Why are We Reinventing the Wheel?

A beautiful description of what a library can be and what a difference libraries can make to a community.

The speaker questions why the Director and Board have destroyed this gem of a library.

It bothers me that there's so much secrecy about the leadership's motivations. It's an incredible disservice to the voters to not get this woman's full comments in the minutes. 

The Board has had the meeting recording posted online in full on the library's website, but this speaker spoke after an hour and 30 minutes had passed. The leadership knows few are going to listen to a long audio on a website. 

"Sunshine is the best antiseptic."

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HR Task Force Started

Here is the recording of the part of the October Library Board Meeting when J.P. Ruiz-Funes announced the formation of a task force to figure out why so many employees have left our library.

By having just 2 Board Members, the task force doesn't have to keep minutes or follow the rules of the Open Meetings Act.

How the Minutes Got it Wrong

We think the Library Board owes it to the public to report the comments in full when a speaker asks for his or her comments to be published in full.

Library Board President J.P. Ruiz-Funes is right when he says they aren't required to, but a little good will and transparency would be appreciated a great deal.

The Minutes v. the Meeting, 2 Examples

We believe the Library Board should have included the full comments of the people, who asked that their full comments be put in the meeting.

Their comments were amended to sugar coat the problem.

Should the fox guard the hen house?

Where's the transparency?

The Minutes v. the Meeting

We believe the Library Board should have included the full comments of the people, who asked that their full comments be put in the meeting.

Their comments were amended to sugar coat the problem.

Should the fox guard the hen house?

Where's the transparency?

Fox Guarding the Henhouse

Isn't this what Library Director Wolf has been allowed to do for too long?

Who was charged with finding a means of solving our management problems at the library?

Director Wolf. She conferred with the Northfield Village Manager and chose to chat with community leaders about what they think of the library, even though few of them use the library. The problem isn't the library; it's how the library's staff is managed.

Who decides if a FOIA request for information about the management problems caused by the director?

Director Wolf. She's denied requests for summaries of the Employee Engagement Survey, though other libraries have supplied theirs.

Who forbid staff of the library to speak with the press?

Director Wolf. When The Winnetka Current first reported on the alarming turnover rate at the library,  Wolf immediately sent an email to all staff forbidding them to speak to the press.

Public Comments: Winnetka-Northfield Public Library Board

Some of the public comments from the November meeting of the Winnetka-Northfield Library Board.

Lois points out how the information is altered and spun at the Library and how the Board has known this for years.

She addresses the discrepancy between what the October Board Minutes state and what people, who asked for their full comments to be published, actually said.

The Board President J.P. refused to revise the minutes to reflect the full statements, because technically he doesn't have. too.

November Board Meeting Board Packet

Winnetka Northfield Public Library, November Board Packet by Susan Kelly on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/435297078/Winnetka-Northfield-Public-Library-November-Board-Packet

In The Winnetka Current This Week

From The Winnetka Current:

While Bianca Cseke’s article last week (“Library patrons remain upset with director’s decisions despite creation of special committee” in the Oct. 31 issue of The Winnetka Current) was solid on many of the key facts of what took place at the Oct. 21 Board meeting for the Winnetka-Northfield Library District, one highly significant one was missed.

Although Director Wolf has eagerly promoted the idea that most people who have departed for positive reasons, I listed being aware while I was an employee there and after as a concerned resident, in chronological order, the reasons the eight employees of the Northfield Library (the Northfield Library had a dedicated staff of 13 for many years) left, over a mere 18-month period. None of those reasons were positive. The reasons all originated from changes Director Wolf demanded in how scheduling is carried out.

I may not be a mathematics genius, but eight out of 13 employees, in one section (if one were to view one library of a district as a section), over only 18 months is a turnover rate of 62 percent. That kind of turnover rate occurs when a leader is extremely terrible at their job, and needs to be replaced.

Amy Richmond

Northfield Resident

Another Librarian Gone

The Winnetka Youth Department has lost another smart, personable Librarian. This woman wanted to work exclusively with children, not with adults, but again and again she was given shifts on the adult desk.

She found a new job where she can just work with youth, which is her passion. You would think the library would know that each department requires different skills.

In Youth, you need to know about developmental stages, literacy levels and issues and how to advise parents, with differing parenting styles. Both youth and adult librarians are specialists.

When you've lost 22 out of 43 staff in 11 months, why would you want to lose another trained librarian? When will they learn? On October 21st a patron spelled this out for them perfectly (see video above). In the Youth Department there is only one employee who worked for the library district a year ago. This poor Knowledge Management hurts the library and holds us back.

Study Session

The Board's Study Sessions are a time for the Trustees to gather and discuss information. They cannot vote on any proposals at this time. Last night the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library Board of Trustees held a Study Sessions to listen to a presentation on Continuous Improvement.

Travis Gosselin, Board VP,  gave the presentation on how they can be more efficient and transparent. 

Highlights were:

• The idea that they should have a Sharepoint site for managing all their communication, like links to articles about the library.  It seems that this would be used as a bulletin board.  The Board members believe they should speak with one voice. To comply with the Open Meetings Act, any such application can not be used for discussion.
• They'll have more training on Open Meetings.
• They may review the Director twice a year, but don't know if there's time to do this before April. JP supports the status quo. They're not sure what metrics to use or to just measure strategically. (This is not the first library or the first time this library has had to review a Director.) In the past it seems they just had general criteria (none?). 
• They are seeking a way to better show patrons the value of the library.
• They may video tape their meetings as Wilmette does. I wonder if they'd have agreed to that if we weren't there and I hadn't already done so. 
• They may have a meeting for JP to meet with other Board Presidents to discuss best practices. They'd begin with other North Shore communities. Rebecca mentioned that the Illinois Library Assoc. has a Trustees Day and JP asked why they'd never heard about this. Rebecca said the meeting is too far away (Peoria or Tinley Park). 
• Perhaps they should streamline the packet. Some pushed back on this as they like seeing the checks written each month and other details. They may change the format so there are highlights and details. Raheela proposed having a Managers' Discussion and Analysis of the financials. There was a question of who'd compose this. Deb said she didn't have the needed financial background to put that together. Raheela and JP have the most financial background. The Trustees put this idea on the back burner.
• They discussed doing away with fines. 

During Public Comments, I shared how our software has the capability to print library value on receipts and that Skokie PL has begun doing away with fines by starting with youth. 

I explained what a Collection Development Policy is found on library websites, but not ours. Rebecca said ours was just updated, but I still don't see it.