Leadership Team Minutes - October 13, 2021

Core Value Learning Pathway – Customer Service (People First)

Milissa referred to the document “Core Value Proposal Learning Path 2022 : People First – Customer Service”.  She shared that the System has determined that all staff should pursue learning related to the Core Value People First during the next appraisal year.  She presented three options for learning paths related to the value.

Option 1:   5 hours, 26 minutes

Adapted from a standard Customer Service learning path from LinkedIn Learning

Option 2:   6 hours, 21 minutes

Includes the industry standard learning path with additional courses on building rapport and de-escalating customer conversations

Option 3:   8 hours, 5 minutes

Includes courses from the other two options with the addition of topics based on Leadership Team discussions and X Change sessions

There are 13 courses in common in all three options.  Staff may be allowed to choose a learning path option.  If a staff member has already completed any course in the chosen learning path, they will receive credit and not be required to repeat the course.

As of this meeting, 75 staff members had not completed a Core Value learning path for this appraisal year.  There is also concern that staff have “binge watched” training videos and rushed to complete training rather than taking time to consider what they have learned.  L&D and HUM have been working on ways to hold people accountable for completing Core Value training next year.

To hold staff accountable, L&D proposes that anyone who supervises staff will be required to complete an action plan to bring the People First Core Value to life with their teams.  L&D has developed a list of ideas that supervisors may use, such as monthly discussion meetings, having a poster/collage contest, creating a bingo card game, etc.  Supervisors may also come up with their own ideas to make the training more transformational for team members.  All supervisors will be required to submit a form by December 31, 2021, describing their action plan and how they will carry it out.  They will be expected to provide quarterly updates on their progress to their own immediate supervisor.

The new Core Value learning requirement will begin on November 1, 2021.  After discussion, it was agreed that all staff must complete the training by August 31, 2022.  This will allow supervisors time to incorporate completion or incompletion when writing performance reviews.

A question was raised about ways to make customer service training relevant to staff who rarely, if ever, come into contact with internal or external customers.  Milissa suggested encouraging staff to consider their peers as customers and to consider every person that they encounter to be a potential customer.

Another comment was that frontline staff especially are experiencing compassion fatigue.  This might increase if they are expected to engage more empathetically with customers.  Milissa will explore training for dealing with this fatigue.  There was discussion as to whether to include the training as part of the Core Value or to make it available for leaders to assign to staff.  Decision: Training on dealing with compassion fatigue will be made available, but not part of Core Value training.

Decision:         L&D will move forward with implementing this proposal.

News from Units

CSD – Pauline

Installation of the new sorter at the Service Center is scheduled to begin on Friday, October 22, and be completed Friday, November 5.  During this period, all sorting at the Service Center will need to be done by hand.  Pauline is communicating with library managers to arrange for libraries to handle extra sorting during the installation.

Question:   Do we anticipate backlogs due to hand sorting?  Pauline stated that we hope not, but will not know for sure until installation actually starts.  CSD plans to do everything possible to avoid backlogs.

DOES – Kimberly

Social worker Madison Griffiths will be at Ralph Ellison while Southern Oaks is closed for repairs.  The system would like to add RE as a site for Madison, but it is difficult as she has limited availability.  Madison is tracking what she is doing and has been having a great impact on customers, doing case management and referring them to services.  She says that library staff have been great to work with.

PSA – Risa

Downtown has been contacted by artists Angie LaPaglia and Kiona Millirons, who have been awarded a microgrant to create public art in the Downtown area.  Kiona is the sister of Amber Clark, the former MLS staff member and librarian who was murdered in 2018 outside the Sacramento library where she worked.  The artists plan to create a temporary piece of art outside the DN atrium; it will last about a year.

Question:   Does the city know about this art?  Risa answered that the city is onboard and is part of the project.

Marketing and Communications Committee – Heather

At their last meeting, the committee talked about the fact that MLS promotional photos and videos tend to feature the same staff members.  There seems to be a perception that staff don’t feel that they can use paid time to participate, especially in videos.  Some staff have reported that they have been told by management that they cannot participate.

