Leadership Team Minutes - February 01, 2017

Collection Management Policy
Janet described the changes proposed for the Collection Management Policy and answered questions.  The policy will be posted to the intranet for staff comment beginning Monday, February 6th.  The Commission's Public Services Committee will discuss the policy changes in March, and the Committee's recommendation will be presented to the full Commission at its April meeting.

Pilot Projects
Vicki Thompson reviewed the progress with the JNF Interfile Project at the Ronald J. Norick Library and presented the final project proposal for Almonte Library's Laptop/Chromebook project.  The JNF Project is moving forward and shelving should be available near the end of March.  Installation will be scheduled once the shelving is available.

While the original Almonte Project request included a kiosk to dispense laptops, the Leadership Team discussed the fact that the kiosk would double the project's cost, while taking staff out of the interaction, which was not seen as a positive attribute at this point.

DECISION:  The Leadership Team agreed to approve the Almonte project with a budget of approximately $30,000 for 20-25 laptop computers/Chromebooks.  As part of the pilot, we will assess the impact to staff time.

The other projects are still in planning phases.  Vicki expects to bring the final requests to the LT for approval in February or March.

Friend of the Library Grants
Heather Zeoli presented two grant requests to the group.  The Team discussed the use of grant funds to replace toys at Midwest City Library.  There were several questions about the applicability of these toys in early literacy.  

DECISION:  That Leadership Team agreed to ask the FOL to provide grant funding for toys to supplement early literacy and story time activities.

The group also briefly discussed a request to fund the addition of trees in the vacant lot to the west of the Warr Acres Library.  Curtiss Ray indicated that he was unaware of the request, and Tim Rogers asked him to discuss the viability of maintaining new trees in the lot and asked Heather to bring it back to the LT after the necessary communication occurred.

Executive Director Evaluation Process
Tim Rogers asked each member to review the ED evaluation documents sent with the agenda.  The Commission's Administrative and Personnel (A&P) Committee would like input from the Leadership Team as they redesign the evaluation process.  Currently, the Commission and the LT members use the same form to provide feedback on the ED's performance.  A&P members believe customized forms should be used by each group.  LT members should send their suggested changes to Maria Watkins or Kelley Hoffman and they will pass them along to the A&P Committee for consideration.  Suggestions should be sent no later than March 1 for fullest consideration.

Administrative Directives
The Library has used "Administrative Directives" to help manage the organization for more than 20 years.  Treated like policies and/or procedures, but issued as memoranda by the Executive Director or a member of Leadership Team, the Administrative Directives are often difficult to locate and have been administered unevenly across the organization.  In January, Tim Rogers requested that the LT agree to eliminate all Administrative Directives by turning them into official policies or procedures or removing them all together.  Tim reminded members that they had until the end of the day to identify which of the Administrative Directives needed to be turned into policy/procedure, and then they'd have one month to translate them to the new format.  Kelley Hoffman mentioned that several Administrative Directives will need to be turned into personnel procedures.  Cheryl Mann also indicated to Tim (via email) that a directive about annual fee cards would need to be turned into a procedure.  Any administrative directives not turned into policies or procedures by March 1, 2017 will be rescinded.

Overtime Review
Tim Rogers communicated that more than 900 hours and $32,000 in overtime hours had been used in the first half of the year.  While small amounts of OT are anticipated (due to the rounding mechanisms in Paycom), there were a number of departments in which substantial overtime was used.  It is the responsibility of Leadership Team members to approve overtime hours, and this should be reserved for emergency situations or times of extreme need/importance.  Though not meant to be an exhaustive list, several examples given included snow removal, facilities and IT work during the last week of a construction project, or for library coverage when staff shortages occur due to illness.  Tim explained that managers and supervisors should attempt to shift staff schedules prior to implementing overtime hours, and that LT members should discuss the use of overtime.   A report outlining overtime usage will be distributed to Leadership Team members every month.

Other News Items

• The Library will host the Maurice Sendak Memorial Exhibition in 2018.  The exhibit will be held at the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library.  LaVetta will share more information later.
• Our Day at the Zoo -- the book written by Kristin Williamson and illustrated by Rick George -- will be added to the collection at each library in March.  When members check out the book, they can get a "Family Four Pack" of Zoo tickets.  More information will come from Marketing.