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Find What You Love (at the Library)
Happy Music Monday! Each Monday we feature a single from a Local Music LIVE FULL performance. This week, it's all about love! The Black Creatures encourage you to find what you love in their lovely tune "Water Will!" This is our second season of recording live videos of our artists. We've moved beyond the confines of our MakerSpace recording studio out into our locations. This performance was filmed at the Leawood Pioneer Library. If you like it, share the LOVE!
A Visit with Dorothy Hughes, Friends Board Vice President
How long have you been a member of Friends of Johnson County Library?
Four years now. Not long enough!
What’s your elevator speech to convince someone to join the Friends?
The shortest answer is: there is no reason not to join. The Friends of Johnson County Library is an organization that supports library programming, literacy and all the great things Johnson County Library does for our community. Not only that, but they sell coffee, too, which I love! If that’s not enough, I get to work with other talented people who are passionate about libraries and their role in modern American life.
Do you have a favorite Friends memory?
My favorite Friends memory is volunteering at the summer book sale a few years ago and getting stationed at the counting table with now-fellow Board member Lindsay Lau. That was the first time we met, and we had a blast. It’s been so much fun getting to know her and the rest of the Board over the years.
What are you reading (or listening to) right now?
I’m currently reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. It’s beautifully done but quite heavy subject matter, so I lightened things up by recently listening to I Can’t Make This Up by comedian Kevin Hart. It gets an R-rating for language, but it is
absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend them both, but for very different reasons, of course.
Dorothy Hughes has served on the Friends of Johnson County Library Board since 2014. She is currently a full-time Ph.D.
student in Health Policy and Management at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dorothy also works part-time as
a healthcare consultant and is an adjunct faculty member in the Helzberg School of Business at Rockhurst University. In her
spare time, she enjoys reading, binge-watching Food Network shows, and hanging out with friends, family and her Great
Pyrenees, Maggie.
Library Robots!
Ok, well, we don't quite have robot helpers, yet. But we have next best thing at some of our branches: automated sorting! The Library circulates around 7 million items per year. When you place a hold to pick up at a conveniently located branch, we work to get it there as quickly and efficiently as possible. In addition to our friendly staff, we’re using technology to improve our work. Coming soon to Corinth, Antioch, Monticello and Lenexa City Center: automated sorting! The image here illustrates the kind of sorter we’ll be installing.This helps materials get checked in and routed to you faster. You can watch automated sorting at work already at Central, Blue Valley and Leawood.
Throwback Thursday
Happy National Boy Scouts Day! Our Throwback Thursday picture today is a 58-year-old picture of Merriam Boy Scout Pack #398.
See more local history at jocohistory.org or follow our hashtag on Twitter.
Henry Fortunato
Everyone at Johnson County Library is saddened to learn of the passing this week of our esteemed colleague, Henry J. Fortunato, Jr. Henry was the long-time Director of External Affairs for the Kansas City Public Library, and a frequent collaborator with libraries, museums and educational institutions across the region. Henry’s lively intelligence and fierce determination made him a shining light among regional library and humanities professionals, and our work is dimmed by his loss. We will strive always for our efforts to equal his example of courage, conviction and enthusiasm for learning. We offer warmest condolences to Henry’s family and to all who knew and loved him as we did.
Johnson County Library recently collaborated with Henry to produce and distribute bookmarks documenting his seminal work of local history, the Indian Creek Trails History project. These beautiful bookmarks are still available at Central Resource Library.
100 Rabbits – Dick Daniels
In 100 Rabbits, Dick Daniels used the production of ceramics to create 100 different versions of the same rabbit. The work allowed Daniels, who received an ArtsKC Inspirational Grant for this work, a method of investigation into how we measure time. Each rabbit is unique yet there is a commonality to them, highlighting how time impacts our approach to work, influences our expertise and alters our perceptions.
ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Grants invest in human capital and provide direct support to individual artists and arts professionals to embark on projects and activities with the potential to advance their careers and build personal capacity for future work.
Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Comprehensive Library Master Plan Update: Spring 2018
Monticello Library @ 22435 W. 66th St., Shawnee (pictured here)
- Opening: planned 3rd quarter 2018
- Total project cost: $18.1 million
- Monticello Library “sealed the envelope,” as they say in the construction trade, as winter set in. Once the exterior of the building is closed up, work begins in earnest to finish the interiors and to make the building systems operational while librarians are assembling the collection. By spring 2018, the building’s interior surfaces will be the bright, modern colors and textures seen in the Monticello fly-through video.
Lenexa City Center Library @ 8778 Penrose Lane, Lenexa
- Opening: planned mid-2019
- Total project cost: $21.1 million
- The Board of County Commissioners and the Library’s Board of Directors broke ground for Lenexa City Center Library on Nov. 28, 2017. This stunning new facility comprises approximately 40,000 square feet on two levels. This will double the size and replace the existing Lackman Library. The dynamic open floor plan at Lenexa City Center Library will permit rearrangement when needed, as the Library’s service population grows and changes.
Blue Valley Library @ 9000 W. 151st St., Overland Park
- Schedule and project budget in process
- The September 2017 Blue Valley Library public input process received responses from more than 2,000 residents. Neighbors and Library users offered their views on placement of the Library on the site, number of stories and various parking solutions. The input received is informing the ongoing Library and City of Overland Park study for this important Library project scheduled for 2022.
Music Monday! Sterling Witt, I Love You More Everyday
Let's face it, like it or not February is for lovers. Get all gushy about that one you love like Mr. Sterling Witt does in his little ditty, I Love You More Everyday. If you don't have anyone, just pretend this power-pop tune is all about you! Happy Music Monday. Come back each week, every Monday morning, for a single from our Listen Local LIVE recording series.
The Weird and Wacky World of Online Sales
You know and love the great deals you find at the Friends of the Johnson County Library book sales, but did you know you can shop with them 24/7, online?
The Friends of Johnson County Library launched their successful summer used book sale about 30 years ago, and have since opened used bookstores at three Johnson County Library branches. The Friends started an internet sales presence in 2004 and sold 116 items that year, earning $3,888. Times have certainly changed. The Friends reported internet sales of 7,841 items grossing nearly $132,000 in 2016. Items sold have ranged from the prosaic: an out-of-print insurance book that is still in demand, to the profound: the collected works of Sigmund Freud. A recent top seller was The Lighting Handbook: Reference and Application which sold for $399.95. Books have been shipped to six continents, and orders arrive daily.
The Online Sales Division is managed by Friends Business Manager Matt Delaney and a corps of dedicated volunteers. We presently have 11 volunteers listing items for sale and 5 volunteers shipping items ordered. Materials deemed appropriate for online sale are manually listed on the three online auction sites where the Friends list: ABEBooks, Amazon and eBay. The sites are monitored daily by the Online Sales volunteers, who also fulfill completed auctions.
Shipments have made their way to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Belarus, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Macau and South Africa!
Funds raised by the Friends support a range of programs and services including the 6 by 6: Ready to Read early literacy program, the Meet the Author series and the annual teen literary magazine, elementia.
Support the Friends by browsing our online shops anytime »
-by Matt Delaney, Business Manager, Friends of Johnson County Library