Creating Equitable Library Policies

good morning I'm Jessica phip I'm the member engagement librarian atlc thanks for joining today's program on creating Equitable Library policies we're using Zoom meeting today so you have access to both your mics and cameras to make this as interactive as possible but just be mindful of that and you're also welcome to post questions and comments to the chat and now it's my pleasure to welcome consultant and Professor Amer at Syracuse University's ey School Jill Hurst wall thanks for joining us Jill thanks for having me let me um share my slides no there we go um so first of all um please mute your microphone that would be really helpful and if you don't want to have your camera on you don't have to have your camera on especially if that helps your bandwidth so it's okay to uh turn your camera off uh please keep your microphone muted uh I'm going to ask for interaction so you can open your camera then um and you can also do some of the interaction in chat whichever is comfortable for you so uh I've actually somehow skipped ahead in the slides and I don't know how that has happened okay sorry about that that um so we're here to talk about Equitable Equitable Library policies um I'm going to we're going to work through several different policies if you have policies that you brought to this Workshop um that's great if you don't have policies with you that's fine too you will get the slides after the workshop is over so you don't have to copy everything off the slides and you're going to get a um a handout of resources I'm going to tell you that your best resource on um policies it's going to be you and your staff and other Library staff and just the ability to ask questions of what you're trying to do because everyone does their policy slightly differently and I'm sure I'll say that again uh at some point in the next two hours uh I am a librarian a library educator I am a library trustee for anaga County public libraries yes I used to teach at Syracuse University in the I school I do a lot of work around diversity Equity inclusion accessibility um and there's my contact information you'll have it because you're going to get the handout uh if you have questions about policies a particular question concerning your policy feel free to email me after the workshop is over so I'm going to go through some really basic information that you already know but I want to make sure that we all do have the same mindset around what the State Library says about Library policies so you know that you have to have Library policies because they're mandated in the minimum minimum standards they have to be board approved they have to be written um they should be viewed and updated at least every five years or earlier and I want to emphasize the word earlier because policies should evolve you might see something after You' re revised the policy and say that's wrong that's not what we want we could have worded that better well then Revis the policy you don't have to wait five years to do that so consider your policies Works in progress if it needs to be updated do the update uh you your staff everyone else will thank you for it they have to be written and you might say that this this is obvious uh that they have to be written uh they're written to translate Library service priorities into action they ensure that all staff have the information they need so policy shouldn't be a secret to your staff members and your volunteers everyone should have access to them and understand how to use those policies they should be accessible to the public so the public knows what to expect so your policy shouldn't be hidden on your website um doesn't mean putting them all listed on your home page but does mean having them some way clearly marked where those policies reside and also have them available in the library policies Provide support in case there's um legal action against the library so someone says you know you um didn't let me use your meeting room well you have a policy and if you went by the policy and that policy you know when you implemented that policy or use the policy said they shouldn't be able to use the meeting room you're in much much better position so policies can really protect you and they instill norms and values in your organization again what's normal in use using a meeting room what's normal in Patron Behavior what's normal in um uh collection development what's normal and all those different things that you have policies for I think my um PowerPoint is having a case of a snow day not waning to work anyway there are four tests for legally enforceable policies and again these are things you know do they comply with current statutes are they reasonable are they measurable um you know as I've skipped over one I'll come back to it so what is and isn't a violation will everyone uh apply the policy in the same way and that takes me back to number three could it be discrim discriminatory application of the policy so would there be an instance where You' apply the policy you your library apply the policy differently to one group of people than to another group of people could you use the policy to discriminate against a group a group a class of people particular person so that's really important and that's something that we're going to think about today as we think about having an equitable policy and you can see that all of these are from um New York State Library so these are all things that you should know and I'm sure do know so what makes a library policy effective can two or three of you open up your microphone or pop in the chat uh what makes a policy effective teren says um its meaning is clearly worded it's flexible but clear CA that shouldn't be a question that's true it should be flexible uh in some way but also clear enforce fairly that was Curtis chrs says fair and consist the application okay so relevant and necessary right you don't want policies that don't make sense or irrelevant through Library operations so enforced fairly is something that we will um really emphasize but there's some other things to think about uh it has to be written and say that even though I've said it already your policies are written a policy cannot be verbal uh and I would also say that staff or or um leadership volunteers should be able to point at the policy they should know where the policies are and be able to point at the writing not just have it in their head but say the policy says and point at it there might be instances where they'll need to do that available to the community reviewed regularly so these are repeats of some things I've already said but it's important uh wording can be understood by everyone the same way wow that's not easy wording can be understood by everyone the same way we're going to think later about who's in your community know can everyone in your community and let's say for sake of argument everyone over the age of 16 that's arbitrary number can they all understand your policies the same way words used are not biased and do not show Prejudice um and you have to think about that you know where could bias come into wording or where could Prejudice come into your wording uh when I think of those two bullet points the one word that comes to mind is the word professional we often write a policy often have a policy that uses the word professional what do you mean by professional not everyone thinks of that word the same way and it can be used