Current Status of Bartow Public Library March 2020

With all that is happening in the world right now, one thing we need to do in Florida and the United States is to stay at home and avoid public places. A public library is as public as you can get, so my city of Bartow's library was ordered closed to the public back on March 17th. Sorry I haven't mentioned it until now.

(Staff is still coming to work because there are off-desk tasks we still need to perform to keep the library functioning. Until such time that the city orders us home if the COVID-19 outbreak gets any worse)

We still have a number of online resources available through our library webpage at https://pclc.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/bartow and we're trying to encourage people to use our Overdrive eBook access.

As for my previous workplaces Pasco County ( https://pascolibraries.org/ ) and Broward County ( https://www.broward.org/Library/Pages/default.aspx ) they're closed to the public until further notice, too.

Stay healthy, everybody!

Just a Weird Observation About Working at Bartow Library

It's just, in the three years I've been working at Bartow Library as the Reference and Computer Tech Support Librarian, I have gone through four boxes of business cards. In the years that I've had company business cards - since 1997 or so with Broward County up to 2003, up to 2006 at University of Florida, and between 2006 to 2008 with Pasco County - I barely finished off the single box of cards each place had given me.

It's a difference in the audience now. Previously, the business cards were just for professional courtesy between fellow librarians for conferences and conventions. At Bartow, it's the public who take the cards so they can call back later to schedule One-on-One sessions to teach them how to use their computers and tablets, or fix any glitches in the software/operating system (I don't have the tools or supplies to fix hardware, sorry).

Still, it just seems... nicer, to be able to say I'm handing out so many business cards like this.

Now, if I can just hand out my bookmarks promoting the ebooks I've got on sale at the same rate as my business cards...

Harry Potter and the Tiring Weekend

This is it. Tonight is the release of the final book of Rowling's series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The bookstores will be madcrazy with kids and families grabbing up copies right at midnight. And libraries, you might ask? Hudson Regional library is holding an all-nighter party. Other branches in the Pasco County system are waiting until Saturday morning to do our own. Centennial Park included. We're going to be holding games and contests, serving chocolate wands and pumpkin juice, and holding a door prize giveaway of three copies of the book itself. Oh. And I'll be going as Hagrid. Poor mum spent three weeks sewing the costume. We'll be posting pics as soon as available. What does this all mean? Well, for one thing, we're gonna hafta find a new fantasy series to geek out over... ;)