Back To School Is A TD @ KR

KR's Frances Wickes was so pleased with this outstanding bulletin board and her coworkers.  She wanted to share this photo with you and said, "Carisia Rooney and Alison Pulley 'cheer' as the Mandarin Branch kicks off the school year with a brightly decorated bulletin board.  The children have been adding their favorite book titles to the board all week!  GOOD P.R. FOR KR!

Mark Merrit - A Walking, Talking Ad For JPL

Mark Merrit, Deputy Director of Administrative Services, is not one to capture the spotlight; however, Jennifer Giltrop, Deputy Director for Public Services, got him to show off his tie that his wife, Rachel, had made especially for his "29th" birthday, August 26th.  The tie has row upon row of the JPL logo and Mark is proud of his wife's ingenuity and thoughtfulness--and his tie.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK!

Mrs. Carolyn Votaw Passes Away

Carolyn Votaw served as Executive Secretary for two Deputy Directors, Sylvia Cornell and then Carolyn Williams when Mrs. Cornell retired.  Mrs. Votaw retired when we moved to the new Main Library but her husband, Paul, continued on as a librarian until shortly before his death.

Mrs. Votaw passed away August 19, 2015, and her funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m., August 26, 2015, at Eternity Funeral Home, 4856 Oakdale Avenue, Jacksonville, FL. 

We extend our sincere sympathy to her family.

Where There's A Will, There's A Way

Patricia Morrison, ULC's Librarian IV, is proud to report, "Young people attending the Friday morning story time at Brentwood library had to be redirected  away from the stairs and the elevator as they arrived.  Story time was relocated to the colorful children’s section on the ground floor because the programming area on the second floor received a much needed coat of paint.  Peggy Crawford aptly held the attention of the little minds despite all of the regular library activities going on in the background.  How’s that for transporting children to new worlds and taking them on an adventure.  Last Friday they all went to veggie land  where they discovered the letter “V” and lots of vegetables." 

A "Tree" grows in Brentwood

Betty Williams, NS Library Associate Sr., said, "During spring break 2015 programming, Brentwood Branch hosted Mary Puckett of the county extension office on the first day of spring (see staff news dated 3/24/15).  After a discussion on plants, she showed the

children how to transplant a tomato plant and plant sunflower seeds.  I have tended our branch plant, program attendees have watched it grow during the summer and we now have a harvest. The tomatoes are pretty tasty too!"

It Pays To Follow The Manual

AR Manager Donna Carroll said, "Teamwork was in full display at Regency Branch, August 21. A snake made its way into the workroom and after hissing at staff decided to hide under the shelves.  Through the great teamwork of Anna Gonzalez, Bernice Newsom and Hamid Hassan (everyone else watched in terror), they managed to capture the snake.  After consulting the Get To Yes Difficult Customer Manual, the snake was given a warning for harassing staff and then trespassed."

  

Legos Win Kid Appeal

 "The Lego Club at the South Mandarin Library is our most attended and asked about program. The program, August 19, had 48 in attendance. We put Legos on a quilt and let the children be creative and build whatever came to mind," said Library Associate Christie Rogers.

Talk About Customer Appreciation!

Highlands' Hongying Song shares this picture of  amazing young customer appreciation. Library Assistant Felecia Battle received a BIG surprise on August 13 when a group of students from Wright Way to Higher Learning School and their teacher, Sylvia Hagans, paid Felecia a visit. They brought Felecia balloons and cards to celebrate her birthday. The children have attended DU's school age programs regularly. They put the HAPPY in Felecia's birthday.  And all of us wish you a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Felecia!

140 Kids Get Backpacks At NS

Betty Williams is proud of NS' latest successful project, "On August 14, 2015, the Friends of Brentwood Library sponsored our Back to School Bash and Back Pack Giveaway at NS and 140 children received backpacks stuffed with school supplies.  This is the second year of the Back to School Bash and we were able to give out even more backpacks than last year. The families were then able to go across the street and enjoy hot dogs and other refreshments.

Again this year the church across the street allowed us to use their parking lot and JSO blocked off the street.  Children climbed on the big red truck from JFRD and the biggest hit was sounding the siren in a police cruiser. This is always a wonderful community event.  The parents were very appreciative and everyone had a good time.

Kudos From Customers

Beaches Branch: Gail (Blumberg) is very helpful and goes beyond the call of duty. She always has been.

Main – Circulation: Thank you for having such a great staff: Willysa Jones, Arnesha Walton, LaTanza Sutton, Corey Scott, Theresa Bascom, and Katherine Golden. I have visited the Main Library for the past two weeks and everyone that has been named was very helpful, pleasant, and friendly, and I would like to thank Cynthia Simmons for having such a great staff. Please keep up the good work.