actually to discriminate because we don't we might look at something that someone does and say well that's not professional but we haven't really defined what professional is policies are written with an understanding of of the cultures in the community so again using the word professional you know if I'm uh a new American what do I consider professional to be if I'm from um coming from a workplace that is very casual and that was professional you know is that my is that professional best for me um is my writing professional so you know that word can really be um problematic and you can see where it might not be understood the same way it could be biased um and it may not reflect the community and I'm picking on one word but I think that word really can show how um you have to pay attention to wording in your policies so um this uh resource you'll have on resource list that you'll get after the workshop is over biased language can isolate or demean people sometimes it does it not because it's on purpose but because we're not thinking about the language we're using it contains an undercurrent of superiority or misunderstanding about people because of Trades like age gender race sex ethnicity on and on and on unbiased language sends the message that you're invested in inclusivity so when you write your policies you want unbiased language you want to think about your community you want to have wording that everyone will understand and you can already see that writing policies isn't always easy but I want to tell you it's also not hard so we're going to look at a staff dress code policy all the policies I'm using today are actual policies from libraries not in our region uh and are on those libraries website which to me means that they are current policies this is a dress code policy from 2017 I think it's still that libraries dress code policy um but it's well over five years and probably should be updated so take a look at this policy and think about what's fuzzy outdated has unintentional means or is not inclusive and I'll I'll read it slowly for you staff will wear clean and well-maintained attire appropriate to the type of work they do standard dress for librarians will be at minimum business casual business casual for men will be a shirt and tie business casual for women will be a blouse skirt dress SLX sweater or dress casual attire for pages and clerks means well-maintained or Docker style pants sweats or blouses all casual apparel will be in good taste shoes are required and must also be wellmaintained good grooming and hygiene is required so I already see some things coming up in chat uh so gender specific Co dress code is problematic uh what about nonbinary so again going tagging on to that gender gender specific good taste is open to interpretation uh and several people uh mentioned that ask someone under 25 what Dockers are what's good grooming Pages can't wear a dress uh yeah I don't remember I'm not going to look to see what library this is from um I don't remember if it is from down south so um I hear someone laughing does anybody want to open up their microphone and make a comment about this policy Kon notes that good grooming can be fraught thinking of cases where African-American kids were forced to cut their hair because it didn't fit someone's definition so not every library has a dress code policy if you don't have a dress code policy I'm going to encourage you to think about one why because you probably do have a dress code policy in your head and having it in your head is not a policy and so thinking about what you would want to put on paper and then putting something on paper might be useful it's just a suggestion uh you don't have to take this the suggestion so here's the the words I think are problematic clean wellmaintained um standard what is business casual I remember and I know it's been decades ago going to something where we had to address business casual and we all had to spend time with one man in the department who had just graduated from college I think to make him understand what business casual was it just wasn't phrase that that he understood uh you're right there's words here that describe what men can wear and what women can wear why and then for some reason pages and clerks have different attire um and I don't know why all casual T Tire being good taste and you point that out what is good taste good taste for you is not good taste for me shoes must be wellmaintained uh and then good grooming and hygiene you all didn't point that one out um but well actually Karen did what's good grooming and what's hygiene so words to think about uh I see more comments so uh Danielle I hope I pronounced that right said maybe just a list of clothing without signing uh and this yes and stratifying the dress code so question would you allow people to wear this in your library would you allow someone to come to work like this what about this this and this all of those people exist in our communities or are coming to our communities um and so does your dress code represent the the breath of cultures the breath of expression um the breath of what now is a norm in our communities in terms of dress so we're going to talk I'm going to give you some time to to work on your dress code but some things to think about the goal is to create a welcoming environment you want people to come and work for you you want that barrier to be low in some ways you know so people can come to work uh do you want someone to have to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe just to work at the library especially if they're just going to be a page think about why you need a dress code yes I think you do need a dress code I really do um but but why is it because of safety maybe you don't want people wearing long sleeves or uh pants that drag on the floor or open toed shoes things that could be a safety concern for tripping or getting stuck in equipment or dropping something heavy on their on their feet um maybe there's different restrictions for different positions so if you're working in delivery delivering books to other libraries or uh riding the library bike around the community or or something specific maybe there's dress codes for that that are slightly different for just being in the library Define it all in terms that the reader will understand right um and talk about do wear if you can versus don't wear by the way one don't wear might be that you don't want people to have t-shirts or sweatshirts or whatever it is with um political statements or uh cities or something else right think but think about those uh if there's some things that are don't wear don't wear open toad shoes why don't wear political statements why and and make allow people to understand the why so I'm seeing again oops more in chat um and if people want to open up your microphone please feel free to so CLA says I would prefer a list of things that were problematic um Mary asked Can you prescribe what patrons wear in the library Beyond saying clothes and shoes required uh Mary that's an interesting question because uh I think libraries do in their Patron code of conduct have a couple statements that have to do with what to wear and again that's an area we're going to talk about Patron code of conduct later but um again a place to be careful so the only one that made me pause was a young man in shirts shorts and t-shirt which definitely be fine for student workers and maybe for someone working in