Service Quality Improvement Council

Staffing Issues Group
Minutes, March 7, 2000

Present: Mary Beth Bean, Charlie Greenberg (recording), Maureen Heher, Sandy Peterson (chair), Cesar Rodriguez, Diane Turner

I. Extreme Weather Staffing Policy

Sandy Peterson announced that the Extreme Weather Policy draft had been reviewed by the Service Quality Improvement Council (SQIC). They reviewed the matching of extreme weather or disaster circumstances to the particular service levels that should be maintained. The three main categories of service staffing are:

A- No library service, libraries are closed.

B- Mandatory dismissal of all non-essential C&T staff; those remaining are paid at a 1.5x rate.

C- Non-essential staff permitted to leave, using vacation/personal time. No extra compensation for those remaining.

Diane Turner clarified that the “must leave” provision of category (b) does not apply for those without transportation home in an emergency situation. The consensus was to drop the parenthetical addendum “(all nonessential staff must leave)”, with the clause “early dismissal of all non-essential staff” remaining.

The suggestion was made to reverse the order of sentences in categories (b) and (c) of the policy draft.

Mary-Beth Bean suggested that the draft of procedures (#4) that mentioned a telephone tree should also include email as a rapid communication mode.

A related issue of responsibility for clearing walks and entrances to library facilities during extreme weather was raised.

Sandy will incorporate the discussed changes into a new draft that will be brought back to SQIC.

II. Problem Patron Issues

Sandy distributed a reformatted version of the “A.7 Guidelines for Library Staff Responding to Disruptive Behavior” originally dating from 1983.

It was noted that the term “disturbed” seemed dated and in need of a contemporary term.

The need to create a positive opening statement and rationale for a formalized policy was noted,; a sample of a UCLA policy that had been distributed at an earlier staffing issues group meeting was suggested as a model.

Scott Bennet’s April 3 memorandum on the protocol of handling a problem patron was suggested as another document to review in creating a new policy document.

Sandy asked group members to review the newly formatted old policy and to continue to inquire with colleagues at other institutions.

The Group agreed to meet again on March 21, 2000 at 3:30, most likely in SML 410.

Recorded by Charles J. Greenberg, charles.greenberg@yale.edu