Bookmarkable

"Endlessly fascinating and insightful!" Says our librarian Chris. 

"I was, I think, 18 years old when I saw the movie Flatliners; just the right age for it to make a vivid impression on me even though it has never been thought of as a particularly good film. The characters are medical students who agree to take turns temporarily dying ("flatlining") before being revived by the others. They hope to experience a moment of the afterlife to gain insight and wisdom. They wanted, in the parlance of this book, to learn from a visit to the land of the dead.

McDonald writes that we don't have to actually die to gain that wisdom, though, as stories of visits to the land of the dead are all around us. He takes a wide-ranging tour through stories from different times, cultures, and media, drawing parallels and showing how they include different elements of the underworld. Sometimes characters travel literally or metaphorically to that land; sometimes elements of that land visit us."

Read more of Chris' review and find the book in our catalog »

This week at the Library, you can join us at:

Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like. 

READ to a Dog with Pets for Life  – April 3 – April 6, 3:30 – 5 p.m., In person event at different locations. Join us at Leawood Pioneer Library on April 3, Antioch Library on April 4, Central Resource Library on April 5, or Monticello Library on April 6. 

The Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a registered therapy dog or cat! These animals volunteer with their owner/handlers as a team. Please note: space is limited for this program; kids will get a ticket at arrival and wait their turn to read to one of several dogs.

Pollinator Series – Tuesday, April 4, 2 – 3 p.m.

Bees, butterflies and bats . . . oh my! Spring is here at the Lenexa City Center Library and our regional pollinators are in full flight. Join Johnson County Master Gardeners for this workshop to learn from the experts exactly what is happening when these animals and insects are flying about. Each participant will receive seeds to help grow more places for pollinators to explore.

Meet the Cartoonist: Josh Neufeld – Tuesday, April 4, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Bestselling comics journalist Josh Neufeld says, "I am a nonfiction storyteller and my medium is comics.” He is the writer/artist of the nonfiction graphic novel "A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge" (Pantheon), which was nominated for the Eisner and Harvey awards, and many other true-life graphic narratives. Josh is also the illustrator of the graphic nonfiction book "The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media" (W.W. Norton), and is the co-editor of "FLASHed: Sudden Stories in Comics and Prose." Josh's illustrations have appeared in such publications as The New York Times and The Washington Post. In this one-hour reading, Josh will share an overview of his career, complete with extended readings of selected pieces and leaving ample time for Q&A. This program will be hosted on Library OnDemand. You do not need to download any software or create an account.

The Past is Prologue: The Orphan Train Movement – Tuesday, April 4, 7 – 8 p.m.

The Past is Prologue is a bimonthly program that highlights topics often left out, glossed over, or misrepresented in our history books. For our April topic, National Orphan Train Complex curator Kaily Carson will detail the history of the Orphan Train Movement that served as a precursor to our modern day foster care system. The program will take place virtually via Library OnDemand, and the recording will be available following the program on the Library’s website. You do not need to download any software or create an account.

Caregiver Workshop: Ask the Early Childhood Experts – Wednesday, April 5, 7– 8 p.m., Online event

Whether it's finding activities to keep them busy or understanding what's going on inside their heads, being a caregiver of young children can be challenging. Each month's caregiver workshop explores a different topic to support and enrich relationships between kids age birth to 6 and their caregivers. In April, get your most pressing questions answered by local early childhood experts. This program will be hosted using the meeting software Zoom. A Johnson County Library staff member will contact registrants via email the day before the meeting with instructions on how to access the Zoom meeting. You do not need to download any software or create an account.

And much more happening this week … 

Johnson County Library is thrilled to present:

Librarypalooza!

500 bands for just $499!

Why that's less than $1 per band! 

2 Stages!!!  
When? TODAY!    
Where? Strang Park    
What? Librarypalooza!    
Who?

All proceeds to pursuing our dream: a branch-to-branch Monorail!

If you love April Fool's Day as much as we do, then you'll love this Fools for Spring! recommended reading list (we promise it doesn't send you to a Rick Astley video!)

Johnson County Library’s website is a key portal into the Library system’s vast array of programs, information and services.

The website was last overhauled in 2014 and is due for a refresh. To that end, a Library team of professionals is conducting a usability study this year, reaching out to patrons for their ideas and suggestions on how to make the website as user-friendly as possible.  

