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The Open Book is out today!
What is the Open Book Newsletter? It provides updates on Library branches, upcoming events and programs, service highlights and how the Library is evolving to meet your needs.
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In this issue you'll find information about author Brendan Kiely's program Reckoning with White Privilege, The Past is Prologue: Visual Biographies with artist Patti Streeper, a word from the Johnson County Library Foundation, and a story about our featured event, the Writers Conference!
This Week at the Library
This week at the Library, you can join us at:
Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like.
Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!
Teen Takeout – Tuesday, Nov. 1, All day
Sign up for the Teen Takeout book and get a free new-release teen book each month! Every month features a different theme, and the book is yours to keep. Registration runs from 1st to the 15th of every month (until full) at jocolibrary.org/teen-takeout.
Intro to Sewing – Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
If you have never used a sewing machine, or just want to brush up your skills, this is the perfect workshop to develop or refresh basic machine sewing knowledge. During this in-person event, participants will learn to sew a seam, a hem and a button hole using a modern sewing machine. Our sewing machines are available for use after the class session, and anytime the MakerSpace is open, or BYOM (Bring Your Own Machine) if you’d like to learn how to use it. Registration is required.
The Past is Prologue: Visual Biographies – Friday, Nov. 4, 7 – 8 p.m.
The Past is Prologue is a bimonthly program that highlights topics often left out, glossed over, or misrepresented in our history books. For our November topic, artist Patti Streeper will detail her artistic process when choosing subjects for her visual-biographies series.
Library Lowdown Quiz Showdown Part II
Our tribute to game shows continues with Library Jeopardy and Wheel of Fiction! Whad'ya know about the Library? Join former Jeopardy auditionee, Austin, as he does such a great job hosting that even Alex Trebek would be proud. Charles and Dave battle in a head-to-head Library trivia tournament of titans! Then, we bring in in Collection Development Librarian Beth and Reader's Advisory Librarians Gregg and Helen. They spin the wheel, but will it be fortune or failure as they are given book descriptions from our catalog and they're asked to identify titles? Spoiler alert, we chose really hard ones!
It's the Library Lowdown Quiz Showdown Part II!
BTW, if you missed Part I where we play Bluff the Librarian and Library Password, whad'ya waiting for?!
Rose Crane Retires, Thankful for Library Career and Colleagues
In more than 25 years doing crucial materials handling jobs for Johnson County Library, Rose Crane has seen constant change but has thrived and always kept learning.
Now it’s time for new adventures. Crane recently retired, feeling grateful for her colleagues and for a very fulfilling career.
“I have enjoyed the people. I’ve worked with really great people,” Crane said in an interview. “Our Library, especially since COVID, is changing quite a bit and they are always looking for ways to be a better resource to the community.”
Crane grew up in Kansas City, Mo., and frequented Kansas City’s old downtown Library as a child. She graduated from Northeast High and took classes at Penn Valley Community College before marrying and becoming a mom.
Crane remembers reading a lot to her kids, who loved the Beatrix Potter books and the Frog and Toad series. She took her children to Johnson County’s Cedar Roe branch “because it had a great kids’ section.”
When her youngest son was in middle school, Crane began working outside the home. Eventually she spotted a newspaper ad for a part-time courier/page position at Johnson County’s Central Resource Library. She applied and was hired in August 1996.
She started out sorting materials but was so fast that the Library added processing/labeling duties.
“It was active. I was learning a lot about the Library and the materials we had and how to prep them for the public,” she recalled. After a few years, she became a full-time Lead Processor.
In the early 2000s, Library automation technology was changing fast and many processing and cataloguing tasks were outsourced or re-defined.
Crane eventually was named Acquisitions and Processing Supervisor, overseeing the work flow from ordering to payments to receiving shipments to conferring with vendors. It’s a big job, involving nearly 150,000 items per year.
While the Library staff was ever changing, Crane and a core group of coworkers bonded and became friends over the years. They included Jason Barnes, now Bibliographic Services Manager; Richard Baumgarten, Liz Schneeberg; Janet Woolsey, Mary Nicometo, Marie Lewis and the newest members, Alyssa Matzat and Dawn Brumbley.
