Service Quality Improvement Council

Staffing Issues Group
Minutes, November 30, 1999

Present: Diane Turner, Cesar Rodriguez, Sandy Peterson, Charles Greenberg, Maureen Heher (recording)

I. Sandy up-dated the group on the presentation before the Service Quality Council of the proposed service awards program. The group discussed the suggestions made by Council members and determined that the following changes should be made to the proposal for staff service awards:

1. There will be a total of up to five awards given annually.
   

2. There will be two categories of eligibility: those staff who have served for at least six months but no more than two years and those staff who have served for more than two years.
   

3. The awards will be given in the following categories: the service achievement award for extended services / outreach; the service achievement award for fostering cooperation and harmony in the workplace; and the service achievement award for strengthening the library infrastructure and operations.
   

4. There will be no fixed number of awards for any of the categories of eligibility or for the type of award (up to five awards can be given in any configuration). Additionally, as stated in the earlier proposal, the award will only be given if there are candidates who meet the criteria.

It was decided that the student award, nomination form and proposed budget would remain essentially the same with just some minor revisions that will reflect the changes made above.

There was also a discussion about naming the awards for retired library staff. The group had difficulty coming up with names other than Rudy Rodgers (Rogers). Sandy will ask the Service Quality Council if they have other suggestions.

II. The discussion then returned to formulating a policy for dealing with difficult or problem patrons. The group will need to address a policy statement, a set of procedures for staff to follow, a program to train staff in the policy / procedures, and devise a channel of communication to insure proper routing of incident reports and follow-through.

The policy should include a set of expectations for proper behavior in the library as well as the rights of patrons.

The policy should be web-based so that it can be easily up-dated and retrieved.

Sandy read from a number of published policy statements from public libraries to give an idea of effective language and rules.

Charlie will look for current articles that might address these issues in an academic setting. Cesar and Sandy will contact colleagues at other institutions to see what types of documentation they have.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30.

The next meeting will be at 3:30 on December 14, 1999 in SML room 410.

Recorded by Maureen D. Heher, maureen.heher@yale.edu