Public Services Managers Minutes - January 12, 2023

Welcome & Introduction

• We welcomed Barbara to her last PSM meeting, thanked her for her years with Metro and wished her well in retirement.
• We welcomed Paula Level to her first in-person PSM meeting and welcomed Sam Garcia as representing NW this month.

Happy Notes

• Several managers shared positive news.

Larry’s Updates

• Larry has been visiting departments and will be visiting staff meetings again at the locations this month and in February.
• Our construction projects are moving forward. Almonte has a wall up and beginnings of the roof. They are still on time for construction and should be done in December 2023. Downtown will have some work done in summer of 2024 to fix some issues with the exterior and working on the roof. Edmond 2 is moving along quickly, they are expected to open by January 1, 2025. Ralph Ellison is on the list to be renovated and expanded in 2024-2025 with an additional 7,000 to 10,000 square feet.
• We will be seeing some movement with the Core Values, Internal Communications, LEAP and Strategic Planning this year. Larry put a hold on those suggestions so that we could build capacity and try to fill positions so that we could address them in the right way. We will be starting to work on a Strategic Plan, it will be a year long process. We will be gathering data and putting together a plan between now and June. We will be talking with guests for 6 months and have a plan in place to start on January 1, 2024.
• Imagination Library we started with a 5000 sign up goal by June 2023, we already have over 7700 currently signed up. That was with only the initial announcement. We will be marketing more in the next few weeks as we work with Tulsa and Pioneer to promote the service. No library funds are used to support the Imagination Library. It is paid for with state and community funds. The majority of labor involved with the project is provided by Dolly Parton’s organization and with volunteers.
• Organizational Changes- We have no plans to lay off staff or outsource anything. We did get a 3 star rating from Library Journal this year and they worked from 2020 data, so it is based on what we did at the beginning of the pandemic. That recognition is possible because of the work that staff have done.
• Situational Awareness- We recently had a guest come into a building around 5p, sit in a chair, staff and security walked by several times and we closed the building with the guest sitting in the chair. The janitorial crew found the guest when they came in to clean around 9:30. This particular guest was not trying to hide and we did not perform a wellness check or interact with this guest. At a different location, Larry walked into a building and was greeted by the security guard, he walked up to the desk and the 2 employees at the desk didn’t look up from their computers, he also walked behind the desk and into the staff area and no one looked up. Larry went into the backroom where he stood for 2 minutes without anyone noticing that he was there before he said anything. We have doors being propped open and guests getting into staff areas. We are all part of our safety response and we are only as good as each individual’s efforts. We should be engaging with those who are not known to us, we don’t want anyone to get hurt. Ask if it’s a vendor or to see credentials and call someone if you need to check. Dennis and Milissa worked to get Situational Awareness training put together for the system. Each location will have multiple sessions to catch everyone at their location as they are location specific. MAC and Dennis will be working together to make a short training for NEO and then Dennis will be working on visiting locations to meet with new staff and talk about Situational Awareness after they start.
• Larry thanked the managers for all of the work that it takes to keep the buildings open and running. Take a moment to appreciate everything that all staff do to keep us working. We are seeing good things happening in the locations and it is staff that make that happen.

Breaking News

• The testing of the paper hold labels went well. Tricia looked at the numbers and overall we saved several seconds per item, which equaled a FT person’s FTE for a year plus some. We will be doing a system-wide 4-week trial and everyone will participate using the new hold labels. We are looking for feedback including guest’s, particularly after all of the hold labels are on the shelf in the new way. We will be asking locations to determine if they need receipt printers moved for the trial and will be coordinating with IT to get those moves made. If all goes well in the trial we will not return to using the sticky labels. There will be check-in meetings as we go for manager’s to attend and provide feedback. If your receipt printer is fading then please let IT know, they can fix it or replace it. If the trial doesn’t go well we may look into getting hold label printers similar to those that Pioneer has.
• Vintage Guides- A year ago we approved of a non-profit’s publication which compiles senior services into a guide to make it easier to compare options. They have finally completed the guide for the OKC area and will be delivering them to the Service Center this week. They will also have a rack to put them on. If you need more guides please let your RD know. You should be seeing them within the week or so.

GX Update

• We will be changing Public Service’s name to Guest Services on July 1^st to coincide with the fiscal year. Buddy, Charisse, Rondia, Angel, Larry and the RDs met to talk about the implementation. We are working on 2 different trainings. We will be sharing the content once it’s been finalized. We also need to develop a roll out schedule and asked for volunteers. CH, BI and CLs volunteered to be up next in the implantation.

Hours and Services Updates

• We are looking at getting the right resources in the right places for the right time. We are not going broke but we don’t have unlimited funds either. RDs are meeting tomorrow to finalize the plan which is based on feedback from managers, frontline staff and data. This is a broad plan for the next several years and does include hours changes. Not all locations will have the same hours and some locations add hours, some decrease hours. We will be having quite a bit of time before anything is implemented. Larry reviews the proposal which will then go to the Executive Council and Advisory Council before it heads to a Subcommittee of the Commission and then the full Commission. If the full Commission approves it, then there will be an implementation date attached to it. It would most likely be one to two months after the approval before it went into effect. This will provide us time to continue the discussion with staff, let guests know that it is coming and allow time for things like the hours on the front doors be replaced. A question was asked about increased hours, the locations where hours were increase were only increased by at most 2 hours in a week.

The managers took a break and walked through CH. When we resumed the meeting we talked about what they had noticed in the building.

Hybrid Positions

• As we have been evaluating Public Services and looking at the structure of Access and Engagement we are hoping to correct some silos. We have already done so by adding the Assistant Library Manager positions. In looking at the hours and services we also were looking at the staffing at the locations. We are proposing starting a hybrid position which would be a blend of Access and Engagement. If this gets approved, there will be no immediate change. It will be a change that is started through attrition. The position would be front facing, working the desk as well as assisting with programming at times. This will help with succession planning as it will provide a greater opportunity to have experience in a wider variety of activities. Once Larry has provided feedback and we have talked with HUM we will get a summary out.

Edmond 2

• It will be a facility in a shared building with the YMCA. There will be some shared space in the middle of the building. There will be meeting rooms and hold lockers. The lobby area may be 24/7 as the YMCA is looking at a 24 hour model possibly. There may be computers and the Xerox machine in the lobby. There will be a medium sized meeting room, 5 study rooms and a small maker space. There will be a dedicated programming room for the library. We are looking at FTE and anticipate that we will have around 27 staff members. The positions will be filled with those who apply for, interview for, and are selected those positions. We are working on the collection plan and backroom options. There is a deadline of the 20^th  to provide feedback to the architects. We are hoping to have staff hired and trained by the time the location opens to the public.

Location Sharing

Each location shared an update about their location.