the back I wouldn't send someone home for that okay yes the person had on sunglasses so probably not something that a person really would wear inside and that was not a picture of from a library by the way um and and you know what's what's the norm in your community for um as said you know people who are working on a college campus working near a college working wherever it might be maybe there's a different Norm that impacts your library and what you want your staff to wear okay so anybody want to type in on this one verbally if not I to say that this this reminds me how much I appreciate uh working from home because I don't have to invest just the constant effort in I mean I I do try I could turn on my webcam if I wanted to but like I don't have to invest kind of time I used to have to do if I went into the public library every single day and so the the thing to think about is when you had to invest time into going into work rather than working from home what was the really what was the barrier in terms of what you wore and was it a necessary barrier so yeah hi Claire hi only to prove like I do sometimes make an effort but like when you work in a public library you often have to deal with um unsolicited attention from patrons I mean as every woman does constantly um so there was always that to deal with like I wanted to look nice but not too nice because someone was going to comment on it and it was just an unnecessary amount of stress in my life so these policies are like a weird kind of trigger it's uh and you make a good point you want policies are not guidance um uh but perhaps informally um there's guidance about you know just be aware of what you're wearing and what attention that could um cause which is different than um you know maybe a person does feel comfortable in a short skirt or whatever it might be Mary Carol yeah hi so I just had to look through our employee handbook to see if we even had a dress code I didn't remember seeing one and I don't know that we've ever had one at South Central it is different but I think there's this understanding that yeah if Claire's working home um when I started working home I had to dress as if I were in the office and I still kind of do uh wherever I'm working but I think we dress one way when we know there are going to be a lot of people in the building as a library system um that is not like out there public facing all the time but we still tend to like if we're going to meetings there's a certain way that we dress but I don't know that we've ever even discussed it and I put in the chat and this was when I was a fairly new librarian um um one of my colleagues was criticized by our director for wearing barettes and told that they didn't look professional and I've worn barettes probably more than not throughout the years and I've had purple hair at times too and I can't imagine what she would have thought in today's world but um I don't know so now you've got me thinking that maybe we the only time when dress comes up at all um dress attire in our employee handbook is in context of sexual harassment and not um having one thing for one group of people you know like gender and that it needs to be well consistent and and across the board like what you're presenting today yeah yeah you're reminding me that in some workplaces there's an understanding uh again not not a policy that when you're meeting with uh politicians or uh the mayor's office or uh funders that you dress a little bit better which those words mean nothing um but but there might be times when you and not a policy but when you say to staff we're going to all go to the legislative meeting tonight and uh and so for this meeting if you can wear something like um and just give some guidance you know if you can wear something like not making it mandatory but if you can and just one other thing I used to visit when I worked in ill no a bunch of prison libraries the first time I ever visited a prison Library I wore a dress and the librarian um probably hadn't thought to tell me that you know you don't want to be wearing a dress and so um after that I dressed very differently and uh it was probably a matter of safety um in some respects but um I don't know they just just did not want us wearing dresses I don't know if that's changed over the years I was talking to someone yesterday who is volunteering in a a prison and he cannot wear green so um because I think the the people who are incarcerate incarcerated are in green and so if you are working or volunteering in the prison you cannot wear green you cannot blend in okay so let's move forward I don't want to spend forever on this one although we probably could so how would you staff a new dress code every time you see that question mark up in the corner that's a great time for you to share your thoughts um I'm going to though move forward and H give you some ideas of how you should how you could draft a new dress code again this is for sta draft it with staff who have different perspectives not just the person who's been there 30 years and not just the newcomer you know get a variety of different people involved in thinking about the dress code not only what do they want which maybe isn't going to go in the dress code but um think about what's normal in terms of dress these days uh thinking about what words to use as you're thinking about the policy you view it from different points of view and cultural perspectives so uh if there are different cultures in your community and you're trying to get those people to work in your library you need their perspective when you draft the dress code you don't want to interview someone who is is a new American for example and then have them get a hold of your dress code and think I can't work there you know that dress code doesn't include what I normally wear ask for help if you need it um I'm sure there's someone in the in your community who can think from different perspectives and give you some insight draft proposal propose changes and then go back to staff give it a loop go back and say what do you think what would this policy allow them to wear and not wear again you're getting their input you're kind testing reality it doesn't mean that you're going to suddenly expand the policy so everyone can wear uh a swimsuit to work um but you kind of just want to see you know how they would interpret the new policy have human resources review it for compliance with applicable laws and safety standards right there are some things that end up in a dress code that are really about safety so or maybe should be in the dress code that are really about safety closed toad shoes for example [Music] um long sleeves are the two things that kind of come to mind and then finally you have your library Board review the new policy and adapt it as a board policy this will take time and that's okay uh and I will say the board might have questions and they might ask for a revision or they might just want to think about it for a while because they don't understand right so if you have a policy now that gets rid of gender differences thinks about dress more broadly so that it applies to someone no matter how they identify uh your board board might may have people on on the board who don't understand that and so taking the time to educate them uh not rushing the policy through giving them time to understand and then coming back if necessary the next meeting and having them them adopted okay as I said before it