KR's Fantastic Hispanic Heritage Celebration

Mandarin Branch Library celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month, October 19, 2019, with a program featuring dancing and lively music from Perú Dance, a local dance group dedicated to spreading the culture of Perú.  

The event brought together not only many different Hispanic cultures, but also various non-Hispanic people eager to learn about other traditions. Thirty seven people enjoyed the participants celebrating their Hispanic heritage, including the beautiful dancers, the materials on display, and the room decorated with Hispanic flags from each country.

After the celebration, many of the participants gathered for a photo shoot with the dance group, and some children played a Colombian game called the toad.

Events like these at the library help our community to realize the many contributions that are made by Hispanic and Latino Americans--locally and internationally.

 

Wish we all could have been in on the fun. (Thanks to Angela Richman for sharing their good news and pics.)



GO365: A Piece Of Cake!

What's your goal?  Trim a few pounds, lose that sluggish mid-afternoon low, look and feel better?  Well all you have to do is:

Join us for the Go365 COJ November step challenge!  We have about 20 people on our JPL team right now and we could add Y O U to the list of employees who are going GO365.

Holidays are a almost here and it's a great time to fit in some more exercise and start a few new habits that make you stronger and feel and look better (and who doesn't want to do that!)  If this is your first time taking the challenge and  you aren't sure where to find information, just click here:  www.go365.com , or email Matthewt@coj.net for information.

Don't just make your goal -- BEAT YOUR GOAL!

Four New Members Join BOLT

Four new Library Board of Trustees were introduced and welcomed at the Board's October 24, 2010 meeting:

Virginia Haworth is Director of Government Relations and Community Engagement for Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ).

Steve Eagerton is Vice President of Investor Relations, Sales Operations and Strategic Initiatives of Black Knight Inc., headquartered here in Jacksonville.

 

Dr. Matt Swanson is Associate Vice President of Financial Management at Jacksonville University.

Fernando Meza opened the Wreck Tiki Lounge in Jacksonville Beach in 2015 where he serves as the establishment's operating partner. 

 

If you happen to see any of these new JPL Board members, please give them a warm welcome.

SOM Celebrates Fall

"South Mandarin Branch celebrated its Fall Festival, October 26, 2019, with 77 customers participating in a costume parade, crafts, pumpkin painting, and lots of candy was provided. 

Kids and caregivers enjoyed the celebration and I wore my Dr. Seuss hat, cat whiskers, and T-shirt, " said Isabel Moreno-Santiago, SOM's YS Librarian II.

 

BOLT Honors Friends Groups

The Board of Library Trustees passed a Resolution to honor each of JPL's Friends groups at their meeting, October 14, 2019.  Director Tim Rogers (L) and Community Resource Manager Zoe Carr (2nd from left) joined Chair Ronnie King (R) to acknowledge all of the Friends groups.  Representatives who were able to attend are pictured L/R: Mike Steve (FJPL), Ted Hornoi-Centerwall (Mandarin Friends), Judy Klein (Murray Hill Friends), Anthony Williams (Brentwood Friends), Ferlandis Green (Brentwood Friends), and Roxanne Henkle (Willowbranch Friends).

 Chair King read the Resolution, which declares October 20-26, 2019, National Friends of the Library Week and lists the many accomplishments benefiting JPL that these groups have achieved:  countless hours raising funds to finance programs, events, learning materials, computer technology, e-classrooms, software, staff training, digital access, leadership awards, preservation of historic collections, advocating for JPL with local and state officials, and much more.  Our Friends groups were instrumental in securing vital funding for JPL: $200K from COJ during FY 2020 for security for four libraries; $500K for maintenance and improvements and an additional $200K for materials and $1M in capital allocated for the design of JPL's 22nd location, the Oceanway Branch Library! 

Representatives of these Friends of the Library could not attend; however, we want to gratefully acknowledge them:

Beaches Branch
Olga L. Bradham and Etta L. Brooks (Northwest)
Dallas Graham
South Mandarin
Maxville
 
Those accomplishments deserve several exclamation marks!!!!  The next time you see a Friends representative, please thank them for all they do for us. 
 

Honor Paid To 3 Departing Board Members

Three Library Board of Trustees members who are retiring from the Board were honored at the Board meeting, October 24, 2019: Jackie Perry (below) served as a member since 2010.  Mrs. Perry was profoundly thanked for her dedication for serving two extra years beyond her 2nd term and offering new ideas as to how JPL can better serve the community. 

Sybil Ansbacher, with a record of 92% attendance at Board meetings has served since July 2013.  Mrs. Ansbacher was involved with the building of the new Main Library from the planning stage.  She has served as a liaison to the Foundation and has been a tireless advocate to City Hall and Tallahassee. (Her husband Lukie's map collection hangs in the Ansbacher Map Room on Main's fourth floor.)  

