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Mandel Public Library: Tour this gem of West Palm Beach! · Inside West Palm Beach

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[Music]
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Welcome to the City Center
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Podcast. I'm Jerry Marcello.
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We have a very special podcast for you
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today. We've left the TV18
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studios and we are on location
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here at the Mandel Public Library. We're
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very excited to be here.
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This library is unique in
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so many ways. We're going to be exploring
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all the things that make
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this place different, special,
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and the jewel for the city of West Palm
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Beach. Joining me today is
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Lisa Hathaway, the director
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of the library. Lisa, welcome. Thank you.
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I'm happy to be here.
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Well, we're happy to be,
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we're excited to be here on our first
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location shoot for our
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podcast. Listen, Mandel is,
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the public library here is so special and
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so different. People
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don't realize that it's here,
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that it has all the features that it has.
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What do you think makes
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this library, what it is,
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so unique for the city? Well, first, I
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would like to give a shout out to my
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staff. They are actually
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what makes this place so unique. They are
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so invested in this
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community and the patrons that
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visit our library and they are the brains
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behind a lot of the amazing
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programs and opportunities
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that we provide for the community that
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come to visit this library.
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So any day you could walk in
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and there could be 10 programs going on
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from your typical story time
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for children to yoga for adults
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or learning how to create your own
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podcast. So we try to really take a look
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at our community and
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understand what their needs are and what
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their wants are. And that's
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what we try to fulfill here
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every day at our library. Now this
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beautiful building is what
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about 10 years old? 10, 12 years
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old? About 15 years old. About 15 years
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old. But the library has
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existed here in West Palm Beach
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since West Palm Beach existed. Yes, since
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1895. This library started
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off in a small reading room
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in one of the first churches in the city,
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I believe off of the tourist
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street. And then from there,
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it was called the Little Free Reading
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Room. Then it moved over to
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the Palm Beach Yacht Club.
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And then in 1962, an actual modern day
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building was built on the
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waterfront. And now we're in this
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beautiful facility, two and a half times
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larger, to really provide the
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items that people would love
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to see in a public library. When I first
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came to West Palm Beach as a
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young lad, oh probably about
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1970, I went to that library on on on uh
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Clamatus. It was cavernous,
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it was very big, it was a nice
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facility. But there was a sense of you
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went there to get a book and
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then you left. And then you
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brought back your book. You didn't
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actually spend a huge amount of time
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there. It was just not that
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sort of facility. I think that's what
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makes this place so special.
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Yes, so what we are trying to
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do here at our library is it's more than
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books. We want to create a
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collaborative environment for
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people. I think many of us know,
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especially during COVID, kind of we're
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caught at home on our computers.
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We want to bring back people back into
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the community. We want to
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create shared experiences
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for individuals. And maybe it's coming in
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and checking out a
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bird-watching kit so you and your
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family can go to then a state park.
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Everything we're doing is trying to
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create shared experiences
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for individuals that have some connection
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obviously to literacy
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as well. And that's our
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goal is to bring the community together.
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You mentioned the
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pandemic. Did it have a negative
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effect on people coming? It did. Well we
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had to be closed for a
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little while. So we pivoted as
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library staff and created new ways to
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bring the library into
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people's homes through YouTube,
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story times, dropping off books to
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people's homes, and then
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creating something called a
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Mandel Mobile, which is our green minivan
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on wheels that goes out into our local
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parks and communities.
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Does that still exist or something? It
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does still exist and we're at three of
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our local parks here
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in the city of West Palm Beach. And so we
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learned a lot from COVID
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and now because of that we're
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doing more outreach. We're doing more to
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go into the community as
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a library and COVID was
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somewhat inspiring for us because now
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we're doing more I feel as a public
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entity for our community.
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You use the term pivoted. You basically
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sort of recreated how
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people use the library during
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the period of time and there have been
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benefits because of that.
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Exactly. Long lasting. Very long
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lasting. Now we have a family social
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worker here at our library so individuals
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can get the additional
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resources and help they need just by
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visiting the library. So maybe you're
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coming in to check out a
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book and you're struggling. Guess what?
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We have a social worker here that will
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speak to you and help
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you connect to the resources. We provide
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free diapers here at the
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library. We have built a lot
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of collaborative relationships because of
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COVID. We have the food bank here. We
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have career resource
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here. Just so many opportunities for
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people to come into the library as a
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community gathering place
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to check out their favorite book but then
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also maybe solve a problem
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that they have in their life.
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With the idea of the community gathering
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place as you describe it,
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is that something that is
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pervasive through libraries throughout
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the country? Is that
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something special here?
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I would like to say it's something
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special here but as librarians, I'd like
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to call us superheroes,
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throughout the country we are really
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embracing helping our
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community above and beyond literacy.
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And so libraries are seen as safe places
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for people and so because
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we're safe, let's have the
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resources here for them. Almost like a
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one-stop shop. Wow. Okay so
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we are here on the fourth floor
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of the library obviously. There's three
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others. Tell us a little bit
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about what people will find
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when they come here. What sort of
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features, what sort of services can they
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find? So when you walk
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into the library on the first floor it
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was kind of designed around a bookstore
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if you guys remember
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bookstores. And so you walk in and all of
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the newest books are
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available for you to check out
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as well as an amazing coffee shop,
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Solento's, Best Coffee in West Palm
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Beach. If you head up to the
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second floor that's our teen floor where
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our teens can hang out. We've got an
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amazing technology and
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innovation center where you can learn how
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to podcast, you can
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convert your old VHS tapes,
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you can create anything that you would
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like. We have a 3D printer
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as well. Our studio is there
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for programming, art programming
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specifically, where you can
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take free art classes and then
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there's career resources available on
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that floor. And let me pay
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you a little compliment here.
