November 7, 2001

Present: Not recorded

New Downtown Library Naming Areas – Ernestine Clark. Ernestine announced she is developing a list of proposed names for rooms at the new Downtown Library & Learning Center. She is being assisted by Tod Olberding, Donna Morris and Scott Carter. Ernestine is drafting a policy on the naming of rooms. She has reviewed other policies by other libraries and said she felt it “essential to get the commissioners involved in the process.” Ernestine said she had one concern, that once we (that is, MLS) decided, “we need to move forward because once we go public we cannot back off from them.” She said prices vary across the country on room donations. “Seattle’s prices are sky high,” she said. However she reminded the ad team that the final decision rests with the trustees of the library system.

She asked the ad team to review her document and return at a later meeting with suggestions. Tod Olberding, director of construction management, suggested the document be reviewed by MLS’ attorney. Deputy Director Jim Welch said it would “be well advised” to run the policy through the commission. Ernestine said MLS has never had a policy before. Tod echoed her statement and suggested examining other libraries policy and asked about naming libraries facilities after people. Donna suggested having three library commissioners and three staff members hammer out the policy. Norm said he would visit with Penny McCaleb, MLS Commission Chair, about appointing such a committee.

Staff Identification Cards – Ric Rea. Ric Rea, director of human resources, reported on his analysis of staff identification cards. Ric said the cards range from “cheap to expensive,” with an average costs of equipment somewhere “between $10,000 and $12,000.” Ric said MLS needed to move quickly and Development Director, Ernestine Clark, suggested approaching the Friends for a contribution. The group discussed outsourcing the cards to a vendor. Maintenance Director Don Updegrove said the cards “shouldn’t be put off for the budget” and urged the group to proceed.

Flu Shots – Ric Rea. Rea continued his report, detailing the procedure for flu shots for staff. Ric said MLS was on the waiting list and that each shot cost about $13.50. The Broadway Clinic would provide the staffing to administer the shots.

Staff Recognition – Open to all. Following the flu shot discussion, the entire ad team discussed Staff Recognition Day. A suggested way made to move the three outstanding staff awards to the Staff Recognition event. Planning Director, Kay Bauman, said that a number of issues about Staff Development and Staff Recognition day need to be examined. Bauman said the Staff Development Day was not as “formal” as the Staff Recognition event and that too many people were presenting staff recognition awards. Ernestine Clark volunteered to gather staff input about the event and the ad team agreed to develop an earlier plan about the meeting.

Anthrax Training – Judy Walden. Deputy Director Judy Walden said almost every area in the system attended the recent Anthrax training. Walden said MLS needed to get gloves and masks for all mail handlers. Budget Director Anne Heish said the Business Office would purchase gloves and masks and send e-mail to all agencies who could then place orders. Maintenance Director Don Updegrove urged all managers to call their staffs together and “talk about how to handle this problem.”

Other Updates – Open to all. Judy distributed the MLS philosophy document and added that a new Director of Branches is now full time and available. The meeting adjourned at 11:30.

Date: November 14, 2001

Present: Jim Welch, Anne Fischer (Chair), Anne Hsieh; Karen Marriott, Donna Morris, Scott Carter, (minute taker) Judy Walden, Kay Bauman, Todd Olberding; Don Updegrove

Updates on Library Collection Coding, Invisible Man Events, African American History Month, new MLS web site – MLS is polling what libraries are currently doing with labels and “asking for topics of what customers are requesting. Right now, according to Karen Marriott, there is “no consistency regard whether there is a good practice or not.” Some libraries label holiday books the same while others break out separate holidays such as Christmas. For example, the Village uses 32 different labels. Judy and Karen haven’t yet come up with a recommendation of what to do at the agency label. It was suggested that the system, as a whole, is going to have to decide on a number of “system wide” labels. Further, Marriott said Tech Processing could do “three or four different labels” but more would be a problem. Norm said there were “probably somewhere between five or ten labels that are fairly common,” and the system should get a core list on paper.

At present the most frequently used labels were holiday labels. Norm suggested that the question “how do the labels make people feel?” be considered. Some have racial and social overtones. “We need to force ourselves to put out heads together and decide,” he said. “We need common coding throughout the system.”

