Library Scoop - March 2015

Library Scoop March 2015

Johnson County Public Library

Birdseed Bottles Program @ FRB

NEWS & UPDATES FOR

JCPL STAFF

HR News!

Amber Turner

Human Resources Manager

Forgiveness

Benefits Update March 31, 2015 is the final day for Flex Spending Account participants to claim monies spent during 2014 for medical expenses. Participants can view their account balances by visiting www.takecarewageworks.com.

Congratulations to Ann Alexander On March 5, 2015, at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis, our own Ann Alexander was recognized as the United Way Volunteer of the Year for Johnson County!

Way to go, Ann!

Wear jeans on Fridays & Saturdays for just $2.00!

All proceeds go to Way. Cheers & Tears & United Thank you, Bev!

Clearing the record of those who have wronged me and not holding a grudge.

To the Core

From: Bev Martin

An extremely huge thank you to all the staff who shoveled their way out and made it to work on Saturday, February 21st and Sunday, March 1st! Your dedication to serve the patrons of JCPL is greatly appreciated.

From: Leadership Academy Participants To: Linda Kilbert & Karen Emery

A huge thanks to Karen and Linda for guiding the Leadership Academy Class of 2015 through cluster coaching! We will be much better prepared for Assessment Center with your great coaching and guidance.

The annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner will be held on Tuesday, April 14 at the Trafalgar Branch.

The theme is “Celebrate Our Library Heroes at the Soup-er Supper!”

Soup and salad will be served to all of our wonderful volunteers while playing a round of super hero trivia.

Contents p.1 p.2 p.3 p.4

HR News Celebrations / Strategic Planning Update Getting to Know…Eva Frazier Getting to Know…Anna Reisz

p.5 SWAT Spot! p.6 Time Travel Through the Ages p.7 Top 10 Picture Books / Guess the Desk!

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Celebrations March Birthdays Nathan Turner Kalen Jones Kelly Schmidt Ken Crenshaw Amber Turner LuAnn Waltz Chad Vanmeter

April Birthdays

Linda Kilbert Sue Salamone Patty Todd Linda Walker Nathan Biberdorf Paul Courville Annemarie Wallace Sue Hewett

Years of Service

March 7 March 9 March 11 March 13 March 17 March 18 March 29

WRB FRB FRB FRB LSC TRB FRB

April 2 April 6 April 9 April 11 April 13 April 16 April 24 April 28

WRB CPB WRB TRB WRB WRB TRB FRB

Pat Clarke Hannah Rollett Beverly Martin Georgia Vaught Wes Klutts Erin Kirchhoff Lori Roberts Amanda Caito

March 3 March 12 March 16 April 7 April 9 April 13 April 15 April 28

12 years 2 years 28 years 18 years 1 year 7 years 15 years 1 year

Strategic Planning Update Amber Turner, HR Manager The hard work of Task Force and Committee members brought much success in 2014 in Strategic Planning. Accomplishments included:

During the upcoming month, the following strategies will begin forming new Task Forces: Business Outreach & Marketing Friends/Foundation Leadership practices for Council Library Programming Local History & Culture Programs Play & Learn Spaces Pilot

Collaboration with Town/County Planners Digital Reference Every Child Ready to Read training Library Card Challenge Management & Balanced Scorecard training Material Selection Policy Mobile Circ Mobile Web Multi-Media Content Newcomer Program Reciprocal Borrowing Several of these projects have become "Business as Usual" and some will continue on into the next phase of JCPL's ongoing Strategic Plan.

RFID Space Allocations Social Services Links: Process Improvement Teen Spaces Pilot

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If you would like to read more about these strategies, follow the link found on www.pageafterpage.org under JCPL: The Next Chapter.

Getting to Know…

Eva Frazier, Circulation, TRB

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be and why?

39. It would seem that this is the year that everything was best for me. I just gave birth to my 7th and last child, and was leading a miraculously peaceful existence. I also felt the best that I have ever felt physically.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I started playing violin in my early 20’s, but gave it up due to time conflict with being mommy and working. I would love to learn to play the violin completely.

If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?

To get my youngest daughter through driver’s ed! I have to do it the inexpensive way by obtaining the permit and logging her hours, so this takes time, and she is already getting ready to turn 18!

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would it be?

A cat.

When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you pass the time?

Reading a book!

If you could have dinner with only three people (real or fictitious/from any time period/dead or alive), which three people would you choose and why?

My maternal grandmother who has passed and I miss her every single day! Buddha - I would love to learn to just “become” one with the universe. Martha Stewart - she is just so crafty!

