Public Services Managers Minutes - October 14, 2021

Autorenewals (Risa): Three days before the item is due, a script will run. The script will attempt to renew material due in 3 days. Anything that was unable to be renewed after the script runs, the coming due notices will be sent via email and text to let customers know items are due in three days. Wording in the notifications have been updated. Paper notices will not be sent out. Customers will only be notified if items have not renewed. The “renew” button will be removed from the catalog. In extenuating circumstances, staff may renew, but we want items to go through the autorenewal process. Communications plan and talking points will be shared with staff.

Updates / Reminders (Erin)

• Contacting IT: Everyone needs to let IT know if something isn’t working at their location. All staff in the building should notify IT if something isn’t working properly or if there is an issue.
• Chris Visiting Locations: Chris is going to visit all libraries and introduce himself to new staff. Ideally, this will occur in the first two weeks of employment.
• PITS Incidents and RD involvement: Ensure your RD is aware of any situations where 911 has been called. If Library Managers need their RDs to review a PITS incident, Library Managers must email their RD with the link to the PITS report. Note in the PITS recommendation that you are recommending a ban.
• Hobby Lobby Card: Staff were not converting RTOs and submitting receipts from Hobby Lobby purchases. Hobby Lobby was sending bills with the amount due and date of purchase. No other details were shared. RTOs were not updated so the amount in Intacct did not match the bill from Hobby Lobby. The RTO number will need to be taken to Hobby Lobby. As backup, staff can put their location and initials in if the RTO number was not present (I.e.: EB @ BE). Receipts should be uploaded to Intacct within three days of purchase.
• Learning Path for next year: All staff will be doing the same learning path: People First / Customer Service with three different path options with timing length. Managers have the ability to request their team do the same core value path. Managers will need to share how they plan for the library/department to implement ideas from the learning path. Learning Paths will be due at the end of August 2022.
• Moving forward with reopening: Moving forward with fully opening including programming. Larry White, Chris Kennedy, Anne Fischer, Anthony Herron, Kimberly Boldt, Heather Zeoli, Erin Bedford, LaVetta Dent will determine the steps of reopening. The goal is to have milestones with deadlines for libraries to move forward at their own pace. In person programming will have requirements. Furniture will be moved from meeting room spaces to the floor to allow customers to use meeting rooms. The updated Meeting Room Policy is being taken to the Metropolitan Library Commission in anticipation of customers using meeting rooms. A timeline was not shared when this will be implemented. Staff will have a two-week notification of when the change will occur. Staff will still be practicing social distancing.

Diversity Audits of Collection (Pauline and Janeal, CSD): A presentation was given to share what, why, and how of diversity audits. Diversity audits evaluate the library’s collection to provide data about the diversity of the collection. Common criteria evaluated include the following: the author is part of an underrepresented group, item includes a character who is part of an underrepresented group, or item is about the experience of an underrepresented group. Metro uses Diverse BookFinder, Ingram iCurate inClusive, and OverDrive.

• Diverse BookFinder is a collection of thousands of children’s picture book featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC), published and distributed in the US since 2002. Diverse BookFinder is funded by grants, so it is free for Metro. It does not evaluate the content, and only evaluates our print collection. Visualizations are available on Tableau.
• Library vendors are beginning to respond to the shift in the profession to emphasizing the diversity of the library collection by offering diversity audits for purchase. We purchased Ingram iCurate inClusive by Ingram. Ingram uses their own cataloging data created by librarians on their staff over many years of selling books. It does not include negative portrayals, and only evaluates our print collection.
• OverDrive provides a diversity audit of our collection using BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications). BISAC headings are like subject headings in our catalog but are added to the book by the publisher. BISAC does not evaluate content and is not 100% reliable.
• CSD recently began order audits after taking training on diversifying collections through Library Journal. It is easier to move forward in creating diverse collections if data is gathered at ordering instead of trying to look back. Collection Development Librarians add tags in the notes field of the order record for each item based on professional reviews. Collection Development created a Tableau workbook to pull the tags and create a visualization of the data. This helps to ensure that material is being added equitably across the county.

Other steps include creating new subject headings and being conscious of how we use existing headings. Retrack workgroup created a proposal to expand existing headings in fiction to be more diverse. Eventually, we hope to create audits by library and compare audit data to demographics. The goal is to build a more diverse collection for our customers.

Juvenile Reading Levels (Pauline, CSD): A presentation was given sharing information about various reading levels for Board Books, Easy, Reader, Tween, Juvenile, Young Adult. Selectors determine the classification / location code based on professional reviews. If there’s a concern after it’s received Cataloging will start a discussion with the Selector to determine if it should be moved. There may be overlap between two adjacent classifications. Generally, titles in a series should be in the same classification.

New Sorter Coming (Pauline, CSD): Current sorter installed January 2010 will be replaced. Friday, October 22 the sorter will be removed. Friday, November 5 is the target launch date with the new sorter. Service Center will be doing hand sorting. Libraries should pre-sort more material than normal. Ideally, if your library does not sort for BE, ED, NW, VI, WA, please start. There are no extra red totes, but there is a surplus of ergo trolleys. The preference is to sort in ergo trolleys instead of red totes, pending space in workrooms. Library Managers to inform Pauline if ergo trolleys can be accommodated into workrooms. New material will still be processed. October 22 through November 5 is when extra pre-sorting needs to occur. Continue to use your red totes for the designated libraries. A new feature with the new sorter features bulk tote check in to allow for bulk check in for all items in the trolley. It will be tested before implemented and training documentation will be shared.

Breakout Room Discussions

Meeting ended at 4pm.