Community

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Welcome to this episode of County Conversations,
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a St. John's County podcast program to keep the
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community informed and help build community trust
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and understanding. of St. John's County program
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services and events. On this episode of County
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Conversations, we have Deborah Gibson, our director
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of the St. John's County Public Library System.
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Deborah, welcome back to the program. Thank you.
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We've talked a lot about the library system and
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all the great free programs and events and services
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that the system offers, but none of it could
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happen without the community. You not only serve
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the community, Deborah, but you get support from
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the community. So let's jump right into it. Friends
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of the Library. Who are they and what do they
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do and how important are they? The Friends are
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critical to us. They are the fundraising and
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enhancement and advocate arm of the community
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libraries. We have seven non -profit organizations.
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I'm tickled to tell you that we are the only
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library in the state of Florida that has a Friends
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of the Bookmobile. We have that name and we're
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sticking with it. bring to the table all the
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friends groups enhancements in our local libraries.
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I did jot some numbers that for last year of
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2025 they expended on our behalf over $350 ,000.
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For this year of 2026, we're only in July, and
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we've already exceeded $700 ,000. $700 ,000 going
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back to the library? Yes. Or they have done projects
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on our behalf. So one of the recent examples
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would be the children's renovation at the Ponte
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Vedra Library. That was solely on the donation
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and support of that Friends organization. We've
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had similar this year of 26 with the Bartram
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Trail Friends of the Library and some new furnishings.
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We've had the same example set at Anastasia Island
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as well as the Main Library. We can't do what
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we do without their support, and it's not just
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the financial support. They provide volunteers
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that help us with our programs. They also have
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their own individual book sales. Most of them
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have a separate bookstore. All of those funds
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go back into programming or... providing some
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sort of community assistance for that local library.
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And that's invaluable to us, as well as that,
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again, is our advocacy arm. So if they're not
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happy about something, that's the group that
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then has the power to go back to the community
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or the commission and be able to advocate on
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our behalf. An example of that would be recently
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we wrote a grant on behalf of the new Nakatee
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Library. project and we had over 2 ,000 letters
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of support for that project from the Naukati
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residents in just a couple of weeks time. I mean
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it's impressive they have their own phone trees
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and networking and they they do it. Each of them
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has their own monthly newsletter so they're promoting
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our events as well as their own events and then
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keeping people apprised of some of those other
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services and programs that are coming up. As
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you're building this network of patrons and supporters,
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Debra, you and your staff are also creating these
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little hubs of literacy. Examples are the book
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clubs that you have. Each location, not the bookmobiles,
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but the freestanding branches, have their own
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book clubs, and some of them have more than one.
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Staff handle some of that book club discussion.
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Others are done by volunteers, whether it's their
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FOL or just a community volunteer. We also have
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some that meet offsite. So if you can't get to
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the library, maybe you can get to the local restaurant.
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We've done that at the Hastings Diner. We've
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done it at the Internet Cafe in Bartram. And
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there's a whole other audience that hears the
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time for them. Those are the hub of our adult
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service, kind of like story time. This is that
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literacy, literature component. that we can provide
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to the community at least once a month. Speaking
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on the theme of community, Deborah, another service
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that your library branches offer are opportunities
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for groups, although they may not be officially
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part of the library, they can meet at the library.
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You have room rentals. We do. We are pleased
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to say that this year we implemented an online
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reservation platform. And so that was pretty
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time consuming for staff to be able to take and
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then update and modify all those reservations.
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So now you can go on our website and there's
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a button there for all of the information about
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how to reserve a room. And then it will tell
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you, no, I'm sorry, those are taken. Choose another
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date. And that information then goes to the branch.
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so they can kind of batch process those reservations.
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And it's all done online. It tells you exactly
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what you need to fill out any insurance certificates,
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those kind of things. Here's the hours. Here's
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the size of the room. Here's what's available
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in the room. So you know everything going in.
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And we do that for community organizations. We
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do that for individuals. We have HOAs that use
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us, as well as, as I mentioned before, the supervisor
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of elections, that they have to go through the
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same. process. We have town hall meetings, commission
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opportunities that they use the meeting room.
