Zoom Meetup Recording & Notes
MAR 24, 2021
Notes from the call:
Guest visit from Rebecca Jones, Program Director and Instructor of LLEAD.
LLEAD is a 12 month library leadership program for all library sectors. As a Director, you may be interested to send one of your staff members OR you may be interested to attend yourself.
There is some funding available which would help offset the cost of the program.
Applications are now open for the next cohort, which begins this fall 2021.
If you have any follow up questions, feel free to email Rebecca directly: rebecca@dysartjones.com
(20:00). Guest visit from Mari Martin, Director of the Public Libraries Branch (PLB).
PLB sent email last Friday. Government launched anti-racism campaign on Day to End Discrimination. Meant to be informational campaign to get people thinking and talking on how to be anti-racist, and what does it mean to be anti-racist. You are getting posters sent to you. The intent of the posters are to be shared. Feel free to share and give out.
Comment/idea: One of the things they’ve been trying out at VPL is conversation kits that include a set of questions to discuss, a link to a video to watch, etc. It’d be great for someone at province to think about a model like this, and then libraries could distribute the kits. Or libraries could host conversations like this, providing the space for communities to come together.
Mari response: They have been thinking about this. I’ll bring this back to the committee. KLF has piloted something like this, it’s a box. A non profit out of AB called “You need this box.”
(29:00). Annual Survey has opened. Mari will ask Aidan to come back and do a presentation on this zoom call in the future to share the results.
Starting to review provincial library grant reports. Will use these as a tool to summarize the last year we’ve all had. If your report is delayed and you haven’t reached out yet, please reach out and let us know.
Assistant Deputy Minister Tara Faganello coming to a future zoom call, likely end of April.
(36:00). Scott Hargrove, FVRL: Mandatory Staff Vaccinations - there’s been a shift in legal opinion
Howard Levitt - previous article said he thought employers would require vaccinations. Further legal opinions since then suggest that this might be a harsh interpretation. Accommodation would suggest that alternative protection outside of vaccines (masks etc) would be considered as primary alternative rather than going to more draconian measures like laying off. But all lawyers have said this is uncharted territory.
(39:00). Scott Hargrove, FVRL: Union - strategies to achieve gains outside of bargaining
This is an FYI for libraries who have CUPE unions.
The FVRL Cupe union rep asked to review Librarian 1 position for a number of reasons, including COVID, and explained why it should be re-classified at higher rate. FVRL said not now. Union pushed back really hard, everything they said was scripted, and the national rep was in attendance at these meetings.
Surinder also shared that Surrey is negotiating for the first time with librarians in the union (they unionized in 2019). It appears to be that there’s now efforts that locals will try to get gains outside the bargaining process through things like joint job evaluation. They’re aiming to get gains at Surrey and use this to push wages up at FVRL and other libraries.
(46:00). Fiona Bruce, Terrace: Funding for going fine free
My board is talking about going fine free and they are wondering how libraries made up the difference in their budgets after going fine free. The Terrace City Council has gone on record to say they want to see the library increase revenue. So dropping revenue is not something that’s going to go over well. Where have other libraries gone with this?
If your fine revenues have been diminishing already, and they have been, this is an important piece to note and start talking about. This is about shifting the thinking that libraries should be revenue generators, which we are not. Elizabeth Tracy, Whistler happy to chat off line, has presentation pieces and information she can share.
It could help to bring them back to the reminder of the Library Act requiring we don't charge. There’s a risk of losing provincial funding if we don’t follow Library Act.
At Richmond Public Library, they had to look at where they were going to make up revenue, and they took it from collections and operating budget. And they’re going to be increasing asks in those two areas over coming years to pad it back up. They had to take a hard look at what they could cut. They used donations to help offset some of the decreases they needed to make.
Hilary, Squamish, a lot of people wish to give to the library so they’ve become way more in your face about encouraging donations. Prominent donate button on home page. Use Canada Helps. Set up monthly donations for regular donations.
Brian, Hazelton, Having "recovered" more long overdue and lost items after going fine free, our collections line (not purchasing replacements) was our offset.
