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.
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).
