As 2024 draws to a close, we at NPL are feeling grateful for SO MANY things. What are they? Here are a few:
- Thanks to our wonderful Library Board, the Normal Public Library is asbestos-free! AND it's getting freshly renovated to boot. They've shown in the most material way that the health and safety of staff and patrons, as well as the quality of our library experiences, are extremely important to them. Your work and care underlies our success.
- The good folks of our Foundation Board have ensured we'll be opening with a new Makerspace. What a present to our crafty and hands-on communities of all ages. You can bet we'll have exciting programs to offer in this new space, too.
- The hard-working people on our abatement, design, and construction teams have been putting their top-notch skills to work for us. We know the job has been alternately hot, cold, dirty, expected, and chaotic at times. We appreciate your expert handling of what is NOT in our skillset.
- Our fantastic community partners for space and programming have volunteered so much time and so many spaces to ensure that we can 'keep on keepin' on' with our programs and services even while our main building at 206 is closed. It's a list of amazing partners way too long to capture here, but: we are truly grateful for your spaces and faces in every respect.
- Our director, John Fischer, and our management team, continue to lead us through a whole new way to 'library' in the midst of construction, our temporary library annex, and some "Huh, how about that" curve-balls. We're making visible and steady progress inside 206 and across the street thanks to their planning and management of this project.
- Our fellow staff members have used ALL their skills to offer the community the fantastic programming, quality materials, and especially sterling service that everyone has come to expect. Whether we're trundling materials across College Avenue in a wagon, designing programs in new-to-us spaces, or finding effective ways to print at the Annex, our staff has proven that we're up to challenges large and small.
- But our greatest gift: Your goodwill. You and the rest of the NPL community have supported us wholeheartedly through the shifts, planned and unplanned, that we've made between buildings, activities, and services during this time. We know it's hard to wait a little longer for holds on materials you are SURE are right across the street. Or to find the new temporary location for a beloved program. Or to bear with us as we try, and try again, to print something you've sent from your phone to the Annex printer. Through it all, you've shown us that we're all in this together. And that, friends, is the greatest gift you've given to Normal Public Library this year. Psst -- it just might be our favorite.
Thanks for everything, all of you. We literally couldn't do this without you.