Pre-K Stories Off To A Colorful Start

Baby, You Can Drive My Car!  Preschool Stories for Young Children and Art at West Branch kicked off 2017 and our Read 66 program with some great stories and songs (and music!) about transportation and maps with Miss Carolyn.  For a fun story time activity, children placed their cut-out cars on a map.  We then had small toy cars that our little ones  drove through paint in our art portion of the program.  What a hit this was!

Melodie Brunson invites you to "go to WST's Facebook page to see what we did in our Preschool Music and Movement with Miss Melodie here at West on our last Friday before New Year’s Day.  We read stories about celebration and food traditions on New Year’s,

sang songs about New Year’s Day, put on party hats, did our 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 countdown and threw Styrofoam peanuts for confetti.  For firecracker noise, we jumped on bubble wrap."

Job Well Done: Anthony & Vickie

Two deserving employees received a Job Well Done Award, January 10, 2017:  Anthony Baltiero designed a Pokemon Scavenger Hunt for children and teens at NW.  The scavenger hunt is inclusive as it does not require participants to have an electronic device to hunt for Pokemon. Participants are provided a sheet with clues so they can search the library for 20 hidden Pokemon. Once they find all 20 Pokemon, they can bring their completed Pokedex to the reference desk to pick up a small prize. So far, over 40 children and teens have completed the Pokemon scavenger hunt.

Vickie Leonard has a talent for creating eye-catching library displays with library materials and props she brings from home. Month after month, she decorates the circulation desk at NW with a timely theme. Her talent for creating displays has not gone unnoticed, and as a result, she was asked to create displays at another branch in her region. Vickie happily obliged. Festive holiday displays created by Vickie were enjoyed at NW and WB.

PCR's Stormtroopers Draw Customers' Attention

Pablo Creek Library staff Danielle Linnen and Nikki Denton created a Throw-Back Thursday monthly movie program, January 5, 2017, which has been building attendance and a following by showing family-friendly movies in innovative ways. The latest edition of the “Star Wars: Force Awakens” drew 50 participants, including two Troopers from the 501^st Stormtrooper Legion, who hosted a meet and greet with the customers at Pablo Creek. When the Stormtroopers entered the Teen room the children screamed with excitement. Everyone wanted to meet them and get a picture. Attendees were treated with Yoda Soda, Lightsaber pops and popcorn. Afterwards the Troopers walked through the entire library interacting with customers.

Manager Jackie Spiritas reported that the library makes use of every space and the innovative use of space for the movie program is a good example. Pablo Creek transformed the Teen Room into a home theater by projecting the movie onto the large (formally boring) wall in the Teen space. The movie was seen and heard by library customers walking in the building and many people were drawn to the excitement of the open setting and surprised by the appearance of the Stormtroopers.

Overheard: “Fifteen minutes into the event and you made me a Star Wars Fan!”  

“This room was definitely more comfortable than the other one” (Community Room A)

“The acoustics in the room were fantastic!”  

                 Seen in the stacks: Stormtroopers developing a Reading habit

Stormtrooper playing with toys in the Children’s Department

Stormtrooper posing with a big fan: Library Associate Mandy Elliott

Read 66 Theme Leads Displays At NW

Anthony Baltiero (above) created a Read 66 display for NW to raise awareness of the program. The theme plays off of the legendary highway (and TV program), Route 66 and the display features route 66 signage and a hand drawn roadway. Anthony added, "It is rounded off with books about developing reading skills, information flyers about the Read 66 program, and it's full of Read 66 signs to grab customers’ attention."

Additionally, Vickie Leonard and Anthony showcased the National Geographic collection in a display designed to rev up circulation of lesser used materials. They included books, DVDs, and backdated magazines. Along the top of the display is a banner-trim with different wildlife photos. To bring the display to life, they added stuffed animals across the top--and who doesn’t love those gorgeous creatures of the wild?

  

Webb Wesconnett: Off & Running W/Read 66

Kathy Tekin has good reason to brag on her staff; she said, "Jessica Serrano created the display for the adult area with books found on the website under Read 66. Bobbi Knight and Noah Thomas created the bulletin board and book display.  I really love the phrase 'blue us away!' found in the children’s dept.on the book display,'These books blue us away!'" 

WHAT'S ON YOUR DISPLAY?