will take time uh but it's good work to do and the dress code policy uh is a nice way I think for me to get you into thinking about other areas where you need to think more broadly so that your policies are Equitable so before I move on any questions I'm just wondering since this came up in the chat briefly but did you come across any dress code policies that did include dress code for patrons or norms for patrons or visitors so that's going to be in your Patron code of conduct um and we're going to get to that later okay so hold off on that um if I don't touch on it you know make sure I do hopefully uh and by the way thank you for that because your staff dress code policy your staff policies are separate from your Patron policies they all should be seen by everyone is my belief um but they are separate and so you might have more flexible for example dress code policies uh in your Patron code of conduct if you have your dress code policy handy take a moment make some notes uh if nothing else just circle stuff go through en Circle those words those phrases that you now see as being problematic uh that you want to go back and revisit maybe edit um if you don't have a dress code policy I really encourage you to think about one again a nice step into thinking more broadly about making um your policies Equitable and I'm just stopping for a moment to give you a chance to right Circle whatever L's point in the chat is another good one if you're bringing this to your staff do you have any suggestions for making it not feel personal to them thanks for watching chat um it's going to be personal I'm sorry someone's going to take it personally uh I think I would bring it with two statements in mind one you're you want to position yourself for the future in terms of who comes on staff you want to make sure that when when new hires or new volunteers come in that the dress code reflects the current state of the world or um diverse perspectives or a more Equitable Viewpoint you'll have to find the words that will work in your community uh so that's one so it's not about you know this right now it's kind looking forward the second thing is is that you want um to ensure that the policy is thinking about safety in the library safety for staff so I always go to the the the uh open versus closed toad shoes right um that's an easy one person might say well I wear sandals all the time okay that's great yes you can wear sandals working here but if you're going to work in that part of the library you need to wear clo toed shoes and so thinking about you know are there are there certain parts of the code that really call out you know working in delivery or um riding the book bike if you have one or uh doing something else are there certain things where there might be a difference in the policy and then and then focusing on likely safety and I think safety is something I I would hope all people can understand you want them to be safe and then um so that might help ease you into the conversation uh and then thinking about making the policy applicable cross your community as as community members come into work Claire is that helpful I think that was Claire great yes and check these policies put them on a regular schedule again legally it's every five years you can do it more frequently than that um and if something has come up where you think the policy should be updated don't wait five years just work through the updates so I want to note that policies are for staff and for the community uh your community are potential employee employees volunteers patrons donors board members um so when you think about staff policies yes they're for the staff but your community members at some point will be staff so think about the broader Community as you're thinking about staff policies and you're definitely going to think about the community when you think about uh outward facing policies for the library so think about um who's in your service area what diverse populations are present I've had people say that their areas are not diverse I will tell you that your areas are diverse it may be that it's not a diversity that you can see um but a diversity that actually is there so think about you know when you think about diverse populations what what does that really mean and then how do you need to ensure that your policies um understand those diverse populations um how do you find them who can identify them it might be a group that works with them it could be um different social groups or Social Service Groups in your community who can help you uh identify and then how would you attain their input so uh someone who hasn't spoken yet or typed in yet uh can you either open your microphone or in chat tell me tell us what diverse population you think or know are present in your libraries Community don't make me call on somebody if you want to put in chat put in chat who do you think is in your community how would you find them so um um I think I see something in chat so Claire said uh at a wealthy Suburban Library we also had to really under under underprivileged families yes so you might see your more wealthy patrons come in all the time but recognize that there are uh patrons who are not so privileged you might see uh people who are uh or as as doanne says increased number of international students you might see uh you might have people in your community on the outskirts of your community who are Amish uh and maybe they come into the library maybe they don't you may be getting immigrants from other countries who are coming to your community maybe they're not coming into the library yet but they're there so identify those populations talk to people find them and then begin to think about how your policies can work with them can understand their perspective if you get it wrong in your policy update the policy that's going to be my constant like just update your policies when they need updating so thank you for those those comments in chat okay next policy bement policy uh your library may not have a brief policy and you're going to see that that's okay so is this policy Equitable uh again this actually is a policy from a small small Library I'm not going to read it out loud but you will notice that it has uh information for the library director in terms of bement so someone has died and this Library director needs to take time off and then um part of the policy deals with employees so uh my understanding looking at this line library is that the library director was full-time or close to full-time the employees were part-time so is this Equitable so very vague um someone say it's an awful policy uh but this actually is a libraryies policy so um there are lots of things that you could talk about with this policy and feel free to chime in and chat or open your microphone uh is two days or even three days enough time to make a rangements travel weave or whatever else what do you think three days are you good with three days could you travel back home perhaps even to a different country with three days um there are actually cultural differences in grieving in there's a In some cultures that one year mark after the person has died is really important that's part of the grieving process how would that work with this policy so someone notes that there's people missing from this policy uh close family uh doesn't say doesn't say spouse that's really interesting so they've named off all these close family members that you can grieve