Collections, identifying, digitizing, and obtaining the rights to reprint a historical map depicting Jacksonville in 1921. She requested that CRM print the map once the rights were secured.

 

Shaunda converted her display into a power point presentation, which turned into a local African-American history program for neighborhood children on January 29th. Shaunda delivered her presentation to an enraptured audience of 40 children as they enjoyed locally donated refreshments. During the presentation, she included an excerpt of Rodney L. Hurst’s interview on Completely Booked, JPL’s podcast. Several individuals requested her power point be sent to them after the presentation. Other activities included a raffle, coloring inspirational quotes by black historical figures, and reading works of literature by black authors and illustrators.

 

WBK Youth Agree: Stop Bullying!

Westbrook Branch Library's Shaunda Jenkins and Portia Price created a book display and poster contest in observance of Bullying Awareness Month.  Victoria Quante-Dulaney reports, "Our young customers spent the month diligently working on their posters, which were displayed on and around our bulletin board, along with a selection of books on bullying.  We were especially happy to see that many youth invited their parents to view their posters on display.  On November 1, 2019,  we announced our winners: Melody, Krystal, and Siradus. They received gift cards and bags of candy in recognition of their stellar work and all participants received a bag of candy.

"Thanks to our panel of volunteer judges for helping select our winners: Amanda Heaton, Donna Carroll, Marshelle Berry, Ryan Merkel, Maria Griffith, Jackie Perry, and Kathleen Frazier. An even bigger thanks to Shaunda and Portia for leading the charge on this project. We enjoyed seeing the youth engaged in this noble effort and the community coming together to recognize the important issue of bulling prevention."

A Fun Feast W/A Win & Learn

YS Librarian I Kate Zakharov shares a win-win for JPL, "YS Librarian III Rebekah Mitchell and I competed in the Duval Literacy Association’s annual 'Table Tales' competition at the dinner meeting, April 11, 2019, held at The Shultz Center. We decorated a table for the Mermaid Tales fiction series by Debbie Dadey, and a table for the Elephant & Piggie reader series by Mo Willems. The mermaid table was voted most creative!
 

"Rebekah served as President of the Duval Literacy Association this year, which is an enormous voluntary time commitment. Last night marked the final meeting of her presidency, and I would like to congratulate her on such a successful term."

When asked what Kate's take away from the meeting was, she said Peggy Campbell Rush from The Bolles School spoke on "The ABC's of Brain Change: Move Your Body; Engage Your Brain".  Kate learned that people disengage after their age plus two minutes. So if she has a program for 8 year olds, she should give them a break after 10 minutes so they can stay engaged for the rest of the program.

 

 

Love: A Creative Work On Valentine's Day

Westbrook Branch Library supplied art materials for kids and teens, February 14, 2019, for a do- it-yourself Valentine card making event.   Westbrook's Kate Zakharov shares the joy these young people had interacting with one another, creating their Valentine’s Day cards with obvious zeal.  Kate said, "We had over 20 kids and teens making cards for someone special!"

One card (in forefront below) expresses our impression of these kids' sharing and caring, "You are my sunshine."

WBK Hosts Special Needs School Student Art

Twenty teachers, parents, and library customers celebrated a partnership between Westbrook Branch Library and Palm Avenue Exceptional Student Center at an art opening, April 17, 2018. Palm Avenue is a neighborhood special needs school. Art Teacher Beverly Castro displayed her students’ work throughout the library, including photographs, mixed media, paintings, and fabric work.  

HAVE A TREAT: VISIT WESTBROOK BRANCH.  The artwork will be displayed through the end of April. 

Pictured above with a student's free standing piece of art are WBK Manager Scott Adams with Frankie Schroer, PAESC Teacher, and Beverly Castro, PAESC Art Teacher. 

From Hearts To Brains In Fun

 "For Valentines Day, I did an impromptu STEM project with the kids. I gave them gummy candy hearts and toothpicks and asked them to create the biggest or strongest structure they could. They blew me away with their ingenuity and craftiness. While they thought they were doing a fun and tasty activity, they were really giving their brains a treat, too, practicing engineering. It's a pretty sweet way to sneak in some education," reports Lorna Reid, YS Librarian I at Westbrook Library.

WBK Has A Fun Way To Involve Kids In History

"This is the Black History Month display Veronica Lee, WBK’s part time Library Assistant, created for the branch with the help of some of our children," said Westbrook Branch Manager Scott Adams.  That's a wonderful way for kids to enjoy learning about history and the display benefits all ages.

WBK's Kickoff For SLP Draws 100+ Partyers

(L/R): Board Trustee Jill Dame, Main/Urban Regional Manager Michael Sullivan, Hon. Paula Wright, Chair, DCPS Board, YS Librarian II Chiquita Powell AND 3 adorable children.  

(L/R): WBK's P/T Clerk Akeem Adell; F/T Clerk Susan Williamson  and Library Assistant Sean Wallace are ready for the party to begin.

The Westbrook Library had a lively kick-off party with special guests, Honorable Paula D. Wright, Chairman of the Duval County School Board, and Library Trustee Jill Dame, who attended our event, June 7, 2017. They enjoyed speaking with our kids and learning more about WBK.  E-Library Specialists Luis Terron and Tara Connolly did an educational, interactive robot program (see Tara and boy below) with our kids. Publix donated a huge, beautiful cake with the globe front and center, with the words below written in beautiful script, "Build A Better World".  The 100+ partyers left not one crumb!  All topped off the fun with sno-cones.  (Thanks to Chiquita Powell for the input and Stephanie Miller for the pics.)

