Leadership Team Minutes - July 21, 2021

Volunteer Procedures – Heidi Port

• Heidi presented the draft procedures, based on policy VF400, approved by the Commission in January 2021, and asked for feedback.
  • The Team recommended a few housekeeping changes.  The procedures will be considered finalized after Heidi makes the changes.
  • Heidi will get a copy of the procedures to Kellie Delaney for posting.

News: 

• Summer Reading – Kimberly Boldt, DOES 
  • Next week (7/26-7/31) is final week.
  • We are at almost 90% of our goal for total points
  • Drawing prizes are being sent to libraries
    • Prize drawings begin 8/2
    • Surveys to gauge the efficacy of Summer Reading and offer feedback on ways to improve will begin on 8/16.
    • Prize pickup ends 8/31
  • The Summer Reading Volunteer Engagement Committee will be awarding recognition T-shirts to teen volunteers.
    • The volunteers designed this year’s T-shirt.
    • A picture of the shirt design is in the July 2021 Shelflife.
    • T-shirts will be available for purchase by staff.
  • Kristin Williamson has submitted NASA grant requests for next year for DOES and Ralph Ellison; Southern Oaks is also working on a request.
  • Kimberly is working with the Homeless Alliance and Larry to arrange for social work students from OU to provide services at libraries.
• Overdue fines pilot project – Anne Fischer, IT
  • The project is going very well.
  • As of 7/1, 23 customers have incurred new fines, all for ILL or technology items.
  • The patron data cleanup occurred last week.
    • It removed around 40% of the patron database.
    • Anne is working to update card expiration dates to 2024.
    • After that, cards will expire after 3 years of not being used.
    • CarlX may run faster without extraneous data.
• Humidity/HVAC – Dennis McCullough, MTC
  • Humidity at Del City is currently in the 60% range except for the workroom.
    • Dennis has not heard results from the additional tests being run.
  • The new unit at Belle Isle is up and is running.
  • Quotes have been received for a new compressor at Midwest City, Dennis will proceed with acquiring it.
• Experience pass expansion – Risa Jensen-Jones, PS
  • MLS has been reaching out to various local museums to see if we can arrange experience passes from them.
  • The Science Museum is open to participating, but will not provide passes free.
  • The National Cowboy Museum might end up taking the same position.
  • There was discussion about whether MLS should pay venues for passes.
    • Grant funding might be available, but there is no way to know if it would be in later years.
    • Paying different venues different rates could present a problem.
  • Risa agreed to the following action items:
    • Reach out to venues to find out what they would likely charge for passes.
    • Work on establishing a standard rate that MLS is willing to pay.  This rate could then be offered to all venues.  If a venue does not agree to the MLS rate, passes would not be offered for that venue.
    • Consider adding the Oklahoma City Zoo along with many of the smaller museums around as a venue.
• Art Collection – Larry
  • Originally, the Art Collection was to have a grand opening on 8/23.
  • Due to the uncertain circumstances with the pandemic, there will be a smaller ceremony on 8/23.  A grand opening event will be held later.
• Vaccination survey – Larry
  • MLS sent a one-question survey to all staff, asking whether they have been vaccinated for COVID.
  • The survey response rate was 73%.  Usually, the response rate for a staff survey is around 50% at best.
  • 91% of survey respondents indicated that they have been vaccinated.
    • Larry bet someone (he does not remember who) a quarter that only about 70% of staff would report being vaccinated.
    • Larry owes this person 25 cents.
  • MLS cannot assume that the 91% vaccination rate applies to all staff since not everyone responded, so the survey has been reopened until 7/22.

