Category: Uncategorized

Just wanted to share this sweet moment. An elderly patron came walking in slowly with a cane. He went and got his holds, and came to me to check them out. There were three books: popular Irish songs, Irish folk songs and Irish pub songs. He said his wife has Alzheimer’s and she likes it when he sings to her, and, he admitted, he can’t always remember the words to her favorite songs. Just lovely — true devotion.

Are you ready for some shout-outs? If you’d like to submit a shout-out, fill out the form on the Forms page. We are running low on our shout outs and I know that you’ve seen your co-workers be amazing. Don’t be shy! Shout it out!

To the Summer Reading Team for going above and beyond and exemplary customer service: Shout-out to all staff involved with planning summer reading programs, developing web content, and thinking of such creative ideas to host this summer’s Tails & Tales Summer Reading Program. A special tail wave to Michelle for creating the SRP webpage on RPL’s website! Lots of time spent crafting a fun, inventive summer-long event! From anonymous.

Thank you to Eileen for solving a problem and being a break-in bag guinea pig and playing with locks! You’re one smart cookie! Thank you from Renee.

Thank you to Andrea Fiorillo for going above and beyond and keeping it positive. Andrea manages to wrangle the gridlocked, tetris-like R&R schedule, no matter how fast the changes and surprises keep coming! Thank you from Melissa.

Thank you to Cate, Olivia, Lisa, Ashley, Megan & Ally for going above and beyond, Exemplary customer service, Keeping it positive and coming up with a new idea. Shout all to the planners of the FairyTale Quest!! The decorations, graphics, and activities are epic!! These families had a fantastic time and for making Fairy Tale Castle Quest the social event of the season for the under 10 set. From anonymous and Andrea F. Whoohoo!!

Are you ready for some shout-outs? If you’d like to submit a shout-out, fill out the form on the Forms page.

Shout out to KathGS for keeping it positive and being the for being the Dr. Who wrangler. Thank you from anonymous.

Shout out to Desiree for creating a clever postcard campaign that will entice the public back to the library. Thank you from Michelle.

Shout out to Suzy for going above and beyond by showing exemplary customer service. A patron was here to pick up an audiobook on hold for him but the hold was still in transit. Suzy found an available copy in Wakefield and called to see if he could go over there to get it. They weren’t doing browsing at the time but they agreed to prep it for curbside. Our patron was very appreciative! Thank you from Lauren.

Shout out to Susan B. for going above and beyond and providing exemplary customer service. She spent a lot of time helping a patron who needed a LOT of computer help and was very chatty and personal. Susan was extremely helpful as always and the patron was very grateful. Thank you from Lauren.

Shout out to Neftali for helping a co-worker. Neftali did an incredible job weeding through storage required summer reading books! He was so kind to take on the extra project in addition to his other work. Thank you from Renee.

Shout out to Cate for exemplary customer service, Keeping it positive. Cate is a warm and welcoming presence for all the kiddos coming back into the building. Plus she stays calm and positive with just about anything we throw at her. I never feel like I’m bothering her when I have a question, and she’s always ready to help problem solve and brainstorm. Thanks Cate!! From Ashley.

The Communications Team put together a Google sheet of observances (ie: Women’s History Month, National Family Literacy Day) that we will use for creating social media posts, book displays, book lists, and more over the course of the year. The sheet is linked to here on the Intranet under Staff Tools: Calendars OR the Forms page.

All staff are encouraged to contribute if you’d like! You can add observances to the Google sheet, and also add your initials if you’d like to help out with a display, book list, etc. If you make any changes to the sheet or have any questions, please reach out to either Michelle or Desiree.

Patron called today for a holds pickup appt and stated what a wonderful job the library has done during this “crazy” (patron’s words) past year. All of the changes and hard work we have done for them to borrow material. Yay

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.

Women’s Equality Day is Wednesday August 26
RPL is celebrating Women’s Equality Day! On August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment, which had been ratified by 3/4 of the states, was certified with the signature of U.S. Secretary of State, Benjamin Colby, and the seal of the United States.

On August 26, as part of The Vote grant, we have several displays and events to celebrate Women’s Equality Day

RPL commissioned a poem, titled Mothers of my Mother, by Nancy Genevieve Kohl to celebrate the day, you can read the poster-sized poem and click on a QR code to see and hear it read by the author.
We have two fantastic art installation pieces inspired by Representative Shirley Chisholm quote “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair”. The first is a community created chair garden in front of the studio. It’s comprised of many vote-decorated doll-sized chairs handed out as part of the Children’s Room Weekend Wonder Bags program
Second, there is a staff created chair display representing voting rights issues for selected populations. Come admire the creativity of your colleagues.

We’ve also got historical displays, filling out the details on the suffrage movement and a fantastic Pop-up Library Spot from 3:30pm – 5:30pm dedicated to materials related to voting rights.

Wednesday evening wraps up with a virtual author visit from Jen Deaderick. With her book, She the People: A Graphic History of Uprisings, Breakdowns, Setbacks, Revolts, and Enduring Hope on the Unfinished Road to Women’s Equality, Jen takes us through a lively history of the U.S. through the lens of women’s equality – register for this Zoom event now, books available here and ebooks here.
These programs are funded by Mass Humanities’ “The Vote” grant initiative, a statewide conversation about voting rights.

We are still looking for a few library stories for our Humans of RPL social media series. They are getting an incredible response from the public. Also, Meghan is getting a little too big for her britches because her post got 44 likes. You know that you have a library story that could beat that, so talk to Olivia today about yours.

Here is a wonderful example of the Humans of RPL campaign. Remember, we don’t need to use a picture of you, it can be anything that reflects your library story.