(56:00). Ursula Brigl, Cranbrook - Follow Up Question re: Fine Free.
We have been fine-free for a year due to the pandemic and my Board is definitely receptive to the idea of staying fine-free permanently. What I have found interesting is that some of my staff would like to see fines reinstated at least for new material to encourage people to return items on time. The statistics do not reflect this perception. Has anyone else experienced this type of resistance?
Rebecca, Powell River - this is where we had resistance too. Staff wondered how they were ever going to get anything back. Also offered that people could donate if they wanted and could. They recouped about 50% of fines using donations. We just continued to point out that the materials are coming back even without fines.
Karen, Salt Spring - also doing gradual fine free. Started in January taking fines off children and teen collections. And now their fines don’t block people from taking materials out. And they forgive for any reason. Gradually moving towards fine free. Slowly making case to board.
Elizabeth, Whistler - We framed the change around our service model and eliminating barriers. With our staff being generalists we made a point of telling them that their time is too important for "transactional" work...they are agents not gate keepers.
(1:00:02) - do you charge for non pick up of holds? Have you kept these other kinds of charges?
Susan, Richmond - we’ve kept the other charges, like if there’s a missing item they haven’t returned.
Elizabeth, Whistler - We only charge on lost and damaged, but only items that are in their first year of circ.
(1:00:04) - Carmen, Pender Island - Bringing back hard toys
My staff have been asking about bringing out hard toys again in the youth section (puzzles, train set, etc.). Wondering if any libraries are addressing this.
Most libraries reported not yet
Heather, Gibsons - We have put out our interactive ball maze and our wagons
FYI: Penticton was cut by 3% of their budget. BUT they were notified by amendment they’re getting this back in July.
(1:00:04) - Monika Willner, Burns Lake - question about medical leave.
Is there a limit to extending medical leaves? She’s getting monthly notices from Dr that person needs to be off work. Not unionized.
Todd, Coquitlam - contact a lawyer. In his experience, it took 2 years and they did end up terminating because no prospect of returning. As long as they have medical documentation, that’s a human rights issue, you can’t terminate earlier than 2 years. If you move to terminate - you have to pay them. As staff person, you have a right to talk to her. As part of normal process, you should contact someone on leave every 2 weeks. Talk to lawyer about not talking to you, otherwise it’s just a non-registered leave.
Julie, New Westminster - agree with Todd. As employer, you have right to stay in contact with your employee whether they’re sick or not, as long as you are still paying them. At New West, they have robust process for sick leave and staff are required to take those regular calls. No documentation, no pay. You only get sick pay if you are actually sick and your Dr agrees you shouldn’t work. You may need to talk to lawyer right now.
Elizabeth, Whistler - if you are the person performing the HR role, you have the ability to contact her case worker to better understand the circumstances.
Todd - performance issues are not stress leave under WorkSafe. If you are disciplining someone, that is not grounds for stress leave.
Susan, Richmond - and my understanding is that "stress" is not a recognized medical condition so her doctor can recommend the employee be on leave for a medical illness, but not stress
Christina, Vancouver - you can ask for independent medical assessment. Talk to employment lawyer so you’re getting appropriate advice.
Julie - Do you send the doctor the forms yourself? Sometimes when doctors realize that the employer is actually involved and asking, they reassess their willingness to just sign off on these absences.
Susan - in response to Julie - sometimes we do, we inform the employee we will be doing so, but when employee is not providing the info we have had to take this step
Ursula, Cranbrook - to help prevent undue hardship on your library, have staff on site temporarily cover the hours with no fixed end date. When person tendered resignation, made those positions permanent.
(1:00:20) - Steph, West Van has an employee who says they don’t feel safe around another employee. Has anyone dealt with this before? Any insights?
Christina, Vancouver - we’ve had slightly similar situation where 2 employees didn’t want to work with each other. And another situation where employee felt another employee made unwanted sexual advances. In both of these cases, worked with Union on solutions because they were both union members, not in power dynamic. So you want to problem solve with the unions. When they could conclude that 1 person was “at fault,” they relocated this staff member to another location. They've also used external mediators so see if they could come up with terms to continue to work together. If both great employees, don’t want to punish either of them, so then look to mediation and negotiate work terms.