Action items:

• Partnership with Guthrie Public Library – Larry White
  • Larry has been contacted by Suzette Chang, Director of the Guthrie Public Library (GPL), about their planned Winter Readfest.
  • The program focuses on books for or about Oklahomans.  GPL would like to borrow 50-100 books to make available to their customers for approximately 60 days.  Larry asked how the Leadership Team feels about this request.
  • After discussion, the Team agreed that we would like to pursue the opportunity.
  • The loan will be coordinated through Interlibrary Loan.  Larry will arrange for Ms. Chang to contact Pauline to work out details.
  • GPL would also like to maintain an information exchange with MLS, possibly through MLS staff visiting GPL and their staff visiting MLS.  The Team agreed that we would like to pursue this.
• Department version of Delivering Service During the Pandemic report – Larry White
  • Larry referenced the Engagement and Access Delivering Service During the Pandemic report.  He reported that he has received a request to create a similar report highlighting how departments responded to the pandemic.
  • Pauline agreed to lead planning for the report.  Kimberly and Erin will assist.
• Library card applications – Larry White
  • Larry asked whether the gender identification field in library card records is being used, and if so, for what.  He noted that many newly issued library card records leave the field blank.
  • The Team agreed that the information does not serve a purpose and that being required to select a gender can be uncomfortable.  The current online card application form does not ask for the information.
  • Removing the field from CarlX would require TLC involvement.  Leaving it blank does not cause any problems.  Going forward, MLS will not make any effort to collect gender data.
• IT services – Anne Fischer
  • In an effort to utilize IT staff more effectively, IT has looked at the number of service calls to the help desk and when they occur.  The help desk has been staffed all hours that the libraries are open, but over time the number of calls after 6:00 PM and on Sundays have dropped significantly.
  • IT proposes to limit help desk staffing during the hours when there are few calls.  The Leadership Team agreed.  Anne will send a notice to all staff of the reduced call hours, effective 8/9.
• Parking questions – Dennis McCullough
  • Dennis explained that Maintenance or Security staff are sometimes contacted by local police about cars in library parking lots at odd hours or for long periods.  MLS is often unable to help because they have no idea who the car’s owner might be.  Dennis asked about the possibility of issuing parking stickers or passes to employees to help identify their cars.
  • The Team discussed several factors, such as who would have parking passes, how the passes would be monitored, and that most MLS parking lots are open space.  Staff parking is usually not designated to make it difficult for upset customers to identify staff cars.  The Team agreed not to pursue this avenue.
• Core values implementation – Larry White
  • Larry suggested that MLS apply a methodology for developing an implementation plan that is similar to the Summer Reading model.  There would be a Steering Committee, with subcommittees responsible for various aspects of the plan.  The Core Values should apply throughout the cycle of employment, from hiring to separation.  The Steering Committee and subcommittees will be made up of staff from across the system.  The Team agreed with this approach.  Larry asked for volunteers from the Team, and will put out a call for participants to all staff soon.
• Returning to normal – Larry White
  • The Team discussed several developments and information gained since the last meeting.
    • Pioneer Library System has recently had to close two sites due to COVID.  Wearing masks is not mandatory for their employees.
    • There has been a small cluster outbreak in Tulsa.  Tulsa City-County Library does not require masks in non-public areas.
    • The rolling average of new COVID cases in Oklahoma over the past 7 days is 700 cases per day.
    • Schools are reopening; they are not permitted to require vaccination nor masks, and most are not requiring social distancing.  Only 3% of youths who are eligible to receive the COVID vaccine have received it.
    • In Oklahoma County, the average vaccination rate is 63%; in other areas of the state, it is much lower.
    • The majority of Oklahoma active cases are on the state’s eastern border, near Arkansas.
    • The Commission would like the libraries to return to normal operations as soon as possible.
    • MLS has been very conservative in its reopening plans.
    • Labor Day weekend is coming up, and there was a surge in cases after that weekend last year.
    • The survey data seems to indicate that up to 91% of MLS employees are vaccinated.
    • Some customers are unhappy about not being able to use their favorite toys or have access to all services.
    • Some staff want to reopen fully immediately; some want to close down further.
    • Larry promised to give libraries two weeks’ notice before reopening further; August 1 is less than two weeks away.
    • Libraries are supposed to get 3 months’ notice to resume programming.
  • Larry will be making a video to share with staff to announce the decision about delaying reopening and giving some sort of timeline as to how MLS will proceed.  It should be released on 7/22.  He will also send an all staff e-mail.
• Review and possible implementation of LEAP recommendations
  • Larry is scheduling a special Leadership Team meeting to discuss the recommendations and decide how to proceed.

Next meeting: 8/4 – LT / SMG Meetings