August 2022 Newsletter

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

We are delighted to welcome Kara Dzindolet as our new Head of Borrower Services! She will start the first week of August. Congrats are also due to Sandhya Shenoy, who received a promotion for taking on additional duties in Borrower Services. Our volunteer program will remain on hiatus through the end of September, with no new volunteers being accepted or trained; existing volunteers will continue their work. We are fortunate to have more people interested than things for volunteers to do; we currently have a backlog of over 75 applications stretching back two years. Priority will be given to senior tax write-off Volunteers in the fall, and then NHS students. There are opportunities to weed the Library grounds and assist with upcoming book sales through the Friends in August.

Eight staff and two trustees received HeartSaver training through the Board of Health at the end of July, and as soon as we have our certification e-cards we can complete our Food Permit application!

Summer programming is well underway and has been well-received; a reminder to please call and cancel if your plans change so we can notify wait-listed registrants.

We are seeing a lot of user error with our AMH, which results in complaints then the machine goes down. Please please please DON'T stack the items you are returning. A visitor put over 30 items for donation through the book return Wednesday, even though the Library was open and the Friends have a book donation bin in the parking lot. There is a high likelihood that the machine will go out of order when the operating instructions displayed on the screen are not being followed. Please follow the on-screen instructions and return ONLY Library items one at a time, through the AMH. The following can cause a breakdown:

Returning non-library items, such as book donations, that do not go in the book return
Returning more than one item or stacking items
Returning items at an angle, so they catch on the edge of the belt and stop the machine
Returning items edge first instead of spine first or spine to the left– paperbacks and magazines are more likely to catch on the conveyor belt
Sticking foreign objects into the flap, such as jackets, trash, food…

Our vendor has set up an alert if the AMH jams after hours, so in the future we can put out a message on social media if we know it’s not working. As a reminder, there is no urgency to returning items when the Library is closed—items are never scheduled to be due on Sunday or a holiday, and we do not charge late fees, and items automatically renew. Thank you for your cooperation.

I'm excited to announce we have received a grant of $1,000 from the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for Emotional Wellness programs, that will be scheduled in October during Mental Health Awareness Month! Our programming through the end of year will be funded from a $10,000 grant from UniBank that was received last summer. Please take our programming survey to help us set priorities.

Thanks for your continued support!

EXPANSION UPDATE

Beth attended the MBLC meeting at the beginning of the month and learned that Grafton is officially off the MPLCP waitlist with full provisional funding of $7.4M and up to $260,226 for LEED certification (award dependent on level of certification). This is great news! Our FY23 grant reimbursement is also available and we applied for that funding and signed an updated contract and assurances. Read the full press release online.

We held our 125th job meeting and surpassed our one-year anniversary for substantial completion in June! Paul from CTA construction delivered all the operational manuals and plans for the new library building and was on site on Wed for a final review. HVAC work continued with Advantage and LG. The green roof was fertilized. GCTV worked with IT and we can now go LIVE with events, meetings and programs from our Community Room, a project ten years in the making. CAVT Solutions came out to address some A/V issues. Roman Iron came to sand down some edges on the glass staircase rail. The community kitchen fire suppression system passed its annual inspection. Beth provided appliance and door information to Ron from DRA, who is working on our LEED certification application. Beth did a lot of work to edit the list of outstanding items, passing some off to William Blake (thank you William!). Ron walked through with a millworker to get a quote for lowering sinks and counters to ADA compliance.

Joe O’Brien Construction was on site at the end of the month to install handles and make some improvements to tutor room and other doors. Stanley Steemer cleaned the carpet in the Teen Gaming Room and the Community Room at the end of June and it looks like new. LG was on site for HVAC work and noted a blown fuse in one of the cooling units on the roof, which resulted in some areas of the building not getting cooled. Griffin was on site by Thursday afternoon to replace the fuse and do some testing. Signet was on site to resolve a timing issue with the scheduled opening and closing of the doors at the Upton Street Parking Lot, and assist with creating key cards for new staff. Elevator inspection has been scheduled for the second week of August. Beth contacted American Alarm to generate disarm codes for fresh staff.

Check out construction photos in our Construction album on our Facebook Page!

PROGRAMMING SURVEY

Help us plan future programs at the Grafton Public Library. We have a limited budget and staff, so by completing this programming survey you are helping us to determine what to focus our energy and funding on. If you have specific suggestions or requests, they can be left at the bottom of the survey.

SUMMER READING

Summer Reading Program 2022 is underway! Please visit our SUMMER READING - READ BEYOND THE BEATEN PATH information on our website to get started.

PET FOOD DRIVE

Friday July 1, 2022 - Saturday September 3, 2022

In honor of our Toto the Tornado Kitten visit, and to help promote our Animal Adventures Cultural Council grant program, we will be collecting pet food and supplies for the Grafton Food Bank in July and August. We will place the collection bin in the Lobby on the tiered display (where we collected PJ's this winter) and CR staff will manage overflow.

Dry cat food and canned dog food are currently needed for distribution, but all new/unopened and non expired food, treats, toys, and supplies will be accepted.

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

Teddy is unhappily single in L.A. In between sessions with his therapist and dates with men he meets online, Teddy has debates with his dachsund, Lily, who occupies his heart. Unfortunately, he is also able to communicate with the "octopus" attached to Lily's head, which is soon revealed to be a metaphor for Lily's lethal cranial tumor. As Lily's condition worsens, Teddy faces off with the "octopus," engaging it in a battle of wills that takes on epic proportions. An exceedingly authentic, keenly insightful, funny and ardent tribute to the purity of love between a

pet and its human. (adapted from Booklist and Publisher's Weekly).

Request a book, a CD-Audiobook, an e-book on the Libby app, or an e-audio on the Libby app.

OUR AUGUST DISPLAY

The Borrower Services and Reference staff invite you to

check out a book from our fiction and non-fiction staircase displays in

Room 201 - Large Print/New Books.

DID YOU KNOW?

Still Using the OverDrive App?

Switch to Libby!

OverDrive app users, changes are coming! The legacy OverDrive app will soon be discontinued (in early 2023), and you’ll need to switch to Libby, OverDrive’s newer reading app. You can still use the legacy OverDrive app for now, but we recommend upgrading to Libby today. It’s easy to use and full of fun features. https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/switchtolibby