Leadership Team Minutes - June 04, 2020

Purpose: Share information about things like upcoming changes, new products or services and techniques with the outcome having a common purpose and to align the team via updates on progress, challenges, and next steps. Activities that may be included in these meetings are problem solving, decision making, prioritization, and task assignment.

Notetaker: Anne Fischer | Reviewer: Anthony Herron

Discussion Topics:

• Phase II Challenges & Successes, Feedback – Chris and the Regional Directors reported on feedback from Library Managers from the first two days of Phase II.  Changes will be made regarding copying & faxing to allow customers to observe staff member making copies/sending faxes.  Customers will be allowed in one at a time.
  • Other challenges and successes were shared and the group brainstormed ways to help support staff as well as get the word out in communities where customers may not have digital access so they know the library is now open for limited computer use. 
• Phase III Planning – Julie asked the group to brainstorm ideas of what we will need to do for Phase III.  She will be attending the Public Libraries Directors’ Council on Friday and want to hear what MLS staff were thinking in preparation for that meeting and plans we will need to make in the coming weeks.
• Outlook Meetings Calendar – There was discussion about staff needing to add cross-department meetings to the MLS Meetings Outlook calendar so that others needing to schedule meetings that would include staff from multiple departments will be able to plan their meeting schedules based on other meetings if everyone adds to the calendar.  It was determined adding MLS Meetings as an attendee to meetings that involve cross-departmental staff to the invite will add the meeting to this calendar.
• IMLS Grant Opportunity – Heather shared information about an IMLS Grant Opportunity that is part of the CARES act relating to supporting museums and libraries and their response to the coronavirus pandemic in ways that meet the immediate and future COVID-19 needs of the communities and audiences they serve.  The deadline for the Grant is June 12, 2020 and projects funded must begin on September 1, 2020.  Anyone interested in applying for this grant, please contact Heather very quickly as there is a quick turnaround on the deadline.
• Clara Luper memoir, “Behold the Walls” – Special Collections has been given the permission to create an eBook reprint of this title provided they also include the story of how the book came into being and that the books be given away without charge.  The are working with Collection Development to coordinate getting it added to OverDrive and in our catalog so it will be available for any MLS customer to check out and read.  Everyone on Leadership Team thought this was a great idea and once it has been added, Marketing will make sure information about the access is sent out.

Department Updates:

• Business Office – Charisse reported that the budget was approved by the Finance Committee.  Inventory needs to be completed by everyone by the end of June.  The audit process for the FY19-20 year is already beginning.
• Human Resources – Three new staff were onboarded this week.  Several other recruitments are currently in process.  So far, Human Resources has received 41 unemployment claims with 32 of those being fraudulent.
• Learning & Development – Milissa is currently onboarding her new employee.  If you see them in the hall, she will make introductions.  Staff are continuing to take advantage of remote professional development.  There will soon be training on Microsoft Planner which is part of our Office 365 suite.  Virtual training for Access staff will also be resuming soon.
• Information Technology – Anne reported that the sorter bids have been received and she is working on evaluating those bids. She also reported that the library is going to purchase the MeeScan app that will allow customers to check out their own materials with a mobile device.
• Facilities Maintenance – Dennis reported that Firetrol has been out inspecting our fire suppression systems and have found several that are yellow-tagged so they are working to correct those issues.  The shades for the Northwest Library’s west windows are on the agenda to be approved at the June 16^th City Council meeting.  Bids are currently out for renovation of the Midwest City restrooms.
• Operations – Anthony reported that Security is back in every library. He is going to ask Marketing to create a package of system-wide signage that could be used in the libraries.  Staff will be able to print the signs as needed and this will provide consistent messaging across the system.  He also reported that bids are out for moving the Belle Isle shelving to the temporary location.  He will be working on resuming the quarterly Marketing Planning meetings.  The Facilities meeting was held on Tuesday and minutes will be on the Intranet soon.  The contractor has started on the temporary Belle Isle location and should be mostly completed by the end of this month.
• Strategic Planning & Services – Larry reported Summer Reading kicked off this week.  Information was sent to the Leadership Team asking for assistance with the Community Needs Analysis survey that will be going out soon.  A MOU is being worked on between the OKC Association of Building Owners & Managers and the Special Collections department.  The special interest of this collection is that this group has boxes of photos of buildings in Oklahoma City and most importantly, building interiors which are extremely hard to come by.
• Collection Development – Pauline reported that Collection Development has been working with Kellie Delaney to create a bookriver on the topic of racism and current events.  They’ve asked vendors to release and send us our shipments but so far haven’t received any.  Pauline was asked about when ILL services might resume.  She said that for now, ILL couriers are still closed and most partner libraries are not lending physical materials so it may still be at least a couple of months before ILL service can resume.
• Public Services – Chris (Public Services) reported that Bethany will be a polling place for this fall’s elections as the polling places in Bethany had been in places that are currently not accessible so they will be working on plans for how that is going to work.
• Administration – Julie reported that she had received questions about what to do if a customer came in exhibiting symptoms of Covid.  She said that she believed that the Rules of Conduct would apply with the statement about a potentially communicable disease or contagious illness and staff could ask the person to leave.  She said that if staff asked a customer to leave and a complaint was received, staff would be supported in making the request.
  • She also stated that the library will support a closing such as what happened at Belle Isle earlier this week if a Library Manager thinks their building needs to close due to a situation happening near their building.  She just asks that managers talk with their Regional Director or Deputy Executive Director/Public Services to confirm their agreement.

Assignments:

1. Dennis is working on getting a tent covering for Edmond due to staff being out in the heat all day because of their volume of holds.
2. Dennis is also working on obtaining fans for the same reasons.
3. Anthony will have Marketing work on a package of system-wide signage for staff to be able to print and use for current situations in the libraries.
4. Staff at the libraries will allow customers to come in and observe copies and faxes since many times they are copying person items for the customers.  They will only be allowed in the building one at a time.

Next Leadership Team Meeting:

• June 17, 2020
• Notetaker: Kim Terry
• Reviewers: Anne Fischer & Kelley Hoffman