Recognizing Excellent Staff

I love my job. And I enjoy the people I work with. Their energy and enthusiasm keeps all of us "teamed" in a successful way.

Recently, we lauded all staff and noted those who reached key milestones in their educational life. It is amazing what growth comes from taking a simple class or program, and what synergy it can create. There is some amazing energy that filters among class participants. Our library has been lucky in that our staff brings that positive synergy back to their daily jobs. They listen, network, make suggestions, and point out programs or ideas they gather. New ideas come forward and we all learn a little more and benefit, as does the community.

Thank you Homer Library Staff
Staff step up on a daily basis to do their best for our community. Each person who enters our building gets that personal interest and customer service touch. I read a quote that simply stated: "Walk in our door, and you are our friend." That really applies here at the Homer Library. And it is due to an exceptional staff who simply, "get it!"

New graduates pictured at right:
Pam Lira - BA, Lewis University
Bonnie Lewandowski - LTA, JJC
Carol Wroblewski - LTA, JJC
Carol - MBA, University of Phoenix
Mary Kate Milarczyk - BS, GSU

Congratulations to all of our wonderful staff.
More photos are on our flickr site here.

Synergy
Synergy is the Illinois State Library Leadership Program. This innovative year long program (I am a 2005 graduate!) offers a truly wonderful learning experience. It is life-changing.

Congratulations to Sara for attending and expanding her knowledge base. She is a true leader!

Pictured at left: ISL Synergy Graduate Sara McCambridge, Assistant Director

Resolutions for 2007

We all make them. With the New Year we pledge or promise ourselves to achieve or do more. Set a goal, be specific, and above all be accountable - those are the basic steps of a resolution. Accountability is perhaps the single most important element for success along with taking the time to reflect, review, and get input. Be true and honest in your assessments. If you don't have a community or team behind you, create one. And be accountable to them. Creating a team effort for support is essential.

The Essential Ingredient
Libraries must take these steps, too. We are accountable to the communities we serve. Directors, managers, supervisors, clerks, pages, trustees, volunteers - all of us are "the team" behind making customer service and library goals successfully happen. Like the ingredients in a recipe, we are all necessary.

And what is essential in this recipe for success? Your input. Increasing the community and library dialogue is key; we need your thoughts, comments, and feedback. We want to be more convenient, efficient, and to find ways to serve non-library users. We invite your participation in this process of self-examination. We need your assessment of what we do, and just as important, what we don't do, but should.

Be Our Partner For Success
As we continue our long range planning I urge you to provide input. What do you need, what do you use, what services or programs would serve you well? Maybe you don't use the library. Tell us why or what would specifically help to increase your library visits. We bring the best to the Homer community; help us to expand this role. Your input, conversation, and collaboration will keep Homer Library connected to the community. With your help we will reach out to new users in new ways, and stay vital. Be our partner for success.

Tell me what you really want or think the library should be.
Pick up the phone or email me...as Nike notes: Just Do It!

Library Named "Business of the Year"

Energy. Excitement! So much of both at the recent Homer Township Chamber of Commerce Annual Installation Dinner where your Homer Library received the Chamber's Business of the Year award. It was a sweet and proud moment. There are many event pictures at the Chamber's photo site here or on the Library's photo site.

This has been a year of new partnerships for the Library. Most notably a unique collaboration was initiated with the business community through an outreach grant. We provided free programs, expanded our great collection of business materials, brought in national authors as specialty speakers, offered business computer classes, and made direct library contact with our local businesses. It was a year of firsts for us, as we initiated this "personal touch" campaign and began a new dialogue with a great group of customers in our many businesses.

Grant Funding - How it helps!
Grant funding allows us to go that extra mile for our customers, to try new and innovative programs, and to provide more in collections and specialty programming. Grants supplement our tax-capped budget. With grant support we have initiated programs that funded family art projects, supported children's literacy with reading to therapy dogs, developed a new collection of Polish and Spanish materials, purchased a bookmobile, and much more. I have written 30 grants that the library has been awarded over the past six years and other staff grant writing successes add to that total. It's an exciting time to be a librarian. Great community services that we envision do come to life!

Tell Us What You Want...
We seek your input and are listening to you - our customer. As the Library continues to evolve and change we strive to be user-centered and keep the library essential and meaningful to you. This means encouraging your participation and dialogue, reaching out to new users in new ways, and creating community. We need your communication to ensure the library remains vital and convenient. As our management team undertakes long range planning we continue to ask: What do you want to see here? How can we make the library a destination point for you? How can we assist you better in the area of remote access? What programs, collections, services, etc. would you and your family benefit from? Help me keep the user at the heart of library services - community conversation is essential for this to happen.

What is your vision for the future of library services?
I'm listening, so let me know.

Giving Back to the Community

Periodically we offer incentives to our customers to encourage the return of library items and assist the community. Through the month of November the library offered a Food For Fines program and accepted donations of non-perishable food items. Customers got an added bonus of not only helping out those less fortunate but also eliminating overdue book fines, which were waived with a canned donation. Thanks to your generosity, to date we have delivered more than 40 boxes of food!

Help a Women's Shelter or Support Our Troops
In December we will accept two different types of donations to assist a women's shelter or to send items to our troops. Donations of sealed, new personal care toiletries such as shampoo, soap, body wash, etc. will be given to families in need at a local shelter. Or you can donate from a more extensive list available at the library and those items will be sent to our soldiers.

Community work and involvement says much about us. Take a moment to give thanks for your blessings in life and then please bring a donation to the library to help us assist others.

Peace Poster Winner!

Congratulations to Kimmy N!

The Peace Poster is an annual Lions International contest. This year the theme is "Celebrate Peace." The library partnered with Lions Club to promote the contest this summer. We are so pleased that Homer Glen resident Kimmy N., a sixth-grader, was selected as the District winner. Her entry will now compete in the State finals and possibly the international finals. Kimmy drew a colorful illustration depicting children of the world united in peace circling a dove. Colorful flags of many nations adorn the poster (pictured at right). We congratulate Kimmy on her wonderful artwork and wish her success at the state and international finals.

Kimmy says, "Peace means happiness around the world, like one big happy family."

Lions Club International is the world's largest service organization. Our Goodings Grove chapter is one of 46,000 Lions Clubs and has done wonderful things for the Homer community. Their motto "We Serve" translates into successful community partnerships and services. The Goodings Grove Lions Chapter sponsors an annual senior harvest fair, eyeglasses for those in need, diabetic awareness day, free vision screenings and hearing examinations, and provides visual disability supplies to local schools. Recently our library was awarded funding from the Lions to purchase large print keyboards for all of the computers in our public internet room. Customers love them!

This is my second year as an officer on the Goodings Grove Lions Club Board. Making connections with community organizations, serving on their boards, and donating time in my community has strengthened the support and increased the visibility of the library. Our missions are surprisingly alike. We, too, serve our community well.

Did You Know? Lions Club is the only service organization in the world that has the distinction of holding a seat with the United Nations.