Leadership Team Minutes - July 07, 2021

News

• DOES Updates

  • Summer Reading – (DOES)
    • Beanstack has been awarding some random badges without us knowing (such as a Pride badge)
    • Livestream has been well-received
    • We've surpassed last year by 50% already
    • We are at 63% of our goal for 2021
  • Virtual Reading to Dogs ALA presentation went very well
  • The City Care Pershing Center is a 60 unit building for adults in recovery who also have one or more disabilities. We are in discussion with them about how to provide services there. We may initiate an onsite library as they have space for one. They could potentially hire a person who would serve in that space and help provide checkout statistics. They also have laptops and a computer lab where we can do database instruction and computer skills.
  • Medicaid Expansion information is coming. It will be routed out to libraries including how-to's on how to apply for it.
  • We may be able to implement our first social workers in libraries soon.  The OU MSW program has a partnership with the Homeless Alliance. A staff member at Homeless Alliance would oversee the program. The student could serve in libraries up to 14 hours per week.
• Overdue Fines – Larry
  
  • The transition to fine-free went very smoothly with zero complaints received thus far. We had estimated that we would remove around $450K worth of fines, but the final numbers were over $600K fines removed.
  • We have heard from Pioneer that they are also looking to go fine-free.
• Humidity / HVAC Update – (OPS)
  
  • DC humidity levels are remaining very high. Another meeting is scheduled about this for next week.
  • With the temperatures rising, the HVAC's at all locations should be pulling more humidity out as they run more to keep up with the heat.
  • The new HVAC unit for BI should be installed on 7/20.
  • We are still looking for a new compressor for MC
• Collection Services and Development
  • The single DVD cases have arrived, but the double DVD cases are delayed. This may mean that there will be delays in processing DVD sets and getting them into the libraries.

Action Items

• Centennial Committee for RE
  
  • Kimberly and Judie presented information about the history of the Dunbar and Ralph Ellison branches and the origin of the Dunbar branch in segregation. Their group has drafted a statement of acknowledgement that would go on the landing page for the Centennial information. There will be an exhibit created to tell the story of the transformation of the city from south of the river to NE OKC.
  • The group was appreciative of the presentation and encouraged all units to help share this story throughout the system by inviting Kimberly and Judie to department and location meetings so that we can all be aware of the history. We were also encouraged to continue to seek out concrete actions as we progress in living out our core values, particularly Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
• ODL ARPA review / analysis – Larry
  
  • ODL has sent out to libraries in the state a call for funding requests from the American Rescue Plan funds. The group discusses potential areas that we could request funds for including no-touch water bottle filling stations for each library and indoor charging stations.
• Staff Day Expectations – Larry
  
  • The August XChange meetings will discuss options for what locations can do during the half-day at their location. Larry will meet with each of the XChange sessions to set the expectation that XChange is expected to be role models of behavior during Staff Day with complete focus on the presenters and engagement throughout the day. Locations are welcome to plan a variety of activities at their location, and supervisors will record staff presence and participation.
• Holiday Schedule – Additions, Revisions – Larry
  
  • The group discussed holidays that might need to be included in the holiday schedule. Juneteenth and Indigenous People’s Day were offered as recommendations to consider. Our options would be to add an additional closed day, exchange an existing closed day for one of the proposed days, or exchange a Floating Holiday for an additional closed day. Larry will review the recommendations and visit with Kelley. We will also seek out what Pioneer and Tulsa will be doing for Juneteenth and Indigenous People’s Day in 2022.
• Spencer option – Kim
  
  • Instead of investing in a kiosk like for Edmond, we are looking at establishing a regular pop-up library in the area. It would include materials to check out, programming, and hotspots and devices to access the internet. This will run for about 6 months to gauge interest by the community.
• RTO procedure reminder – Larry
  
  • Before expending funds, an RTO must be entered, or it will not be approved to be paid.
• LT Meeting minutes - distribution question - Mark
  
  • The group discussed how best to distribute Leadership Team minutes. It was determined that an email will go out to all correspondents reminding where to find the minutes on the intranet. All staff are encouraged to read the minutes and ask their supervisor or any LT representative any questions they have about the minutes.
• Covid Response - all
  
  • The group discussed whether the Library is ready to move to full opening on August 1^st. Several issues were considered during the discussion:
    • Children under 12 are not currently eligible for vaccines.
    • OSHA’s recommendation is that employers have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace. This includes protecting staff who have not been vaccinated from exposure. The Library could be held liable for employees who become sick from COVID if we do not have protections in place. This would result in a fine in the $10’s of thousands as well as negative press. The Library does have employees in the at-risk category for COVID complications.
    • OSHA’s broadest recommendation is to have all employees continue to mask and social distance. They also state that employers can provide employees the choice of disclosing their vaccination record or continuing to wear a mask.
    • To take vaccination into account, all supervisors in the system would need to know which employees in their location have been vaccinated. They would also need to be prepared to enforce mask-wearing for those not vaccinated, including possible disciplinary action. The system would need to consider whether we would terminate an employee for not complying with the mask requirement for unvaccinated employees.
    • If staff are required to continue social distancing, it would not be possible to fully open to the public because if customers are not social distancing – in programs and at the computers – staff will not be able to stay socially distant from customers.
    • Larry will continue to review the factors involved and use input from data sources related to covid activity, the Executive Committee, legal counsel, and an employee vaccination survey to determine when and to what extent we will be open in August. Any decision for reopening will be communicated at least 2 weeks before the change occurs. There will be a staff video created on July 21, 2021, and made available shortly afterwards discussing our reopening status and where we go from here. 

Next meeting: 7/21 – LT / SMG Meetings