Tim Anderson could not attend; however, Chair Ronnie King pointed out he has served since September 2014, commuting form Ponte Vedra for board meetings while juggling other demands of his company. "He also gave much needed advice to the Finance Committee and broached important issues.  His advocacy to community leaders will be greatly missed," Chair King said. 

A book in honor of each departing Board member will be placed in the JPL Collection.

Supporting No Domestic Violence

Mayor Curry's recent COJ Proclamation declared October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Subsequently, Mayor Curry requested COJ staff wear purple, October 24, 2019, in support of no domestic violence and to recognize Hubbard House's efforts to help families of domestic violence. Director Rogers added his support and many library employees wore purple on October 24, including these three region supervisors--Kelli Likins, Lynne Baldwin & Marshelle Berry--wearing various shades of purple. (They are pictured at the Library Board of Trustees meeting, which happened to occur on October 24.) 

AYL Teens Make A Difference Mentoring

Library Associate and Teen Coordinator for Argyle Branch Library shares, “Argyle Reading Buddies is a recurring reading/mentoring program for school aged children and teens (12-18). Though not a tutoring program, it has helped many children gain reasoning skills, confidence, and motivation by giving them 1:1 reading practice with a teen or tween. Teens volunteer their time to be mentors, coaches, and friends to younger children. A main goal is to develop a love of reading by building children's reading skills. Many children have been coming to Argyle's Reading Buddies since its inception three years ago. Parents have given positive feedback regarding Reading Buddies, emphasizing improvement in their children’s grades and abilities.

 
"Reading Buddies is also a fun event.  Here you see breakfasts our neighborhood Wawa, a wonderful community partner, brought for the children, adding fuel and inspiration to get up early on Saturday mornings.”

An additional result of this program: teens can see the value of sharing their skills and know they make a difference, and kids can see the importance of the teens reaching out to them and, hopefully, this inspires children to do the same as they grow.

25 Years of Go Jags!

Beginning October 1, 2019, Main's Children’s Department kicked off a celebration of the Jacksonville Jaguars 25^th anniversary with  a 'Supporting Our Team!' themed poster.  Marcie O'Dell said, "The next time you visit our department we invite you to don your Jags shirt and catch a picture next to our wall display,  'Go Jags!' The poster will be up until the Super Bowl is played, February 2, 2020."

Fall Is Rising

Marcie O'Dell reports, "To celebrate our 'Fall Into Fun', 0-5 sensory event, Main Children’s Department decorated with a recycled (Styrofoam) thatched cottage and a recycled (cardboard) scarecrow. The first annual Fall Into Fun Event, October 12, 2019, saw 130 attendees enjoying 10+ sensory stations, enhanced by these displays, which made for a fun time for all. (Recycle creations made by Main Library Assistant, Kate Martin.)"

AYL Appreciates Community Workers

Argyle Branch hosted 42 youth and caretakers for a fun-filled Community Helper Storytime, October 11, 2019. It included stories, songs, and fingerplays about different community workers in our area which included firefighters. After storytime, customers walked outside to greet local firemen.

The children were able to sit in the firetruck, explore the vehicle, and some helped spray the water hose while the firefighters talked about how they keep us safe. Some enjoyed taking photos, too. Little Ms. Arya, who was very happy to hold the steering wheel, posed for this photo. (Thanks to Carol Bunker for the pics and article.)

WST Welcomes JSO, JFRD & JEA

The West Branch Library celebrated Community Helpers in our Young Children Read Play and Learn September storytime. After Ms. Eve shared stories and songs about our Community Helpers, attendees went outside and met some of them with their cars and trucks. There was a firetruck, several police cars, and a bucket trunk. The 70 plus attendees saw them all up close and some climbed inside the fire truck and police car. Eve Harm said, "A few lucky kids got on the police car intercom and told us to pull over and freeze!  Thanks to  JSO, JFRD, and JEA for another successful visit with us and for all they do for the people of our city every day."

STEAM Program Builds Bridges & Team Work

Southeast's school-age program, “Full STEAM Ahead: Bridge Building”, was a success, October 2, 2019, as children and parents (34 total) learned how bridges are built.  Plastic cups and tongue depressors substituted for steel and concrete as the class became "structural engineers" and worked together in a bridge building competition.  Gummy bears were awarded for longest bridge, most aesthetic bridge, and the bridge that could hold the most weight. Everyone wore construction hats (safety first!) and had a great time.  (Thanks to Caitlin Ruvolo for input and pics.) 