Main – Reference:  Kathleen Brunner was very helpful.

San Marco Branch: I compliment…Curt Beadell because…Curt helped me today…by finding the citation information for Eickhoff's translation of Homer's Odyssey. The book was no longer in the library system, but I had borrowed it previously and needed the citation info to finish a long term essay project.

Webb Wesconnett Branch: I went into your library for a one on one class with John Carter. This young man is awesome. I was treated with respect and patience. I'm sixty seven years old, yet he treated me like a good professor would a student in need of a little more help, and not like an elderly person with only half of their brain left. Thank you for having this young man there to help me. A grateful and satisfied customer.

David Foster Receives Innovator Award

Mandarin staff not only cheered their success with SLP, they hoorahed David Foster for getting an Innovator Award, which was presented to him August 19 for his creative marketing. He wore a Super Hero T-shirt every day during the summer learning program. Customers liked his idea and started donating a variety of Super Hero T-shirts for him to wear. KR Manager Mark Hohnadel presented the award; Lynne Baldwin, who formerly managed KR, nominated David.

Never one to capture the spotlight, David is pictured here with the whole KR gang that made KR's SLP a great success. L/R are Sara Peretzman, Stacey Van Hoy, David Foster, Eric Cusaac, Don Carpenter, Shukti Benerjee, Robert Moseley, Lisa Veal, Diane Lewis and Mark stands in the back. Allison Pulley took the picture.

Making Memories

Southeast's Alfreda Whitfield has a new addition to brag about and shares this picture of her granddaughter, Eden Renae, born June 6, 2015.  Eden is pictured here this month with her big brother, Jaiden, 5 years old, who just started kindergarten.  The pic with Alfreda cooing at the baby was made when Eden was about 1 1/2 hours old.  Thanks for sharing, Alfreda, and Congratulations from all of us.

 

Chris Eaton & Scott Adams Acknowleged at 8/13/15 BOLT Meeting

Library Board Chair Erin Skinner (2nd from right) announced that Talking Books Librarian II Chris Eaton (2nd from left) and Librarian III and manager of TB, Scott Adams (far left) had  the distinction of winning a "Certificate of Braille Magic" from "The Wizarding World of Braille", printed both in Braille and in text, addressed to JPL "for helping defeat Lord Printemort and the medium that shall not be named." This defeat occurred at the 2015 North Florida Regional Braille Challenge, hosted at the Main Library earlier this year.  You can read all about the notable event and Christ Eaton in the May 5, 2015 JPL Staff News blog's Staff Profile featuring Chris.The award was granted by the State Coordinator for the Braille Challenge, Sue Glaser, who represents the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired. Director Gubbin stands far right.

JPL Award Winners Honored at BOLT Meeting, 8/13/15

At the August 13, 2015 Library Board meeting, Board Chair Erin Skinner and Director Barbara Gubbin proudly presented awards to the winners of the 3rd Quarter of FY14/15 (April-June):

Julie Rekow, Library Associate at Beaches Branch won the Inspired a Shared Vision as well as the Employee of the Quarter awards. Julie is well known for using Markerspace technology and her knowledge on how to use and troubleshoot JB's new Markerbot Replicator 3-D printer. She has researched how other libraries use this technology and read articles so she could show customers a glimpse of future technology.  Julie is also a walking, talking PR person for the Beaches Branch and much more can be learned about Julie in the August 5, 2015 JPL Staff News Staff Profile.

Eric Cusaac, Library Clerk at Mandarin Branch, won the Challenge the Process award for volunteering to take over the multitude of materials continually donated for the Friends book sales.  He planned, organized, and made KR's workroom safe by eliminating clutter and freeing up space because KR no longer has 200+ boxes of book sale items waiting for pickup all the time.

John Carter, E-Library Specialist, SST, proposed, designed, and carried out the solicitation of staff stories for publication for JPL's 2015 SDD -- and won the Model the Way award.
 

Denise Thomas, Literacy Program Specialist at Main's Center for Adult Learning, took on the role of volunteer coordinator for CAL, tracking and compiling monthly volunteer reports for the center and she received the Enable Others to Act award.

Tyhedra Wilson, Library Assistant at Graham Branch, won a Model the Way award for the time and effort she spent creating a bulletin board display for GB's 50th Anniversary. GB does not own a die cutter for lettering, so Tyhedra enlisted staff from other branches to help cut out letters for a professional looking bulletin board, and she improvised using others' supplies and staff to get everything completed in time for GB's celebration.

Theresa Rooney, Manager of the University Park Branch Library, offered her support months prior to GB's 50th Anniversary and provided raffle tickets and came to GB to lend support the day of the event. Assistant Director for Public Services Julie McNeil received the Encourage the Heart award in Ms. Rooney's absence.   

