Manager of Library Operations Meeting Minutes for December 2007

Date: December 19, 2007

Location:  Midwest City Library

Attending: Denyvetta Davis, Kay Bauman, Karen Bays, Barbara Beasley, Rosemary Czarski, LaVetta Dent, Priscilla Doss, Mary Patton, Katrina Prince, Phil Tolbert, Randy Wayland & Deb Willis.

Meeting called to order at 1:30p.m., by Denyvetta Davis, Director of Library Operations.

1. Open Discussion 2007 Highlights
• Denyvetta asked the managers to share 2007 success highlights from their libraries. A variety of success’ were shared by the managers such as, the RFID tagging project, manager rotation, passing of the library bond, new staff members, staff improvement and team morale.
• BE staff took part in the V2R “Vision to Reality” program presented by the Leadership MLS Class I of 2007. DN applied for a $2,000 grant for the Oklahoma Folklore. CT received a $3,500 grant from the Choctaw Library Guild. WA parking lot was resurfaced. MC librarian, Kristen Williamson graduated from MLS Leadership Group.
• Denyvetta’s success for 2007 was the implementation of the new labels for system reserves among a variety of other accomplishments.
• “Dealing with Problem Behavior in the Library,” Public Libraries. Sept/Oct 2007, pp. 21-33
• The managers briefly discussed an article from Public Libraries entitled, “Dealing with Problem Behavior in the Library.” -Segments discussed included, “Listening to the Problem Patrons” which references four categories that classifies customers as praisers, patrons, talkers, and  walkers.
• -“Embracing the Problem Customer” speaks of staff members embracing their responsibilities and roles in dealing with challenging behavior in the library and the ability to determine when a problem is really a problem.
2. Kudos & Misc. – Denyvetta Davis, Director of Library Operations
1. Kudos
• Denyvetta gave kudos to CT for receiving a grant from the Choctaw Library Guild in the amount of $3,500 to go towards funding of programs and materials.
• MC received a $300 grant from Wal-Mart.
• ED was awarded a third place trophy for their participation in the UCO Centennial Parade.
• Congratulations to DC for receiving 100% accuracy and appearance for shelving during a recent site visit. This is the third time this year for DC.
• Denyvetta shared that IT gave rave reviews to BI for their team effort in having a written plan during the RFID tagging process.
• LaVetta gave Kudos to Josh for adding the staff meeting schedule to staff business cards.
• Denyvetta received a note from an internal customer praising the DN staff for providing great service to their customers in raising one corner of the reserve label for easy removal.
2. Miscellaneous
• Denyvetta distributed copies of the “Key Concepts for Determination” from Character First and invited managers to share this information with staff.
• Denyvetta reminded managers when submitting leave forms, be sure to highlight or put a checkmark beside the most recent leave date requested.
3. MLS News/Updates – Kay Bauman, Deputy Executive Director of Library Operations
1. Ad Team Update
• On December 5, the Leadership group presented to the AdTeam their results from the V2R project and shared their success’ of the program. Kay is reviewing the proposal to determine how it may be incorporated with the Strategic Plan.
• LU hours will be extended effective, December 31, 2007.
• Kay informed, the OU Opinion Poll will begin its’ own polling for the Strategic Plan the week of January 7, 2008, which may take up to five weeks. She hopes to receive the preliminary results soon. Another survey will be conducted at the end of five years to determine if the Strategic Plan goals have been achieved.
• The Focus Group’s Transformational Café report is on the Intranet as well as in the Commission packet. Staff is encouraged to read the report.  Kay stated that staff would like MLS to be recognized locally and nationally for services provided to raise awareness of the library system.
• MaC submitted an application for the John Cotton Dana Award with an expected answer to be received in 18 months. The department is  working on ways of putting information on the Internet to inform staff of what services they can offer. This will be known as the Online catalog.
• The land for the NW Library has been purchase and is located at 122nd & MacArthur Blvd.
• Anne, IT was excited to report that the RFID project is 21% complete. Kay indicated that IT will soon begin on the Print Management System.
• The Leadership MLS class of 2007 graduated on Dec. 19, 2007.
4. Resource Sharing
• Katrina Prince, BE - Facilitator
• Katrina shared a fun article with the managers about how Santa Claus faces challenges and the similarities between Santa and Library Managers such as, customer focus and turnover rate, etc.
• RFID Updates – Deb Willis, MC & Priscilla Doss, BI
• Deb stated that the RFID process with IT is completed. MC is still in the process of tagging and scanning items from the book drop. Staff was excited about checking out several items at a time and loved the experience.
• Priscilla shared that she and Rondia Banks implemented a plan to place carts in the children’s area, adult fiction area, and the non-fiction area for preparation when IT arrive. BI were very fortunate to have received assistance from CT, BE & RE on December 14 and over 11,000 items were tagged on this day. Tagging of the children’s area, fiction area and audio cassettes are completed. BI’s written plan will be placed on the “M” drive for library managers to view.
• RFID tagging is completed at SO, MC and BI. The target date to begin tagging at ED is Jan. 2 and DN will soon follow.
• Kay highly recommended that managers have a schedule during the RFIP process so staff will know where and when to report for tagging. She advised that IT has an account set up to pay for additional help needed in the tagging process.
• Other topics
  Denyvetta advised managers to submit their PLA registration to take advantage of early registration.
• She expressed appreciation to the managers for participating in the rotation at RE and added that the rotation may need to continue a little longer. Nita will forward RE schedules to all managers.
• Denyvetta informed the managers that some of the topics discussed at the meetings during 2007 would be on the January agenda (i.e. Sacred Cows, Roving, Employee Conflict, and Whole System Thinking).

Next meeting date scheduled – January 23, 2008 – Belle Isle Library at 1:30p.m.