Guest: Adrienne Perry CEO Omaha Public Library Foundation on Making No Cents with Tom Sena

I had a chance to grab a few minutes with the incredibly busy Adrienne Perry. My friend has had one hell of a year culminating in the very recent opening of the new Omaha Public Central Library.  We sat down in this new beautiful library on day one. I have a lot of links to get to here. Once you listen or watch, you’ll understand what these are all about. Enjoy! 

  omahalibrary.org/locations/central/  

  omahalibraryfoundation.org  

  substack.com/@adrienneperry  

https://youtube.com/@maddieashman?si=p4lEmYwTpdT7Jsxn

https://youtu.be/Rhlsy6dETic?si=T7reA1atsiO2c4I4

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Make a nice dance with Thomas Cena.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

All right, we are here with uh my pal Adrian Perry, uh, who has got this new amazing position here at the Omaha Library. What's what's your title? You are the CEO of the Omaha Library Foundation.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

So we are the private fundraising arm that keeps everything free and accessible here within the OPL system.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Okay, awesome. So in your office out of the central, the brand new Omaha Central Library.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I got a groovy office. Yes, we're here in the new central library. We're sitting on the mezzanine floor, and there's a lot of activity happening. As you can see in here, we had an extraordinary response to opening day. So it's nice. We have a little bit of a bird's eye view up here from the foundation office wing of the Central Library.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

I love it. Uh yeah, great view over here. Hopefully you could kind of see that. I'm gonna walk around later and get some more shots of just the whole place. Yeah. Throw that in also. But man, this is so cool. So I thought what I would do is talk. I first want to kind of talk about, let's first want to talk about you and everything that you have going on before we even get to the library, and then we'll kind of finish with the the cool stuff, the new cool stuff in the library, which is very cool. So when did first of all, what did you guys open officially?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yesterday, on April 19th. So we officially started yesterday. So this is what you might call a true day one. We had modified hours yesterday, but today is the full, it'll be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, and there are people waiting to get inside already. So the study rooms are full. There are people milling about, there's people coming in. Thankfully, you found parking because the parking is is lively.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

In the new underground, I actually went, I didn't even know that that existed. So there's surface parking, then there's underground parking. All right, we'll get to all the library stuff. Let's first let's oh, we have we guys have a nice little soundtrack going on. Uh, this is the Omaha Central Library, baby. It's a place for everybody. This is absolutely. I mean, I was downstairs waiting in the lobby. I just was I was like, I could sit here all day and people watch. Yeah, I mean, it's such an awesome energy right now, especially. But so, Adrian, how in the world did you come? And you were just recently, did you get appointed this position as a position that you uh applied for, accepted what? How did that work?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, so I applied. The library foundation has existed for about 40 years. So since in 1985, OPL and the Board of Trustees worked to create a foundation. So the foundation is a separate entity from the Omaha Public Library System. OPL is public, it's a city department. We are a private foundation. And with Central Libraries build and within the growth and change that OPL was experiencing, there was a desire to see the foundation grow and stretch alongside that. And as a result, the um there was a national search done for a CEO of the library, of the library foundation. I saw the posting, I thought, now that is a cool position to raise money for the library system to be part of Central's opening. Um, so I applied thinking, nothing's going to happen. Um, and then it was a long interview process, probably about four months. And then I was, to my really great surprise and humbleness, was offered the job and accepted and began December 1st.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

That's amazing. I mean, and I mean, credit to you. You did not come from, I mean, you've been in the private retail world for I know a long time.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

21 years. Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Um, so to, I mean, first of all, good for you for for like throwing your hat in, and then amazing, you got the gig.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

I mean it a friend said, wow, that was kind of a plot twist. And I was like, yes, I think that was. I I had a wonderful, I thought I had the the job of my lifetime at Borsheimes where I had grown up. Uh, I started working at the store when I was 24 years old. Uh, they gave me so much grace and latitude to learn. Um, and I thought I I thought that's where I would retire. I thought I would stay at the store always. And I probably would have if this job hadn't appeared sort of magically, and the board was willing to take a chance on a non on a non-nonprofit executive. I've served on nonprofit boards, I have worked with nonprofits, but I have never run one. Um, but it is also uh just me. I am the entire foundation. So we are a pretty, we're pretty small shop. Uh well, this will likely grow in the years to come, but uh we operate pretty leanly and efficiently so that all of the donors' dollars or as much as possible go to the public library, which is the institute that they're supporting. You can't give directly to a city department, so that's where the foundation exists to help steward those dollars. When people want to support the library, they come through the OPL Foundation.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Is this a uh is this common in other cities?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Is that where we Yeah, yeah. Most library systems, library systems can be their own nonprofit, they can uh they can be a city department, they can, there's a lot of different ways to structure a library system for its public funding, but ours is is decently common. It is a city department, it is not a nonprofit, and then there's two entities that serve to support it the foundation and then the friends of the public library. Many large library systems have both of these entities. Friends is a little bit more grassroots, uh, all volunteer driven. Foundation helps to augment the private or the public money through private philanthropy.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

So you said that you are the foundation.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Is that I mean, is there a board associated with that then? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

So OPL, so there's there's a in a true literary style, there's like a couple characters to map here. You have OPL. OPL is governed by the board of trustees, which is appointed by the mayor. You have the foundation, which is has its own nonprofit board, also is involved, but is a governance board. Some of those board members serve in both capacities. So some board members are both foundation board members and trustee board members, but not all.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Okay, so going back to the to your Borsheim's life, I mean, which it really was. I mean, you were there.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

That's how I that's how we know you exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Um and through the salon. But um, so you came into there, you were what'd you say in your 20s? I mean, so you were young. Tell me about that, tell me about your life there, that lifeline, and where what what you ended up doing there, what position you had, and all that.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

So I I had a long journey at the store. I started as an entry-level marketing specialist. So I had worked one job out of college and then um was living in Milwaukee and decided to move back to Omaha. And I uh thought there a mother of a friend's sorority sister was the sales manager at Worschimes, and they said, Oh, there's this, there's a bridal registry coordinator position open, and there's a marketing specialist position open. And I was like, I'll apply for both. And I ended up getting slotted into the marketing specialist role. I am I am an English and public relations major by academics. Um, so this was new, so I learned I learned on the job, and then I continued to stay in marketing for the next 12 years at Borschimes, and then also began to slowly manage other components of the store, one being the store's philanthropy. So Borschimes gives away money to nonprofits every single year. And from early on in my career, I worked with that program and helped evolve and change the program as the store changed and evolved and as the fundraising landscape changed and evolved. So we thought we could find some efficiencies, but also more collaboration if we all put sales under one executive manager. And I stepped into, I volunteered and stepped into that role. Um, and then really, and then moved to the sales floor and really became hands-on with the inner workings of how these different distribution channels worked, maybe where there was some friction points that we could change. Um and that turned out to really be fortuitous timing because then you then the world shut down and it was like, great, all the plans you have, uh redo them because now the world looks differently.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And that was a the silver lining of that challenging time was it gave us a lot of freedom and flexibility to say, well, we wanted to make change, let's make some change. And we and we did that. And so, and with a great, with a really great team on the sales floor to do that. So for me, probably the through line of my career has been marketing, has been communications, um, has been a bit understanding why people buy or what are the levers that a business can or cannot control to help people along their customer journey? Um, and that's really what informs this work now, too. How do we how do we plot what the donor journey is? How do they experience the library system? How do they donate if they're not heavy library users, but instead really value access to information for everybody? How do you explain the difference between private funding and public funding? You know, I think those are things where I find it it resonates. I also think you know, here we are at Central Library, and it it feels a little bit like a sales floor. You have people coming in, coming out, they're looking for something, they might be here on their, they might be having the best day, they might be having a really tough day. And then the the team here at OPL is there to interact with them to help them find something, maybe to provide a resource. Um, and hopefully they leave better than when they got here. And so that that feels a lot like uh that feels a lot like my past life as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

I was gonna ask you, so I mean, obviously you're here, you're office tier and everything, but it is but your what is it, your purview is I mean it's it's for all the Omaha libraries?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

For all the the entire system.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

And how many do you have? I mean, so since I want to quiz you quiz me. You just started, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

I know, it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

It's like, all right, how many libraries are there?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Um there's but Central is the 13th branch.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

So they're up until Central opened, we have 12 branches. All libraries are hyper-local, so that means their communities love them. The team around the community around Willa Cather loves that branch, the community around Swanson loves that branch, and so you have to be cognizant, too, that each library has a has a different atmosphere and a different way that patrons experience them. And so ensuring that the funding is appropriate for each one and and is robust is critical, regardless of the size of the branch. There's a 14th branch planned in the coming years, and that will be in the far uh southwest corner of the county, about 208th and F Street. So then, as as we get our sea legs with central, that will be again, we're here we are in the middle of the county, probably closer to the eastern side of the county, but you have making sure that the library patrons in all areas of Douglas County have a branch that they can access.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So I assume you came into this position with a lot of stuff that was in place that have been in place for years. I'm sure some of that stuff was like events that that the Omaha Library does or you know has been doing forever. Yeah, yeah. Uh, but then are you coming? I mean, is it part of your deal to try and come up with new ideas, new events, all that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

New funding sources, which may or may not include events, different ways to broaden the reach in the community so that when someone says, What should I do with my year and donation? Right, and they think I love the Nebraska Humane Society, I'm gonna give them money there, or I love my children's school, I'm gonna donate to the school. We can I want I want the library to be in that same mindset. Sure. The library is kind of like Dolly Parton. Everybody loves the library, everybody loves Dolly. Absolutely, and so you you want to be able for people to from the marketing side, I want them to think about if I love the library, I know how to support it. And I think there's just some disconnect between those two thoughts that I'm working to nudge up a bit better.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

I I'm learning things now. You so you did you grow up in Milwaukee?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

No, I grew up in Omaha. I went to Marquette for college and then ended up staying there for about a year after college working for a financial asset company. Okay, and then decided uh I think maybe I I wanted to come home to Omaha. I did not think that I would stay first. I did not think this would be a permanent move, but it turns out it was pretty permanent.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Yeah, that yeah, that happened to me too. Um, my sister went to market. She's she's older than me, but and she stayed there. She loves Milwaukee. Um, so a couple of things I I think I've seen, I see some symmetry now, hearing a little bit more about what you're doing and all that with, like you said, Boreshimes, the sales. I'm I assume you know you had a long list of of you know reliable clients at Boreshimes. I could see some symmetry with foundational uh donors and things like that, with some people that you have already dealt with in business and all that kind of stuff. And also I know that you personally are a voracious reader. And that was though that was the first day I was just like, oh, okay, well, she's just now she's just going headlong into the whole you know literary scene, you know. So how did have you always been that much of a of a reader?

SPEAKER_01 14:09

I've been I've been a pretty big reader, and uh there are the family I my family is a big reader's, and so reading was something that was baked in. I remember going on family trips, and my brother would be sort of chastised because he will have packed like seven hardback books in his luggage, and my parents were like really seven. I gotta tell you, when I went to Vietnam a few years ago, I packed 10 books in my luggage. So this is like a Perry, a Perry family, uh Perry family tradition. So I have always been a big reader. Um when my girls were little, when they I when they were born and that first five years of their life, which I think we as parents can call like the blur, right? You don't really know you're just you're just trying to get through it.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Hold on for dear life.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Right. And if you try to read, you're like, I'm just this book is gonna fall on my face. So I didn't read for a period of time. So when I when I started back up, um I felt like I had some catching up to do. Uh, but I love it. It's mainly the way I relax. I had a friend uh recently ask me, like, what do you do for fun? And I was like, well, I mean, I read a lot. And and then I developed, I I sort of wanted to, I wanted to do more with my reading. So then I began to write Instagram captions about the books I was reading each month. Um, and then it found it seemed like that was helpful to people, and they'd be like, I love your recommendations. So I thought, well, maybe I can expand upon that. I have more to say. And so I started about a year ago a Substack that essentially is like book reviews. I'm writing a book report here in my 40s for my 45 Substack subscribers, but it is fun. It helps, I think for me, it helps thread the connections between what's happening in the world, what's happening in my life, what's happening in these books, and what thematically are we discovering together.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Well, I'm a fan of your Substack also. And I also your Instagram posts. I'm always interested to see what you're reading. I love and and here's the thing I'm a I I feel like I'm so I am such an observer of life as a and not that I don't do stuff, but I mean uh I'm always drawn to the like there's runners and the whole all like ultra marathoning, all that kind of stuff online. I'm drawn to that. I don't run at all. I won't I I would love to I I envision someday becoming that, but I I don't know if it'll ever happen, but I for whatever drawn to that, I'm also I'm equally drawn to readers and literature. And I've got another uh I've got another good friend that puts out a regular list, uh, she puts out a yearly list of her books and movies and all that kind of stuff too. But I that's why I really started paying attention to your your um do you do it like monthly?

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I do it monthly.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

So I I try to on Instagram and on substack.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

You got it. Okay, you got it. So I try to, it helps me also remember what I have read and what I thought about it. And so um, but I try I generally aim for about three books a month. And sometimes I read more, sometimes I read less. Um, I try not to be too too neurotic about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It seems like more. No, you are pouring through these books, which I'm always impressed with.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

And this year I'm trying a new thing. I'm trying to exclusively rely on the library system for my books. So not buying books at all, and then trying to. I took what I spent last year on books, which was a little over 200 bucks, and I'll read, and I'm like, I will donate that amount of money to the foundation, and then spend the next 12 months navigating the system as a patron and exclusively relying on borrowed books, um, which is its own kind of unique challenge, you know, because you think, well, I want to read something, I want to buy it right now. And with the library, you have to have a bit of delayed gratification to say, okay, if this is a popular title, it could, it could be a longer waiting list. But then it comes up and all of a sudden it's like a surprise. You're like, oh, my book is ready. And it, so I have a books on hold that I'm waiting. As they come up, I read them. Sometimes I got I shockingly, I got too ambitious. I put like 15 things on hold, and then I was like, Oh, I can't not get to this yet. And so then you turn them back in and you're like, Well, when will they come back? And so it's a bit of a it's a bit of a journey versus just simply clicking buying and then reading.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Right, right. Um, have you always been a a library goer?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I have. I have my branch growing up, um, was Millard. I grew up in West Omaha, so the Millard branch is what I Which one is that on? Um that is on 132nd. Grover. Not quite to Grover, almost but it's sort of between um Center and L Street. Yeah, kind of by the old skate land for those of us who grew up in the 80s. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

And then they did they did they did they demolish it and rebuild it, or did they just it's really good memory.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

In 1999, they added a whole nother wing to it. So almost doubled the size of the branch. It is the highest circulating branch, so that is a branch where lots of holds, lots of uh, lots of checkouts. So it is very, very active. That branch, that one, and Elkhorn are two of our highest circulating branches. Um, and so that was my branch growing up. Uh, when my girls were little, we did, we were at A. B. Sorensen most every Saturday morning, either for story time or to experience the library. And so we did that. That was our little kid branch. That's still my home branch. I live near it. Um, and then now here we are at Central Library, which is which is which is pretty groovy for a lot of reasons.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, well, I bet you're getting a a huge education and just a kind of like how the inner workings of how a library works. Yeah. Like, okay, so you mentioned like a popular book. Like, so how in the world does that work? Like, are does the library buy a bunch of a single title because it's popular? And then, I mean, how does that all work?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah. This is I also think this ties back to my Borsheim's days. We have a whole team called the collections team, and essentially they are the book buyers, which in my mind also really relates to the buying team at Borschheim's. You know, you have all of the you have the world is your oyster for inventory. How do you apply both art and science to select what you think will be popular, what people are asking for, and then what the permanent collection also will need. So, on a popular title, OPL will look at a couple of different factors. They'll look at how many people have requested this title, what is the demand, how expensive is this new title, and how can this be, how can how many copies do we need, not just physically, but then also digitally in large print format and all of the different ways that patrons want to request and reserve a book. And then from there, they'll monitor the holds ratio so that if the holds ratio gets really, really big, then they'll potentially allocate more dollars to buy more of that title. They also might not, because then they're monitoring books that go out of circulation. So there are no fines anymore, there's no overdue fines. Oh, really? But if you lose a book like I already have done, then you essentially, instead of being like, let me go buy this book I lost, they want to see, hey, what does the collection need? And we'll curate that. Um, so as much as I tried to be like, I'm so sorry I lost this book, here it is. They're like, we may not want that book for our collection because we may want the dollars to go to a new title or something else.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So would they ask you to buy a different book?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Or do they just they're just like, please just pay when you lose a book, you do get a fine. So they're like just fee for just pay your fine and then we'll decide where it goes.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

How interesting. Now, okay, you mentioned digital copy.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

So we're in a you know, obviously a whole new age right now. What how in the world does that work in a library?

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah, so there's so many things in a library that sometimes uh new Patron may not realize. So for OPL patrons, it's about 50-50 on digital checkouts versus physical checkouts, but physical still tips the scales for patrons here in our system. But digital, it works through what's called the Libby app. And the Libby app is downloadable on your Kindle, on your Nook, but then also on your OPL app. And you do the same thing. You place holds on digital titles. And when it comes, you can either indicate, do you want to read this, do you want to listen to this audiobook? And then it's the same as a physical copy. You get it for a period of time, and then you have to get it, you have to give it back. And they are they you would think that they are not as expensive as physical books. Um, but they are digital books and digital materials carry the same price as physical materials as well. So and you'd think, oh, we can buy endless copies of them. We still cannot.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Right. I guess, yeah, that's so weird because you'd think, well, you should buy one digital copy and then everyone's reading that one, aren't they? But probably the licensing doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Exactly. So it's still one patron to one copy of the digital material to ensure that it is the artist's work is correctly compensated and the licensing is appropriate.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

That makes sense. Things you don't think about, but that does make sense. Um, all right, so tell me what I mean, technology, how how else has it affected our library experience?

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Totally. So I think Central Library sort of challenges this assumption that maybe uh a patron has when they walk in to see a warehouse for books, like quiet, shh, quiet space, library stack, sure, shh, lots of cardigans, a lot of dark wood, a lot of dark dark wood. Um, and it's not like it's it's lively here and it's loud and it's designed to be loud. Yeah. What the community said at the beginning of the build, and we were coming off of COVID, is that the connection for community and the desire to have a third space is what a modern library should look and feel like. So you can see on this floor here on mezzanine, we're across from study rooms. There's about 18 study rooms throughout the whole building, all free to reserve, all free to use. There's countless cozy chairs to sit in. It's a it's a gathering space. And there are stacks. We can see there's stacks of books, and there's the book robot that can that stores most of the books in that in this building here. That then essentially, again, coming from my retail days, you're re-merchandizing the floor. You're re-merchandizing constantly by by what's getting checked out, what's in the book machine, as the circuit, you're you're refreshing it a lot so that when patrons come by, they think, oh, I haven't seen this before. I want to do that. So you have a space that has traditional browsing like a library would, but has meeting spaces as the public said they wanted to see in their library. And then there's cozy spaces as well for those that want to have curl up with their work or with a book or a phone call or just somewhere between work and home. This is the space for them.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

So forgive me for being for being old. Is there a card catalog here?

SPEAKER_01 25:15

No, there's there is not. There is a there is a seed. I missed the card. Um, you can check out seeds here, and that's the closest thing that looks like to an old card catalog. And you don't really check, you don't check the seeds back in, but you can, there's what looks like old card catalogs, and they're little tiny seed packets. Um, you can so you can grow your own food or grow your own garden. And again, this is all complimentary. This is these are services that patrons with a library card can use complementary. The foundation continues to fund to keep these free and accessible. But no, it's all it's all through either your app. I like the app. The my OPL app is a great app. Um, and that's how you can call up books or any you'll see at the end of the stacks are um uh computer screens. And those computer screens, again, you can search for titles, you can place holds, you can browse, um, and it's all interactive. You can pick up a book, you can walk it over to the self-checkout, you can scan your library card on your app, you can scan the book, and you can walk out the doors. Like it's it is all it is all there for people.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

So you don't necessarily there's not a desk that you need to check out with?

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Not necessarily. If you there are plenty, there's lots of desks on each level, and there's even mobile desks. Um, sort of we see this one back behind us here, um, and that's a mobile space for a librarian or a branch manager, branch manager and assistant branch manager to help provide that guest services, um, including uh checking out your books too.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

All right, so you mentioned the robot. That's kind of been the I mean, it's kind of like been the star of the show. Like uh I've seen a lot of the posts contain the robot, which I'll you know, I'll make sure it gets a video of that too. Is that I mean, so that's where the majority of all the books are.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

So the book, so the robot, the robot is officially named the automatic storage and retrieval system, ASRS for short, or uh the book bot, as we affectionately call it. So the the book bot stores quite a bit, there's two towers. One side is for materials such as books, the other side is for archives and genealogy and local history. So it is it is a repository also that potentially other community institutions can offer to, you know, can store their collections as well. It's fire safe, it's temperature controlled. So the book bot allows to free up space for more gatherings because those books are stored there. But when you call it up, when you say, Oh, I I want to place a hold on this book and it's here in the ASRS, it only takes about five minutes for the robot to go and grab the bin, and then an OPL staff member pulls the book out and sends it on a conveyor belt that drops it off at main circulation for you.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Very cool. It's cool, it's very cool. Yeah, it's it is so neat. Uh, I mean, and it's it's huge.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

It's very large. The building was built around it. Yeah. So it was installed. Um, it is, to our knowledge, the only one that exists in a public library. Really? Yeah. These machines typically are either in academic libraries or in private libraries or in things like Amazon warehouses. These are these are machines that recognize barcoded materials, can pinpoint it, go, it can grab the bin. It doesn't grab the exact material, but it can grab what it's being stored in, and then a human pulls it out and sends it and finishes the rest of the procedure.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

I guess, I guess that makes, I mean, there's probably not a lot of opportunities for large markets to completely reminis a new central library from nothing, from scratch. Yeah. I'm sure their libraries have been around forever and they're chuck full and operate in the more traditional sense.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah. So you you can think, you know, some libraries might store off site.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Right?

SPEAKER_01 29:12

You might have a warehouse that's temperature controlled. Because even OP OPL has a courier system that is moving books amongst the 13 branches every single day. So the collection in the system is mobile. So if I call up a book and I want it at A.B. Sorensen, which is my home library, but it is out at the Willie Cather branch. Uh, the courier system knows that, hey, this book is on hold, it'll bounce back here to Central Library to be sorted, and then it will go on the courier to be dropped off at AB Sorensen. So these collections move all around, which is pretty typical for library systems. So some systems you rely on housing this elsewhere. We felt it best, uh, the designers of this build felt it best to keep this here as a as a as also a testament to show what a public library can do and to make it available for everyone. And that's really the ethos, not just of the system, but of this building, is that this is this is for everybody. You don't you don't need to pay for access, you don't need to live a certain place for access. It's just simply for you. And it's really nice, right? The furniture is nice, the flooring is nice, everything is really nice, and that is um that was intentionally thought.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah, yeah. Obviously, you guys got to get down here. SAP, um, it's pretty crazy. I mean, like the parking lot is full. I came over here at three o'clock on a Monday, and it was just jam-packed. Of course, you guys just opened, but but there is parking. I mean, I was able I parked their service parking. There's parking underneath in a brand new garage, also, and that was that worked out nice. Um, it took me a minute to wait for somebody to pull out, but yeah. So are you having, I mean, are you I are you able to like take a breath and just be like, oh my god, this is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yes. Uh starting 120 days before this opening didn't leave a lot of downtime. Uh but now that we're we're getting into it, it's I I definitely equate it to like jumping into the deep end of the pool. Um I mean, wow, your timing. And now it feels, and everybody's like, oh, thank you, thank you for your work. I'm like, whoa, look. If this project is a 24-hour day, I came in at like 11 45 at night, right? Like I this is the the very tail end.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

But what a heady time.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

It was such an exciting time. And I for me, I it it is starting now to feel like, oh my gosh, we we're here, we did it.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

We did it. We did it.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Wow, there's people, people are experiencing, they're walking through, they're checking out books. They're we're um I have a donor who offered to do a dollar-for-dollar match of donations for opening week, up to ten thousand dollars. Wow. So you're seeing we're getting traction within not just experiencing central library, but supporting the whole system.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Um so if people want to give their support to the Omaha Library Foundation, there's a very um, I would assume a specific link just for that.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

There's just a link for that. So our website has a donation link, and I'll put it on there.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

I'll I will also put your Substack link if you're oh I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I would love that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Uh yeah, and that's just her. That's that that's that's her curation. Um, and I so what do you have a what do you like to read? Do you have a specific genre?

SPEAKER_01 32:38

I my I like to read whatever you are reading. So if you tell me, Tom, my friend, I read this great book and it was so amazing. I'm curious and I want to oh, sorry. I'm curious and I want to see what did you love? Well tell me and so I generally curate my books based on recommendations. Well, I got one for you.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Malcolm Gladwell's uh The Revenge of the Tipping Point. Did you ever read the tipping point? I did. This is the revenge of the tipping point. It's kind of the it's kind of the dark side of the tipping point. I just find him extremely fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

I have so I need to that's why I need your I need your sub stack. I need your recommendation because I am a guy, I am a non-fiction guy.

unknown 33:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

I mean, that is all I've ever been in when I was a kid in the library. It was nothing but World War II books and aviation. That was that was everything that I ever did. Um, and it's kind of carried, it's kind of lasted through my whole entire life. I mean, now I read a uh mostly it's still non-fiction, like you know, him and you know, humorous David Sederis, and I mean uh a lot of I mean, I'm also into into a lot of you know periodicals, the New Yorker and all that kind of stuff. But um, and they actually just put out a two volumes of poems, a hundred years of poems, and a hundred years of short stories by really good people. That might be something. I I think I want to grab that.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Because that would be a great little, I mean, just some real easily digestible, which is probably more my speed. I think my my reading has sped up. I mean, do people always ask you about that? Like, oh my god, how do you get through this so fast? Yeah, I mean, I would assume you're you you go through a lot of books, you have to be a fairly fast reader.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

I'm a pretty fast reader. I when I was an English major, yeah, I would read about 12 to 20 books a semester, and so and that's a lot to do in like three and a half months.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

And so during your regular school work, it teaches you to read.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

It's always that balance between reading fast, but also not meaning sure you're not scanning. Yeah, and I think that too is you want to synthesize it. I mean you can read it and enjoy it, exactly, and not rush to like gamify to be like, oh, I need I'm gonna finish this because I want to start my 17th book. You know, so it's it's a it's finding that intention. I actually think nonfiction, it you have to read nonfiction because that does slow your reading down. It can be more, it's often more dense, and it it is more, it can be really thought-provoking. So you it's a different style of reading. Um, I also think about this when poets write. Poets write and a pro write when they write prose, write it in such a dramatically different way. So you have to kind of match your reading speed to the type of material you're reading. The New York, when I read The New Yorker, reading The New Yorker is so dense that you're it is It's the little, yes, and it is just so dense. You can spend like an hour on an article because it is just okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Thank you. Yeah, I'm I'm so glad to hear that from you. It's like, am I just like, yeah, because it is tough getting through those little thin, and then you know, of course, they come out so often you're like, oh geez, I didn't even finish the other one.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

I did like my it's this. I'm like, how is this publicized every week? I am amazed.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

I mean, it that in itself, I mean, like the because every article is just so heavily researched, and I mean, anyway, I'm impressed. But um, so all right, you uh do are you cool talking about your personal life at all? I am completely. So, I mean, we we won't, yeah. Oh, we're not gonna go therapy chair here. We that's for the salon, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Yes, I got yes, yes, distinct difference in chairs.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

That's right, absolutely. So you've got two daughters. I have two daughters, um, and they are now. I saw that they kind of helped, they were down here during your open during your opening and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

How many and how and how old are they? So my daughters now what I call are in like their little women's stage. So I have a freshman in high school and I have a sixth grader headed to middle school next year. And so they are they are you're starting to see they're they're sort of fully formed people.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

And I I thought they were older than that because they're they are I they're readers too, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 36:57

They are readers, they are readers.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I've just from looking in completely from the outside, yeah, they just seem like really thoughtful young women. Uh, you must be so proud.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

I am so proud. And then yesterday during opening, they wanted to be here, they wanted to be part of the excitement, um, and they wanted also something to do. And so collectively, the three of us, the mayor read a book that was commissioned for opening um called A Place for Scamper. It's a children's book written by a local art local writer and a local illustrator. Um, and they helped sell books that with proceeds benefiting the foundation, which thereby benefits OPL. And they watching them like interact with patrons, watching them run a point of sale system. I was like, oh my, I was so like puffed, like right when you see your kids.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Oh, yes, so proud.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Same with you, proud papa. Like you're seeing your kids step into something that they haven't done before without trepidation is a is a pretty cool experience.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Especially when you're like, I didn't know they could do that. Yeah. Uh they're also musicians.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

They are. My oldest is a bass player. She plays with Omaha, she has learned to play through Omaha Girls Rock, which is now part of the Bay, and then also um has volunteered at their camps as a as an instructor. And so it's really fun to hear her play, her bass. Uh, what'd you say it's part of what now? Omaha Girls Rock, which is the part um the bay, which is located here in Omaha, but also in Lincoln, absorbed OGR into its programming um and absorbed it as an entity. And I think, and that is Is that a good thing? It's a great thing.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Good.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

It is a Andrew, Morgan, the team over at the Bay, this is absolutely the perfect spot for them. And they're they're running it well. But you know, I think too, my girls have seen uh a lot of life transitions. Um, I went through a divorce over three years ago, and they we navigated that as a family unit. They watched also then, right? Sometimes change begets change. And so then they've watched me step from something very comfortable at Borsheim's into, I don't accuse the frozen, like into the unknown. Um, that I in this role. And so for them to be part of that journey for us the collectively, the three of us to do that together. Um it's been really cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

I bet they are beaming with pride. I hope so. I hope so. Oh, I I it's I'm beaming the pride with them, but it's now I'm sure it's right back with everything that you've accomplished lately. Um, all right, so I fin I usually finish these podcasts by asking people, and this may come like out of left field, but I'm I know you enough to know you'll enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Bring it.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

So what is what is one of your, or however many you want, songs or artists that pull you back from your from like from your life that you like seem like you always kind of go back to, almost maybe guilty, like oh my god, I just I play this, I wear this out too much. I should try to because I always feel guilty. No, like I need to like I I should branch out more. No, no, you you you tell me.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Oh my gosh, tell me what's you're a phenomenal musician. So to get this question for you feels like an honor because you are amazing.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Oh, and it could be a guilty pleasure too, I promise you. It could be anything you want. Like, what is it that pulls you back?

SPEAKER_01 40:19

I would say probably what pulls me back, what and maybe what I could always listen to and what I always think about um as like a comfort album would be Paul Simon's Graceland. I just like top to bottom, it's a great album. I remember it from my childhood. I remember rediscovering it in my 20s. I I just I love it. I love it. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

And it, yeah, such a pivotal album for so many reasons, but chock full of just the most amazing musicians. Yes. And he was, yeah, he really shined on that. I get that one. Great, good for you.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Well, tell me what's yours.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Uh well, I've I've I've clicked him off during these podcasts so many times. I mean, Joe Jackson, I'll name him because I'm got I he's coming to Omaha, and so I'm gonna so he was like huge in the 80s, which was very much my formidable years of you know in high school and all that kind of stuff. So uh I've seen him once before in Minneapolis, probably 30 years ago, 25 years ago, I don't know, a long time ago. So I'm excited to see him, and then I also just saw Pat Mathaney, who's a jazz artist. Uh, he was just at the Holland Center last week, and uh, I've only seen him once in my life, too. And he's somebody that I those two, I mean completely different worlds, but I wear them out. Uh yeah, so that was great to get to see them. So thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, because those are two different ones that I haven't thrown out so much. Um, okay, and then the last question is what is something new that has struck your fancy as far as like new music or artists?

SPEAKER_01 41:56

So I went to the Lord Huron show last fall with my best friend, my oldest friend from high school, Heidi. Heidi, if you're watching, it was the best concert ever. And she is a huge fan. Was it here? It was here at Steelhouse, and so I have um I said, Oh, do you I know you love this? Let's should we go? And I had not been a huge Lord Huron fan, and I knew the songs, I knew um The Night We Met from 13 Things, like I knew of him, but I didn't I wasn't a listener. I was blown away by that concert. It was one of the best concerts, most memorable concerts. The music was great, it felt cinematic the way the show was. And I, right now, if you were like Lord Huron's playing in Dallas, I'd be like, let's board a plane tonight and let's go see it. So that's a new and now I find myself listening to him more and more and catching references, you know, that I mean, he was in the one of the songs that was acoustically done in the last episode of Bridgerton this season. And so you're kind of it's like a little bit of an Easter egg. So how about you? What's on your radar screen right now?

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Um I just started listening to, I mean, I this is like brand new, and I'm now and I I I will drop her, I will drop her link on the end of this because I can't remember her name. But there is a woman that I uh a young lady that is this is gonna get wonky, but she's uh using um semi-tones, microtones. So she's taken so you've got your octave of music, you know. I mean, you the ones that you know, and everyone writes songs with those with those tunes. Well, there are tones, there are there are semi-tones in between all of those. And she has actually tuned her keyboard and guitar, and including these semi-tones, and it sounds on for like there's always a lot of comments under what you know, under her songs that she'll post, they'll be like, Well, was that me? Music that I listen to. This is garbage. This is sounds like a cat, you know, a bunch of junk like that. But there are there are tons of people that like are like, oh my God. It's like, it's kind of like watching somebody in in a you know in a very traditional field doing it in a way that's just like that is beyond under comprehension. But there's something about it that she she does it in a way that sounds beautiful or really cool and interesting. So I mean she plays everything. She plays keyboard, cello, guitar, uh, and she sings with it.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

And they sing in the semi-tones, she will sing with it. Um, which I so anyway, she is definitely somebody that has absolutely caught my attention. And I'll post her link at the end of this thing too. Okay, cool. So anyway, it was great, it's great to talk to you. I could talk I could talk to you forever. I know. I'm like, you know, just like when you come in, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Always had a great connection, and I'm honored that you thought uh this conversation for your podcast.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Well, I'm so honored that you had me down, especially on the day after you guys opened.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

Heck yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

But I'm gonna get a lot of good, I'll get some vid of the place. But yeah, it was great to great to chat with you.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

It's great to chat with you too. Be sure to go get vid upstairs of the um music recording studio because we have a music recording studio here at Central Library and the podcasting studio.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

All free to use.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

There you go. All right, come down the central Omaha Central 72nd in Dodge.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

72nd in Dodge.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Central Library, Oma, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Make a nice set with Thomas Cena.