Director’s Update, September 1, 2011

The big news at Central this week is…. 

Tim Horton’s construction has FINALLY begun! As I wrote last week, the scheduled opening date is October 31. Hurray! 

The other big (and sad) news at Central this week is Bob Suskie. Kathy Fischer kindly sent out word earlier this week that Bob had suffered a stroke. The last we heard from the family, he was scheduled to be released from the hospital, but would be undergoing physical therapy. If you’ve sent cards, thank you; if you haven’t yet sent a card to Bob, I know he would appreciate hearing from his library family. His address is BOB SUSKIE – 90 ALLANDALE AVENUE – ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14610.  

Bob came to see me last week and was very excited about a new project he started with his staff called “Send a Cup of Joe to a Joe” which is an international program that provides free cups of coffee to soldiers serving in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Bob and his staff bought coffee for 30 soldiers for $2.00 a cup through Green Beans Coffee. He received thank you notes from the soldiers within a couple of days of sending the money. Bob was really pumped up about being able to do this, and wanted to share the news with all of RPL and encourage others to buy a cup of joe for a Joe. If you are interested in doing this, go to http://www.greenbeanscoffee.com/coj/index.php for more information.

 Many of have already heard this news through the grapevine, but I will confirm the rumor: Betty Lawrence has announced her intention to retire at the end of September. Betty will be leaving us to take a post as Director of the Suwanee River Library System in Suwanee River Florida. I will be working with Betty, Sally, David, Janice, and Ana in the next few weeks to plan the transition of Betty’s responsibilities. Betty’s last day here will be September 20. 

In other staff news, Betty, Sue Meyers, Nanci Rosenberg-Nugent and I have completed interviews for the Librarian IV position that will oversee Art and Lit. We hope to announce the successful candidate by the end of this week. 

Kevin and I are currently reviewing a proposal to place an Espresso Book Machine at Central. The EBM would come here on a consignment basis, which pretty much means we wouldn’t pay anything for it, but would have to provide some staff assistance to people using it. Take a look at the EBM here – http://www.ondemandbooks.com/ 

On the Branch end of things, it is unclear yet whether Maplewood was successful in winning the $50,000 Pepsi refresh grant that would support literacy classes at the library. Shelley Matthews says it could be several weeks before she knows for sure whether they’ve won any money. 

I received this wonderful story from Bruce Wilbur (Arnett) that I have to share in whole with you: 

For the first few months after I switched branches to Arnett a couple of years ago, I paid a lot of attention to the patron names and addresses at check-out so I could learn the regulars names and get a feel for their distribution in the neighborhood. A group of pre-teen boys all had the same address on a street I use for my commute home. I told them I went by their house nearly every day. “Just look for a guy on a bike with flashing lights.” 

Of course they didn’t believe me that  

• A) a white guy would be on their street,
• B) that he’d be on a bicycle, and
• C) that it would be at night. 

Since then, nearly every night when I make the turn to their street, shouts of “Hey library guy!” come from the porch. I yell back and wave. It’s like having my own cheering section on the Tour or something. I miss it when they’re not there. Ordinarily I use a longer route to work, but Monday afternoon I was running late and took that route instead. As I came past their house, there they were on the porch. “Hey library guy, stop, stop, stop!” 

This was different. 

So I drop anchor and circle back on the sidewalk to their house. Thinking there’s some sort of emergency, I asked, “What’s the matter?” 

“Can you take our movies back?” 

I waited while they found all the DVDs–one proved to be elusive–and had the boys stuff them in my panniers. Then I rode the rest of the way to work.  

Yes, we’re a full-service library! 

This story from Bruce is a fine example of the kind of customer service standard we should all strive for. Good job Bruce and thanks for sharing!

 

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