for but didn't list all the various family members so they've been specific in a way that isn't helpful but there's something called a remote family member I don't even know what that means does remote mean remote in the family like a second cousin or a great aunt or is remote has to do with physical distance notice that the department head gets some say and whether or not you get to have time off to grieve and then um this is a bement policy uh which is separate from uh comp time sick time and vacation leave and my question is why have separate policies why have separate policies so um yeah so you know everyone has uh Erica I really appreciate your [Music] um your comment and I think there's another longer oh Karen also yeah you know gement um policies taking time off when someone dies um can be problematic because everyone Grieves differently not only does everyone grieve differently but culturally that process can be very different are you supposed to sit at home and in morning for seven days for example do you need to travel do you need to go back a year later because of that specific um ceremony that has to happen so um so this is one area where you can start to really see some cultural and personal differences I don't know if anything else stands out to you about this policy that you want to call out out um but you can keep it coming in chat if you do and thank you for the active chat everyone can participate in chat um it's a these are policies that I've picked very much on purpose because they're problematic I think they're great examples and they make us think and if you want to think in chat uh that's a wonderful thing to do so the bottom line question is how do you make this supportive or more positive so do you have a leave policy a policy that combines vacation reement sick time medical leave um whatever all combined into one policy because really why should they be so a person who needs time off because they're sick sometimes ends up using vacation time also need to go to the doctors you know where does that fall in so uh so do you have a policy if you have a policy maybe you have all these separate policies start to think about how you can make them more equitable you combine them into one policy and then what makes sense in terms of that policy is it a large whatever that means uh bucket of time that people can take off for vacation sick time uh not only their sick time but taking care of a sick family member um what is it I think that kind of covered Mary's question but she asked what a policy explaining paid leave versus unpaid excused absences cover bereavement and several other reasons to misw workk more fairly I think having um so yes paid leave so what is the Library going to pay people for and so maybe um and I legally there might be some legal things around here so check with human resources or someone else about the legal implications but do you give people paid time off and then do you allow people to um have unpaid leave and I don't know how you set up the those differences do they have to take their paid time off first before they can take unpaid time off can they take unpa time off for certain things uh so I like both personally I'm not talking legally personally I like knowing that a person can have paid time off and unpaid time off but I think you have to think with human resources what's legal you also need to know what is already covered by law in terms of maternity leave or family leave or whatever else it is so you know knowing maybe that's in the policy that you know a person has access to these leaves and you also give them XYZ a couple of people shared that some policies just have PTO to use as needed and you don't have to specify do you think do you see any reasons why that would be problematic or do you feel like that simplifies the whole thing I think it simplifies the whole thing um can I say something about that one sure I was just thinking about someone I know who had several family members well and one close friend die in the same year and so if it were just some sort of a blanket time you can take off she would have run out so for us your ptas are you know you have your vacation your medical and your personal but then bereavement is uncapped that is to say each bereavement can have up to a certain amount of time but if you have five people in your family die in one year you're not going to run out of bereavement time and Karen this brief time unpaid no it's paid okay you know I like that option I I I you know again paid I'm not going to comment on whether it should be paid or unpaid I think that's a local um something the library needs to think about uh but you're right brief is so personal and if you have several people die in one year whether it's a close friend family member it really doesn't matter you need that time do you want that person to come to work when they emotionally can't work um I don't think so thank you for that thank you for um for that perspective your library whoever you are needs to think about you know do you separate these out if if yes why do you combine them together if yes why is there something you want to call out separately like bereavement um and I would not I I've used the word bement here in the presentation I don't think I would use that word um and I'm not sure what word I would use but um but describe what it is if you have if you are grieving someone who has died family friend whatever if you want to put that in you know this is what know we're sorry and this is what we want you to be able to do more examples in chat so think about your own policy um make some notes I I think this is a policy we can think about what's gone wrong in the past and that can be really helpful you know when some when someone died and they didn't have enough time off or um or as someone said you know multiple multiple people died in the same year or in the same week you know where the where can this policy just go wrong think about that and then use use those stories as you design a new policy um do you want one policy you want multiple policies Claire I think that leave policies in particular tend to show like the disasters that have happened with specific employees in the past um wor than ever and I I feel really blessed and lucky that we have such a small staff and we're all wonderful and responsible and ethical but I've certainly worked at places in the past where like as soon as someone got sick time available to them they used it I mean they had a lot of mental health days and I know that I shouldn't judge them for that but in the meantime like we did actually need them to show up to work um and it I think if that person had never worked at that organiz ation then our PTO policy would have been completely different but it had to be framed just right so that they couldn't exploit it and maybe that's a harsh word to use that they couldn't use it the way that they did thanks for that because you're right leave time can be exploited and um until working with human resources if you don't have a human resource person uh talk to the Library Council uh talk to uh maybe the Chamber of Commerce or someone else who can give you some insight into how you might U craft a policy that um does what you want and as Claire said and a good reminder that sometimes policies do get exploited it's like the student in college who has a grandparent die um at a key point in the semester and but that Grandparent Dies every semester at a