Our dramatic play space for next month is going to be a shoe “store” and we need YOUR creative ideas for a catchy name for our temporary brand! Reply to this post if you are inspired!!
We are also interested in unusual footwear for the store. If you are cleaning out and have some gently used cowboy boots or some special sparkly sandals (or anything else to looks fun or interesting), we will take them!
At the request of one of our Trustees, I’ve created a “how was your visit” survey that will be available at each service desk, at the self-check stations, on the catalog kiosks, and in the elevator.
If patrons would like to provide quick feedback, direct them to these surveys. If they want to provide more expansive feedback, direct them to the comment forms.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
– Anyone who is interested in helping judge the first round please contact Lucy! This will occur between May 1st and May 11th.
– Any questions can be directed to the Children’s Room. Details are also posted on the website at the link above, which will be featured as a button on the homepage starting March 30th.
The Tween Space in the Children’s Room has tween books that are picked by us based on what the Tweens want. It is a very small curated collection that will rotate, and does not contain every tween book we own. Right now it’s adventure, realistic fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels.
The Teen Space is still the same with books for kids in grades 6-12, including all middle school required reading. The Children’s Room has no required reading for any age level.
Rising sixth and seventh graders have the choice to hang out in the Tween Space or in the Teen Room. The Tween Space is for kids who are not yet ready for the Teen Room.
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!
We have a new addition to our Go & Grow collection in the Children’s Room (the cute name we have for our Library of Things). A Seed Library! You may get patron questions about it, so I wanted to let you know how it works.
The library has 2 small binders with info about all the seeds. We have seeds for vegetables, flowers and herbs. People can read through the binders to learn about plants and decide what they want. Then they can select up to 2 packets of seeds from the library to take home and plant. People can also donate seeds. They can do this at the Children’s Room desk.
Please note: even though it lives in Children’s it’s not just for kids! Adults can also come up and use the collection.
More info is online in the Library of Things section of the website: https://readingpl.org/dt_portfolios/seed-library/
There will be two Seed Swap Share events this week to help kick off the new Seed Library. Tuesday April 4 at 3:30 and Saturday April 8 at 2:30. (links go to LibCal events)
Thank you and way to go Megan White for setting this up! (with support from our wonderful Friends group).
A quick thank you to all who participated and helped promote the Library’s Community Read — Unapologetically Positively You — which officially ended on October 8th. A very special thank you to Olivia and Susan for developing much of the content and leading various programs to support the Read’s theme of body neutrality.
The Library has received a lot of positive feedback but sharing a few circulation statistics to help celebrate its success!
1. Fat Girls Hiking by Summer Michaud-Skog: 89 lifetime circulations/72 circulations during Community Read. 80.9% of circs happened during CR
2. Starfish by Lisa Fipps: 90 lifetime circulations/52 circulations during Community Read. 57.8% of circs happened during CR
3. Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder: 58 lifetime circulations/42 circulations during the Community Read. 72.4% of circs happened during CR
The Library also sent 70 copies into the wild in various book boxes sprinkled around local businesses like the YMCA, Pleasant Street Center, Starbucks, and Fat Larry’s. All copies were taken and hopefully passed around among friends, families and acquaintances.
I gave a presentation on my thoughts about using TikTok/how to get started using it for libraries at the Youth Services Section MLA meeting yesterday. It was recorded, so if you’re interested in the subject of ticking and tocking, here is the link!
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 Desiree, Michelle, Susan & Olivia for helping a co-worker. For all of your help, insight, suggestions, and general support with pulling together the Community Read. This project looks as good as it does thanks to all of you From Ally.
Shout out to Megan, Cate, and Ashley for going above and beyond. Megan, Cate, and Ashley deserve the BIGGEST shout-out this summer for being outside in record highs with large crowds of kiddos doing extraordinary outreach work! Sunrise Storytime got families out and about in Reading discovering new parks and patches of (sadly dead) grass. Nature Stories and Exploration got kids moving and discovering all the wonderful nature spots in Reading (like seeing snakes and more!) I am in awe of all of you for being outside and cheerful in these record-high temperatures. Another shout out to Cate who would bop from Sunrise Storytime to Birch Meadow Elementary in a non-air conditioned cafeteria to work with kiddos. You’re all rock stars and deserve the biggest ice-flavored treat EVER! AGREED. From Olivia.
Shout out to John Davis for going above and beyond. John and his wife, Shirley, generously donated a wheeled cart to one of our patrons in need. Our patron, Craig, was extremely appreciative of this thoughtful gift since his cart had a broken wheel! From anonymous.
Shout out to Sudeshna for keeping it positive and for all her hard work moving Reading forward in these trying times. From Michelle.
Shout out to Jocelyn for coming up with a new idea, exemplary customer service, and keeping it positive. Jocelyn’s Craftivism program was amazing! Lots of new faces, great energy, and lots of laughter in the room as we embroidered patterns of our own making. Jocelyn and Shannon were very helpful and positive. We should definitely do this again! From Valerie and Judy.
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 Tech Services for going above and beyond. Shout out to the Tech Services team for letting us buy all of our wish lists and then processing all those items….cause there were a lot. You’re a dream team of public servants and we cannot thank you enough! From Children’s.
Shout out to Meaghan Clemente for a great first two weeks! She jumped right in and is already organizing us. Thank you! From Michelle.
Shout out to Suzy for going above and beyond and exemplary customer service. Suzy recently helped one of our patrons who was having car trouble. She helped her call AAA (patron is hard of hearing) and made sure she had a ride home. And apparently, another patron noticed the exemplary customer service Suzy was providing because she told Reference “The people at the front desk are being so nice to that woman!” From Judy T.
Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond and coming up with a new idea. Cate’s passive programming ideas are always a hit. But her Chumley’s Flower Garden puts the rest to shame! So much wonderful pretend play is happening between children and with their engaged caregivers. Cate, your creativity never ceases to amaze! From Ashley.