Question:   How much time does participating typically take?  Heather answered that there is no set amount of time, and that there is no specific period of time before a session during which recruiting participants takes place.

Calls for people to participate in general, without specifying dates or topic, have been put out  in the past; there has been limited response.

PSLT would like specific examples of staff who have been told they cannot participate or that they will not be paid to participate.  There may be legitimate reasons for staff not being allowed to participate, like short staffing.  It is also possible that staff who simply don’t want to participate use the excuse that management will not allow them.

The Regional Directors will discuss the issue.

Executive Director Visits

Larry will visit the Friends sort site on October 19.

He will visit Tulsa City-County Library on October 15 to meet with their Executive Director.  Larry has talked to the Commission’s Executive Committee about the concept of a staff swap between MLS and other state systems.  The Committee sees merit in making it happen, so Larry will be looking to see how it might work.

Information/Update Items

• ARPA funds – Larry

MLS applied for grant funds and were awarded $110,000 to help with e-book expenditures during Covid.  The system will apply the money toward e-books and report back to ODL.

• Visit with the Consul General of Peru – Larry

The Consul visited Oklahoma City to meet Governor Stitt and Mayor Holt, and also requested to meet with the library director.  The consulate is working with Dallas Public Library to make programming on Peruvian culture in Spanish available to their customers.  Most programming is 20-30 minute videos, some live streamed, some pre-recorded.  The consulate is interested in offering this programming through MLS as well.  It could be a good addition to our Spanish language programming.  Larry will continue to follow up.

• Core Values Steering Committee – Larry

The committee has met; Chris Kennedy and Kimberly Boldt are co-chairs.  The committee’s charge is to bring the Core Values to all of MLS, and incorporate them throughout the organization.  They will define the Core Values, conduct a needs analysis to determine where MLS is in implementing each value, and make recommendations for moving forward.  The Steering Committee will supervise the work of the subcommittees, one for each Core Value, and help the subcommittees in their work.  The Steering Committee will report to Larry and the Leadership Team.

• Frontline Access & Engagement onboarding documents – Larry

Larry reported in Mark Schuster’s absence.  Public Services worked with HUM and L&D to update these documents.

• Hobby Lobby purchase procedure change – Charisse

Any purchases from Hobby Lobby now require that an RTO number be provided when checking out at the store.

The change was necessary because most purchases from Hobby Lobby had no converted RTO to link to.  This makes it difficult to pay monthly charges because there is no record of what was purchased nor who purchased it.  Tracking down the source of each charge takes so much time that bill payments are late.

Hobby Lobby’s register form did not have a field for the PO (RTO) number.  It has now been added and is a required field.  Since every purchase requires an RTO, staff should already have the information when they go to the store.

Not converting RTOs for in-person purchases is a common problem.  Everyone is reminded that in such cases, the RTO must be converted within 3 days of the purchase.

• Public Library Directors’ Council (PLDC) – Larry

Larry is chairing PLDC this year.  It is a chance to learn what other public libraries in Oklahoma are doing and thinking.

• Unite Oklahoma

At the last meeting, Unite Oklahoma presented.  They are a coordinated care network that provides referrals to services for people in need.  The network began in the Tulsa area and is now branching out across the state.  They have over 200 service providers and there is no cost to participate.  Several libraries are looking at using them as a resource.

• ARPA grants

About 90 ARPA grant requests were received, and 82 were approved.  ODL is searching for new grant management software, which will also manage LSTA grants.

• ODL

Putting together an online adult high school.  It will help people complete high school and the participants will receive an actual high school diploma, not a GED.  There are only 30 slots for the entire state, so anyone who wants to participate needs to work with ODL quickly.

Trying to offer more public library certification courses.  All courses are online and are fully booked minutes after being posted.  They would like to do in person classes again in the future.  Anyone who is interested in a course should apply as soon as they find out about it.

Working on a project to support local archives and history collections.