key point in the semester okay now if you need a break I know it's a little bit past 11 um feel free to get up at any point if you need a break warm up your coffee if you're home or even if you're in the office uh you're going to get the slides so don't feel that you have to sit here you know staring at the screen the way I am uh if you need to stand up do that uh the next thing we're going to talk about is the patron code of conduct and then we're going to talk actually kind of briefly about meeting room policies Okay so I'm going to keep going but you if you need a break at any point please take it the patron code of conduct um many years ago I was in the public library in Chicago I was there for a conference I don't normally go to libraries when I'm in in another city um but I was near the Chicago Public Library and so I went in and I walked past two security guards before getting into the library um might have walked through a metal detector I don't remember if I did or not and then I saw the the patron code of conduct on the wall and then I didn't know what to do I really felt kind of like I shouldn't be there it was a list of do Nots you know so could I I felt kind of weird just wandering around the library um I wanted to take photos and like I does that fit with policy I'm not sure and so to me that code of conduct really made the library unwelcoming for me now if I hadn't seen the code of conduct policy I would have been fine I would have enjoyed my visit and actually I did enjoy the visit but um but it really can set the tone for your library it can be one of the first signs that people see almost like going into a club you know you go into some some club and right by the door is the dress code and the code of conduct do you have on the right things can you get in what's going to kick you out and sometimes I think the library code of conduct is kind of the same thing you know what's going to get get you kicked out rather than making you feel welcome in the library the code of conduct often doesn't explain why it's important it's just a list of things and that is not helpful to your community generally it doesn't set a positive tone I'm calling that out because generally they don't they are a list of do Nots I'm just saying it again it's a do not and they don't consider different cultures or Norms so you're going to see um things in policies that were written from the dominant culture of the community not written by not written to reflect all of the cultures in the community and you want your Patron code of conduct to reflect everybody that everybody is welcome we say that in the library everyone's welcome so the patron code of conduct could reinforce that so um I believe that a patron code of contact should explain who the library is for that there should be some statement of principles up front and you can find codes that do this that kind of start off with you know where're your Public Library we for everyone and you know have some some some doesn't have to be long with some statement of principles it might be um kind of reflecting on your mission or reflecting on something that's in your strategic plan or something else but kind of like we're here we're for everyone um and maybe this is what the library does um something that's a little bit lofty and welcoming going along with that what do the library doe how is it used how do you expect people to use the library in positive terms in positive terms is it coming to um program is it coming to use the computers is it to research is it to learn is it whatever doesn't have to be long but but think about why you want people to come and I would advocate for putting that at the top of the patron code of conduct again not big doesn't have to take up a lot of room but who's the library for and you know why should they be coming what what what can they do in general broad terms and then describe the dues this may not be easy but think positively about what you want people to do in the library do use do um think of using different equipment or um I'm trying to think of something sorry a little bit uh not a service but you know do bring in coffee on to the first floor of the library or you know do feel comfortable eating snacks you know in uh this particular area of the library so you know you might not have those dues but you know what do you want them to do in the library do use these rooms do um um reserve the private meeting space if you need that do what is it what are those dos and then when you think about the don'ts the do Nots think about the cultural implications are there different Norms cultural norms that you need to accommodate if you say do not include why so um for example we ask patients to limit their of colog and other strong sents because because of community members and staff with allergies and Asthma so not just don't wear cologne um but but the why um by the way there are in terms of strong sense that is a cultural thing there are some cultures that wear a lot of cologne and I don't think they even realize that they're wearing a lot cologne so um so when you say limit use of colog in another strong sense here you have the other part we have people with allergies and Asthma so I'm not going to go up to you and say wow you have on a lot of cologne can you leave I might go up to say I'm sorry but we have people here who have allergies and Asthma who have a reaction to really strong [Music] colon can you and maybe it's maybe it's don't leave maybe it's just can you move to know this other area more comfortable seating better lighting and not near someone who's having an an allergic attack and in setting a positive tone use words that people understand depending on the surveys you see uh High number of people in the United States read at a fifth grade reading level period um and so don't write your code of conduct at a college reading level or a high school reading level make it so that everyone can understand look at those large words break them down look at those words that are meaningful to you but wouldn't be meanful to someone else and find alternatives and if at all POS if at all possible focus on the positives also with your code of conduct you recognize that all staff have to be able to implement the code of conduct so are they all going to implement the same way if someone's going to get banned for for um [Music] for clothing uh are they going to get banned by everyone the same way or is someone going to say oh that's fine and someone else say no that's bad so you want the policy to be written so everyone will implement the same way words that can be problematic and this is from the policy that we're going to look at are Rowdy Behavior oh what's rowy behavior um appropriate attire we've already talked about dress code so you know that appropriate tire is fraught with uh meaning and reasonably quiet what is reasonably quiet so think about the words think about your expectations think about the cultures uh that are coming into the library um and the I should say cultures in different groups so do you have um people with specific disabilities coming into the library do you have children uh teen do you have um yes different cultures different whatever think about how this Patron code of conduct will be read and used by everyone J this is a little bit beyond the scope of this but then this makes me wonder so if somebody breaks one of these things on the patron code of conduct do you have any suggestions