11th Battle Of The Bands Winners Named

The 11^th Annual Battle of the Bands, postponed to November 19, 2016, due to Hurricane Matthew, saw  five teen bands gave it their all! The winning band received a $100 cash prize from the JPL Foundation, professional recording session and CD from Green Team Media, gift cards to George’s Music Superstore, an official Battle of the Bands Gold Record and trophy, and an opportunity to perform at the January 2017 Art Walk.  All participating teens received a CD single with their band’s entry to the competition. 

1^st Place and 11th Annual Battle of the Bands Champion: The Allie Rhorer Band (pictured below L/R: Evan Mayo, Allie Rohrer, Gabriel Pfaffman, Gianluis Hernandez:

2^nd Place: Thee 2 Be

3^rd Place: Modern Monsters

Holly Amber, Manager of YS, said, "We really appreciate the  participation of the following people for their hard work:

Judges:  Stephanie Miller (Urban Core Manager) , Jay Brasfield (Special Collections), and Phil Green (Owner, Green Team Media) 

Event Stage Manager:  John Wilson (POP/MAKERSPACE) 

Others Who Made This Event a Great Success:  Jonathan Sandbach (Children’s), Amber Holley (YS Admin), Rebekah Mitchell (YS Admin), Susan Mankowski (Early Childhood Specialist), Laura Minor (Special Collections), Anjelica Bencomo (Teens), and Bryan Thomas (CR&M)."

(L to R): Laura Minor (Special Collections), Angelica Bencomo (Teens), Susan Mankowski (Early Childhood Specialist), Rebekah Mitchell (YS Admin)

(Thanks to Angelica Bencomo for her input for this araticle.)

SOM Hosts CM Schellenberg

Region Manager Keli Likins reports, "Council Member Matt Schellenberg (third from left above) attended the Gingerbread program, December 27, 2016, at South Mandarin Branch Library.  He read the narrator part of the Gingerbread Boy play.  Afterwards the kids made their own gingerbread boy cookie. 

"Thanks to the SOM staff for a good program."

EB Draws New Customers

Brown Eastside hosted Santa, December 22, and Shawn Norton (above center) , YS Librarian II, shares, "Sixteen  parents and children came to our Santa Stops and Photo Ops program. For some, this was their first visit and because they had fun, they plan to come back every Thursday for more stories (sans Santa, sadly to say.)”

                          Shawn Norton's daughter, Robin, had her time with Santa, too.

DU's Minute to Win It: Holiday Edition

Youth enjoyed fun games, December 22, including: Snowman Stack – Each team had to see how many snowmen they could create in a minute by stacking marshmallows, and then making the faces with candy corn and chocolate chips.

Candy Bar Game - Teens tried to dress with a scarf, winter jacket, and mittens, cut a piece of candy in half and eat it before the next teen rolled a 6.

Winter Weather Watch – an online scavenger hunt that included information about winter and winter storms Grab Bag –The teens created Human Christmas trees by wrapping their teammates in crepe paper, paper chains, and adding a bow on top.

Present Time – Teens unwrapped a present while wearing a pair of gloves.

Snowball Toss – One teammate held a wreath on a string while another teammate attempted to toss snowballs(marshmallows) through the hole in the wreath.

Unwrap a Kiss – Each team had to see how many Hershey's kisses they could unwrap with one hand in a minute.

After the games, the teens decorated and ate gingerbread men and washed them down with hot apple cider.  (Thanks to Beverly Mason for the input.)  

"Noon" Year At DU

Eve Harm, Youth Services Librarian II at the Highlands Library,  surprised children with a special “Noon” Year  celebration after a special storytime and noise-maker craft.  In the style of a traditional balloon drop, the children tossed the balloons into the air using a tablecloth “parachute”.  (Thanks to Michelle T. Petrin, Youth Services Librarian III, Highlands Region, for the news.)

SS Hosts Santa & His Fans

       SS staff, Kevin Douglas(L) & Robbie Crabtree, welcome Santa.

Santa Claus came to San Marco Branch, December 17, 2016, and brought candy canes and good cheer for all--and 75 parents and kids came out to meet him.  

Each child either waited in line to tell Santa what he/she wanted or stood to the side to make collage Christmas trees out of colorful strips of paper.  After all the children had a chance to talk with Santa, he soared away on his bright red sleigh, off to spread holiday cheer elsewhere.

Hooray For Friends of SOM

Thanks to Library Associate Christie Rogers for this photo of the new learning panels at the South Mandarin Library. The panels were purchased by the Friends of the South Mandarin Library for the Children’s Department. Christie said, "The panels will help children work on their fine motor skills and we are very grateful to the Friends of SOM for their support."

