DPL Blog

Hey! This is Mallory from the Children’s Department. I am writing to share what I have been doing while at home. I miss seeing everyone at the library and all the great conversations we have. I hope you are all doing well, and finding the silver linings in this strange situation.

I am playing lots of board games and dice games with my family. My grandpa’s favorite game is Farkle. My new favorite is a thrilling mystery game called Chronicles of Crime. This board game includes a VR element for exploring crime scenes, which is totally cool.

My mom and I have been watching the TV series A Place to Call Home, set in 1950’s Australia. This series is about a Jewish nurse returning from post-war Europe, and getting involved with the drama of a wealthy family. It was great to find something we can enjoy watching together. My mom loves historical dramas like Downton Abbey.

I’ve been working on some art projects, too. I like to make my own pins using shrink plastic, UV resin, and glitter.  I sketch out my design first then trace it onto shrink plastic with permanent marker. After I bake it, the design shrinks smaller than I could ever draw, but keeps all its details. If you want to learn how to make them look for the artist Polymomotea on Youtube. He has some great tutorials that walk you through this process and other resin projects.

I wanted to see how the reading quest dragons would look if I added shading, and ended up making a small tutorial about shading and highlighting. It gives them a lot of depth, but I think I will be sticking with the flat colored version for now.

My mom and I started working on a diamond painting. We kept seeing ads for them and finally gave in. We work on it a little every day. It is simple, therapeutic and sparkly. About every few minutes one of us feels compelled to comment on how sparkly it is.

How I keep social. Most of my friends are playing Animals Crossing New Horizons. We chat and send each other gifts in game, and bury items all over our islands for scavenger hunt fun. With seasonal events like cherry blossom viewing, and Bunny Day there is a lot to do.

I’m listening to the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. I am almost finished with book 2, Scarlet. The Lunar Chronicles casts fairy tale characters in a futuristic world with cyborgs and a Lunar plague. I use my library card and the Libby app to listen to audiobooks for free.

And I have been enjoying the company of my snuggly kitties Carmello and Custard. It is nice to have pets to chill with and take my mind off the stressfulness of our current situation.

Mallory Thompson

Librarian

Want some really good recipes that only take 6 ingredients?  Try the Six Ingredients with Six Sisters’ Stuff cookbook.  Most of the recipes use things that are readily available on your shelves. This is a great cookbook to have during this time of people staying at home and are not used to cooking. Check it out on Axis360!

 It had so many recipes that I wanted to copy, I purchased this cookbook.  This is the second of their cookbooks that I have purchased.

There are a total of 9 Six Sisters’ cookbooks.  Some also have craft ideas in them.  I highly recommend all of them.  Check them out when we reopen the library.  You won’t be disappointed!

-Paula Fawcett, Adult Services Manager

The day was Wednesday, March 11, 2020. I was at New Dawn Retirement Center getting ready to present one of my travel programs about Italy, when the activities assistant came up to me to inform me that they would not be allowing visitors until further notice. Since I was already there and set up I was allowed to go ahead with my presentation. That is when the severity of this Covid-19 Corona Virus really set in.

When I got back to the library I was told by one of the Outreach Department’s volunteers that Hennis Care Centre also was implementing a no visitor policy. I knew then it was just a matter of time before all of the care facilities would be closing down to visitors. Since the majority of my job as the Outreach Librarian centers around these facilities, I knew things were going to be changing.

Before I left for the day, I was informed that the Outreach Department would be shut down until at least the 1^st of April. 

On Monday the 16^th we had a meeting at the library and were notified by our director Jim Gill that the entire library would be temporarily closing. Since I knew that we could not make any deliveries nor do any programs, so I asked if I could work from home. The managers and a few of the rest of us would be doing the same.

This is something that I have embraced.

Some of you may not be aware but, I do travel programs at all of the care facilities and the Senior Center. I put together the PowerPoint programs myself, doing all of my own research. This is something that takes some time.

Now it appears that I have an abundance of time.

Normally I make one new program every month. So far I have been able to finish the program about Canada, create a new one for Fiji and start one for Peru, and today is April 10^th. Since we’ve been shut down, I’ve also learned how to record PowerPoint presentations, so everyone can see my Madagascar presentation on YouTube! I have also been giving Liz Strauss, my supervisor, daily fun facts about different countries for her to post on Facebook. That has really been fun. 

We have since then been told we will be shut down through April. Oh, to think of all that I can accomplish between now and then!

