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This Week at the Library
This week at the Library, learn about the importance of credit reports and scores, meet Rudy Francisco and watch him perform his spoken word poetry, plus – the entire family is invited to join us for spooky stories on Friday Fright Night!
Money Mondays – Credit Reports and Scores
Monday, October 26 | 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Step-by-Step through the FAFSA
Wednesday, October 28 | 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Meet the Poet: Rudy Francisco
Wednesday, October 28 | 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Friday Fright Night
Friday, October 30 | 6:00 – 7:00 pm
See all of our events »
Maker Month: Nick
Our MakerSpace facilitator Nick was featured by Stanley Black and Decker for Maker Month. Nick discusses his inspiration for making, his work in the Library's Black & Veatch MakerSpace as well as the creation of Maker Village. Read the interview »
Our upcoming MakerSpace events include Ask-a-Maker sessions and a class on sewing face masks. See the schedule »
TBT: Elections
Remember, your vote counts no matter the size of the election. These 1935 F.F.A. elected officers sure know that. The six boys stand outside the Shawnee Mission Rural High School.
If you have a minute, try the search term "election" at jocohistory.org. You'll find a few photos and lots of articles about all kinds of Johnson County elections. We found one about the difficulty of getting your horse and buggy to the polling location!
Remember, jocohistory.org is the place to time travel through local history. Be sure to follow our hashtag on Twitter!
Happy Throwback Thursday! Some call it the best day of the week.
Author Research in Action Podcast with Dr. Randall Horton
Dr. Randall Horton is on the faculty of the 2020 Johnson County Library Writers Conference, where he will teach sessions in Memoir Construction, Creative Nonfiction with Fictional Elements, and City as Protagonist. He will also be in conversation with poets Megan Kaminski and Rudy Francisco for the kickoff event.
“When did you realize poetry could be your companion? Your release?”
In this episode of Did You Hear, Dr. Horton and Anishinaabekwe poet Louise K. Waakaa’igan discuss poetry both as a lifeline and as a discipline. It’s a discussion between two people who share a gift for and love of poetry; but it’s also a discussion between two people who share a common language that only those who have been “inside” can fully understand.
An unrelenting advocate for personal voice and perfect line breaks, Dr. Horton is equally passionate about eradicating the language of incarceration that tends to recriminalize those entangled in the legal system. If you listen closely, you’ll hear this passion in Dr. Horton’s language: he says, “before I went to the inside” (8:57 mark) and that he “received” the time (9:17 mark) to which he was sentenced. Both of these statements show how Dr. Horton refuses to let language used by others (“sent to prison” or “imposed a sentence,” for example) control and define his narrative.
And it’s that narrative that he brings us in his newest book, a collection of poems titled {#289-128}. Yes, this was his number when he was “inside,” but if there’s one thing this collection makes clear, it’s that no person can be defined by just one word—Dr. Horton can no more be defined simply as “felon” as we can be defined by the most public, most documented transgressions of our own lives. It’s clear to me after sitting with his poems that we all must ask each other: why do we, as a society, insist on branding people who’ve been incarcerated with markers that never let them fully live a life of their choosing, but we allow others, some of whose actions cause harm, to write their own narratives?
In this 45-minute podcast, Dr. Horton and Waakaa’igan share thoughts and insights about life inside and out; about their writing practices and recent works; and about the roadblocks each faced as they reentered society as a returning citizen. To the question of what roadblocks Waakaa’igan encountered as she re-entered society after being inside, she says:
“My own fears as to how I’m going to fit into this new world now that i have a felony. Right? So that’s my own hesitation and I think that is probably my biggest roadblock because now in 2020, Randall, there are so many conversations happening about change, about injustice, about equality. And so I may have a felony, but somebody else may be an amputee and so they might have kind of the same insecurities about ‘how do I fit in in?’ Two totally different situations, I agree; but yet still our own personal fear and hesitation of ‘do I really fit in?’ and ‘can I really do this?’ And ‘yes I can,’ and ‘this is my community so of course if fit in.’ Right?”
In this exchange, Waakaa’igan gets to the heart of Dr. Horton’s collection: we may not all understand what it’s like to be “inside” and we may never know what it’s like to fight our way back into a society from which we’ve been separated; but we all, in some way, understand constraint and imposed boundaries. It’s that common language that invites us to step inside of Dr. Horton’s reality on the “inside” so we can better understand each other in our daily lives.
Their conversation touches on the dual nature of writing: both as a means to understanding and as a craft that requires study and discipline. Waakaa’igan says: “I think I wrote before incarceration as a means to cope. Being a young minority woman in the world we’re in, it was a really great and safe way to express myself and to process what I was going through. On the inside it was more about crafting this thing called writing and the discipline of it, because it takes discipline and it takes a lot of erasing and editing. I nurtured the discipline of it.”
More about Dr. Horton and his body of work can be found at RandallHorton.com
Making the Move to Medicare
Are you making the move to Medicare? Need help navigating through the maze of coverage options?