Thanks to Kathy Lussier for all the pictures.

Food For Needy Reigned In The Rain

UPK Manager Theresa Rooney reports, "The University Park Branch Library hosted a Feeding Northeast Florida mobile food pantry distribution event on August 12 from 4:30-6:30. This event was staffed entirely by volunteers, including ten teens from the branch and a pastor with twenty members of the Living Waters Christian Church, who use our community meeting room. Director Barbara Gubbin, Deputy Director Jennifer Giltrop, and Darren Mason, Council Aide for District 1, Councilmember Joyce Morgan, also volunteered. Council Aides Chiquita Moore and Jeneen Sanders dropped by to show support.  Despite the rain, the event was successful, with 12,844 pounds of fresh, nutritious food distributed to over 300 people, many of whom waited in line for hours." 

Ms. Giltrop commented, "Despite the heavy rain and when people had to come inside when lightening began, every person was patient, expressed their gratitude, and were obviously delighted to receive much needed groceries. It was a good community outreach and rewarding for all concerned."

A library card sign-up table and craft activities to entertain the children were also provided.

SLP Ends At UPK As A Super Success

UPK Manager Theresa Rooney is proud of her staffs' accomplishments, "Summer Learning may have ended, but it’s been a busy August so far at the University Park Branch. The Superheroes Cityscape backdrop on the wall was created by my daughter, Emily Matchett, and the Superhero capes were handmade by Library Clerk and master seamstress Rosalin Smalls.

SE: New CM Becton Visits & SLP Wraps Up

Councilman Danny Becton's August 5 visit to Southeast Branch was much appreciated.  He introduced two of their Superhero Stories for Young Children and Preschool Art and addressed a total of 102 people.about libraries and the importance of reading.  

Also,, SE's End of Summer Party on August 4 featured Minions. In addition to taking pictures with their life sized minion, patrons made their own minion goggles, ate banana pudding, searched for bananas in a scavenger hunt, and played Pin the Goggle on the Minion.

EB Has 400+ Readers For SLP

EB used an eyecatching poster for their SLP to entice kids to read.  The poster was titled "Read all summer to help complete Hero O'Malley's Puzzle" with the invitation, "Get a piece of the puzzle to fill in for each book you read."  The *puzzle had every piece completed and Sharon Whitt has reason to brag on EB's SLP readers. "Brown Eastside Library is proud to announce that Eastside kids read very well this summer. They read over 400 books to complete the *puzzle. Way to go Eastside Kids!"

Who's the strange character on the puzzle poster? Sharon says, "It’s  the *Platypus figure of the Summer Learning characters.  His name is O’Malley, so I just called him Hero O’Malley to add character to the character." GREAT IDEA, SHARON.  

At NS “Dreams Begin with Dreamers”

The youth of Brentwood Branch Library showcased what they learned during an intense four week camp in their production of “Dreams Begin with Dreamers”, July 31. The students were offered lessons in reading, math, science, interpersonal skills, drama, dance and self-esteem.

  

The Friends of Brentwood Library, along with funding from a grant from Navy Federal Credit Union,, sponsored the FOBL Theater Camp and Playhouse.  The children, ages 4 to 13, also had a muti-cultural field day. First they visited the courtroom of Judge Pauline Drake where she acknowledged and encouraged them in open court.  They also visited the Jacksonville Centre of the Arts, Old Stanton High School, the Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Historic Park and finished the day with lunch at CiCi’s Pizza.  They were featured in the Jacksonville Free Press and a front page picture and blurb in The Florida Times Union’s Metro section.  The youth were also encouraged because they were able to earn points during the camp and were surprised at the end of the production when those points were turned into a monetary award.

Artistic Director and FOBL founder, Sharon Coon, developed the curriculum.  With the help of student stage manager Camille Boyd, student production manager Charlai Cooper (also the Mayor’s Summer Student employee who volunteered to stay an extra week), library liaison Betty Williams and the Brentwood staff that took on extra desk shifts, shelving and popped popcorn etc., the “dream” of having a summer playhouse for the young people of Brentwood became a reality.

Milestones At The Main Library

Will Daniels, Main's Conference Center Specialist, has celebrated many milestones with library customers and friends over his ten year tenure at the Main Library--and some of his own most memorable moments have also been experienced here at Main. Until July 5, 2014, Will was a single Dad, who can be especially proud of his son's accomplishments and shares some milestones here in photos of his son, Omari's growth from a boy to manhood.

Omari with Dad when he graduated as president of his elementary school class.

Omari, age 10, working at the Friends BOOKtique at Main. .

Omari with his date at the Main Library before their Senior Prom.

And above, Omar shares a very happy day, his Father's wedding day, July 5, 2014, at the Main Library. Will married a lovely physician named Terry.