Northwest Grand Opening
Submitted by dmorris on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:03
Release Type:
Press Release & System News
I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the success of the Northwest Library grand opening which was held yesterday. From the initial planning of the building several years ago to the unbelievable day we had yesterday, library staff across the system made it happen.
Special thanks have to go out to the incredible IT staff led by Jimmy and Anne who worked tirelessly to get all of the computers and other technology up and going; to the entire Mmaintenance staff who helped during the sorting process and then moved all of the books to the library and helped anytime they were asked to get the library looking ship shape; to the business office staff who helped with the purchasing and installation of the furniture, in particular - John Rahal; to the security staff for working to get the cameras up and running, to Todd Olberding for his tireless work throughout the entire project and to JR Day for his help throughout as well.
To the Marketing department for the grand opening giveaways and the posters throughout the building; ; Candace for helping with the appreciation lunches and the grand opening; Library ops; planning and training for their assistance for many months; HUM for helping to recruit and hire all of the employees; materials selection for buying books for a very long time and helping to shelve and organize them at the end; cataloging and processing for getting them ready for the shelves; outreach for all of their assistance in lining up programming, and to everyone else that I probably should mention that I did not.
And Finally to the entire Northwest Library staff led by Julie Ballou. They were amazing! Kudos to them for being farmed out across the system for months while we waited to get possession of the building and then to their work for the last 8 weeks, sorting the books at the sorter; packaging them and getting them ready to go to NW and then shelving all of the over 150,000 materials. And then yesterday to be deluged by over 1200 people who checked out over 1500 books in less than 5 hours. Great job to all of you.
This project has taken many years and my heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who helped to make it happen. I know I have left some names out; but I appreciate all the work that everyone has done throughout the project.
View photos from the Grand Opening (you must login prior to viewing the photos)
Also, we would like to record your thoughts on this special day. Use the comment section below to let us know what you thought of the Northwest Library Grand Opening! You can also shout out to those who were integral to the success of the day (and days leading up to it).
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Comments
I thought the day turned out wonderful. The library looked awesome and you could tell that the customers thought so too. Even though I thought there would be a large crowd, there were even more than I expected. I looked down the residential street across from the library and there were cars parked along both sides for as far as I could see.
I had the pleasure of assisting customers with the Express Checkout for the first couple of hours as the Northwest staff were extremely busy issuing new library cards. It was so fun to show customers how the Express Checkout worked and to just visit with them about the library.
A couple of stories:
I had an elderly lady using a cane that I assisted with the Express Checkout. She was very nice and thanked me for my help. About 10 minutes later, here she came again. I went over to see if she needed assistance and she said no, that she had just come back to make sure she remembered how to do it so she could use it when she came back to the library.
There was also a young boy (probably about 10-12) that had obviously used Express Checkout at another library as he definitely knew what he was doing. He had his card written on a piece of paper and immediately went to the "Forgot card" screen and keyed it in. He then went and renewed all his materials before checking out what he had in his bag. Then, he went back to the renewal screen and checked to see if he could renew them again. I thought he was done then, but no, he went to the Payments screen and selected every item. At that point, I stepped up and said "I don't think you're wanting to pay for all those you just checked out." He said "No, I just want to see how much they're all worth!" He then logged off and went on his merry way.
It was so exciting to see how excited all the customers were about the opening. I can't tell you how many people told me that they had been waiting for this library for years.
For me, it made all of the work worth it just to be able to interact with the customers and see how much they were enjoying their new library!
It really was a joyous occasion. A library can make all the difference in the lives of a community and I think we are going to see that happen here as it happens at every library around the system.
There is a saying that goes "When the tide rises, all boats float." I think that happens everytime we do something new in this system, whether it's remodeling a building, putting in new carpet, new paint on the wall, or adding new building to our list, system-wide we all feel a sense of pride.
Kudos to all that made this happen and to the new Northwest Library staff.
Finally made it to NW last Saturday. It is a beautiful building!! I particularly like the little "Cone of Silence"-type study rooms, and all the signage and skylights, and well, everything!
But I do have one concern: the little barriers in front of the handicapped parking look a bit dangerous. As i was walking toward the door, i noticed that the aluminum finish on the barriers blends right into the white pavement. And they are just the perfect height for a person to slide a foot under, trip and face-plant right into the sidewalk! Can they possibly be painted, or maybe have some kind of vertical signage attached? I am a total klutz, and can picture myself knocking out a bunch of teeth or generally making a spectacle of myself there one day, arms windmilling and books flying everywhere... /shudder.
The barriers can be seen at :20-:24 of the City News -- Patience Latting NW Library video.