Meeting Minutes 3/10/2016

The meeting was held at the Pleasantville Neighborhood Library Thursday March 10, 2016 at 10:15 AM.

1.      Brandon began by covering announcements from the Manager’s Meeting

a.       Brandon shared the updates to the Budget. The Mayor asked the Library to submit a proposal for a potential 5-7% budget cut in FY17. For HPL that equals approximately $1.9 - $2.2 million. The plan Dr. Lawson proposed takes those funds from others areas, and not personnel.  At the Library-sponsored event on 2/13 featuring author Will Haygood, it was encouraging to hear Mayor Turner say very publicly he would not balance the City’s budget on the backs of children. He believes the Library is a partner in education, and that it serves young people in our community in a very positive way.  We should have some more information about the budget in the next few weeks, and when we have more information we will share it with all staff. 

b.      Concealed Carry Signs have arrived at Pleasantville and Tuttle to be put in front of the door before any School Sponsored Event stating that weapons are not permitted in the building during the event.

                                                              i.      For Pleasantville this covers our two storytimes with the first and second graders but NOT our After School Zone. We currently do not have any School Sponsored Events at Tuttle.

                                                            ii.      Staff discussed the Open Carry Law asking for clarification on how it applies to staff and other rules. We clarified that staff must keep their weapons locked in their car and decided to repost the Open Carry Law and FAQ on the blog.

                                                          iii.      We shared the good news that since the Open Carry Law has been in effect, we have had no incidents come as a result of it. Seeing as people should be most likely to test out the boundaries of the law after is just passed, we are optimistic that this will continue to be a non-issue at the library.

c.       Brandon covered the changes to the Discard Process. New Stamps have arrived that say “Friends of the Houston Public Library”. All items in good condition are stamped with this and boxed up for sale. All items that are damaged are stamped with “Discard” and boxed up as Discards. The exception is items with yellow spine labels as they are leased and we send them to LMS.

d.      Brandon confirmed that the trainings for Lynda Library and Cyber Security had been completed by everyone. Only Yadira had yet to receive a Cyber Security email invite.

e.        Brandon updated everyone on the Digital Strategies Report.

                                                              i.      Digital Strategies is also working on updating the entire network; replacing equipment across the system, physical and wireless.  They are working with AT &T to get a new network that is more responsive to our bandwidth needs. 

                                                            ii.      Maurice Williams has returned to Digital Strategies from City ITD. 

                                                          iii.      Rick’s team continues to explore paper/printing solutions.  Ricoh copy machines will be giving a demo to see if they are a good match. 

                                                          iv.      The HELPDESK is getting a major reorg for better customer service.  Please continue to report issues to them and be more pro-active in reporting possible problems. 

                                                            v.      Digital Strategies is still working on the online registration process.  The matter is with Legal on what the proposed guidelines will be.  Saima will be helping with the transition.

f.       Brandon shared the announcement of our New HPL Foundation Director,  Sally Swanson

                                                              i.      Sally started on 1/4/16 and has a 20 year background in fundraising.  She worked previously with the Girl Scouts.  She sees herself as a link between donors and our programs.  She is an advocate for HPL and her goal is to raise money for us. 

                                                            ii.      She will seek opportunities for communities to learn what we do.  One big way she sees that staff can help her is by sharing stories of impact. She recognizes that frontlines staff see how the library is making a difference in our customer’s lives every day, and she wants to hear those stories so she can share them with potential funders.  Staff can send your stories to Laurie and she’ll share them with Sally. 

g.      Brandon announced the new Customer Services Review Program

                                                              i.      It is designed to survey and report general customer satisfaction levels and establishes a baseline for customer service. It also allows us to work toward continuous improvement. This evaluation program begins shortly, and will be spearheaded by the Organizational Development department.

                                                            ii.       It’s based on the HPL Way, and it measures the five expected behaviors covered in this core training: smile, make eye contact, use the customer’s name, thank them for visiting, and use a pleasantry to close the interaction.  Brandon asked the staff if they remembered the HPL way and went around the table with everyone contributing to state the five ways.

                                                          iii.      Volunteers will pose as customers and visit locations online, in-person, and by phone.  They will evaluate the service they receive by answering a short online survey and will be asked for suggestions.  This will be an opportunity to get more feedback and the overall findings will be posted for all staff to see.

                                                          iv.      The outcomes will spur improvements, but will not be used against someone’s individual performance, location ranking, or used to provide incentives or demerits. 

2.      Brandon moved on to upcoming Branch Business

a.       Brandon began by opening discussion on how to spend the Staff Appreciation Money.

                                                              i.      There was a lot of interest among staff about buying Kuerig Machines, with the understanding that staff would be paying for their own cups.

                                                            ii.      Brandon invited people to spend the next week thinking of ideas and to email him with suggestions or areas they did not want to see the money spent on. He offered anonymity for anyone shy about nixing a popular idea.

b.      Brandon stressed the importance of as many staff members as possible being trained for the Summer Lunch Program. We need everyone that works Tuesday and Wednesday at Tuttle to be trained and enough for coverage in case of staff shortages. We passed out the dates of the classes to everyone and urged them to sign up soon.

c.       Brandon shared the exciting news of the Harriet Dixon Reynolds training day. Drew, Jeremey, and Neshia were all invited to attend in the day long staff training event.         

d.      Brandon covered the staffing changes during Spring Break to bolster Tuttle during his vacation. As the kids are out of school, Pleasantville will be much slower and can easily accommodate the changes.

3.      Brandon finished the meeting by opening the floor to the staff, who took the opportunity to welcome back Shine and to thank each other for always pitching in to help when a team member needs it. The meeting ended at 11:00 AM