This disease has affected all of us in some way or another. We may not be able to go shopping or have coffee with a friend, or visit our loved ones, but what we can do is make the best out of a bad situation. I hope that you are all able to get something positive out of the changes that have been happening around us.

I know that I have. 

-Linda Toohey, Outreach Librarian

After 21 years in public libraries I thought I had seen it all.  In a matter of days, I went from having a meeting with my Board of Trustees on the remote possibility of our library closing to planning a meeting with my staff to explain that a closure was indeed happening. 

My fellow library directors can attest that a book could be written on the things you were never taught in library school.  You know what I mean—things like capturing a bat flying around the Children’s Room, or that vague thing called facilities maintenance. What do we really know about HVAC systems?  In 2008 we went through the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent recession. 

You can add crisis management during a pandemic to that list. Today we are dealing with “that which should not be named,” ie, COVID-19, or better known as the coronavirus.  I will call it Voldemort.

To be honest, I thought that my colleagues who were sweating the coming of Voldemort were a bit extreme.  Turns out I was the one who was wrong. Today, not a library in my region is open to the public. Unbelievable. I have found myself over the last four days hunting for toilet paper, stocking up on bread and pasta and other foods, checking my supply of Tylenol, and preparing for the worst.  I am not a prepper.  I am not Chicken Little.  I will tell you that my concern began to deepen last week when my son Noah, who was home on spring break and who is a freshman at Bethany College in West Virginia, received word that he was not to report back to college.  And then the schools closed for three weeks, and they canceled the NBA season, and then Voldemort visited Tom Hanks. Seriously!  Yesterday my family and I drove down to Bethany to get Noah’s books and things from his room. The campus was deserted and it was sad and a bit haunting. If you have ever been to Bethany it DOES look a lot like Hogwarts. We stopped in Wellsburg at a Kroger to pick up some things and the place was a tad too busy for a Sunday morning. People had that look in their eye that made me uneasy.  They were stocking up—just like us at home and it was all unsettling.  So we made it home and I was of course glued to my phone.  Checking Facebook, CNN, and watching the Governor’s press conferences. I felt anxious and fearful.  Then, I heard my youngest son say, “Dad, we are going to go and play Wiffle Ball out back.” I said OK and pondered the next dreaded news update. 

Then it hit me.  There is NOTHING I can do about this right now but go outside and play Wiffle Ball with my three boys.  So we did. For a few hours I kicked Voldemort to the curb and we ran and laughed and played ball. 

Monday, we had a mandatory staff meeting to explain that we were indeed closing.  Shock was evident but I also noticed a collective sigh of relief from many. Like many of you, I spent the last few days answering emails and phone calls from media outlets.  I had to explain to our staff, as well, why library leadership made the decision they did.  Looking into their eyes, hearing their concerns, and knowing their hearts, I know we made the right decision.  I care for these people and want them to be safe.  I care for our patrons who give us purpose.  I care for our families and those who depend on us.  

And then the magic happened. 

We began to brainstorm together how we can change our services to meet the needs of our patrons during the closing. From keeping our Storytimes going using Facebook, to boosting our WIFI signal so people can use their laptops and phones in the rear parking lot, to using our Little Free Library to house the daily newspaper, to shifting materials purchasing to various digital platforms—we worked together to make our situation for the community a tad bit better.  That’s what librarians do!

 I mentioned at the meeting that Denny, one of our longtime patrons, was in on Saturday and how he just got word from the doctor that he is cancer free.  He said, “You know, people ask me how I do it. How I deal with six straight years of cancer. Of getting bad news and good news and more bad news.  They ask how I just keep going.  They say, ‘Denny, I could never be that strong. I couldn’t do it.’ I tell them, yes you can. You never really know how strong you can be until you are in that situation-that you are stronger than you think.”  Seems fitting for dealing with Voldemort, wouldn’t you say?

Towards the end of  the meeting, Paula, our Adult Department Manager, shared how much it hurt to know that many of our regular patrons would not have a place to have fellowship, to read the daily paper, and to have someone to talk to.  She shared Hebrews 13:2, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”  And right there another staff member named Robyn-who just started the week before- offered to make calls to our elderly regulars to check on them and to reassure them that we WILL open again.  We work in libraries because we care for people—our patrons and each other.  We know that what we do is more than just a job; it is a chance to be an angel for someone.  And as long as we are doing that, Voledmort can never win.

Jim Gill

Director

Dover Public Library