for how you address that like give them a physical copy point to where it's posted is this something that should be a staff interaction versus like a director interaction so um so it should be posted it I think um it shouldn't be the first thing that people see so if you want to post it in the library um maybe at the information desk or whatever that's fine have it on your website uh who enforces the code of conduct is probably the person who is working in the library uh the staff member at the desk the the the person who's in charge that day so you want whoever is making that decision to do it the way other people would make that decision um I've heard of instances not in New York state where uh you know someone decides to kick a a person out of the library who is unhoused because they didn't meet part of the code of conduct but another staff member at the same Library didn't kick person out for being un house and not meeting certain things that were in the code of conduct so you do want it to be have it so that everyone will do it the same way and you probably want training on your code of conduct get people do some scenarios uh maybe if people have been kicked out or banned whatever the words you use asked to leave go through those and see you know what happened and then have staff talk about them you know what can you learn from what has happened does it mean that you need training does it mean that maybe the code of conduct needs to change um what is it Jessica does that help yeah I was just looking at Karen's uh point in the chat about the masking during the pandemic and how there were just people who were non-compliant in The library and how much stress and friction that caused between staff and patrons and yes that was um masking was was difficult because of people's beliefs around the pandemic um also I think people got tired of masking I'm not sure if that played into it or not but um My Hope Is that we don't have another situation like that and if we do update your code of conduct quickly um and set some some rules or some dos and don'ts around what your expectations are um if a person in that situation comes in unmasked ask uh you know um I notic that you're on masked do you have a mask can I give you a mask um I know that there are some people who could not wear masks I but I also know that probably a lot of people said oh I can't wear a mask because of whatever but really they were just had made a decision not to wear mask so think about you know what questions you might ask um offer a mask and uh I'm thinking off the top of my head sorry but uh think about um maybe how you limit exposure in that situation um again thinking off the top of my head I'm sorry is it that a person can come in to pick up an item but they can't stay if they're unmasked so just think about it um not a very good uh situation and Karen that's okay to um to take us a little bit off track because masking was one of those things that really made people focus on their um code of conduct I I think a couple people in the chat are talking about with masking but with other things like food and drink the issue is the enforcement of this yes would you include that then in your policy like here's how we plan to enforce these the the patron code of conduct so that makes it clear doesn't it you know um you're not a person doesn't have to guess what's going to happen that also makes it clear for staff you know what's going to happen do you ask that person who brought in food just to move to a different section of the library do you ask them you know if if they won't do that do you ask them to leave um you know what is it that you that will happen and so yes you could have a section of the code of conduct that would would kind of say you know um that would be about enforcement and what what the expectation would be you know you person who um breaks the code of conduct um will be asked to um uh move to another part of the library you'd have to make that like you know if that's possible if that's whatever uh maybe asked to leave maybe you know leave for the day uh depending on the severity of the situation uh may be uh may be banned from the library if your if your library does Banning but all things um to think through so thank you for bringing this up there are some cultural norms um and some current things that your code of conduct should reflect so so cell phones now are not for calling uh they they people do call they video chat they call with the phone held in front of them they use the phone as a computer so saying no cell phone use uh is unrealistic because people will use their cell phone and for some it's a necessary communication device if I speak Spanish and you speak English I need my cell phone to translate so you might have some Norms in your code of conduct about you know you can please use your cell phone as a computer to look things up to find or whatever it might be yes do texting uh uh you know maybe create a norm around phone calls you know if you must do a phone call please you know go to whatever area of the library or step outside you know do not um I don't like do not um uh do video chats in you know treat them like phone calls go to outside go to the lobby Whatever video chats so create some Norms around what your expectations are and then recognize that people um they their cell phone so if a person's on their cell phone and they're talking really loud because they've got the cell phone in front of them rather than holding up to their here you know please ask them you know you're you're disturbing you know why do this you know why go to a different part of the library why whatever to keep everyone comfortable in the library and to make the library a welcoming place for everyone so please take your conversation elsewhere I've seen um codes of conduct that had something in about power outlets like you cannot use a power outlet but recognize that people need power outlets now for phones their tablets their computers so you might want to put in something about you know where can they uh charge up uh and so that you know that's obvious for them that also could be a funding opportunity uh to get chargers for your library water bottles and coffee mugs everyone has them I've got mine uh so what are your expectations does it it must have a lid you can only uh have those in certain parts of the library recognize that there are cultural variations in attire with your patrons as we talked about with your staff and cultural variations in human interaction so for some cultures that loud conversation is how they interact um and you're not going to stop them so so maybe it's not that you are having a loud conversation but recognize the impact on the people around you uh and take that loud conversation someplace else in the library the loud section of the library so you can see like the dues you know do make this Library welcome in place do make it so that everyone is comfortable uh working reading learning uh in the various parts of the library now do take loud conversations and uh video chats or phone calls to this other section of the library yeah so so you know that's that's a you know I framed it as a do positive so um but there's lots to be thought of in the code of conduct and I know there's some things in chat so I'm going to look really quick being an enforcer is not is not fun [Music] um and you have to have consequences that you can enforce equally across the board um and so that's