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! 

Betty Person Retires After 40 Years

Pictured center is Library Assistant Betty Person who retired December 8, 2017, with 40 years of service.  Pictured are Margaret Morford (front) and Main POP Librarian III Kathleen Brunner stands behind Betty.  Margaret and Kathleen hosted a retirement lunch and others brought items for the get together honoring Betty the day of her retirement.  Many of her coworkers came to wish her the very best as she starts a new chapter in life. As usual Betty brought her fabulous smile for all of her well wishers.

Manager of the Grand Reading Room Margaret Morford said, "Betty Person began working at the library as a student in Circulation, promoted to part-time and then to full-time. Betty worked in most of the departments at Main and at Graham Branch.  Most recently, she has been a part of the Main Popular Department/Grand Reading Room staff for over a year, and we were glad to have her as a part of our Popular Department team."

Library Board Chair Ronnie King and Interim Director Jennifer Giltrop commended Betty's 40 years of service at the Board's December 14, 2017 meeting and presented her with a bouquet of red roses.

Secret Santa Is Coming To SE

A faux chimney never looked so good as this one at Southeast Library. Carol Bunker said, "We created  the fireplace so we could hang our stockings for Secret Santa this year. A few of my coworkers and I also came up with an adaptation of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas':

"Twas the Week before Christmas, when all thru the workroom,

Not a patron was stirring, not even in the children’s room;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Secret Santa soon would be there;
The workers were working all snug in their desks,
While visions of vacations danced when they rest,
And Ms. Keli in her office, and Carisia in hers,
Had just settled down with all the brochures."

Thanks to Carol Bunker, SE YS Librarian II for the input.

JPL Wins Honorable Mention In Deck The Chair Contest

CR&M Manager Chris Boivin sent these pictures of the Deck the Chair contest held December 10, 2017, at Jax Beach in which JPL won Honorable Mention, along with four other entries, with its Harry Potter Chair.  At top is the Singing Palm Trees, which won Best of Show; at bottom L/R: Treehouse Chair (Gold Ribbon); Holiday Fishing Bear (Blue Ribbon); and Little Chapel School House (Red Ribbon).  Ballots were distributed to visitors of the JBDTC on two weekend nights and winners were chosen from more than 100 votes that were cast.

Learning & Having Fun At CW

Fight the Blight:

CW hosted a special presentation of Fight the Blight, December 6, 2017. After learning how they can help keep Jax clean, kids turned theory into practice as they took turns shooting trash into cans to win prizes. Everyone walked away a winner.

Marshmallow Igloos:

Bobbie Knight presented a STEM program at CW, December 7, 2017, about building Igloos. After a pretend snowball fight, the kids took turns reading about the construction of real igloos. Participants of all ages had a great time figuring out how to recreate the steps using marshmallows instead of snow. No two people built their igloo in the exact same way! Success never tasted so sweet.

Thanks to Beth Friederich for the input and pics.

Brightly Shining Art

Chanukah or Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) began at sundown December 12, 2017. This menorah in the children’s department at the Mandarin Library was created during children’s story time craft 
THOSE KIDS DO GREAT ART! (Thanks to KR Manager Mark Hohnadel for this pic.)

Chanukah is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and is thus named because it celebrates the rededication of the Jews' Holy Temple.

Is There Tuna In Your Tree?

There’s a cat in our Christmas tree! Miss Kelli (Heath),pictured here, themed this year’s tree around the book “My Pet Human” written and illustrated by Yasmine Surovee. In honor of the pet theme, Miss Kelli decorated the tree in the Children’s Department with cat treats, tuna, and olives, of course.  (Thanks to Library Associate Alex Bishop for the blurb and pic.)

True Blue For The Red, White & Blue

Because of December 7, 1942, ushering in WWII, American flags will fly at half mast this December 7, 2017. Because of that, the Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf War and all the other wars and skirmishes and all the blood spilled to afford red stripes in that awesome flag, here is what we honor and salute--a very small THANK YOU for all of those who paid the price for the United States of America:

It Took A Board To Make A Tree?

UPK's Alexis Carter, YS Librarian II, said, "Our Teen Advisory Board created a book tree, December 2, 2017, topped with a  poinsettia. Then ornaments with the teens' names were added to the tree as well as gifts around it to complete the beautiful display. They did a wonderful job."  

UPK's Manager Tamera Branam added, "Many customers and visiting staff are taking pictures of our gorgeous tree."

Friends Of JPL Specials For December

              S P R E A D  T H E  W O R D:
Friends of JPL In-Store specials for December 2017:

BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE:  NON-FICTION BOOKS, DVD's & CD's

CHRISTMAS CLOSING DATES The store will be closed: December  23, 2017  through  January  2, 2018 Store will reopen Thursday,  January 4th,  2018

MAXVILLE KICKS OFF HOLIDAY SEASON

Region Manager Lynne Baldwin says, "Season Greetings from the Maxville Branch Library.  Library Associate Elise Fare kicked off the holiday season at MAx with a festive bulletin board, story time books and one of her very own quilts.  Elise hosts Quilt Camp at MAX on the third Saturday of each month."

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

Lynn Baldwin, CW Region Manager, shares a wonderful time, "The Friends of the Brentwood Library hosted the Santa Stop and Photo Ops Program at Brentwood, December 1, 2017.  More than 80 kids from different daycare centers met Santa, took part in a holiday story time with Shawn Norton and took home a large gift bag donated by the Friends of the Brentwood Library.  State Representative Tracie Davis stopped by right after the children had left the building but she did get her photo taken with Santa and met and spoke with the staff and Mrs. Coon and the rest of the Friends."