While Libraries nationwide deal with book-banning challenges, Crane says Johnson County Library has always had a philosophy of providing access.
“This is what we stand for,” she said. “We don’t judge.”
Crane and other materials-handling professionals were briefly furloughed when COVID struck but they returned to work in May 2020. While Central was closed for renovations in 2021, they worked in a challenging warehouse environment but managed to maintain effective operations.
“We kept reminding ourselves, we’re in this together. It’s all temporary,” Crane said. “I think that’s a mantra that we have even now, because there have been so many changes and everyone had to learn so many things.”
She anticipates a busy retirement. Her granddaughters, ages 2-7, are a lot of fun. She will help with her church’s children’s ministry. And she plans to make her garden in Overland Park “a paradise.”
For her co-workers she leaves words of encouragement. “Keep up the good work,” she said. “So long as you roll with it and have some patience and grace for one another, it’ll all work out.”
Atlases Document 150 Years of Change
It’s another grand Throwback Thursday where we encourage you to time travel through Johnson County's history. JoCoHistory is a collaborative presentation of the history from the Johnson County Museum, Johnson County Library and many JoCoHistory partners. Explore historical photographs and documents about the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas, from the 19th century to the present.
Collection spotlight: Historical Atlases of Johnson County
About this collection: Historical maps and narratives that trace the boundaries of land ownership and the development of townships and cities. Use these atlases to discover how Johnson County has changed over the last 150 years. These high-resolution images allow you to zoom in to view small details.
2022 Elections
Several Johnson County Library locations are polling places in the 2022 Elections due to their central locations within the County. Whether you are a seasoned voter, or voting for the first time, we have all the latest information for you! Read on for the where's, when's and how's of voting!
Overview of important dates for voters in the November 8th General Election:
- Oct. 18, 2022 - Registration Closes - Last day to register
- Oct. 19, 2022 - Advance Voting by Mail Begins
- Oct. 22, 2022 - Advance Voting in Person Begins
- Nov. 1, 2022 - Advance ballot application request deadline - 5 p.m.
- Nov. 7, 2022 – Advance voting in person closes
- Nov. 8, 2022 - General Election - Polls open 7 a.m. - 7 p.m
Questions?
Latest JoCoHistory Blog Explains Johnson County's Poor Farm
OVER the hill to the poor-house I’m trudgin’ my weary way—,
I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray—,
I, who am smart an’ chipper, for all the years I’ve told,
As many another woman that’s only half as old.
Over the hill to the poor-house—I can’t quite make it clear!
Over the hill to the poor-house—it seems so horrid queer!
Many a step I've taken a-toilin’ to and fro,
But this is a sort of journey I never thought to go.
The story from the above 1872 Will Carleton poem “Adversity” was once a common tale for those living with poverty or disability in America. Anyone who could not find self-supporting work – due to age, physical or mental disability, dependent children, or other factors – and who had no family to care for them would find themselves facing the prospect of the poorhouse. Originating in the United Kingdom, poorhouses were institutions designed to employ the poor and disabled in exchange for food, housing and healthcare. As the British Empire spread, so did its ideologies; Colonial America’s larger cities featured poorhouses and, as the Union formed and expanded, so followed poorhouses or – as was more common in the U.S. – poor farms. County governments in each state oversaw poor farms where residents, then referred to as “inmates”, were expected to complete farm labor and housework for room and board.
By the early 20th century, most Kansas counties had a poor farm. Johnson County’s poor farm was built on a 160-acre plot at the corner of what is now 119th Street and Ridgeview Road in Olathe. While its specific origin date is unclear, it opened in the mid-1860s with 8 residents working the farm. With the assistance of a small staff, they grew corn, oats, black sorghum, hay potatoes, cow peas and apples. They raised hogs, cows and chickens. During its tenure, the farm housed an average of 15-40 residents, though times of widespread hardship saw higher numbers.