Job Well Done: Martha Smith, Jay Brasfield & Margaret Morford

Martha Smith, Jay Brasfield and Margaret Morford received Job Well Done awards, December 5, 2016.  Beth Friederich said, "Recently, Main Children’s began offering schools the option for a complete Main library tour. The Special Collections team located resources that highlight their collections and excite the children.  Jay introduced me to the oldest map in the room and some with fun features that children would find interesting.  Martha pulled books from the collection, such as the Sanborn maps that show Jacksonville’s streets before the current Main Library was built. Margaret gave me a tour of the department to further my understanding of the resources.  All of their input enables me to answer students' questions.

"Additionally, when these wonderful librarians are on the desk, they introduce themselves and present the department to the students and have been available to answer questions." 

Job Well Done: Nicole Evans

Nicole Evans received a Job Well Done award, December 6, 2016, for presenting a spectacular guitar program for the Markrspace.  Beth Friederich said, "Nicole has built a community of guitar students form age 8 to 80.  Each week, she researches a song (selected by the group) and then facilitates its learning as students support and help each other.  The collaboration of this group is fun to watch and it would not happen without Nicole to inspire them."

Job Well Done: Kelli Heath

Nicole Evans awarded Kelli Heath (both are in Main's Children’s Department) with a Job Well Done award, December 13, 2016.  Nicole said, Kelli consistently goes above and beyond whether she is taking on a large project (like planning our monthly celebrations, which always include games, activities and refreshments), or a small project (such as always creating enticing and interesting displays). Her positive attitude is contagious and appreciated by everyone who works with her, and she does the right thing.  She never misses an opportunity to show/tell her colleagues that she appreciates them and to celebrate their accomplishments. Kelli took on the responsibility of buying cards for certain occasions and passing them around for signatures. A birthday, promotion, or new team member is always greeted with a card. One of our shelvers is going to have a baby in February, and Kelli has been bringing her little gifts each week; a onesie, a board book, a baby toy, etc. These are the things that she does that no one ever asks her to do, yet she is overjoyed to do them. She always gives 110% and we all look forward to days that she joins us at the library."

Job Well Done: Stacey Van Hoy

Stacey Van Hoy, Librarian II, was awarded  a Job Well Done Award at the Mandarin Library, December 1, 2016, before she transferred to PCR.  KR Branch Manager Mark Hohnadel said, "The award was for the great job she did weeding, shifting and reorganizing the adult collection at KR.  The customers love the expanded large print collection." 

Kudos From Customers - December 2016

Argyle Branch:  Our children LOVE coming to the Library's story time for the children’s program. Starting on Sunday evening they ask if it's library day! One way they are learning the days of the week is by knowing every Wednesday, we go to the library. They are excited and yell and scream when it's "Library Day." We are incredibly grateful to Ms. Kim (Kimberly Forster) and this program (PASS for Babies) for enriching their lives through social interactions, interactive play, and age appropriate learning.

Main Library:  I wish to praise Amanda (Whaley) and Sara (Radovic)—both at reference desk—for their patient assistance with renewing my library card.

South Mandarin Branch:  Today I came to the library. I am very happy to be here, thanks to Ms. Angela Richman, who helped me with translation; she was great. …

________________________________________________________

(Sorry folks, that's all thus far for December; usually there is less input 

from customers in December.)

Memorial To Gail Marion

Gail Marion was a part of our JPL staff for 27 years as a librarian at the Haydon Burns Library before we moved to the new Main Library.  After she retired from JPL, she worked as a librarian at Everest University here in Jacksonville. She passed away, December 15, 2016, after a months long battle with cancer.

Major Gail E. Marion, USAR, SC, Retired, was most proud of her service to her country for 27 years--as a WAC, in the Florida Army National Guard, and U.S. Army Reserve, finally retiring in June 2000.  

We will miss Gail's astute presence and sharp wit.

Here is a link to the obituary with visitation information and funeral plans:
http://obittree.com/obituary/us/florida/jacksonville/arlington-park-funeral-home/gail-marion/2798053/

Our sincerest sympathy goes out to her family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

SE Region Manager Keli Likins (L) and SST's Technology Services Administrator Lisa Peterson join Santa in wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses At SE

"SE hosted a gingerbread house party, December 17. and 91   participants created their own gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and candies," reports Mia Brack, YS Librarian III, SE Region.