Public Services Managers Minutes - November 11, 2021

Welcome:  Risa Jensen-Jones welcomed the group to the meeting.

Happy Notes:  Individuals shared personal and professional good news;

Closing announcements (Risa):  Risa brought up the current closing announcements for discussion and asked if anyone wanted to suggest any changes to wording or timing.  The suggestion was made to have closing announcements in English and Spanish.  Also, could the announcements be pre-recorded instead of read every day.  Risa asked for a couple of people to work on the wording and timing.  Paula Joseph-Johnson volunteered and Chris Stofel was added since CH already uses a pre-recorded message at closing.   Chris Kennedy suggested that Risa give some history about closing announcements.  Risa explained that we went to standard closing announcements several years ago so that everyone would get the same message at all of the locations.  The announcement is also a reminder that we are offering services up to our scheduled closing time.  People will be on the public computers until 9:00.  Chris Kennedy also mentioned that we might want to consider a video message as well.  Chris Stofel and Paula will work on a recommendation and send their ideas to the Public Services Managers group.

In Person PSM meetings:  Risa set up a poll with three options, in person every month, in person and virtual alternating, in person quarterly and virtual for the remaining meetings.  The results of the poll were doing in person quarterly and virtual for the rest.  Some of the libraries will be unable to host a PSM meeting due to meeting room size and social distancing.  Change will begin in January.

Reopening discussion:  Each Library Manager shared the reopening plans for their locations regarding furniture, when all public computers would be available, passive programming, toys, and indoor in person programming.

Sneeze guards (Risa):  All sneeze guards need to remain at the service points where they are now.

In Person Programming (Risa):  By February 1^st, all locations should be offering indoor programming for 5 and up.  Libraries can offer programs for young people ages 5-11 as early as December 15.  The purpose of requesting registration was for capacity purposes, not for contact tracing.  If families want to bring in younger children than the advertised age for a program, they can do so; we will not be policing for ages.  Please consider parents when setting registration caps for programs.

CIS requests—Tim Spindle, CIS Manager, asked that libraries let CIS know when they run out of Take & Make kits so that they can give this information to customers.  Tim also referred to the email he sent asking us to confirm the extensions for CIS to use when transferring calls.

Access News—Tricia Andrews, Manager of Access reminded the group of the Access Managers meeting next week on 11-16, Library Managers in Region M should attend.  Tricia also mentioned that there will be another Circulation Forum later this month.  The group will be working on consistency of processes such as missing pieces and selfchecks, customer issues, and RFID readers as well as CarlX/Carl Connect issues.