Good morning! I’m a little slower getting out to the writing shed today, since I had a WorldCon panel leading into the board meeting last night; some board meetings are done by 8:30, but this one went ’til 10.
We’re struggling with finding ways the library can support the parents and the schools during e-learning this fall (and hybrid learning down the road), and there was much robust discussion of possibilities (and challenges), which took time. The staff are going to go away and find out some more things, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to do at least a little bit to help.
It’s not easy, though, because of course the librarians are neither certified nor trained in the work that schools and daycares normally do, and there are a lot of state regulations involved (meant largely for the protection of the children), so the best option would be for us to support community partners that are already set up to do this work. So we’re figuring out how we can do that.
The board has another meeting next week, our annual strategic planning meeting, and we’re likely going to have to make some hard decisions about what projects we’ll need to put aside or push down the road, in order to effectively work through the pandemic. Tough, but needs to be done.
I want to take a moment here to say that the staff has been doing a terrific job through this, and I’ve been particularly impressed with our director, David J. Seleb; every time I’ve come to him with a question or an idea for what the library should do during the pandemic, I’ve found that he’s already been working on that aspect for months, and has plans in place.
There’s always more we can do, of course, and I hope we can support him and the rest of the staff well in finding innovative and imaginative solutions to our current crisis needs.
I’m going to post a few photos now, easing into the day — I’m starting writing slower than I would’ve liked, but I’m unscheduled until 3 (faculty rep assembly meeting, followed by Wild Cards panel for WorldCon). I could, of course, be attending virtual world con through that whole time, but I’m not even going to look at the schedule until I get the day’s writing done.
The roses are doing their second flush now, a smaller bloom that happens later in the summer. Not as dramatic as the first glorious explosion, but still lovely. This is David Austin’s English rose, Crown Princess Margareta.
