Category: Uncategorized

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.

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. “

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.

It is coming from somewhere to the left side of, and behind the R&R desk. It is not the clock. Meaghan is wondering whether she should fear for her life. If anyone can shed any light on this spectral sound, please do!

When talking with patrons about books, I try my best to keep the conversation to book characteristics (this book is engaging and fast paced) rather than whether or not I liked it. This post from Book Riot covers most of the “best practice guidelines for bookish interactions” that I follow here in the library:

Why Library Staff Don’t (or Shouldn’t) Comment on Your Library Checkouts

I don’t necessarily agree with everything, word for word, but I think that it’s an interesting piece, and worth a read!

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

Take a look at what our Justice League Learning Community group is doing. We, Andrea H., Lauren G., Lisa R. and myself are creating an outdoor learning space on the west side of the building with the intention of beautify the grounds, teaching about wild pollinators and native plants and having a positive impact on the environment. Indeed, right now it’s just dry dirt, but we are enriching the soil by growing a winter cover crop of field peas, oilseed radishes, and oats.

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.