In 1909, a visiting representative from the Olathe Mirror newspaper described the farm as clean, well-furnished and comfortable. Of its then twelve residents, it was said: “Some of these are too aged to be of any assistance and three of them are blind, so that as a whole, the inmates instead of being a help either on the farm or in the infirmary, must be helped.” This was true for many farms across the country. The circumstances leading people to poor farms often made them unsuitable for the hard labor of farm work. Over time, many county-appointed superintendents found it more financially viable to rent their farmland out, using the proceeds to provide for their residents, rather than rely on them for farm output.
As management for poor farms was largely unregulated, quality of life varied greatly among different counties and states. Some superintendents received salaries while others made only what the farm earnings would allow. Ideologies differed too, on what poor farms were designed for, with some treating them as purely charitable ventures while others sought high profits – leading many residents to experience mental and physical abuse, overwork and unclean and inadequate surroundings. Residents of poor farms sometimes shared one razor, toothbrush and wash basin among themselves. Unsurprisingly, disease spread quickly in these places. To justify such conditions, superintendents would claim they did not want to provide what they saw as luxury items, believing that providing comforts would prevent residents from wanting to leave poor farms – but most never had the ability to leave, regardless of want.
Poor farms were ubiquitous for over a century in the United States, but population and economic changes made the already shaky system untenable in the first half of the 20th century. The 1929 economic crisis that ushered in the Great Depression led to overwhelming need for poor relief. Poor farms lacked funding to care for their already existing residents and were unable to take on further economic burdens. By 1933 almost one-third of all Kansas farmland was tax delinquent, and the country was in crisis. In 1935 Congress created the Social Security Act and, with it, federal financial support for the elderly, disabled, dependent mothers and children, and unemployed. These changes, along with a series of housing reforms, allowed many who would have faced poor farms to live independently. Three years later, nearly a third of all Kansas poor farms had been repurposed or closed entirely.
As methods of social relief changed, so did public opinion. Poor farms were increasingly viewed as inhumane and outdated, and public thought turned toward newer institutions designed to provide for people on an individual level – nursing homes, mental health facilities and schools for deaf and blind students. Many former Kansas poor farms were converted to nursing homes, community centers and hospitals. Operating through the end of World War II, the Johnson County Poor Farm became a senior care facility before the land was repurposed for government use. Gone but not entirely forgotten, the plot where the farm once stood still provides services to the county’s many residents; it now houses the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, MED-ACT and the K-State Research and Extension Office.
-Sam S., Johnson County Library
This Week at the Library
This week at the Library, you can join us at:
Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like.
Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!
Online Bilingual Storytime / Hora De Cuentos – Monday, Oct. 24, 10 – 11 a.m.
Tune in to our flexible online Storytime featuring stories, songs, fingerplays and movement activities on Facebook Live. Fun for the whole family! Visit JoCoLibrary on Facebook and be sure to ‘follow’ us to get notifications when we go Live. You do not need a Facebook account to watch our Storytimes. Due to copyright laws, live Storytimes will not be available to watch after they conclude.
Facebook Live Book Party: Winter Book Buzz! – Thursday, Oct. 27, 7 – 8 p.m.
Join librarian Gregg Winsor in a presentation on Facebook Live where he will discuss some of the hottest titles that will be hitting the shelves of the Libraries! Looking for a great pick for your book club? What to know what the next bestseller might be before everyone else does? Or maybe you’re just looking for a good book to read? There will be something in this presentation for everyone. Be sure to join us!
One-on-One DNA & Genetic Genealogy Help – Friday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. – noon
Visit the Johnson County Genealogical Society at www.jcgsks.org to schedule an appointment. A volunteer will contact you by email to set up an in-person or a Zoom session link for you prior to the scheduled date.
Teen Book Swap Café – Saturday, Oct. 29, 2 – 4 p.m.
Refresh your bookshelf and bring a stack of books, audiobooks, and advanced reader copies of books (ARCS/galleys) to swap with other teen readers at the Central Resource Library! Get to know your community as you grab a snack, chat, and trade new or lightly-used books. This program is trade only, no selling will be allowed. Limit of 10 books per person to trade. Registrants will get a free tote to carry all your new books.