Evaluating the five year Library Services and Technology Act plan.  They will be reaching out to various libraries and staff to provide input.

• ILL

The next PLDC meeting will talk about ILL.  Some libraries would like to bypass using OCLC services for ILL and other functions like cataloging.

• Challenges

There has been an increase in challenges to materials across the state.  In some cases, the challenges are scattered; in others, they appear to be coordinated.  In some areas, an organization called No Left Turn (www.noleftturn.us) appears to be leading the charge.  Some challenges have used information directly from the website.  So far, MLS has not noticed any specific trend in titles challenged or reasons for challenges.

• Epic students in libraries

Many libraries in the state are looking at extending OneCard partnerships.  There have also been concerns about Epic schools use of public libraries.  Some libraries report that Epic students are basically taking over the library, taking up all tables and seating, wanting to use meeting rooms, filling up programs.  At least one library has banned Epic students/classes from its building.  Other libraries are trying to remind Epic students that they are not the only users of libraries, and putting out signs limiting space usage.

This led to a discussion about Epic students in MLS libraries.  Several libraries have expressed concern about the number of spaces the students take up, especially since seating is limited during sit and Stay.  Recently, a library has had children who live outside MLS’s service area coming in and asking for student cards due to being enrolled in Epic.

• Statewide cards

PLDC also discussed a legislator’s suggestion that libraries issue state ID cards or statewide library cards.  They decided to let the legislator know that there are a number of challenges with this.  More discussion is needed about what this suggestion hopes to achieve, and possibly to find other ways to achieve it.

• Ebsco databases

ODL currently provides all public libraries in Oklahoma access to the Ebsco databases core set.  They are getting ready to put out an RFP for renewal of the five-year contract for these databases.  If the state cannot or does not renew the contract, it could impact the databases that MLS is able to offer.  MLS would have to pay for these core databases, and would likely have to cut other databases to free up funds.

• Data Review Session – Larry

Larry has scheduled an optional Leadership Team session to review data gathered as part of earlier surveys.  It will be held on October 20 at 3:00 PM on Zoom.

• State Aid reporting – Larry and Charisse

ODL is requesting  more detail about how MLS spends our state aid funds.  This year the funds were around $190,000.  In years past, MLS and most libraries simply stated that we purchased materials.  When reporting to the Legislature how much difference the funds make to libraries, the more detail the better.  There was discussion about whether to spend the funds on something other than collections, or a specific part of the collections.  The spending needs to be a large purchase that is made consistently every year.  Charisse suggested setting up a special program in the budget to account for spending these funds.  Collection Development could use that program until all the aid funds were expended.  Pauline will discuss with Janeal Walker and get back to Charisse.

• Strategic Framework – Larry

Feedback from the survey has been compiled.  There were 50 responses, including 2 Commissioners; one Commissioner indicated willingness to help implement the framework, one indicated willingness to be supportive.  Based on named responses, only about a third of the Leadership Team responded.  48 respondents said that they were willing to work to achieve the goals in the framework, but only 28 wanted to participate on implementation teams.

Larry will do a video about what the framework and and is not, and describe how to move forward.  He would like people to have a complete understanding of where we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it.  Some of the deliverables in the plan are things that MLS already does.  Larry will take the feedback and begin moving forward.  He expects to implement the framework in early 2022, and then move forward in a slow, steady, deliberate way.

• United Way update – Larry

As of the meeting date, MLS has surpassed last year’s United Way contributions and is $400 short of our goal amount.  Larry pointed out that this is only $400 away from him getting pies in the face.

• Website upgrade – Larry

Much of the work on the website needs to be done in the background.  LibraryMarket will only update 5 pages, and the MLS site has over 250 pages.  The difference will not show on the public facing side.  Those who have the ability to edit data on the staff side may notice that the editing tools are slightly different.

