Why Rules Exist...

Recently a coworker did a few things that, in my opinion, were unacceptable. I'm not going to go into specifics because with a little digging it wouldn't be that hard to figure out who I'm talking about. (I don't have anything to hide so I'm not trying to be anonymous and librarians are excellent at digging deep for information.)

Admittedly, this librarian doesn't have a lot of common sense in the first place, but she does have a MLS and we do have written procedures that staff are supposed to follow so these errors should have never happened. Also it all could have been stopped before everything kept piling up but there were many other factors that let the nonsense continue. 

Whether the infractions were egregious (they were) or not, there should have been consequences. Having procedures and policy are a waste of time if there are no consequences for violating them. 

I reported most of the activity to our assistant director because the librarian working in the same department as the librarian in question should have reported but would have been retaliated against (another issue that I wish I could fix). The assistant director wrote everything down on a scrap of paper while I was in her office and promised to follow up with the staff member in question. 

The following week, the assistant director asked me if I had talked to our director about the incident (she was out of town at the time) or if I had assumed it was taken care of. I told her that I assumed that she, as the AD, would have reported it to the director. I do have a better relationship with the director than possibly any other employee but it really wasn't my place. I also report to the director but I'm in a different department and I could have stayed out if it but I knew nothing would happen if I did. I reported it to the superior (AD) of the person who committed the crimes which seemed more appropriate. Anyway, the AD said she would talk to the employee. 

Later I overheard the discussion where she promised to "talk to her about it" although it was ineffective at best. For example, when questioned about a specific step in the procedure the AD responded that she "prefer" that it was followed as written. Uh, prefer? I understand the desire to speak ambiguously (my mom always said maybe instead of yes or no) but this is was a black and white question that deserved a yes or a no.

I'm doubting any of this is going to get put in her yearly performance review. Even if it did show up on that report nothing would be done about it. I think the results of the review are supposed to affect your raise but since we haven't had any for years, there is really no consequence for having a low score. Also no one has been fired in the time I've been here although I think there are a few people that should have been. I know that there are plenty of freshly minted MLS grads looking for jobs that would have new ideas and motivation to do a good job, but we're stuck with what we have.

When I worked in retail, there were a lot of rules with consequences which I hated at the time, but now seem like a great idea. There was a list of things that you could be "written up" for doing and if you got so many write-ups in a certain span of time you were fired. I don't think there is anything like this in place now. Maybe the director just has final say and can fire anyone at will. I can see how that would be a lot of responsibility because someone can easily sue you for firing unjustly. That's what documentation is for. That's what a written policy is for. It takes the responsibility off of the director and puts it squarely on the employee.

This is how I know I'm meant to in charge... I fantasize about writing policy and procedure AND enforcing it!

So Much More Than a Bookstore

Our normal "book displays" consist of, two or three hanging in a plastic endcap thing near the new books, a locking glass upright case with a dozen or so, a couple wire spinners with 6-8, and a few faced out books above the magazine shelves. I especially don't like the upright case because it screams, "you are not allowed to touch these!" despite a tiny sign on the front telling people to go over the reference desk and ask if you want to borrow one.

As part of our Summer Reading Kickoff, I decided to make a special display. I moved one of the big reading tables to the open seating area right in front of the reference desk. There are normally four chairs with a few small end tables there but I pushed them to empty spots on the side. I stacked one end table on top of the big table and shoved another one underneath the big table on either side, sticking out a little to achieve a nesting table look.

The Summer Reading theme for adults is Groundbreaking Reads so I thought I'd pick categories like aviation, art, literature, civil rights, etc. and pick 6-7 people that were groundbreaking in those fields. I made stacks for each category and a biography (with a face on the cover) of one of the people to face out on the top of the stack. I'm hoping that people will recognize Amelia Earhart and that will lead them to lesser known people in the same category like Pancho Barnes.

These are the categories that I settled on:

Click to enlarge

Power & Influence: People Who Shaped America
My Story: Individual Life Experiences
Curiosity, Discovery, Innovation: Science & Technology
We Can Do It!: Accomplishments of Women/Feminism
Out of America: Life in a Foreign Country
Separate, not Equal: The African American Experience
From Earth to the Moon: Aviation & Space
Live, Laugh & Love : Arts & Entertainment
Against all Odds: Tough Situations
Changing Ideals: Cultural Revolutionaries
Storytellers: Author Biographies
Changing the Game: Sports & Fitness
Withstanding the Test of Time: Classic Literature
Fantasy or Future Reality?: SciFi Classics

Also I made tiny laminated signs for each stack on the table (not pictured). Although it was my vision, I had help from a library assistant. Once it was all set up, a co-worker (MLS) was admiring it and said, "I almost hate to say it, but it looks like something in a bookstore," in a hushed tone. I was confused because that's what I was going for. I worked in retail for a long time and learned a few things about getting people to take home things they aren't shopping for. I asked her if it was a bad thing and the response I received made me feel like she thought libraries shouldn't compete with bookstores.

I, on the other hand, absolutely think we should compete with bookstores. We're trying to give everything away for free basically (not counting the tax money people already paid) and bookstores, who have fewer services, are still out there making profits that most libraries couldn't dream of making. Why can bookstores get people to readily pay them for things that we can't get people to take for free? Obviously, there's a lot more to it but I don't like the attitude that libraries are somehow inferior and shouldn't even be compared to for profit retail.

Non-profit doesn't mean that we can't make money, it just means that we have to put all of the money back into the organization. If they can get someone to pay $15 for one book then that $15 goes to the shareholders. Why shouldn't we try to get someone to donate that same $15 for thousands of books and have that money to improving the organization?

 Well that escalated quickly. I really was going to just write about my display, and not get all philosophical. I'm starting to think that's not possible. I guess I'm always looking at the bigger picture.

Local Government Makes My Head Hurt

I attended the City Council meeting a few nights ago. I'm always torn when deciding if I should go or not. On the pro side, it gives me an opportunity to find out what's going on in our city. On the con side, I usually don't like what I learn.

For example, at this last meeting I learned that the City Council has the final say on what kind of siding people use. There was a 5 or 10 min discussion on siding for one neighborhood that they talked about the previous meeting. There was also a presentation that lasted at least 20 mins on some new kind of siding that a developer wanted to use. After the PowerPoint, one of the councilmen said, "After the 2 hour meeting the other day (at some planning sub-committee) I think it's a good product." Apparently this is still not enough to make a decision, as they said something about a representative from the company coming to the following meeting to give another presentation. Don't they already have rules somewhere that people can just follow? Why waste so much time on these minor details when they could be working on actual problems?

And then... Our mayor told a story about how he spent 4 hours driving to Illinois to watch some military colonel hand off authority to another. But wait! They're both from our city! That totally seems like a how a mayor should spend his time. [sarcasm] That's annoying enough but it made me even more mad to think about how I asked the city's communication office if he would be willing to proclaim a week in April as National Library Week. Since the ALA has a sample proclamation all written up I figured it wouldn't even be that much trouble. Did they do it? No. Did I even get a response from his office? No. That is what makes me the most angry.