Author: Michelle Filleul

Staff Shout Outs

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!

Shout out to Chrissy at Borrower Services for helping a co-worker out. A big thank you to my coworker, Chrissy, who really helped me try to find a LOT today. Everyone here is so easy to work with and patient. Thank you! From Kathleen Wilcox.

Shout out to Andrea, Kath and Melissa for going above and beyond and helping a co-worker. They participated on the hiring committee for RPL’s new local history librarian. It takes a lot of time and thought to participate in this process and it’s always easier when you have some awesome people around you to talk things through and make difficult decisions. And we are very excited for our new Local History Librarian, Jocelyn Gould to start on Tuesday! Thank you from Ally.

Thank you to Cate and the Children’s Team for going above and beyond. The Displays in the Children’s Room for April are glorious! Led by Cate, the Once Upon a Rhyme and Ode to the Ode are perfect for National Poetry Month! They’re engaging and fun. Nice job! Thank you from anonymous.

Staff Shout Outs

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 The Children’s Team for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea. We rocked the March Newbery Madness brackets in the Children’s Room and on social! It was a tourney full of favorites, fiction, and some flat-out surprises—16 Newbery-winning books competed for the best Newbery of the past 100 years. Megan came up with the idea, Olivia created all the graphics and the posts AND counted the votes, Ashley troubleshot the in-person voting, and the rest of us talked up the books. If you want to know what title won, you have to visit the Children’s Room! From Cate.

Shout out to Everyone who donated cans to Melissa’s crafty cause for helping a co-worker. With your help, I have all the cans I need with plenty of time to make a sample windchime! From Melissa.

Shout out to Melissa, Andrea H., Valerie, Judy T, Desiree, and Lauren for going above and beyond, and coming up with a new idea. This inspired group developed a fun idea – reading tournament/brackets/March Madness/March Hare and turned it into a stunning lobby display (Alice in Wonderland themed). And, when the opportunity arose, participated with other libraries in a 6-town reading tournament – Minute Madness! Extra kudos to those working on interesting & attractive displays in the lobby, the delicious food/cooking-themed one on Express shelves, and throughout the library. From a fan.

Shout out to Louise for going above and beyond and for exemplary customer service. Louise went racing down the stairs and into the parking lot to give back a photograph to a patron who had been using it as a bookmark. That’s going above and beyond the call of Borrower’s Service duty!! From anonymous.

Shout out to Susan B. for going above and beyond and helping a co-worker. Shout out to Susan for always being willing to help her co-workers and for having every supply we could possibly need. From anonymous.

Ode to the Ode

For our April interactive bulletin board, we are featuring the beloved ode and we want YOU to write one. Your ode should be kid-friendly & relatively short (though we don’t want to stifle any creative passion) and should celebrate a person, place, thing, or idea. Please email your ode to rdgchild@noblenet.org and we will display it along with the object of your affection (if it is small) or a photo of said object. As inspiration, please enjoy:

Ode to the stapler
You, dear stapler, surpass all other fasteners,
even the brand-new, super-tight binder clip.
Your solid, reliable “ker-chunk” works magic
through thick and thin, through paper, cloth,
and much, much more.
Your wee staples sometimes break skin, but
I forgive, for you remain faultless. It is I who
cannot seem to use your little claw remover successfully.
Fasten on, oh stapler, because you know your job
and do it so well. You remain ever present, ever full,
ever better than a paper clip.

Staff Shout Outs

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 Chris for keeping it positive. I look forward to her Irish soda bread every March 17th and it NEVER disappoints. Thanks for the tasty treat! From Michelle.

Shout out to the Borrower Services staff for exemplary customer service and keeping it positive. As we pass the 2nd anniversary of the pandemic, I want to give a shout-out to our Borrower Services staff who have consistently rolled with every pivot, all with good humor, kindness, and hard work. It does not go unnoticed. From Michelle.

Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond. Cate did a fantastic, fantabulous, wondrous, most lovely job putting together the March Gladness event! Thank you so much for getting us all together to try new things and have fun! From anonymous.

Shout out to Lyndsay for going above and beyond and helping a co-worker. Lyndsay loaned us her Beach umbrella for our play space in the Children’s Room and it added such a fun prop for the kids! Many thanks! From Cate.

