September is also the time when we are saying farewell to our Client Services Librarian, Kait. Kait has been with Shortgrass since January 2021 and has become a familiar face in our member libraries. During her tenure at Shortgrass, she provided great programming support, advocacy and various templates for training materials and social media posts, and so many other library support services to member libraries. She will be missed.
Shortgrass purchased a new delivery van in August, and we celebrated by launching a design contest to help us decorate the van, open to youth 18 and under around the region. We have received some fantastic submissions and cannot wait to reveal the decals, created by young library patrons throughout the system. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner and the final "moving art display"!
We are pleased to be partnering with Medicine Hat Public Library, Brooks Public Library, Redcliff Public Library, and Bassano Public Library to host Indigenous YA author Jen Ferguson for an author tour in September. Jen is the author of two award-winning YA books (The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, and Those Pink Mountain Nights), with her third book A Constellation of Minor Bears due to be published September 24th. It's been a while since we hosted an author tour, and we thank Stephanie at MHPL for organizing the logistics around these events!
Finally, I am very excited to announce Shortgrass' new Librarian, Library Development Services (formerly known as the Client Services Librarian position): Sadaf Hakimizadeh. This announcement is particularly exciting, because it has been a very long time since we have been able to have a staff member move from one position in the organization to another. Sadaf started with Shortgrass in January 2024 as a Technical Services Assistant, and as such brings familiarity with our system. Her experience of working in Alberta libraries outside the Shortgrass system provides her with a great background to take on the Librarian position. You can read more about Sadaf in the Library Development Services Update, below.
It's going to be a very busy season in our region!
See you around at your local library!
Petra
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