Olivia is the sunniest sunbeam who ever sunned! Her ready laugh, her deep compassion, her crackerjack wit, and her enviable smarts combine to make her a treasured colleague. The Squad shouts out her book-loving, rainbow-painting, pop culture-popping, Tik Tokking, idea-sparking, doggo-whispering, latte-sipping self!
RPL Website Translation
As part of the library’s core values to provide access to all, I’ve added a plugin to the website to allow it to be translated into different languages. The plugin is located on the bottom left of the page, when a user clicks on it, it gives a list of languages. Choose the preferred language and the website will translate to that language.
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 Val for going above and beyond, exemplary customer service, solving a problem and ALWAYS keeping it positive. Val spent a lot of time and put a lot of thought into troubleshooting various headaches associated with the lockers and new printing system. Her work ethic and commitment were noticeable across library departments and she should be recognized for the effort she undertook to help things run as smoothly as they could. From Anonymous.
Shout out to Lisa Racine for coming up with a new idea. Shout out to Keeper of the Babies, Miss Lisa! I covered her Babytime program, and she had 22 babies in attendance (48 people overall)! She created this program because she saw a trend and need in the community, and people are appreciating it! Way to go! From Olivia. P.S. Lisa was specifically mentioned by someone at the New Resident Open House for being so enthusiastic at the Babytime program.
Shout out to Ally for going above and beyond and leading by example. Congrats to Ally for finishing a year-long programming grant!!! We hosted programs run by NAGLY, Wee the People, the Massachusett Tribe, YAMA, RESPOND, and more. Run by Ally’s thoughtful design and creative execution, we got to reach out to different organizations and help patrons see what they have to offer. Way to go, Ally! From anonymous.
Shout out to Andrea H. for going above and beyond, exemplary customer service, solving a problem, and keeping it positive: Andrea does battle every day to get folx their ILLs. And no matter how nonsensical the person on the other end of the phone is, she is calm and patient! Then she hangs up and we all commiserate with her. From Tilly.
Shout out to Cate for going above and beyond and coming up with a new idea: Cate’s Halloweentown has been a hit with kids and adults alike! What a fun way to decorate the pillar for everyone’s favorite holiday! From anonymous.
Shout out to Meaghan Clemente for going above and beyond, helping a co-worker, solving a problem, and Keeping it positive: Meaghan is always ready, willing, and able to fill in our crazy gaps in the Children’s Room skej! And she does it with a smile on her face and a song in her heart! 🙂 From Cate
Shout out to Meghan McCabe for going above and beyond and keeping it positive: Meghan M has been hustling all Fall. School visits, teen programming, loads of professional development, and everyday kindness and warmth to the various patrons she helps. Even when stressed or trying to track down teens, Meghan maintains a positive vibe that can lighten any workroom on dreary, cold, rainy days 😉 From Ally D.
Staff Shout-Outs
End of Community Read — Thank you!
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.
Canva Clean Up
To those of you who use our Canva account, it is time to clean it up. Please go through the images, including QR Codes and either move the images to a specific folder (click the three dots on the right of the image and move to a folder.), or delete it.
When uploading a QR code, make sure to name it, especially if you plan to reuse the code.
Questions? Ask Michelle or Desiree.
She’s wicked smaaaaht!
Our page Althea Culaba was named a National Merit Commended Student! She is one of only six other RMHS students to be recognized this year–congratulations, Althea!
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 Andrea F, Susan, Susie, Chris & Michelle for going above and beyond, helping a co-worker, exemplary customer service, solving a problem, and keeping it positive. Each of these staff members deserves a big thank you, and perhaps a hug, for managing a difficult patron situation while coordinating many last-minute changes and technical difficulties associated with the Autumn Concert that moved indoors due to weather. There was a lot of grace and kindness shown to patrons and each other with a bit of humor to help everyone get to 9pm. From Ally D.
Shout out to Ashley W for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea, and exemplary customer service. Ashley has spent the past year thoughtfully developing every piece of the new Healing Library from book titles to resources to overall packaging. This was a special project and Ashley put a lot of care into each piece, working with local partners to ensure patrons have access to resources and content that support a variety of mental health needs. From Ally D. and Cate.
Shout out to Jamie for juggling a variety of tasks and workloads while Lauren is out. She has done it with humor and cats. From Michelle.
Shout out to Olivia and Lisa R. for going above and beyond, coming up with a new idea and keeping it positive, You two are the Halloween dream team! The new play area is inspired, the TikTok is spoooooky, the ideas are as sweet as PSL, and the Halloween vibe is contagious! Boo! From Cate.
Presentation about TikTok
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!
New Collection: Healing Kits
We have a new collection at the library! Our Healing Kits are part of the Healing Library and live in the Health Nook (turret next to reference and teen room). The Health Nook and Healing Library are ongoing, developing projects. But for now, the first 10 Healing Kits are ready to go!
What is a Healing Library? The RPL Healing Library is a series of kits customized with books and resources to help a person, group or family navigate areas of trauma and personalize the healing process. Topics include depression, divorce and family change, gender identity, domestic violence, and various forms of grief. Each kit contains a selection of books curated to appeal to a range of ages (kids, teens, and adults). Also included are a sharing journal and a binder with local resources, therapeutic activities, and further reading suggestions. See the full list of topics here!
Important Circ Info: Kits are holdable, but must be picked up and returned here at RPL. Similar to other kits, each item will be checked in/out individually. There is a guidelines sheet inside each kit to help you know what/how many items to look for. (A typical kit contains about 5-7 items). Please visit the Health Nook turret and check them out!
This is a soft launch. The kits will be shared at the Recovery and Remembrance event on Wed. 9/28, and a large-scale PR campaign will start in early October.
Please let Ashley or Ally know if you have any questions. Thanks!