Author: Amy Lannon

Are you ready for some shout-outs? If you’d like to submit a shout-out, fill out the form on the Forms page. Don’t be shy! Shout it out! And I KNOW there are more shout-outs from other departments. Let’s see them!

Shout-out to Jianna Christopher for Helping a co-worker, Solving a problem, Keeping it positive: Jianna cheerfully filled in lots of holes in the Children’s Room schedule! And she’s a pleasure to work with!! From Cate & the Children’s Room Staff

Meghan, Dawn, Melissa, Desiree, Andrea H, Susanne, Rebecca, Lauren, Eileen, Michelle, & Kath for Going above and beyond, Exemplary customer service, Keeping it positive: Winning at Winter Warmers! EVERY department contributed to making Winter Warmers: Hot Date Edition smoking hot. From our venerable veterans to our virgins (Meghan & Rebecca) you pulled together to enlighten and entertain our community. Watch for the premiere on February 14th on our YouTube channel. Thank you thank you thank you! From Andrea F

Shout out to Lisa R for Going above and beyond, Helping a co-worker, Keeping it positive. Lisa has been the Weekend Wonder miracle worker! The weekly bags are very popular and a lot of work–Lisa keeps us organized, creative, and enthusiastic! From CR staff.

Shout out to Rebecca Bailey and Susanne Sullivan for Helping a co-worker, Solving a problem: Both Susanne and Rebecca were recently called upon last minute to cover shifts for the Ref department. The extra help allows staff and the library to continue moving forward smoothly. RPL has amazing substitute librarians who graciously offer their time and we are all very grateful. From Ally.

Shout out to Megan W for Going above and beyond. Megan did her first virtual storytime and crushed it! Her calm voice, her sweet fingerplays, her adorable books and songs–pajama storytime magic!. From Cate.

Shout out to Ally for Helping a co-worker. Shout out to Ally for always being ready with a listening ear to brainstorm new ideas, problem solve tricky situations, and share a laugh about the craziness of library life. From Anonymous.

Two things to be aware of ASAP:

Tuesday through Wednesday there will be an employee from the town’s locksmith vendor who will be rekeying the exterior doors.  This will not affect the key fobs. This work will not interfere in any way with employee access.

Starting Wednesday, there will be two employees from NORESCO working out of the library boiler room.  NORESCO is the company working on the performance contracting for all the town buildings (including all the schools). Performance contracting assesses current systems with the goal to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact (both of which ultimately save the town $$).This project will go on for about 18 months.

John and Lynda are aware of this. If you are unsure when you see someone who might be the locksmith or from NORESCO, you can check in with a custodian or approach the person if you feel comfortable.

Are you ready for some shout-outs? If you’d like to submit a shout-out, fill out the form on the Forms page. Don’t be shy! Shout it out! And I KNOW there are more shout outs from other departments. Let’s see them!

Shout-out to Kath GS for Going above and beyond, Helping a co-worker, Solving a problem: Kath is always reading and willing to come up to the North Pole to help out! We are all super-grateful! From Children’s Room Staff

Kath GS again for Going above and beyond, Helping a co-worker, Solving a problem: Kath advised and helped Amy on the furnishing needs for the the newly constructed office for the Director of Equity and Social Justice. Great ideas, excellent critical thinking, and soooooo patient!

Shout out to Meghan McCabe for going above and beyond. After hearing that several of the T.A.G. members were in the Coolidge production of High School Musical, she (and her mom) watched the live stream so she could see them. The kids were really touched that she made the effort and love their new teen librarian! From Valerie Gould Heithaus.

Shout out to Desiree and Michelle for Going above and beyond, Coming up with a new idea: Amazing job by Desiree and Michelle on the “RPL Year in Review” with happenings and highlights from 2021 From Anonymous.

Shout out to Public Service staff and Leadership Team for helping a co-worker. A general thank you for everyone’s support during the entire month of January. My family was persistently impacted by COVID causing me to frequently be in and out of work. Thank you to everyone who covered shifts, sent thoughtful notes, or simply picked up invisible and visible slack while I was gone. Peace of mind was so very helpful these past few weeks. From Ally.

Shout out to Lisa Racine and Olivia McElwain for going above and beyond and Keeping it Positive. Olivia and Lisa have done some awesome FaceBook Live storytimes this month! Nice pivot! Read, sing, dance, and play games with them on Thursday mornings at 10:00am. #rockstarlibrarians. From Cate.

To everyone who helped with 6th-grade tours this week. Lots of staff time was devoted to reviving these visits and making them special for the 100+ students we welcomed over the past 3 days.

A recent study has ranked eight small cities in Massachusetts among the best in the United States. (Including Reading, MA)

https://whdh.com/news/8-small-cities-in-mass-named-among-best-in-us/

Assuming that one of the major factors is the quality of the public library in each of these communities (OF COURSE!).

Environmental Justice and sustainability will only be achieved through collaboration and cooperation. On our own, the RPL can only do so much. We need to work with and learn from other libraries, municipal organizations, vendors, and individuals to make a collective and meaningful impact in the fight against climate change. NOBLE has established a Sustainability Committee to help direct and focus ideas and actions for the consortium.

This committee has scheduled a (virtual) NOBLE-wide sustainability discussion next week on Tuesday, October 19th at 10 a.m. This event will NOT be recorded, so we encourage as many interested library staff members as possible to log in and attend!

https://tools.noblenet.org/meetings/meeting.php?meeting=282

Thank you to Ally for this terrific post on gender pronouns. She has packed a lot of information, context, and perspective into this piece and I encourage you all to take some time to read through and watch this post. I’ve included the first paragraph below speaks to why this is important and how we can make RPL a space for belonging, rather than a place to just fit in.

Gender Pronouns: Why They Matter

We at the Reading Public Library embrace diversity, foster an environment of inclusion, and hope to create a space where patrons feel celebrated and represented. It matters to us that we recognize one’s right to self-identify, and a small part of that is contributing to the understanding and learning of why pronouns matter.

Sandy K. called and left a very nice voicemail about how fabulous RPL staff is! “Fabulous” was used more than once. She appreciates how accommodating, helpful, and phenomenal you all are. She wanted to thank the RPL staff both now and during COVID for continuously demonstrating hard work and grace.

In the past, the Research and Reader Services staff kept a print log of any behavior issues in order to address any ongoing issues. We’ve moved the log online. Now any staff member may use the new Disruptive Behavior Form to record a disruptive behavior issue including mask wearing problems.
The form is on the Intranet under Forms. All information goes to a log which we can review.
In order to maintain patron privacy, Michelle will periodically delete old issues from the log.