RPL On Wheels

It may have taken a year but the Library finally received its very first Book Bike!

The Book Bike Trike was custom built by Haley Tricycles in Philadelphia and our goal is to use it attract new patrons, bring the library to people who might mistakenly believe the library is not for them, and to serve the community in new and exciting ways.

The RPL Book Bike will be for staff use only at special events and outreach. If anyone is interested in being a member of the Librarians By Bike club, please reach out to Ally to take this shiny new toy for a spin!

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 coming up with a new idea. Meghan had a great rookie year of teen summer reading. She came up with fun, creative programs, and engaged a lot of happy campers. Well done! From Andrea F.

Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond, helping a co-worker, leading by example. Cate has been a rock during rocky times. She shows up, works hard, handles messes like a boss, and keeps the hits coming for the small set 🙂 From Andrea F.

Shout out to Everyone who helped look for my planner, and the mystery person who left it on my desk! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!! From Melissa S.
(It was in my mailbox-from Michelle)

Shout out to Ally for coming up with a new idea. Ally delivered on our shiny new book bike after much hard work and endless poking. Yay! From anonymous.

Shout out to Lisa R. for helping a co-worker. Lisa volunteered to weed the adult graphic novels and the help was so very welcome. Thank you! From Andrea F.

Shout out Andrea F. and Valerie for going above and beyond. When Andrea F. heard from another co-worker that I wanted to attend the Craftivism event but was not able to because I was scheduled to work that evening, she volunteered to cover my GF shift (without me even asking her!!) so I could attend the event. And when Valerie noticed that there were just a couple of spots left, she signed me up! Such kind and thoughtful co-workers!! From Judy T.

Shout out to Meghan M. for exemplary customer service. Meghan jumped in to welcome residents of RPL’s new neighbor STEPS and show them the library. They left with smiles and armfuls of books. From anonymous.

Fall Brochure-Digital Copy

The Fall Brochure (September/October/November) will be available in hard copy, look for it to arrive at the end of this week. In the meantime, if you want to see the amazing programs that are coming to the RPL this Fall, check them out here. Community Read details are here.

RPL App is Live!!

I am pleased to announce that the RPL App is ready for use! We are soft launching it, with a big PR push coming in September. I’d love to have staff try it out and see what you think! Feel free to spread the word to your friends and family.

The app includes a digital barcode, links to booking museum passes, our online resources, searching the catalog, our library events calendar and general library information.

Thank you to our beta testers including Ashley, Louise, Amy, Desiree, and several of our Library Trustees. If you have the beta version, delete that before downloading the live version.

Download from the Apple Store.

Download from Google Play.

Staff Shout Outs-August 12

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.

Building Alarms

What happens if you accidentally set off the building alarm when you arrive in the morning?? First, don’t panic. The alarm automatically calls the police department and a custodian. Employees should just wait and explain the error to those who respond. If you have/know your building code, the main security alarm keypad is in the vestibule at the main entrance. A secondary key pad is located at the Borrower Services Desk.

All alarms should be resolved by the police department and custodians. Even mistakes. They keep logs, stats, etc.

If you don’t know your building code, please reach out to your Department or Division Head. The Employee Handbook contains more information on p. 15.

2022-03-Employee-HandbookDownload

Staff Shout Outs — August 5, 2022

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 Megan White for Going above and beyond. The carts in Children’s have been chaos and madness the past week or so, and Megan contained the chaos and did some amazing cart control on a pretty busy Saturday! From Lisa R.

Shout out to Kath and Michelle for Going above and beyond, Helping a co-worker. Shout out to Kath and Michelle for covering for us this last week! We appreciate you both so much for being able to jump in and taking on all the chaos that comes with the Children’s Room. You’re the best! From the Children’s Room.

Shout out to Smirtha & Nemaya for helping a co-worker, going above and beyond, and being creative. Smirtha and Nemaya helped build and spray paint the book boxes that will be placed around town full of RPL’s Community Read titles. The boxes are bright and bold and awesome! A second thank you to Lisa R for picking the perfect colors on a whim! From Ally.

Braille-enhanced StoryWalk

RPL has installed a Braille-enhanced StoryWalk for increased accessibility and in order to broaden the pleasures of this experience to people with low vision and limited mobility.
The Reading Lions Club sponsored this initiative. Thanks to the Lions, the Braille-enhanced StoryWalk will showcase a new book quarterly.
Library visitors start at the front door of the library, go down the steps to the lawn, and follow the Braille-enhanced StoryWalk signs around the lawn perimeter to experience the adorable picture book, A Good Day by Kevin Henkes. StoryWalk will be on display from August 2—31.

Public Printing Update

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your patience as we get ready to switch to a new public printing hardware/software system. We are hoping to go live with this the week after Labor Day. Staff training, etc. to come.

This means that you will still need to staff override public printing jobs until then. If you have any questions please let me know.