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So it's another avenue for someone who might
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go to a function in one of those rooms but not
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really have explored the library. And it's a
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good reminder. In some cases, you have to walk
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through half of the building in order to get
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to the meeting room. So, oh, look at all this
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other stuff they have there, too. You mentioned
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Friends of the Library earlier and how extraordinarily
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important they are and how they not only give
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back and time and tidings and and volunteerism,
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but there's volunteer opportunities beyond, if
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you're not a member of the Friends of the Library,
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those that maybe have retired back to this community
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and want to give back to the community they live
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in, or maybe students that have some... service
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hours. There's volunteer opportunities at the
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library. There is. We touched on the Friends,
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but in addition to that, we have everything from
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age 14 up is able to volunteer. Teens, of course,
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would need parental permission to do that, but
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there's plenty of opportunities for them to help
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us. We have opportunities with shelving, with
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helping with programs. It's really customizable.
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We have folks who work back in shipping and receiving
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and so they're the ones that open the boxes and
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help process new materials for us. One of the
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things that I also jotted down was this past
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year we have over 200 volunteers in the library
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system and they provided over 10 ,000 hours of
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service to us. Amazing. irreplaceable. I don't
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have enough staff to be able to do that. So that's
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an opportunity for them. You mentioned shelving
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and some other services. We talked a lot about
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the library front of house, but there's a lot
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that goes on back of house, kind of like a restaurant.
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There's some folks back there repairing books
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and things of that. Talk a little bit about those
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folks. We have staff that do that as they can,
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right, in the branches. And a lot of that has
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been also training volunteers to help us with
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book repairs and mending and those kinds of things.
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We have folks who will help us with donations,
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right? Here somebody left five boxes on the front
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porch. You know, can you go through this and
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see what we would want to keep and what the perhaps
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the Friends bookstore or book sale would be interested
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in. There's a lot of things that they can do
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and honestly things that might have been their
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expertise in their previous career path or past
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life and tell us what you want to do and we'll
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try and make it happen. You talked a lot about
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the Friends of the Library and other people in
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the community giving back to the library, but
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it's the library giving back to the community.
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Tell our listeners about Fines for Food, what
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that program is about. We run that in partnership
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with the HHS food closet every year, and it runs
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during holiday time from early November through
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the end of December. And it really is a way for
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people to clear out the fines on their record.
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And it's $2 for every non -perishable item that
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they donate that's waived off of their record.
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and it's a way for us to replenish the food pantry
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for the HHS clients. We have such great support
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in the community that people will bring us their
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extra shopping and drop it off. Or they'll say,
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here, take it off someone else's account. I don't
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have a fine. Exactly. I don't have anything to
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pay back. Pay it forward is just incredibly helpful.
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We also partner with St. John's Cares. And so
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we have trees, angel trees, in each of our locations
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during the holiday season. And that's the same
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way. I think this past year of 25, we must have
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replaced the trees, the tickets on the trees,
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like four times. And the community will do both.
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Here's the food for fines, and here's, you know,
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I'll bring a bicycle. I'll bring a bag of dog
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food for the animals. It's just amazing what
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they will do. And part of that is volunteers,
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in a sense, but not the time commitment of, I
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got to come every week for three hours, but here
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I can help out. In these episodes of County Conversations,
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Deborah, you took us from 1874 to 2026 with your
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stories, pun intended, of all the things the
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Library does. You've got about 30 seconds left.
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Anything else you'd like to let the listeners
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know about the great things that the system does
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in you and your staff? I think the best reflection
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of that support from the community is if you
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go to our website and you click on the link for
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stories in the stacks, we have some phenomenal
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stories of folks who have used our services.
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or the availability of our staff or our space,
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and then have, again, paid it forward with either
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donations or just we've helped them change their
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life. And this is really the way for the community
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to see the value, not only of the library card,
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but the library services in general. You had
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a patron find her adoptive mother in stories
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in the stacks. Great video series. Exactly. It's
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worth it if it brings a tear, right? Or two.
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Yeah. Well, Deborah, thank you so much. much
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for having a conversation with us on County Conversations.
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We really appreciate your time. Thank you. For
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more on the St. John's County Library System,
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check their website out at sjcpls .org. That's
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sjc for St. John's County, pls for publiclibrariesystem
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.org. We'll see you again on another episode
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of County Conversations. You've been listening
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to County Conversations with Director of Public
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Affairs for St. John's County, Wayne Larson.
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If you'd like to keep the dialogue going, like,
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share, and leave a review on our social media.
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For news, events, and resources, make sure you
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visit our county website, sjcfl .us. That is
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sjcfl .us.