What is your idea of fun? If given a chance to skip work for a day, how would you spend the entire day?

I would spend the entire day out and about with my children. We do not get to spend enough time together, it seems.

If you were stranded on a beach alone, what are five things that you would want to have with you?

A book, shade umbrella, unlimited water, bonfire and my best friend.

What was your favorite musical group in middle school?

Prince and the Revolution.

Name one thing you miss about being a kid.

Having NO worries…

Do you have any phobias?

Spiders and heights.

What types of food do you NOT eat?

Lima beans…yuck!

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Getting to Know…

Anna Reisz, Programming Asst., CPB

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be and why?

Probably this age (30). Things are pretty good right now.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

It would be awesome to learn how to sew and be good enough that I could sew just about anything I wanted to. I have a really nice sewing machine collecting dust at my house and I haven’t gotten around to teaching myself how to use it yet.

If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?

Probably catching up on my reading! My “to-read” list grows much faster than my “read” list, and I can’t seem to keep up very well. In reality though, my project for the next year is going to be figuring out how to take care of my kid and keep her in one piece after she arrives in April.

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would it be?

I’m debating between a dog or cat. I’ve become more of a dog person in recent years, but…my personality traits are probably more cat-like. Either way, I’d be a lazy, non-athletic lap-cat or lap-dog.

When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you pass the time?

Right now, I spend much of my free time working on the nursery or other baby preparations…or sitting there lazily, thinking about how I “should” be working on that stuff.

If you could have dinner with only three people (real or fictitious/from any time period/dead or alive), which three people would you choose and why?

Probably Buffy Summers (as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Albus Dumbledore, and Quentin Coldwater (main character in the Magicians books by Lev Grossman). Because I’m a big nerd and they’re a few of my favorite fictional characters.

What is your idea of fun? If given a chance to skip work for a day, how would you spend the entire day?

If I could skip work for a day (and wasn’t pregnant at the time), I would spend the day with my husband at King’s Island riding all of the roller coasters over and over! I just started riding roller coasters last year, after spending my whole life being too scared, and now I’m kind of obsessed.

If you were stranded on a beach alone, what are five things that you would want to have with you?

My husband, sunscreen, water, shelter, and my dogs - though I’m sure they wouldn’t be very helpful to our survival.

What was your favorite musical group in middle school?

I was a huge fan of NSYNC. I had a big picture of Justin Timberlake on my bedroom wall. I think I had a Backstreet Boys poster at one point, too, but I liked NSYNC the best!

Name one thing you miss about being a kid.

I’m still basically a kid. I’ve made it to a point to not really grow up.

But I miss when I was younger, I could be a kid AND not have as many stressful responsibilities.

Do you have any phobias?

I’m not a big fan of spiders or roaches.

What types of food do you NOT eat?

Raw tomatoes, okra, cantaloupe, or honeydew melon.

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50 Shades of… Green!

Linda Kilbert, WRB Branch Manager

We all know that vegetables provide many healthful benefits. Yet many of us still do not get enough “green” in our diet. So, in celebration of National Nutrition Month, here are some tips from the US Department of Agriculture for getting more vegetables in our diet: • Buy vegetables that are easy to prepare. Pick up pre-washed bags of salad greens and add baby carrots or grape tomatoes for a salad in minutes. Buy packages of veggies such as baby carrots or celery sticks for quick snacks.

• Use a microwave to quickly “zap” vegetables.

White or sweet potatoes can be baked quickly this way.

• Plan some meals around a vegetable main dish, such as a vegetable stir-fry or soup. Then add other foods to complement it.

• Try a main dish salad for lunch. Go light on the salad dressing.

• Include a green salad with your dinner every night.

• Shred carrots or zucchini into meatloaf, casseroles, quick breads, and muffins.

• Include chopped vegetables in pasta sauce or lasagna.

• Order a veggie pizza with toppings like mush rooms, green peppers, and onions, and ask for extra veggies.

• Use pureed, cooked vegetables such as potatoes to thicken stews, soups and gravies.

These add flavor, nutrients, and texture.

• Grill vegetable kabobs as part of a barbecue meal. Try tomatoes, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.

To kick off the new year of SWAT, your wellness committee will be providing healthy protein-packed “green” snacks during “Go Green!

Week,” March 16-20. Watch for more information about this and other upcoming SWAT Events: May In Motion – May 3-30 Individual Competition Lotta Watta Wellness Challenge – July 5-31 Team Competition Walktoberfest – October 4-31 Building Competition Linda

SWAT Spot!

