It is a challenge to keep our staff motivated and connected when many are working from home, working in staggered teams that don’t interact, or social distancing when they are together. Midweek Message arose from a feeling of disconnection. Our staff live all over our 1-million-square-mile county. Many are telecommuting, and those who are working in our facilities are masked and working to serve our patrons remotely, via curbside pickup or in support functions like finance, IT, etc.

Midweek Message is a light-hearted weekly YouTube broadcast aimed at library staff, featuring announcements, a Q&A with our library director, shout-outs from staff members to each other, trivia questions and more. Our library was slow to adopt video, and this, along with numerous video storytimes and programming, has made a positive impact on how we communicate, internally and externally.

Most of the weekly videos garner as many as 200 views, a significant figure given that we have about 200 staff. Our employees say that it brings us together, when circumstances are keeping us apart. The program has a small and dedicated team, but full credit goes to our Digital Literacy Specialist Bridget Hayes, who conceived the idea and handles the recording and editing each week.