Shout out to Andrea H for going above and beyond. Andrea was outside before we opened this morning with a spade, fertilizer, and fierce lipstick getting the pollinator garden ready for spring! She has a green thumb and golden spoon! From Cate.

Staff Shout Outs

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 Nemaya for going above and beyond, keeping it positive. She came in on a day she wasn’t working to spoil us with the sweetest Valentine’s Day treats. But the best gift is getting to work with Nemaya! From the Children’s Room.

Shout out to Kathleen Wilcox for going above and beyond and exemplary customer service. Kathleen took charge when entering the library this morning. The alarm had been going off since around 3am(?) She called Kevin Cabuzzi (facilities) to make the awful ringing stop! This is my first time working with her and every interaction she has had with patrons has been positive & high energy. From anonymous.

Shout out to Cate for coming up with a new idea with the signs on the stairwell. There was high praise by a patron for such a great idea and learning tool!

Shout out to Desiree for leading by example. Desiree is always on top of the publicity for the library, and she also keeps me on track. We are lucky to have her! From Michelle.

Shout out to Ally for exemplary customer service. When we get push back from patrons outside of our state about Pride Storytime, Ally is there with a firm hand or an outgoing voicemail message. It’s a huge relief not to have to battle these people over the phone from wherever they are across the country. I simply press “forward call,” and I don’t have to think about it anymore. Ally taking the brunt of it and knowing exactly what to say shows what a strong leader she is! Thank you for dealing with all of that! From Olivia.

Shout out to Susan, Ashley and Ally for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea and exemplary customer service: Ashley & Susan developed a brand new series for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual and Developmental disabilities; the amazing new Nature Connection program–such a wonderful addition of services for these patrons and their caregivers!. Despite some bumps and rescheduling, AW & SB hosted their first program the end of March to an almost full house. A big nod to both of them for brainstorming this idea and working hard to pull all the pieces together to create something very special and important to the library and its patrons. From Cate (And Ally-two separate shout outs for this program!).

Praise for RPL in the local paper!

If you get a chance, read the column called “From the Inside” on page A2 of the Tuesday, Feb. 8 Daily Times Chronicle. It’s full of lovely praise for RPL — the building and facilities (“spotless and inviting”), the resources, and especially the helpful and friendly staff (“always have a ready smile or friendly greeting”)! Great job, everyone!

Staff Shout Outs

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 Cate for Going above and beyond and helping a co-worker: Cate was super helpful during Plant Lab! The room was total chaos (delightful but still chaos) and she helped wrangle the kids, kept the room from being completely covered in paint and dirt, and worked with the caregivers as well. The help was deeply appreciated! From Lisa R.

Shout out to The Post-Holiday Crew for going above and beyond and helping a co-worker. Shout out to all the intrepid RPLers who worked the Sundays after Christmas and New Year’s Day! You are holiday heroes! From Cate.

Shout out to The Children’s Room peeps for solving a problem, keeping it positive: You all made the COVID pivot in January with smiles on your faces, virtual programs for families, live storytimes on Facebook, slime bags and more on Fridays, and amazing energy every day! TY!!! From Cate.

Shout out to Ally for helping a co-worker, leading by example and solving a problem. Ally is always calm, cool, collected–she is a compass, providing comfort and vision in these chaotic times. Plus, she’s always ready to talk about the wonder weird of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson! (seriously what is UP with that?? editorial note from MF) From Cate.

Barron’s newspaper changes

Going forward, Barron’s will be in library use only, like the other newspapers. It will have a sticker that says library use only and it will not have a barcode. It will still be findable in the catalog, just not allowed to be put on hold or checked out. This will be for ALL Barron’s issues going forward, not just the most recent one.

Racial Justice Bookshelf

I just found this extremely helpful website while looking for more title for the “Racial Justice: Then and Now” book display: https://www.racialjusticebookshelf.com/

I’m just going to quote straight from the “About” page:
“The Racial Justice Bookshelf was created to make it easy to find and buy anti-racist books from Black-owned bookstores. “

Nice things someone said about Susan + all of us

In Susan’s new role as community health librarian, she’s organized outstanding programs. Here is an email that came from an attendee of last night’s Age Well, Be Well: Eating For Your Health presentation:
“Thank you for coordinating the excellent program on aging last night… RPL has done an outstanding job throughout the pandemic to provide services despite many obstacles. Thanks to everyone.”
Be proud of how we’ve kept offering ourselves and our services despite painful times.