P.S. JPL employees Build A Better World Every Day.

WBK's Balloon Science Program

WBK's Chiquita Powell shares, "WBK had a special presenter, April 5, 2017, when balloon artist Linda Brunson, visited lour library to present her Balloon Science program.  Twenty two kids had fun learning balloon science basics and they had the opportunity to twist balloons into hats and swords. As you can see, the kids had a great time taking pride in their creations."

First Santa Visit At WBK

Chiquita Powell said, "Santa's visit, December 1, was a first for WBK, and I am pleased to say we had a total of 18 participants.  Some were customers I had never seen before.  One parent told me she was given a flyer from her daughter’s daycare center.  This made me happy that the daycare centers I visited did indeed pass out the flyers I gave them.  After Santa read two stories and the kids discussed the various ways Santa is able to get into your home, if you do not have a chimney, the kids enjoyed making a snowman face craft.  The kids and parents had a great time and after the craft was completed, everyone stayed in the room and continued talking to Santa and each other.

Urban Core Staff Meets

Urban Librarian IV Stephanie Miller reports, "On August 9, all of the Urban Core staff came together at GB for a combined staff meeting. We celebrated this year’s changes (added hours and new staff) and successes, especially Project LEAP outreaches and DCPS student computer usage in the UC libraries. We also talked about new opportunities coming to us this year with the added grade levels for the DCPS student cards and Kindergarten and 4^th grade class visits to GB. We discussed the Search Institutes 40 developmental assets, coming up with places where the library and library staff can stand in the gap for the kids we see each day by providing safe spaces and positive adult interactions.  

"A special thanks to Jonathan Sandbach, Donna Crowther, Sharon Whitt, Charlene Ovshak, Sara Radovic, Stephanie Harley, Beth Friedrich, and Diane Alexander for covering the UC library desks so that staff could leave their locations and the Main staff who covered extra desk shifts that day to make this possible!"

WBK Adults Play Monopoly

Westbrook Branch's Adult “Life Size Monopoly” game, July 12, was popular with the seven attendees. Kimberly Cherry said, "Summer worker, Jarell Wise helped with all the board pieces that he drew freehand. Jarell is talented and a big help to WBK this summer. I made each house for the game and the life size dice, which you see being twirled by one of the players. I also had Antoinette Walker cutting pieces." 

Westbrook Hosts Critters From The Zoo

Westbrook Branch's Shawn Norton, YS Librarian II, says their EPIC summer program, June 30, hosted a Jacksonville Zoo representative, who captivated 21 participants who came to learn about and interact with a baby alligator and an armadillo.

Ummm, Ummm Good; That's What Customer Appreciation Is!

WBK's Library Assistant Antoinette Walker said, "One of our regular customers at Westbrook, Ms. LaDonna Nesmith, dropped by with Valentine’s Day surprises for us. Can you imagine our delight at receiving these cheerful hand-crafted bouquets! Not only is Ms. Nesmith one of our favorite customers, but apparently we’re her favorite too."  (L/R: Kimberly Cherry, Library Associate, Ms. LaDonna Nesmith, Susan Williamson, Library Clerk and Antoinette.)  

Lot Of Fun At WBK

October 30^th, WBK held its fall festival hosting 21 children. The festival included hot dogs, popcorn, and lots of candy. Games included ring toss, pumpkin throw, guess the amount of candy, candy bingo and face painting. First time face painting was done by Kimberly Cherry. 

Jax Reads! Ready At WBK

WBK's Library Associate Kimberly Cherry said, "The Westbrook Branch staff had their display ready for the Jax Reads! community promotion of  Brown Girl Dreaming. I designed this large poster and colored it to resemble the book cover. The display includes other books by Jacqueline Woodson so that we would have a variety of books for children to adults.".

LET'S HEAR ABOUT YOUR JAX READS! PREPARATIONS! 

WBK's Father's Day Program

Westbrook Branch's Father’s Day craft was a success with 21 kids in attendance. They chose to make a tie or bow tie (some made both) for their father, grandfather, uncle or a

male role model. They loved it per Kimberly Cherry at Westbrook Branch.

Westbrook Branch Are The Titans

Thanks to Kimberly Cherry, WBK Library Associate, for this picture of WBK's preparation for the Summer Learning Program (formerly called Summer Reading Program). WBK staff decided to become superheroes themselves. The ladies at WBK are known as the Westbrook Titans. Kimberly says, "We are here to make sure nothing prevents the kids' reading this summer."  

Framed With Love

Antoinette Walker, Library Assistant at Westbrook, created a Mother’s Day Craft program and 15 kids participated. Picture frames made of cardboard were decorated with shells, then spray-painted gold. Each child had their picture taken holding a handmade “Happy Mother’s Day” sign. After the frames dried, each child’s picture was laminated and placed in the frame. Staffs worked together to make this program a success as Library Clerk Susan Williamson rearranged her desk schedule to provide uninterrupted desk coverage and Library Associate Kimberly Cherry was the official picture-taker & laminator. Kudos to all of you at WBK!