March 30, 2020 -- PPL @Work
News & Updates...From Our Homes to Yours
Dear Patrons, Supporters and Friends,
On behalf of everyone at PPL, I want to share our wishes to you and your loved ones for good health and wellness during this challenging time. You may recall that today, March 30, was to be our greatly-anticipated Grand Reopening. We WILL be back, and better than ever, but in the meantime,we want to let you know that PPL is open virtually and continuing to provide programs and services to all -- thanks to YOU and the support of everyone in our community -- even during this unprecedented time. We are here for you, because of you! Enjoy these updates on what the PPL team has been up to over the past two weeks.

Be on the lookout for more updates and wishing you and your loved ones good health,

Jack Martin (& Daphne, Cecil & Gretel)
PPL Executive Director 
Library Education Programs Have Gone Remote
Our Education team has been hard at work transitioning the majority of our classes, programs, and services for adults and youth to remote. Some examples include developing training packets to bring to our Pivot the Hustle participants at the Department of Corrections, teaching Rhode Coders classes online and personally delivering laptops and hotspots to students in need, collaborating with FabNewport to help ensure maker space learning continues with Carl Lauro Elementary School students (our PVD Young Makers are even 3D printing masks for first responders!), offering in-demand career coaching services via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, providing virtual technology support and instruction, leading the state’s 22 adult education organizations in transitioning to online learning, creatively providing ESL instruction, and much more.

Here's a special message from Lina Bravo, PPL's Coordinator of Workforce Development & Technology Programs
Making More Available Online
From additional book lists to access to new and expanded online resources from PPL , AskRI.org and elsewhere, we’re working to enhance the Library’s electronic and digital offerings.
 
PPL staff are working behind the scenes to help enhance and ensure increased access to AskRI.org resources and to be able to offer some of PPL’s in-library use only resources remotely:
  • Patrons may now access Foundations Directory Online from home during this national emergency. As more resources come online, we will update!
  • Our Information Services team is using this time to order more ebooks to ease the hold backlog for ebooks across the OSL consortium. 
  • We are providing reference support by email and will soon resume our phone reference on a limited schedule. 
  • We are planning some great virtual programs and plan to add more instructional content to the website.
  • For a limited time, Kanopy is offering free access to more than 30 films in its collection and unlimited access to its entire Kids Collection. Films can be streamed via ppl.kanopy.com or by downloading the Kanopy mobile app for iOS, Amazon Fire, Android, AppleTV, Roku or Chromecast.
Virtual Programs, Exhibitions and Collections
We’re working on some great virtual programs! Tune in to our Facebook where we'll be celebrating National Poetry Month with a Poem-A-Day feature beginning April 1 , including an invitation for everyone to share!

We have invited our cadre of  Creative Fellows , past and present, to take part in an online series of programs / presentations that will focus on how artists/creators navigate uncertainty, solitude, and reflection in their creative process. We hope to start presentations in early April, with a plan to feature all six Fellows throughout the month. Stay tuned - details coming soon! We are also curating additional collaborative programming for virtual viewing, and are reworking offerings on the 2020 Exhibition & Program Series topic of “news” - now more relevant than ever - for online presentation in May.
Our Collections staff has been busy working on a number of projects including readying our library catalog so materials will be easier to find in the new library and adding new topical subject guides to the Library’s website to help people start their research and find resources.

We’re excited as we look at ways to help the community document this moment for the future and will be getting more news out on that very soon; and we’re still sharing our collections on social media ( Twitter , Instagram , Blog ). This is your chance to get a peek at the personal library shelves of real librarians as well as a first look as some exciting new collection additions!

We have hundreds of magazines in our magic collection, and we’re cataloging them online for the first time! Also, we’re finishing up the first exhibition to be mounted in our brand new exhibition gallery. We can’t wait to let people in to see it in person, but we’re also planning to share it online.
Great News!
We’re extremely grateful that the Library’s dedicated donors and friends are reaching out and continuing to pledge their support during this extraordinary time. Thank you all.
 
We’re also very excited to be participating in Rhode Island’s very first 24-hour statewide giving day -- 401Gives Day -- this coming Wednesday, April 1 (4/01 :-D). . We humbly ask that you consider making a donation of any size to PPL on 401Gives Day, and please consider making a donation to your other favorite local nonprofits as well. We are all striving to continue to serve our community during this crisis, but we can't do it alone. Our work depends on YOU -- as does the work of all the nonprofits you love -- now more than ever .
 
Don't want to wait until April 1 to show your support? No problem! All we ask is that you consider giving online for the time being - online donations are easier (and faster!) to process while PPL's Development Team works from home. And thank you, thank you, thank you for your generosity. You, truly, are a hero to us .
Let’s Stay Connected!
We’ve been reaching out to our community more than ever through social media to share resources, news, and information, as well as updates on new and enhanced library services, locally and beyond. Be sure to connect with us at provlib.org and on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and YouTube .

Another great online resource...
Global Storybooks is a free multilingual literacy resource for children and youth worldwide. Read, download, toggle, and listen to a wide variety of illustrated stories from the African Storybook and other open sites.
Final Renovation Work
For the time being, final building renovation work continues! We're thankful that the labor unions have asked and the Governor has so far allowed construction jobs to stay open, for obvious economic reasons. There are only a handful of workers finishing up at PPL, so safe social distancing is completely possible and the 6 feet apart rule is in full effect. As soon as we can, we'll be working to reschedule our Grand Reopening and celebration events!
 
Thank you, again, for making all we do possible! I am truly inspired by the care, dedication, creativity, and resourcefulness of the PPL team as we have pivoted our programs and services to meet the needs of the moment, and am moved by the resilience and strength of our entire community. We are in this together, and we will get through it together. 
In case you missed it...a special message from Jack Martin before PPL began working from home.