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Time Travel Through the Ages Nathan Biberdorf, WRB Circulation

It's March, the time of year when we all become time travelers...jumping forward one hour for Daylight Saving Time. So as we wonder where those sixty minutes went to, let's see if we can figure out which mode of time travel is the best.

dinosaurs. The hunt goes well enough, but human history is changed when someone steps on a butterfly. This, incidentally, is where the term 'butterfly effect' comes from.

Pros: Killing dinosaurs.

Cons: Killing history.

Steampunk Time Machine The Time Traveler, 1895 It may not have been the first to explore the concept, but H.G. Wells' novel popularized the idea of time travel. After building a working time machine in his basement, the novel's narrator leaps forward to the year 802,701, to see what has become of humanity.

Pros: Ahead of its time (in more ways than one); Eloi.

Cons: Morlocks. Creepy, creepy Morlocks.

Souped-Up DeLorean Back to the Future Trilogy, 1985-1990 After Doc Brown makes a time machine out of a modified DeLorean, Marty McFly ends up on a hilarious adventure through time, first into the past to 1955, and then into the distant future world of...2015.

Pros: It's a DeLorean. Nuff said.

Cons: It's too easy to run out of gas...or plutonium. Also, accidentally keeping yourself from being born isn't fun either.

Intergalactic Blue Police Box Doctor Who, 1963-present For over fifty years, off and on, Britain (and eventually, everybody else) has followed the exploits of the Time Lord known as the Doctor as he explores time and space in his blue Tardis...which looks suspiciously like a British police phone box from the 1960s.

Pros: Takes you anywhere (and anywhen) you want to go.

Cons: When you get there, everything is trying to kill you. Daleks, cybermen, psychotic Christ mastrees...nowhere is safe.

Cardboard Box Calvin and Hobbes, 1985-1995 When not doubling as a cloning machine or Transmogrifier, Calvin's cardboard box makes a very serviceable time machine. He also tries to use time travel to get out of doing homework, but his plan involves going forward to steal the completed homework from his future self...who of course has not done it either.

Pros: It's the most economical time machine on this list.

Cons: It may also be imaginary.

Phone Booth Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, 1989 High school slackers Bill and Ted use a time-traveling phone booth to bring historical figures to the present for their history presentation.

Pros: There are apparently no consequences for altering the timeline.

Cons: Using a time machine for homework is arguably a frivolous use of the technology.

Safari A Sound of Thunder, 1952 Ray Bradbury's short story explores the ramifications of taking a safari back in time to hunt

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Living Everybody, all the time Technically, we time travel every day. We all move forward into the future at the reasonable rate of sixty minutes per hour. It's not very fast, and it only goes one way, but it does at least protect us from universe-collapsing paradoxes. Maybe this everyday time travel is the best kind there is.

Pros: You don't erase yourself from existence, become your own grandparent, make Hitler win World War II, or release dinosaurs in Central Park.

Cons: Tick...tick...tick...

Nathan

Top 10 Picture Books CPB

FRB

TRB

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Clifford’s Halloween

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Hooway for Wodney West The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

2

Pete the Cat: Franklin’s Valentines Valentine’s Day is Cool

Tacky the Penguin

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

3

The Finest Christmas Tree

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Scoop Saves the Day

Arthur’s Valentine

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What Am I? Christmas

A New Reindeer Friend

Franklin’s Valentines

If You Give a Dog a Donut

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Pete the Cat and the and the New Guy

If You Give a Dog a Donut

Clifford’s Valentine’s Day

A New Reindeer Friend

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A Piggie Christmas

Arthur’s Valentine

Very Little Red Riding Hood

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

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Trick or Treat, Marley!

Froggy’s First Kiss

Snow Party

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

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Sick Simon

Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine

Super Duck

Arthur’s TV Trouble

Froggy’s Best Christmas

Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine

Mrs. Mo’s Monster

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Arthur’s Nose: 25th Anniversary Limited Ed.

The Pigeon Wants a a Puppy!

The Berenstain Bears’ Funny Valentine

Stellaluna

I Spy Mystery: A Book 10 of Picture Riddles

FEBRUARY 2015 GUESS THE DESK

MARCH 2015 GUESS THE DESK

Who’s Desk? Sue Salamone

Who’s Desk is this?

Winner: Josh Turner at WRB

Submit your answer to Amber by April 1 and you just might win a treat from the Cheers & Tears Snack Box and a JCPL mug!

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WRB