RPL Staff Intranet

Booking Events/Meetings w/the Town

When you book a meeting or an event for town department you want to do one of the following:

Open to the Public Town Event: (Multilingual night/Pleasant St Center Information Night/Hearing Testing): Book the event using the Community Events calendar and publish it.

Internal Town Department Meetings: (DPW training/Department Head meetings/RPS meetings) Book these on the library events calendar and leave them as draft.

You should not be using spaces to reserve meeting rooms. Please let me, Louise or Meaghan C. know if you have any questions. And feel free to ask us to book space for the town meetings, we are happy to help. I’ve added these to the Instructions Page of the staff intranet.

NYT Article – Love Letter to Public Libraries

If you would like/need a pick-me-up, check out this Valentine’s Day photo essay from the New York Times: “A Love Letter to Libraries, Long Overdue.”

Boston Globe Article

An article in today’s Boston Globe highlights RPL and the book and program challenges we have faced in the library world. Kudos to Ally and Andrea for their thoughtful responses to the reporter’s questions.

This article may result in follow-up questions from the press. If we receive any phone calls or in-person inquiries, please direct them to either Amy or Michelle.

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 Kathleen Wilcox for going above and beyond, solving a problem, and keeping it positive, Kathleen cheerfully dealt with alarms, locked doors,
Facilities voicemail, and other snafus first thing on a Saturday morning! From Cate

Shout out to Cate, Ally, Amy, Andrea, and Jamie for going above and beyond, helping a co-worker, leading by example, exemplary customer service, solving a problem and keeping it positive. Thank you to the Leadership team for being in the building during Saturday’s storytime. It was wonderful to have that support and to know that we had people who could jump in when needed. We really appreciate all the hard work and patience required to be that barrier for staff. Thank you! From anonymous.

Shout out to Lisa R., Meghan M., and Andrea H. for going above and beyond. This team put together an amazing, inviting, uber-cool plan for our new tween space! Can’t wait to see all of their amazing ideas IRL! From Cate.

Shout out to Kathleen Wilcox for leading by example and for exemplary customer service. We find Kathleen to be an irresistibly cheerful and upbeat problem solver: when we bring patrons to her with questions WE don’t know the answer to [“Why does this patron’s card not work?” “What are those squishy things near the Healing Kits?”], everyone ends up happy. Such a pleasure to work with her. From Kathy and Susanne.

Shout out to Olivia and Ashley for their work with the American Library Association Youth Media Awards. Olivia served on the Notable Children’s Books Committee, and Ashley served on the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Committee. This work required them to evaluate and read over 3,500 books over a period of a year. We are so lucky to have them on our team. Check out the pdf of the award-winning titles here. So proud! From Michelle.

Display Sign Holders-Storage Location

The display sign holders have a new centrally located home. They will be moved to the cabinets that are located to the left of the studio doors. There are two bottom shelves that will fit the sign holders perfectly. Ask Michelle, Susan or Jocelyn if you can’t find them!

Employee Information Forms

When you get a chance, please fill out the RPL Employee Information Form so that we can make sure that we have all of your correct and up-to-date information on file, especially in case of emergency.

I have also uploaded the employee information form to the Forms section of the Staff Intranet in case any of your information changes in the future.

Feel free to return your form to me or in my mailbox in the staff lounge anytime.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Updated Gift Form

Copies of updated Gift Forms, as well as instructions on who to pass completed forms along to internally, are now available at all service desks and in the Forms section of the Staff Intranet.

Please also refer interested donors to the updated Gift Form online at https://readingpl.org/gifts-donations/.

Library Services Comment Forms Available at All Service Desks

Copies of comment forms for Library Services are now available at all service desks.

Please feel free to distribute these forms to anyone who would like to document their feedback on library services.

Requests for Reconsideration of Materials should still be used for library materials.

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 Susan B for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea, and exemplary customer service Susan is RPL’s Community Health Librarian and she has worked with the Reading Health Department to host various clinics — flu, hearing, blood pressure — at the Library! Susan’s partnerships link community members to health resources while visiting their public library …endless benefits and opportunities to build new connections. From Ally.

Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea, and solving a problem. When we noticed an issue with parents congregating outside the picture book room while their kids were inside the picture book room, Cate came up with a BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING solution. She created a bus out of couches, chairs, a silver platter, and felt! So many adults and kids have sat there reading the bus books and singing Wheels on the Bus, and every time they do, it’s a delight. She’s a mastermind of creativity. From Childrens.

Shout out to the Pages, for helping a co-worker and exemplary customer service. We had 2 + 1/2 pages of CDs on the Pull List today, and every single one of them was where it was supposed to be. Perfect pull list = happy patrons. Bravo!! From Dawn.

Shout out to Melissa Seldon for going above and beyond. Melissa’s Golden Years Game Night Display near the Borrower Services desk was pretty awesome. From anonymous.

Shout out to Amy for going above and beyond and leading by example for hosting our Holiday Party–the host looked so festive and we know how much work it takes to create that holiday magic! From Cate.

Shout out to Ally for helping a co-worker, leading by example and keeping it positive, thank you for being our Pride Storytime champion! From the Children’s Room Staff.

Shout out to Ashley for going above and beyond and coming up with a new idea. Ashley’s new spring program hits all of our core values–education, access, accountability and equity. “Hello, Neighbor!” is coming this spring and includes multilingual storytimes, special events, and more. Thanks, Ashley! From Cate.

Shout out to Olivia for coming up with a new idea. For keeping us all laughing with TikToks, Instagram posts, funny signs and flyers, memes for days, Winnie visits, and more! From Cate.

Shout out to Andrea F. for teaching us about censorship with humor, grace and intelligence. We are so lucky to have you on our team. From Michelle

Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond, Leading by example, Exemplary customer service, Keeping it positive. If you know Cate, you know she’s the library and library staff’s #1 cheerleader. But Cate, herself, is extremely magical and goes above and beyond to support her colleagues and patrons. In a short, 4-day work week, Cate covered the Children’s Desk morning, noon and night, navigated complex and interesting phone calls, and facilitated various Children’s programs while fulfilling coffee runs to keep her team afloat. Her creativity, energy, and good humor are enviable. From Ally.

Book & Library Program Challenges Procedures

What do you do if someone wants us to remove a item from the library collection? This is called a “Challenge” and the person is making a “Request for Reconsideration” (RFR). If you receive a call or someone comes in to complain about a title, here are the steps to take: