Week 35: Holiday planning

Elaine Martin Director’s Corner

I wanted to focus this week’s message on holiday planning.

First, our upcoming Holiday Party will be a virtual event this year. It has been a difficult and challenging year for everyone and we hope the party will be a way that we can take a breather from work and just enjoy each other’s company as we prepare for the winter holiday break. The virtual holiday party will be held on Thursday, December 17th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm via Zoom. Please mark your calendars. The Zoom link will be sent to you closer to the time of the event.

Just to have some fun, we thought we would also like to try to do a semi-virtual Yankee Swap! This is absolutely on a volunteer basis and if you would like to participate here is the process:

*** Please let MJ know if you would like to participate!

  1. Buy a gift! ($10.00 limit) or re-gift something that is funny. Gag gifts are encouraged.
  2. Wrap your gift and bring it to the Countway Kitchen by Friday, December 11th. If you are not onsite and still want to participate mail it to Elaine Martin, and she will bring it to the kitchen for you. Or drop it off at the front desk of her building and they will hold it for her.
  3. Take a ticket with a # on it, tear it in half, one half should be taped on your gift, the other half goes in the bowl. If you are not onsite, we will email you a ticket.
  4. Pick a number from the bowl – make sure it’s not your gift number!
  5. Take the gift with the corresponding # home! Don't unwrap it!!! If you are not onsite, we will send you the corresponding gift.
  6. Unwrap while we are all on the Holiday Zoom Call!
  7. The purpose is to have fun with this! Contact MJ if you have any questions or want to participate!

Second, again, strictly voluntary and do not feel any pressure to participate. During the holiday season, Countway Library staff have traditionally given monetary contributions to show our appreciation for the work our custodial staff has done in keeping the building clean. This has been an especially difficult task for our custodial staff given the pandemic and the construction. We would like to continue the tradition this year for our six custodial staff members. If you wish to participate, drop off your contribution with MJ or place it on her desk. If you are not onsite or prefer not to leave it on her desk (she is onsite twice a week, Wed and Thurs), feel free to mail it to Elaine at the address listed above.

Finally, all university-related travel continues to be prohibited. If you are planning to travel during the holiday season for personal reasons, the university has posted post-travel guidelines on the Post-travel COVID Testing and Quarantine Policy website. To summarize, the guidelines state that if you travel out of state to certain areas of the country (follow Massachusetts travel order), then before you return to onsite work you must either have two negative tests or quarantine for 14 days. You may come to campus to pick up/drop off test kits. You may work remotely during quarantine or awaiting test results if you are not sick. If you have any questions about this policy, please let me know.

Elaine