Job Well Done Team Award To PCR YS Staff

Hongying Song presented Pablo Creek youth services staff with a Job Well Done award, October 2, 2019, for their 2019 SLP success.  Above you see the happy recipients:  Bridgette King, Casey Cassese, David Humphries and Jonathan Sandbach.  Two others not pictured are Mandy Elliott and JohWilliard Utuk. 

Hongying said, "Everyone knows that PCR Children’s library is one of the most popular ones in the system. PCR has the highest number of checkouts, its back-to-back programs serve a vast number of families and lines form out the door every programming day.  Some teachers and schools visit PCR despite being closer to other libraries. This year PCR had the best summer so far from the kickoff to the closing party, everything stood out.  PCR had: 

·         the most reading goals met with 3,143 logs showing 5 days or more of reading submitted.
·         the highest number of days read:  21,530, which nearly doubled our goal of 11,204 days read.

"Jonathan, Casey, David, Bridgette, Mandy and JohnWillard have built a strong following by creating amazing programs that continue to dazzle even during programming breaks and in addition to the summer system-wide programming. Our community and I are fortunate to have these creative staff working together to provide high quality services at PCR. Our surveys, statistics, and stories shared by our customers speak highly for each of them."

Mandy Elliott Gets A Bow

Hongying Song works at PCR and consistently notices others' accomplishments and so it is in this case.  She sent in this quote from a Pablo Creek Branch regular customer, Dr. T. D. Reese, dated September 28, 2019:

“Mandy Elliott does a great job with the Pokémon meetup. Today, nineteen young library patrons participated in the meetup. Mandy not only manages these monthly events, she also proves three other important services:
 
1.       She assists the less socially adept participants to connect with other participants.
2.       She coaches participants regarding play, rules and strategy.
3.       She serves as a valuable references for the participants as they evaluate the desirability of various Pokémon cards given her encyclopedic knowledge of all things Pokémon.

"She is a valuable resource to the Pablo Creek Branch."

WOW!  WAY TO GO, MANDY!

Friends Of JPL Have A Harvest Of BOGOs

Get Out and Get October Bargains

All DVDs are Buy One Get TWO Free! All Travel related and Fine Arts books are Buy One Get ONE Free!    Friends of JPL store hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 A.M to 12:00 PM and Saturdays from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.

Shawn Norton: Job Well Done

MH Branch Manager was presented a Job Well Done Award at Library Leadership Roundtable, September 12, 2019.  Shawn was gratefully acknowledged for his support of the 4DX Lag/Lead Measures for the West Region.  Region Manager Lynne Baldwin, who nominated him, said, "Besides making sure Murray Hill met their weekly targets for promoting new library cards, educational site visits, shelf reading and working on the missing list, he went over and above by coordinating the weekly 4DX online meetings with the managers in the region and creating and updating the 4DX slides to be presented each week at the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting.  Shawn’s enthusiastic support has enabled the West Region to meet its annual goal for new library cards."

We all cheer your extraordinary efforts, Shawn!

Doug Fair: Job Well Done

MH Manager Shawn Norton presented Doug Fair with a Job Well Done Award, September 17, 2019, and said, "Doug has been coordinating and assisting with a regular Tai Chi program at MH for some time now.  In his role as Library Associate he is also responsible for collection development at the branch and has curated our non-fiction to tie into regular program offerings and customer requests.  These things combined on August 7^th when a new participant in the program was taken with the book display Doug created.  Doug assisted the customer in getting their first library card to check out these materials and looks forward to seeing this new library cardholder in the program next week.  This meets both aspects of our big goal, new customers and customer retention."

HOORAY FOR YOU, DOUG!

What A Way To Start Your 1st Day!

This is how Kristen Knelle P/T Library Associate, started her first day at UPK, September 11, 2019.  (Thanks to Illesha Massaline for sharing this good news and we all say 'WELCOME, KRISTEN."

Music, Colors, & Expression

Regency Square Branch Library hosted ARTrageous: Art, Music, Kandinsky! on August 28, 2019. (Kandinsky was famous for creating abstract art inspired by music.) Participants read The Noisy Paint Box, examined images of Kandinsky’s artwork, and learned about synesthesia. It is believed that Kandinsky had synesthetic experiences, and could see colors and shapes when listening to music. He described the first experience after  attending a performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin: “I saw all my colors in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me.”

 Alison Pulley said, "Participants listened to seven different pieces of music and drew quick, abstract responses to each. We put each work up on the wall to compare – participants noticed that many used the same colors to describe a musical composition, and sometimes similar shapes or lines. A few even came up with stories to enhance the music and artwork. All had a blast finding links between art, music, and storytelling."

"In the photo, each column represents one participant, and each row represents one musical composition."