                                                          

                                      This was so much fun!  

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!"

November Thanksgiving At WST

West Library's YS Librarian I Eve Harm wanted you to know how they celebrated Thanksgiving, "For the month of November, customers wrote what they were thankful for on our autumn leaves.  The leaves were displayed on a bulletin board tree and owl in the Children's department.  Our owl, inspired by all these great thanks, remarks 'Owl always be thankful for...'  It was a great collaboration between WST's staff and customers. 

"For Ms. Melodie’s last November Music and Movement, we gave thanks for the West Branch Library.  We shared Thanksgiving songs and rhymes and learned about Native Americans.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a yummy feast complete with apple cider, mashed potatoes, veggies and cookies.  (What's Thanksgiving without a feast?  I even caught a little of her storytime via video https://youtu.be/IGaHzRpVkQI ".)

Getting To Know You

Urban Librarian IV Stephanie Miller was in the Main Library earlier in November with her newborn, Charlotte. Staff  were busy oohing and ahhing and forgot to get the details of when and where Charlotte made her first appearance.  The proud mom may share more about their bundle of joy when she comes back to work.

Sherlock Science Comes Alive At DU

Highlands Branch YS Services Librarian II Lorna Reid reports, "I created one of our Homeschool STEAM programs this month entitled 'Sherlock Science' that was a huge success. Homeschooled children not only learned the basics and history of forensic science and fingerprinting, they enjoyed a sampling of classic literature learning about Sherlock Holmes. As an added treat, Officers Misty Turner and Brenda Grant from the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office shared their extensive experience in the field. The kids really liked it when the officers took time to fingerprint everyone and answer their many questions with enthusiasm. It was an interactive, engaging program that showed children how science works in the real world and how much fun it can be."

Southeast's I'm Thankful Tree

 Carol Bunker, SE's YS Librarian II, shares their I'm Thankful Tree.  Carol said, "We put up the tree and had leaves on the children’s reference desk. We asked children to write what they were thankful for and place it anywhere they wanted on the tree. It turned out really nice.

KEEP TAKING NEFLIN CLASSES

Interim Library Director Jennifer Giltrop reminds us of the importance of  taking advantage of  the opportunities for taking classes sponsored by NEFLIN for training and continuing education. Have you scheduled a NEFLIN class lately? 

Kudos from Customers

Beaches:  I use this library very often and Gail (Blumberg) has always been very helpful. Any problem I have she is always right there to assist. This library is very fortunate to have her as an employee. If books aren't available, she helps me locate which library has them and orders them for me. If the book isn't available anywhere, she puts in a request to see if it can be ordered.

Main - Makerspace:  (Sara Radovic & Shawana Brooks)  I was born and raised in Jacksonville but moved away for college. I stayed away for an additional 15 years but I moved back to Jacksonville ten years ago. I had never been to the downtown library. I was introduced to it through Markerspace. I doubt I will ever visit another library. I have now been to every opening and look forward to attending events here. Markerspace has reminded me of why I always loved the library. Now I'm back to visiting the library to read magazines and newspapers, to check out books and audiobooks, or to just go and have a quiet space to read. I forgot how much I loved to read! Not only has Markerspace given me a place to go experience amazing art and culture but it's given me back a part of me that I was missing. So thank you, Jacksonville Public Library System for the amazing work you are doing there!

Pablo Creek:  My son and I visited this location today and it's by far the BEST location that I've been to out of all the JAX Public Library System!. I love it here! Storytime was amazing with Tristan (Denmark) and the staff here were so nice & interactive with my son - which means a lot to me! I will certainly be back every week with my son--every week! 

South Mandarin:  I wanted to say thank you to Angela (Richman) for taking the time to show me several resources on the library website that I can used for my daughter. I had no idea that all of these resources existed and she offered to show them to me which I really appreciated. She should give a class on this every now and then on Saturdays for parents to discover all of the tutoring resources, testing resources and scholarship resources, etc. Thanks again, Angela, for all of the information you shared with me today!

Wilowbranch: (Scott Adams, Ryan Reid, Jason Brown, Isabelle Pierre, Michael Cooper, Troy Eittreim, Joe Gaskin, & Susan Koedel), & Mary Swinney) I just want to thank you guys for all that you do for the community. I have 4 children who have been going to the library weekly for story time, to load up on books for my older children and myself. The children’s programming has been so good--from parties to the summer reading incentives. I truly appreciate the friendly atmosphere and attentive staff. Thank you guys for making my job as mom a little easier!

Look What You Provided For Thanksgiving Dinners: THANK YOU!

Here you see a small portion of the many gifts of food that you donated--there's a lot more going out to families from JPL. Nicolle Burton said, "My sincere thanks to you for thinking of the less fortunate this Thanksgiving. JPL generously donated 27 baskets and several boxes and bags of food so far and there’s eight more baskets on the way!  Baskets were received from: SST, the Webb Region, Highlands, Regency, Mandarin; and Main's departments, including Finance, Conference Center, POP, Special Collections & NF, Teens & Children’s and Admin.

"To Diane Alexander and Donna Crowther: I thank you for helping me get everything delivered to its destination."