Manager of Library Operations Meeting Minutes for January 2004

Date:  January 21, 2004

Location:  Belle Isle Library

Attending: Karen Bays, Barbara Beasley, Rosemary Czarski, Denyvetta Davis, Priscilla Doss, Jean Engebritson, Tim Fisher, Daphene Keys, Jack Kinzie, Mary Patton, Katrina Prince, Debbie Robertus, Randy Wayland, Phil Tolbert, Lisa Weissenbuehler, and Deborah Willis.
Guest: Kay Bauman, LaVetta Kinsey Dent, Karen Marriott, Mike Miller, Donna Morris, and Dana Morrow.

1. Mike Miller, Planning, discussed the results from two surveys conducted in the fall 2003: Reference survey and Summer Reading survey. There were 726 responses to the online summer reading survey, and Mike passed out a printed report of the results. Mike stated that it's time to do another door count survey, and that more door counters have been purchased, which Maintenance will install. The new ones are tamper resistant, and will be mounted to the doorframes.
2. Summer Reading Task Force -- LaVetta
• The task force will be finalizing plans at their next meeting. The beginning date for this year will be June 1st, but Neighborhood Arts won't start until June 7th, which means 8 weeks of programs. Also, the Read to Me and Reader groups have been combined now into one large group. The Task Force is looking at doing away with the contracts, using stickers on their reading logs to track their progress to their goals. Kids still get to choose whether they set goals by books, pages, or hours, with "8" being the magic number for their goal. They must go over their goal to be able to be entered in drawings for the big prizes. They will be limited to a maximum number of times they can enter the drawings. A minimum number of visits to the library may be included (4 visits during the 8 weeks, for ex.)
• Karen asked how multiple entry things would be handled. LaVetta explained that kids would have to meet their goal again for each additional entry.
• LaVetta mentioned that each agency would be asked to provide a location for pictures to be taken of the kids when they get their medals, possibly next to the Spoticus stand-up.
• This process will also be very similar to the YA reading program, to make things as easy on staff as possible.
3. Kudos & Info. -- Denyvetta
• Daphene, Karen, Deb Willis, and Priscilla received certificates for recent training that they attended.
• Denyvetta read an editorial from the Bethany Tribune about the Bethany Library's Christmas programs.
• Rosemary thanked everyone for sending staff volunteers to help with Choctaw's move. The new library is open now, and they are enjoying all the extra space and computers in the new facility. Denyvetta asked Rosemary how it felt to finally be open in the new building. Rosemary responded that it seems to be a combination of "floating on air" and wondering what the "new dream" will be now, after 21 years of working on this one.
• Denyvetta attended the recent ALA Midwinter meeting in San Diego. The weather was very pleasant, and the meetings were good. One of the things she's been doing for the last several years is volunteering as a resume screener at the Placement Center.  She was also able to meet with her counterparts from other systems around the country, both as a networking opportunity and as a sharing session. Overall, she felt it was a good conference.
• Next month's Managers retreat will be at Metro Tech, starting at 8:00am, with training on effectively managing workloads, and ending at about 4:00pm.
• In March the managers will follow up on Reserves along with a report on PLA activities.
• In April they will be meeting at Edmond, hopefully under the Pavilion, and they will be getting some relaxation training.
• In June they were scheduled to meet at Midwest City, but it will be closed for recarpeting, so Randy has agreed to host the meeting at Southern Oaks. 
• In September the managers will be meeting at Bethany, and are hoping to have lunch next to the pond before the meeting.
• The November meeting will be at Choctaw!
• Dana and Denyvetta have been scheduling the annual Programming budget meetings to piggyback with upcoming site visits.
• Jeanne has produced a tax form "cheat sheet" that she shared with everyone. It shows how many pages each of the main forms are, along with how much it will cost to have them printed, less the 10 free copies for each day.
• Denyvetta stated that the web site: workforce.com has good articles on management.
• Pauline reminded everyone about Job Shadow Day, which is an effort to recruit more people to the "library field."
4. RESERVES
1. What works
• Team work
• Service response to customers
• Exceeding customer expectations
• Being able to borrow from the other libraries really helps.
• Doing the RUSHES directly out of Capitol Hill has been a great relief, Phil says it actually gives him an endorphin rush when the RESERVES go out, it also doubles as an aerobic workout.
2. What does not work:
• Space.
• No limits for customers.
• Slow printers.
• Constant growth.
• Time.
• Turned oneself into a "gofer."
• Customers expect same day reserve service.
• Labor intensive.