Julie, New Westminster - we did extensive investigation when we had something like this.
The next call is in 2 weeks: Wed April 7
MAR 10, 2021
Notes from the call:
(1:55). Guest Visit from Margaret Sutherland and Lea Edgar, Decoda Literacy Solutions, BC’s not for profit literacy organization.
Been around for 10 years.
Their work:
They have 100 Literacy Outreach Coordinators (LOC) in the province. Encourage everyone to become part of Literacy Task Group. Reach out to your local LOC.
Federally funded program called Displaced Workers, in 3rd year of this program.
IPALS, PALS, ABPALS - supports young children and gets them ready for school.
Fostering literacy supports kids who aren’t reading at grade level, also work with the families
CALP Support - advocacy support for adults, funded through Ministry of Advanced Education.
The Westcoast Reader - Newspaper for people who are improving their English. Formed in 1982. Free for libraries.
Business Services - help people with essential skills training, literacy audits
Resources - publications, digital badges, community adult literacy benchmarks, literacy facts and figures
Lea Edgar manages the literacy library. Any adult in BC with an interest in literacy and learning can use their library. They use Canada Post to circulate materials for free across the province. They also participate in ILL. You can register for free at decoda.ca/library
Q&A
(28:00). Guest Visit from Mari Martin, Public Libraries Branch
March 1st was deadline for provincial grants reports, they are starting to go through the reports now.
Mari will be sending out information on how to use the government logo if you want to use it
(33:00). Communication with Unions
Grand Forks library experiencing tough relationship and communication with their local CUPE shop stewards. Lately it’s gotten even worse, as in there’s no communication or responses at all to meeting requests.
Some of the advice shared:
de-personalize it as much as possible, it’s union and management, not individual personalities.
Email or send a letter outlining all that you’ve tried to do so far.
Critical to document everything
You have management rights unless otherwise stated in Collective Agreement.
Attendance by board member for support
Put “Immediate Response” in subject line of emails
(47:52). Poll about Mid-Day Cleaning
Wanda (Cariboo Regional District) got a grievance from a staff member who refuses to do mid-day cleaning. So wondering how many libraries who don’t have a janitor are having staff do mid-day cleaning.
Poll revealed that 25 out of 34 libraries polled are having their staff do mid-day cleaning.
Cleaning is built into the safety plans
(52:00). NELS CELA, some conversation about Marrakesh Treaty.
(57:00). Vaccinations for staff
Richmond is considering up to 2 hours paid time off for each staff person to get vaccinated; Whistler is doing something similar, treating it as jury duty; similar in Cranbrook
Powell River had a flu clinic come to library in the past so hoping to do something similar
Don Nettleton Okanagan Regional Library : We will I think be treating it like another medical appointment where they have to use sick bank - but encouraged to make appointments outside of work time if possible
Vaccinations are rolling out at different times depending on the geographic region.
Prince Rupert, the entire town is getting vaccinated the last two weeks of March. Starting mid-January, their city has had one of the highest infection rates in the province. The library had 2 positive cases. They closed for 1 week. Now they’re doing curbside pickup.
(1:08:28). Has anyone come up with some way to celebrate the 1 year of chaos/COVID with your staff?
Richmond board wants to show appreciation for staff, creating a video
Lilloeet bringing in chair massages for each staff person
From Marc Saunders : Chocolate!
From Heather Evans-Cullen : buying everyone chocolate:)
From Tina Nielsen : Snacks, time to chat
From Don Nettleton Okanagan Regional Library : We have set up a covid staff newsletter that we will be putting some things in to mark the occasion but not beyond that.
From Salt Spring Library Host : We made a 2020 video
From Nakusp - Claire Paradis : We put in a grant proposal for a centenary celebration/post-covid party, whenever that may be. No plans yet for a pandemic survival anniversary party.
From Salt Spring Library Host : Planning a surprise staff lunch from new Mexican restaurant, but now adding chocolate.
Next call is Wed March 24