Deputy Director Jim Welch said the system should also consider how things are shelved. “It’s one thing to label it’s another thing to shelf,” he said.
Norm agreed, adding that branches should have some autonomy in certain areas with regards to their particular community.
“Still, though,” he said, “labels need to look the same way.”

Continuing discussion of a milage increase – Norm. MLS is looking at asking for a milage increase in 2005. However, our staffing level is going to feel and look very much like the current one.
Invisible Man, African American History Events – Norm and a host of others. Dana Morrow, outreach director, said the Canterbury Children’s choir had asked MLS if we would partner with them. The group, funded with a grant from the Friends, would perform at Edmond, Belle Isle and Midwest City. Additionally, MLS received notice from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation that they would give the system $20,000 to make copies of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man available to high school students countywide. Dana said the original proposal was to invite four high schools to make the book part of their curriculum. In addition, Dana said that the foundation would provide matching funds for Morris McCorvey (the Arts Council’s Artist in residence) to perform Invisible Man throughout the county and would provide $2,400 to fund an intern to help distribute copies of the book.
Denyvetta Davis, director of branch services, said she is working on a Humanities Council grant to help fund the Invisible Man celebration. The paperwork is due Feb. 22.
Davis said MLS is also expanding its Invisible Man committee to formulate more ideas for events. Davis also added that MLS is trying to secure funds to bring Toni Morrison to Oklahoma City. The University of Central Oklahoma would provide the venue. Davis said the Friends of the Ralph Ellison library have agreed to donate $1000 to the celebration.

Norm urged the development of a “Plan B” in case some funding sources didn’t come through.

The Invisible Man celebration is slated to be a 12-month long event.

New MLS Web Site – Jim Welch. Welch said MLS’ new web site—metrolibrary.org—went live on Nov. 1. “As soon as we can will report on a month’s full of statistics,” he said.

Norm suggested a targeted marketing campaign for students and teachers touting the site’s “homework help” capability. He also suggested developing a “homework help” section and the creating a kit for distribution to parents and teachers. Deputy Director Donna Morris suggested partnering with schools and having schools provide a link to the MLS web site. Kay Bauman, director of planning, suggested a workshop for media specialists and said the system needs to “mount and effort to let teachers and media specialists know how vital the library is.”

Opening Night Security – Ric Rea. Ric spoke of the security concerns various Opening Night venues are addressing due to the recent terrorists activity. “We’re looking at how the venues are going to handle bomb threats,” he said. Ric said MLS will have security officers in our own building, but if we get a threat “we’re on our own” on whether or not to evacuate the building. Ric said he didn’t recommend closing the venue unless the site received a “legitimate threat.” The current standard, he said, is to clear the building. Ric added that MLS hasn’t received any particular threats around New Year’s eve.
Anthrax/Mail Precautions – Don Updegrove. Maintenance Director Don Updegrove urged MLS to train managers and develop procedures in dealing with Anthrax and other biological hazards. “We’re at war,” he said, “and we need to take Anthrax procedures seriously.” Don said the system is “very loose” on what should be done and “maybe what we need to do is take the Center for Disease Control (CDC) document and transpose it for certain procedures on Anthrax.” Don said the Oklahoma Emergency Management system has set a December 17 training date for all managers. Other issues surrounded the way the system handles its mail, since five people from MLS are allowed to go to the post office with bulk mail.

Family Place Video – Norm. Norm said MLS should develop a seven-minute Family Place video of its own.

AGs Ruling on e-mail – Jim/Tod. Tod Olberding expressed concerns about the Attorney General’s new ruling on how e-mail can be a public record. “Any document that you keep in paper should also be kept in the e-mail version.” Judy Walden, deputy director for public services, said the system needs to develop a new e-mail policy. PR Director Scott Carter, volunteered to get copies of the Oklahoma Press Association’s book on the Open Meetings Open Records Act.

Book Security System – Norm. Norm said the system needs to refine its book security system. Jim Welch echoed Norm’s statement and said there needs to be a discussion on the location of the wiring in the new downtown library for a security system.