Join us Thursday, October 22, for an online presentation by Denise Dias, M.S., Family and Consumer Sciences Agent from the K-State Research and Extension Office, covers Parts A, B, C (Medicare Advantage), D and Medicare supplements (Medigap.) Benefits and costs of each part will be discussed.
The enrollment process, enrollment periods and various options to choose from when you become entitled to Medicare coverage will be explained. Registration is required.
Need more help with your personal finances? You're in the right place.
See our upcoming virtual Career and Finance programs »
Sign up for our new monthly newsletter »
2020 Election Virtual Display
Do you miss coming to the Library and seeing all the Librarian handpicked titles in our wonderful book displays? Well, we bring the book display to you! We call it a virtual book display. The topic? Voting of course.
Don't miss our 2020 Election Virtual Display Booklist!
Have you signed up for our Kids and Family Newsletter?
With the success of our Summer Reading newsletter, we wanted to continue providing you with the latest kids & family news. Our goal is to connect you with fun and engaging programs and resources for you and your children. We look forward to delivering up-to-date and valuable kids and family recommendations right to your inbox each month. Sign up today!
Merriam Plaza Library Project
Merriam Plaza Library Project
Antioch Library has had an over-60-year history in its current location at the corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road, beginning in 1956 as a 7,200 square foot leased space with parking for 30 cars. Now, plans are in the works to re-locate Antioch Library to the new Merriam Community Center campus.
In 1961, following legislation that permitted the Johnson County Library Board of Directors to own property, the Antioch building and site were purchased. The Antioch building has been expanded twice, in 1970 and 1983, and was last renovated in 1995 when the Central Resource Library was opened. Since then, Antioch has been providing space for the Friends of the Library, JCCC’s Adult Education program, and has functioned as the home office for systemwide Programming, Outreach, and Information Services staff.
New site, new building
In 2017, the City of Merriam approached the Library to consider relocating Antioch Library to the new Merriam Community Center campus, at the 6000 block of Slater. After a study with the city, the Library Board approved this path. The new library is anticipated to be approximately 15,000 square ft. single story building and include a drive-thru for holds pickup and material return. Like Lenexa City Center Library, the Merriam Plaza Library will utilize the nearby parking structure and pay for a portion of the upkeep costs.
The Library and the City of Merriam have been meeting to discuss design, planning, and construction and recently the City of Merriam has transferred the land for the new building to the Library.
Public engagement and design
In March 2021, the Library Board and Johnson County Board of County Commissioners approved the selection of Kansas City-based Dake Wells Architecture to design the facility. In spring and summer of 2021, the Library conducted public engagement sessions both virtually and at the new site. Design for the new library was completed in fall 2022
Construction
The project’s construction contract was approved by the Library Board and Public Building Commission in November 2022 and you will see construction activities ramping up in 2023. Construction is expected to wrap up in early 2024 with opening anticipated later that year.
We know you probably have questions about what to expect during this building process, so we’ve put together an FAQ that addresses more details about the project. Stay tuned to our Merriam Plaza Library page and follow @jocolibrary on social media for construction updates and photos. You can also drop us a line if you have any questions.
Have you listened to our podcast?
Have you ever listened to our podcast? Did you know we even had a podcast? If you haven't listened and didn't know, that's OK! There may be a lot of things you didn't know about your favorite place on earth (The Johnson County Library) and the Did you hear? podcast gives you a glimpse behind-the-scenes. It's your Library insider.
Listen to the latest episode. Another episode will be featured here next week!
Ballot Boxes @ Your Library
In Johnson County, the number of mail-in ballot applications has surpassed 100,000. Election officials are working hard to increase Johnson County's capacity to handle this record-breaking number of mail-in ballots.
One way to meet that need is the installation of ballot drop boxes across the County. Johnson County Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt wants residents to feel comfortable voting by mail, telling KSHB "...They can bypass the post office (and) go right to the election office drop box, and then you're bringing it right back to us."
Beginning Oct. 17, six of these secured ballot boxes will be available at Johnson County Library locations, with a seventh box at the Johnson County Government Northeast office building in Mission. Similar ballot boxes, which are being provided by the Kansas Secretary of State, will be installed across the state ahead of the election.
Johnson County Library is proud to be part of this initiative. The Library's ballot box locations are:
- Blue Valley Library, 9000 W. 151st St., Overland Park
- Central Resource Library, 9875 W. 87th St., Overland Park
- De Soto Library, 33145 W. 83rd St., De Soto
- Gardner Library, 137 E. Shawnee St., Gardner
- Shawnee Library, 13811 Johnson Drive, Shawnee
- Spring Hill Library, 109 S. Webster St., Spring Hill
Read more from KSHB's news story ».
Whether you are a seasoned voter, or registering for the first time, Johnson County Library has you covered with election information. Check out our guide to Kansas Elections and Voting, which contains information on how to check your registration and polling place, important dates and deadlines, and how to find more information about candidates.