• Some customers may order 30 items but only check out 5 or 10: greed!
• Routing slips aren't always accurate -- human errors.
• Poor bundling of reserves.
• Misrouted delivery boxes.
• Sometimes they do not have enough boxes to send out after a holiday.
• Confidentiality issues within family groups.
• Staff that misuses the reserve process. (not checking out reserves before taking them home)
• Taping route slips directly to the item rather than to rubber bands.
• Slips not staying in the item.
• Hiding the printout.  Make sure the AV bag is snapped shut.  What are the top five priorities that something can be done about? Time, Space, Human Error/ Training/ Mechanics
• Deb, Karen, and Tim all have staff that come in early (before 8) to get an early start on the reserves each day.
• Tim suggested that the printout be changed so that the destination library is printed larger, so that it can be used as a route slip instead of using the blue forms.
• Kay mentioned that it seems like the whole process would be easier if the list was divided up and pulled throughout the day. Phil replied that since their delivery has already left before they get there, they don't have the same pressure to get it all done before the driver arrives.
• Denyvetta mentioned that each library seems to have a different length of "hold time" for the reserves, and suggested that this issue might need to re-examine. Edmond, Midwest City, Del City, and Choctaw all hold reserves longer than 7 days because they have problems with prompt mail delivery of the notices. Bethany only keeps theirs for 6 days and they seldom have problems with their customers.
• Kay mentioned that Jim ran a special report a couple of years ago to look at how long reserve items sit on the shelf before getting checked out.
3. TIME:
• The current standard is to keep items for 7 days, and send back out on the 8th day
• Mary asked if there was a way to recompile the list in the afternoon, so that it could give everyone a head start on the next day's list.
• Rosemary mentioned that there ought to be some way to streamline the receiving process of unbundling, marking, wrapping, etc. Kay asked if the managers needed to re-examine the whole process again. Tim talked about the way Pioneer handled reserves when he was there, which involved a slip that was taped so the customer's name showed on the spine and the receiving library's name on the front cover. Donna thinks it is likely that Pioneer's volume of reserves is much less than ours.
• Deb wondered if it would be possible for Automation to change the way the list prints, so that things being reserved to be picked up at the owning location be printed out first, and everything else going to other agencies be printed last.
• Deb asked if there was a way to have different colored bins for reserves and for things simply being sent home. Most felt that it was a space problem.
• Karen suggested that the library consider hiring people based on the workload of the morning, or whenever the delivery comes.
• Denyvetta suggested that the managers look at who is actually doing the reserves --
• Reference staff, Circulation staff, Pages...
• Deb agreed to have Midwest City cut their hold time back to 7 days by our next regular meeting in March.
• Donna suggested that the manager needed to talk to Maintenance staff before changing anything regularly.
• At Midwest City the Librarians pull the reserves, and the Circulation staff runs and bundles them. Southern Oaks Librarians usually pull the reserves, with Circulation staff running them, and Randy has Pages pull the old ones. Edmond has two Pages who come in at 6:30 each morning and start pulling and routing as much as they can before the rest of the staff comes in at 8. At 8 they then run the list a second time to pick up anything they couldn't find, and then the Librarians clean those up.
• Belle Isle’s staff comes in at 8, divides the list up among Reference staff, then takes them to the counter to be run.
• Have a separate delivery time and pick up time
• What is the amount of time an item stays on an agency’s list without being found and then going onto another agency’s list.
• Southern Oaks and Midwest City waits until the next day to received their reserves. (sometimes Warr Acres does this as well)
4. SPACE
• The main issue for Southern Oaks is having adequate space to hold reserves
• Karen asked if it was possible to limit reserves anyway, even if it’s a small percentage of customers who reserve a ton.
• Donna said that it’s really an issues for Jimmy and Automation to address, but it doesn’t seem like a great idea to cut back on a popular service right before asking for a mil levy increase. (much discussion ensued)
• Denyvetta closed the session and stated that the discussion on human errors/training and mechanics will be continued at the March meeting. Denyvetta asked for volunteers to serve on a Reserve Task Force to review the process and present recommendations for improvement. The following managers volunteered Barbara Beasley, Tim Fisher, Lisa Weissenbuehler and Deborah Willis.

The meeting adjourned at 3:30pm