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We visited your podcast booth and that
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equipment feels like that
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four or five years ago. You guys
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are on the cutting edge of really jumping
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in on that. That's something that's
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really special about
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what we do here. Thank you. Again, back
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to staff. They know what the
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trends are. They know what our
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community wants and we reached out to our
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West Palm Beach Library
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Foundation and they found the
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funds for us to purchase a podcasting
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booth. If you go to the third
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floor, if I can continue about
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all the floors, that's our children's
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floor, which is the most vibrant space
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where we let children
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be children. It's not a shushing floor.
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It's a floor where kids
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can experience hip hop. They
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can experience their own yoga classes,
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story times, homework help, and they're
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surrounded by some of
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the best librarians that you can find.
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And then this floor, the
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fourth floor, is our grand reading
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room. And this is where you can find the
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bulk of our collection. You
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can talk to our professional
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librarians that can help you with
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research or they can just help
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you find a phone number you're
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looking for. And this is just a wonderful
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quiet space that gives you that
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traditional library feel,
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which is what libraries still want to
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provide to our public, but we
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also want people to have fun.
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Right. And folks at home can see over our
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shoulder how beautiful
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this particular space is.
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It's actually more beautiful when you
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come here, guys. So if you get the
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chance, absolutely come,
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enjoy all the floors, but fourth floor is
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absolutely spectacular.
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Beautiful views, these
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two huge cathedral style windows here on
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either side, just a really
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amazing place. Thank you.
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So you've mentioned events. Events is a
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very big part. It's how we
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bring people into the library
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and get involved. And I just wanted to
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show this to folks. I'm
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going to go ahead and show
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this on my camera here. This is a booklet
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for every month that
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the library has. All their
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events are listed here and this is
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available to folks at home,
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right? Yes, definitely. You can
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actually access it online. You can come
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into the library and get a
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copy, but we average probably
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close to 150 programs a month. And again,
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I've talked a little bit
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about it, but we have free
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art classes. We have yoga, we have baby
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story time. We have, like
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I said, learn how to do a
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podcasting. We've got book talks with
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lectures, really about
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anything you can think of. We try
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to hit here as well as we have started
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introducing something called library of
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things. And this will
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be rolling out on our website soon, but
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we have things like ghost
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hunting kits. You want to go
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find a ghost in your house? Guess what?
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We have a kit you can
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check out. I talked about bird
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watching kits. We actually have a GoPro
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kit. We have a ukulele you
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can check out. We even have
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fishing poles that you can check out
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because we want people to experience
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maybe things that they
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will never get a chance to experience.
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And you can check it out here and it's
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all completely free.
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That is fantastic. So, all right. So
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we've mentioned getting more information,
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going to see the website. Tell us about
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the website. How do people get there?
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Okay. So our website is
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WPBCityLibrary.org. Just go on there.
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It's very easy, very interactive.
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That's actually where our card catalog
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is. Member card catalogs back
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in the day. Now they're online
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and you can search for your books there.
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You can search for all of
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our programs there as well.
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You can even book a study room from our
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website as well to use at the
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library at your convenience.
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Or you can give us a call at 561-868-7701
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to speak to a real
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librarian, which is not always easy
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in this world, but you will get either a
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phone call back or they
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will answer you live. And then
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you can always walk into our library.
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We're at 411 Klamadah
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Street. We've got great parking.
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We will validate your parking for free by
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coming in and using the
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library. So don't worry about
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parking. We've got you covered. That is
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fantastic. A place has
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everything. You can rent or you can
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check out a fishbowl. Well, not yet, but
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that gives me a good
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idea. Yeah, I mean, it's just,
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it's just fantastic. Let's take a moment
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and give you the mic and you
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have an opportunity here to
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say what you feel is the most important
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message to deliver to people
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at home. What would you say
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to folks about what you do here and what
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your staff does every
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day? So I think what's really
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important to understand is libraries are
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the cornerstone of our
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democracy, our society. We
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are here as a safe space for you to find
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the most important and
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valid and correct information.
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But we're also a space for you to come
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together as a family, as
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friends, or to meet new people.
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So staff, we have a unique job to kind of
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hit all of those key
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areas and it's so much fun.
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It's inspiring to see the people coming
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in to use our library. It's
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inspiring to see the change
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that comes from them. Maybe they came in
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and we updated the
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resume and now they have a job
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or they've created their first video log
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and for their new business.
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We want to inspire people to
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come here and be the very best that they
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can be. And that's what we
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strive for every day. And I
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know all public libraries, that's their
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role. We're here for people in any
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capacity you can think of
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quite frankly. That's fantastic. And what
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we've talked about today,
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and we can hear the train
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just across the way going and we're right
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downtown everybody. It's a
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really great, vibrant place to
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be. And the library is a focal point for
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that vibrant quality. We
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see people coming in and out
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all day long enjoying the things that you
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provide to the city. It's
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truly a jewel. So thank you to
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you and to your staff for everything you
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do here at the Mandel Public Library.
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Thank you. And thank
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you for joining us for this very special
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podcast from the Mandel
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Public Library. My name is Jerry
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Marcello. We'll see you very soon.