Michelle Filleul – Page 8 – RPL Staff Intranet

Eclipse Glasses

If any patrons call or come in and ask if we are giving out eclipse glasses, the answer is YES! The eclipse this Saturday is likely to garner less interest than the one in April, so we don’t anticipate a lot of interest just yet.

Social Media and Communications Guidelines

The Communications Working Group has created a Social Media and Communications Guidelines document. This document is a living document, therefore things may change… Twitter! for example. The guidelines are located here, on the Instructions page, and saved under the Public Relations folder on the S drive. A big thank you to all the CWG for their hard work on this.

Introducing the Health Nook

What is the Health Nook?
Drop by and find out what we’ve transformed the turret next to the Research & Reader Services Desk into! This new space is full of health and wellness information including dedicated databases, Healing Kits, Graphic Medicine books, and informational brochures.
Ask Susan for a personal tour.

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!

Shout out to Meghan M. for going above and beyond, leading by example, and keeping it positive. I attended the Mini Golf event with my kids recently and was so impressed by Meghan and how she handled the event. The interest was very high and so families were in abundance! She kept her cool no matter how busy it got, kept it very positive despite a few patrons being a bit disgruntled at having to wait , and set boundaries with these same patrons in such a positive and empathetic (yet firm) way that it kept everything moving and ultimately kept all the patrons happy and able to enjoy the event. She really worked that situation like a pro. Man, she’s good at what she does! ! From Lindsay.

Shout out to Elizabeth W for exemplary customer service and keeping it positive. Elizabeth hosted her first program, Drive to Sing, to a fantastic showing of 50+ people! Not surprisingly, Elizabeth had the audience engaged and laughing with her natural ability to interact with a crowd and deliver an introductory speech. RPL is lucky to have EW! From Ally.

Shout out to Olivia for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea, helping a co-worker, leading by example, solving a problem and keeping it positive. For the amazing, inspiring, funny, and adorable videos you created for our staff meeting! From Cate and all your other admiring fans.

Shout out to Jocelyn for coming up with a new idea and keeping it positive. Jocelyn’s trivia night was so fun! The questions were a good mix of general knowledge (thank you, Justin!), the people there were a great group (competitive & friendly) and the picture round was very cool – our team might have gotten a perfect score on that one. AND there was a table of 20-somethings who had never come to the library before, but they will definitely be coming back. We can’t wait for the Pokemon/Star Wars edition. Great job, Jocelyn! From Team Zickhaus (Valerie, Andrea and Desiree)–editor’s note: they came in 2nd but only because the other team had more people.

Admiration

This patron comment came in through the ‘contact us’ email on the website. A great reminder of the sterling reputation RPL has for quality public service:
“Just a note to say how wonderful the staff is at Reading Public Library, especially the public facing positions in Adult Reference, Circulation, Teen Room and Children’s area. Best wishes and gratitude for your excellent work and dedication. ?
Kudos to the fast turnaround whenever I reserve a book or make an ILL request.
Excellent programming, too”.

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!

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!

Shout out to Meaghan Clemente for going above and beyond, and helping a co-worker. Meaghan cheerfully wears many hats and covers many public service desks! Thanks for being our back-up!! From Cate.

Shout out to Olivia and Cate. for going above and beyond. Cate and Olivia refreshed our Pride Sidewalk – hard work, positive attitude, and it looks so great! From anonymous.

A huge, ginormous, humongous, gigantor thank you to the Borrower Services team for making the first two weeks of summer easier for us in Children’s. They took on user account issues, sign-ups, and check-ins. We were slammed with people the first week, and it was really nice to have people utilize the smart and capable BS department since they know their way around user accounts much more accurately than we do! Thank you all for your patience, time, and courtesy for doing that even when I know you are all just as busy. You’re the best! From Olivia.

Shout out to Dina for going above and beyond and exemplary customer service. Dina’s first Summer Reading has been quite eventful, and she’s handled it with grace and the utmost empathy! She’s amazing with caregivers and calming down situations at the moment. Shout out to her for telling an adult to take a minute to breathe and remind them that the summer reading program is supposed to be fun and most importantly, optional.! From Olivia.

Shout out to Andrea Hogan for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea, leading by example, and keeping it positive. Love to see the flourishing pollinator garden carefully tended by Andrea Hogan. Andrea is walking the talk supporting native plants and the larger goal of sustainability. Way to go! Anonymous.

Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond and coming up with a new idea. Cate has been amazing this summer at making sure kids know to take their time with reading and doing the program; her patience, calm under pressure, and ability to move in and out of the hoards of kids and caregivers are unmatched. Running a program while a child is having a meltdown and taking the focus away from the room is not an easy task, but she did it flawlessly. We are very lucky to have her, and I am thankful for all that she does! From Olivia.

(some) S Drive Files Moving

Some files in the Administrative folder on the S drive are moving to the more secure town drive. If there is a file that you had previously used and it appears to be missing or in a folder labeled “delete”, let Meaghan C. know right away.

This is the start of a bigger project that may begin in the next 6 months. Questions? Ask Amy, Michelle, or Meaghan C.

A reminder that kids can teach us

Never Too Young: Why Kids Deserve Queer Friendly Libraries
by Ashlie Swicker
Book Riot, Jun 30, 2023

“I worked with young children long before my first year teaching in 2007. I have three degrees that qualify me to educate kids. Interacting with young people has been my greatest skill for as long as I’ve been a person. My biggest takeaway over the last, oh, 30 years? Kids will never fail to surprise me. It’s been proven to me over and over that kids know more, feel more, and deserve more than adults ever give them credit for.

My latest lesson in this has been around the palpable relief felt by my elementary students when I worked to make my school library more queer-friendly. This process included no fanfare. I had already been adding picture books that challenged gender norms and middle grade titles with queer characters and storylines for as long as I had been developing the collection. But as I was working to add racial and physical diversity into my library posters and signage, I knew I wanted to branch out to make sure everyone felt welcome.

The first noticeable shift was when I decorated my door with a “This Classroom is for Everyone” sticker from the Etsy artist MegEmikoArt. The sticker is decorated with pride flags and my students buzzed as they came into Media. Soon after, I bought the “Libraries are for everyone” shirt in the same design by the same artist. A 5th grader who didn’t usually stop to chat pointed to one of the flags on my shirt, grinned, and said “That one’s me.” I was wonderfully, pleasantly floored.

I thought I was adding more queer flags, using gender-neutral terms, and featuring books with queer characters to help them prepare for the real world. I thought my students should be exposed to these things in case they met queer people or to make them more comfortable with queer family structures. This was a condescending way for me to think about my students. Thank god the kids are smarter than me.

What actually happened was that my students thanked me. There was gratitude, excitement, and relief. My students already knew how to identify more specific pride flags than I did. They already knew that gender and sexuality are spectrums and each person knows what feels right to them. I had students with whom I had no previous relationship sharing their pronouns. Our STEM building materials were used to build and label different pride flags. Requests were made for the LGBTQ book section; the books had always been there. The kids just needed affirmation that it was safe to ask for them. My students did not need exposure. They needed a safe space.

I was well aware that students in high school and even middle school needed queer-friendly libraries. Despite considering myself an ally and believing that I was doing everything I could at my grade level, I was showing a lack of respect for my students by thinking I needed to introduce them to queer-friendly ideas. If I can understand that a 10-year-old cisgender child can understand heterosexual romance (featured in almost every title ever), why does it surprise me that queer kids are looking for the same kinds of representation? Most importantly, how did I let myself forget the power and agency that young people have when they are given the space to be comfortable with who they are?

In a climate where adults are constantly clashing over what kids should be taught, it’s important to remember that children are vastly more aware and in touch with themselves than we give them credit for. I’m grateful to my amazing students for reminding me that beyond teaching them, my first job is to give them a safe space to explore all the amazingness they already possess.”

Staff Appreciation-Sizzler Addition

We hosted a huge Summer Sizzler party Friday night! We had 125 very happy people. We could not have pulled this off without every department helping out. Lynda was brilliant with set up and break down. She is the best of the best. Book reviewing speed talkers Alissa, Andrea H., Dawn, Desiree, Susanne, and guest star Liz Whitelam were the stars of the show along with M.C. Elizabeth! Michelle helped us get the sound system up and running. The Friends got to shine; showcasing their support of our programs and selling a lot of mocktails.
Kath made fabulous flyers, Overdrive, and catalog booklists. The entire tech services department helped process all the extra Sizzlers I purchased with help from Susan.
The communications queens Desiree and Michelle marketing got patrons to beat the doors down in anticipation. Valerie and the entire B.S. department unpacked bins like the bosses they are. Meaghan C and Jocelyn helped me find and deploy pencils, and finally Jocelyn and Meghan M. helped me get the million books I ordered out for display and safely returned to their home shelves. THANK YOU, thank you, thank you, for all your support and for making this popular event possible.