“We’re taking a look at how patrons use those tools. Often, how we expect they may use them is not how they are actually using them,” explained Jo Field, a web content developer leading a study team of eight Library staffers. “Usability studies are always surprising. You find out what your users are actually doing and how they are navigating your website, how they are finding what they want.” 

The team consists of communication and website experts but also clerks, information specialists and information technology staffers. They will survey and interview patrons, watching how they move from website page to page to find what they are looking for. Many interviews are one-on-one, but the study will also include focus groups, phone interviews and visits with people in the branches. 

Elissa Andre, the Library’s external communication manager, says creating an entirely new website at this time isn’t feasible. That’s an expensive, complicated and lengthy process. But the usability study, seeking users’ insights and experiences, will be vital to improving the website over time. 

“We had received some comments that it was out of date or difficult to navigate,” she said. “So we needed to make some changes now, and this was the way we were able to refresh the look and feel without blowing up the whole thing.” 

Andre praises Field and the team for this outreach and exploration. 

“I’m just thrilled that we have been able to kick off this project,” Andre said. “I am so impressed by all the work that Jo has done to pull this all together.” 

Andre said Field is adept at teaching, leading the charge and getting everyone trained. “It’s become a really exciting opportunity for our staff to get involved in something different and see the back end of the communications and the website process,” Andre said.  

The team hopes to reach about 200 patrons through a variety of interactions. The first group of respondents were people who attended last November’s Writers Conference. Patrons are explaining and demonstrating how they navigate the “For Writers” page. Field said the team has already received useful suggestions for information writers really want. If others echo those ideas, the team will see what’s possible.  

Field also interviewed a few people in branches last fall and found they were incredibly generous with their time and ideas. More in-branch interviews are planned later this year. 

Volunteer Services Coordinator Amber Bourek Slater is helping the team identify a diverse group of usability study respondents, including parents, kids and caregivers.  

The team will seek feedback from multiple teens to improve the “Teens” page and will also solicit input to update the “Community Matters” page, as Johnson County ramps up for the 2024 election. 

The usability study should take about a year, but Field hopes a portion of it will be continuous, allowing the Library to keep making the website better all the time.  

More study respondents are needed, to participate in future interviews and focus groups. Patrons interested in assisting are welcome and encouraged to express interest through this web form. The team will reach out and appreciates willing patrons sharing their insights.     

It's another beautiful Throwback Thursday and we encourage you to time travel through the history of Johnson County.

There is a new JoCoHistory Blog story: The Long History of the Shawnee Indian Mission Site

The Johnson County Museum is hosting Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories through March 18, 2023. The nationally touring exhibit from Kansas City’s Mid-America Arts Alliance explores the history of the federal, off-reservation Indian boarding schools in operation between the 1870s and the 1980s. What is today known as Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas was the closest federal, off-reservation boarding school to Johnson County. The exhibit does not tell the story of the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site in Fairway, Kansas, however. The Shawnee Indian Mission history has been featured in several blogs on JoCoHistory.org, but the site's role in state history is lesser known. A new JoCoHistory Blog post, guest written by staff at the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, compiled four things readers might not know about the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Please visit the JoCoHistory blog for the full article.

This is the first video in a series we’re rolling out during the construction process as we build Johnson County Library’s newest branch, Merriam Plaza Library. These videos will be released at the end of each month, so check back for the new episodes. Future topics include design, structure, art, interior finishes, and of course, the collection! We will also have time lapse videos each month as well. 

This video, How to Build a Library: Merriam Plaza, reveals all the details that go in to building this location. 

Merriam Plaza Library is currently under construction and anticipated to open in 2024. Co-located on the same campus as the Merriam Community Center, the new branch will replace the existing Antioch Library and will feature the same great collection and staff. 

Get more information on the construction process and see a fly-through video of the architectural renderings on our FAQ page.

Save the date! Friendships and communities grow from conversations. Drop in and converse!

Thursday , April 13

5 - 6:30 p.m.

Central Resource Library 

For more civic engagement-related content, visit our Community Matters page where you'll find:

• Our Evaluating Media & Digital Information guide to help you with Fact-Checking Resources, Build Your Critical Thinking and Librarian Curated Lists
• A Local Government Guide providing links to Kansas State Government
• My Resource Connection which connects individuals needing assistance with local resources
• Free Library access to to local newspapers like The Blue Valley Post, The Shawnee Mission Post and The Kansas City Star
• And more!