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!
