Meeting notes

Apologies for the lateness of these.

if anyone has any questions, please let us know,
Brandon

Staff Meeting

May 08, 2015

Place: Tuttle

Attendance: Brandon, Tula, Jeremy, Rosa, Ashley, Nadine, Wendy, Brittany and Courtnie.

Absent: Neisha

1)      General Information: Rosa, Tula and Brittany will be out on Wednesday for a meeting with the Deputy Director. Jeremy will go over to Pleasantville to help with coverage.  Brandon asked if anyone was having trouble with the signing in or out of the new Kronos system. Just keep documenting what is happening or what messages are showing up, if any, so Brandon can make sure your time is accurate.  

a)      Tier Designation Form – Email from Laurie Covington about the tier designation system needs to be completed. Tier 1 is for emergency responders, medical personnel, etc. Tier 2 is what they call support personnel; Tier 3 is relief staff. We are all considered Tier 3; this is for when emergencies happen (i.e. Ike). Basically in the case of an emergency we are still evacuated but in the aftermath, we may be called back to work at Central or other locations to help out.

b)      Staff Development Day feedback –  Some felt that the speakers were too long, possibly a break was needed between the two afternoon speakers. One of the breakout session speakers was good and should have been the main speaker. Some mentioned that the breakout session should have been longer to gain more information.

c)       Centralized Floating – As of Monday, there will no longer be float hubs. Anything that we get floated into us will be coming from central and will be coming specifically for us. If you think we are getting stuff we do not need or getting too many copies of, let Brandon or Tula know so that a note can be made. Continue to weed based on condition, if it is really old, let Tula or Brandon know. Continue to follow the 2/3 full or 20lbs limit on the boxes for the Friends/Discard boxes. As books come in, please do not forget to check it in; same thing for the new books as well. If it is a Biography, the dated books can be weeded as follows: If the person is living then the publishing date needs to be less than 5 years old; if the person is dead then the publishing date needs to be less than 10 years old.

2)      Manager’s meeting information:

a)      HPL Stories – Keep an hear out for more HPL stories, either from your own experiences or from a patron’s. The library really wants to hear more about them, how they have linked people to information or books, computers, etc. Brandon shared a few stories that was mentioned at the manager’s meeting, how the library has affected people over the past few years.

b)      Sprockets – Mary Hughes had come to the manager’s meeting and talked with us about how to do a sprocket. We can just continue to do how it is (make sure though that you are detailed about the information, e.g. if it is a leak, where, for how long, how much, any damage, etc.).  Also, be sure to not keep submitting sprocket reports on the same issue. If it is something that is not getting fixed, then let Brandon know so that he can contact SPACES, Pedro, etc. to find out what can be done. Also, keep in mind that GSD and custodial staff are not part of the HPL staff.

c)       Training Portal – The new portal is up and running, please get on it and check it regularly, to see what can be beneficial for your training. It will be to everyone’s best interest to become familiar with LMS, that is possibly the way HEAR may be conducted in the future.

d)      Survey – Dept. Director, Michelle Gorman, will be sending out a survey in the near future. It will be anonymous and unless you make it obvious who you are (i.e. as a large red-headed man, working at the TUT/PLE grouping…), they won’t know who sent it. The survey is just to see how people feel about the changes that have taken place within the past few months and how they see the future.

e)      New Managers- Johnson/Mancuso is officially split. Tamieka Price is over Mancuso and LeRoy Robinson is still over Johnson. Each of the branches will have their own manager but they will still work together and share staff conservatively, when needed. This is a pilot program, if it works this might be the first steps to getting the libraries back to individual managers. There are two new ones Vanessa Gimpes at Frank/Meyer and Dominic Spirelli at Smith/Young.

f)       Robbery Suspect – They caught the main suspect who primarily hitting all the libraries. He has been given 2 years in prison, we are still waiting to hear back about the lights so continue to keep them on until further notice.

g)      Youth Services Librarian – The interview process is coming to a close and we will have one in time for SRP.

h)      Quality Management System – This goes back to the unification of the way things are done procedurally at all the locations. If anyone wants to be involved with this process please let Brandon know so he can let Michelle Gorman know. The process will be done virtually and they are looking at how do we do things, what is the best way to do things, how to streamline the process.

3)      Nuts and Bolts:

a)      Statistics – Last month we have gotten pretty lax about how many books were being brought in or sent out for delivery. Also, we have been letting the count slip on how many questions were asked throughout the day. The reason statistics is important is that this is how they determine staffing levels so we need to be as accurate as possible.

b)      Training on Library Security – 5 things to do maintain security in libraries. 1) complete incident reports, which we do. 2) Keep the Rules of Conduct posted in a public area. 3) Behaviors are more important than profiles. 4) Peace is more important than justice. 5) Chain of command or not, if you feel threatened, you are all empowered to call the police. You need to keep yourself and your coworkers safe, you do not need to wait for the manager to get help, if things are escalating out of control. If someone is getting upset and they are being difficult but they have a good relationship with a fellow coworker, let that coworker possible see if they can calm them down in a gentle way. We have to work on our acting skills; some of us may be introverts but when we are on the floor, we have to be extroverts with the public. We have to be able to enforce the consequences, to keep things from getting worse. Language to keep in mind is to Introduce, Explain, and Ask; this will give the people the choice to either leave or stay and obey the rules. Also, come up with code word or phrase to refer between your coworkers to signal when 911 needs to be called. Remember when calling 911 to be as specific as possible. Brandon has suggested to use the phrase “purple folder”.

c)       Summer Vacation and SRP  -  People have already requested the end of June and start of July.  If you plan on taking a vacation this summer, go ahead and request it on Kronos, if you have trouble with the new Kronos, send Brandon and email. If you are not familiar on how to sign up the kids with SRP, please get with any staff member who is familiar with the process to ask for help. Registration started May 1^st, but prizes cannot be claimed until June 1^st. We are not the book police though so it is not our job to decide whether they actually read the books or not.

d)      New Hire –  We have a new hire, Shinetra Castillo, who started May 11^th. She was a substitute for HPL and has been hired as a PT CSC. She will be at both locations so make her feel welcomed!

e)      Tuttle door – The back door to Tuttle lately has been found unlocked during lunch time. It is because some people may think the door locks automatically just like at PLE but it does not. You have to turn the key back around the opposite way in order to lock it once you opened the door. So just double check it, especially before you leave the building for lunch or the night; so far no one has come in the morning to find the door unlocked.

Also, be aware that the notes from the manager’s meeting are available to you for reading so you won’t be left in the dark. Feel free to read through them and if you have any questions just ask Brandon or Tula.