• Winter Reading – Kimberly

Kristin Williamson is the lead this year and is working on planning.  The program will be similar to last year’s, with bingo cards.  It will have a Winter Olympics theme.  Anyone can participate, but prizes are limited to adults.  DOES is working with L&D and MAC on public services training.  Heather has arranged a partnership with Slim Chickens restaurants; the company approached MLS wanting to do some kind of reading program.  Slim Chickens will cross promote the program at their locations.  They are providing 3,000 chicken tenders meals as prizes, and 2 free chicken for a year grand prizes.  The bingo cards for onsite libraries and Library by Mail have been changed to be easier to read and work with.  Marketing will begin in December.

Discussion Items

• VG400.1, Retention schedule – Charisse

The process is moving along.  Charisse has sent a draft document to Senior Management Group and is waiting for feedback.  Plans are to present the draft at the next Leadership Team meeting.  IT is testing ways to delete e-mails and other electronic documents.

• Indoor programming

Larry pointed out that many libraries are already doing indoor programming.  In some cases, they are limiting by attendee age, number of people allowed to attend, etc.  He asked if it is time for MLS to move forward on this.  A lengthy discussion followed.  Some of the key discussion items:

It may help bring customers back to libraries.

DOES has a webinar featuring pediatricians about how programs for children can be held safely.  It includes limiting attendance, requiring registration and contact information from all attendees, requiring masks, using a check-in sheet with a questionnaire similar to what other organizations use, putting toys out and making wipes and sanitizer readily available.  Other ideas are a family storytime lapsit with a copy of the book available to each family and special storytimes for specific daycares.

DOES would love to be able to do something with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December.

Staff are asking about doing indoor programs now that the weather is getting colder and rainy.

Are we ready to put out all seating so that libraries can use meeting rooms for programs?  ED has already had to put out more seating as Epic students were taking up all that was available.

Are we ready for staff to go back to using break rooms for meals?

What does the CDC allow us to do now?

What does OSHA require?  OSHA requires us to provide a safe work environment for our employees, but no one is really clear on what that means.

The Friends and the Endowment Trust are considering holding meetings elsewhere since they cannot use library meeting rooms.

Most MLS locations are not at full capacity even with limited seating.

There has been a 25-30% decrease in activity at all MLS libraries.  The marketing campaign to remind people that we are open didn’t help.

We need to get back into the community, remind them we are here, get them to come back, remind them of the value we bring, build a bridge to where they are.

Are we keeping computers socially distanced because of use or because customers want it?  Partly to allow staff to help customers without getting too close.

Are we thinking about doing programming with social distancing and masks, or just going full tilt?

We could have take home kits for people who are turned away from programs due to attendance capacity.

Turning people away will be difficult for staff.  Maybe offer more training?

Do we still intend to give staff 2 months’ warning?  Larry: Will give advanced warning, but may allow libraries to start as they feel comfortable.

If we put out the furniture, it allows users to decide how close to sit to one another, etc.

Vaccination rates are going up, case counts are dropping or holding steady.  Covid will never just be over.

Consider giving milestone dates for libraries to put out furniture, open meeting rooms, start programming, etc.  Libraries could start sooner if they want to, but must start by milestone date.

Are we concerned that having some libraries move forward faster than others will cause conflicts for customers who go to more than one library.  If libraries are not doing what customers expect, it is their responsibility to engage customers in other ways.

When would we allow external organizations to book meeting rooms?  When would we have in person volunteer opportunities?  As soon as furniture is out of the meeting rooms, allow booking.

If we do that, we should also start having in person meetings.

Post some kind of warning that meeting room booking is at the users’ own risk?

Need to be careful with protocols for staff.  Again, OSHA requires safe work space.

Do we anticipate new meeting room policy being approved by Commission?  Likely.

4% of MLS Covid cases may have come from customer contact; 88% have been through community spread.

A group was formed to develop a framework for beginning a full reopening and communicate about it: Larry White, Erin Bedford, Kimberly Boldt, LaVetta Dent, Anne Fischer, Kelley Hoffman, Chris Kennedy, Anthony Herron, and Heather Zeoli.  The first meeting will be late the week of October 18 or early the week of October 25.

All decisions will be communicated in advance with at least 2 weeks’ notice.