important and that may require training okay this is a sample from a a long 2019 code of conduct now in order to ensure a constructive safe enjoyable use of Library facilities materials and services as well as the personal comfort of all patrons the library board has established the following code of conduct so I like that first part that's very positive know they want it to be enjoyed by everyone comfortable for everyone patrons should use appropriate level of noise don't shout no loud conversations no arguments abusive uh don't bully harass bother staring don't stare um don't be offensive or abusive uh practice acceptable hygiene and clothing patients with excessive body odor may be asked to leave rowy behavior is not allowed so tell me five things that you would change open up your microphone or pop them in chat first of all it's too wordy people do not read um so if you can do something with bullet points and the minimal amount of words necessary to get the message across I I would do that Marge uh this is a long code of cont because this is only the first four um things in it so yes it's long uh I also would say that they combine things together that may not be useful because you're going to read part of the point and not read the entire point so you're right if you can minimize the wording uh to get to the point that would be be really helpful what else come on what's acceptable hygiene I feel like I'd have to throw this whole thing out and start all over again fresh and I don't know what acceptable hygiene is if you're not wanting a lot of perfumes and cologne and and other scents it's that part of a stuff non-acceptable hygiene [Music] um so um it looks like they're trying to Define it and they do that a lot in this even in the first one like what's an appropriate level of noise well they gives some things that might not be appropriate but well and thank you for pointing that out because appropriate level of noise is different than having abusive threatening or offensive language so they they've combined those two things into one section and they they don't go together um you know it occurred to me uh Mary Carol that uh Cal hygiene in body and clothes is probably here because of people who are unhoused but technically see this is where like implementation comes in a construction worker who comes in at the end of a long shift having worked out in the sun all day is not going to have the best hygiene he's he or she or they have been out in the sun out in dirt coming in you know sweaty and smelly dirty cloth uh is that person going to be asked to leave in the same way a person who is on house is going to be asked to leave there are people go ahead excuse me the whole policy reads like a reaction to issues that staff have had you know over the years and sometimes you can post as many policies as you want but um a lot of things are not going to change um sadly I mean you know public libraries especially are a refuge for people to get off the street and um that in some ways is a good thing because the only place that they can go I've worked in libraries like that and um we just you know kept had to be thankful that there was a place for them to be to be safe thank you for that that you're right there are um public libraries are here for the public and so one thing to think about if as you're looking at your code of conduct might be services in the library it might be how do you um I want to say how do you refer people to services and whatever would be helpful to them I know that's that's also problematic because you're guessing you're making assumptions um but you might um but there's something there that's not that and I will be badly badly articulate uh you know if you have unhoused people coming to the library great are there services that you could provide specifically for them are there resources in the community that would come to work with them so maybe it's about welcoming them and then creating uh and creating a way that they feel welcome and they feel served I can give another example of that um in sure at courland Free Library when Jen graany was the director I remember visiting and I saw a sign near the front door they have a lot of signs of course and and they were known as being like a local hub for unhoused people to hang out especially in the winter um and she had a sign that was like you cannot abandon your stuff here which is a fairly reasonable policy I think but and obviously reflected a problem that they had so it was reactionary but in the same sentence it said we understand that short-term storage is an issue in this community and we are brainstorming ideas I don't remember the exact phrasing but like it was a very positive like we're working on this and if you have ideas please let us know and be involved which I appreciate yeah I like that uh thank you for that it also could be you know if if people who are unhoused come to a library with stuff and they have storage issues there are people who are who are who who have study housing who are also coming to the library who would like to be able to you know put that backpack somewhere for a while and have it stored well so um yeah so if you if you can create a system it's it'll be used by more people than just one segment of the population someone in chat put that the Amish uh might not um you know working all day uh coming to some libraries maybe in horse and buggy you know their uh hygiene by the time they get to the library might not be what you want but they're part of the community too so lots of things to think about uh and let me just check through this text for a second um see if there's anything else I want to point out um I would also say that when you make a big list of don'ts like this it makes it really easy for another Patron to come in and go that person over there is doing the thing that you say they're not supposed to and then you're put in the situation of trying to explain why that's an exception but this isn't and it's very awkward um it reminds me that the last Point reminds me of my days as a lifeguard where it was a whole lot easier to just yell walk across the deck versus please don't run because you might slip and fall and crack your head open and you know all of that so yeah and you want a policy thanks Erin for that you want a policy that will be implemented the same no matter what so if you say uh um I know libraries have you know no no wheelie carts or no baggage or no whatever it might be are you going to enforce that the same no matter what so a business person who comes in who might be on a business trip and has their suitcase with them and you said no baggage are you going to toss them out the way you would toss out someone who's unhealth so just keep that in mind because you you want it to be the same and maybe the um maybe the the thing is do not block walkways or something else that has to do with safety that everyone can comply with sorry Erin to overstep you oh no I was just also thinking if you're having an event that might create some noise or something in the past because I work in a college library and I always have I've had patrons come in and go why are those students over there doing that loud thing this is the library it's supposed to be quiet and you know we don't well for good reason we don't have a this is a silent Library sign but there's that expectation and if you put on the sign you know it will be appropriately loud or quiet they can go well this isn't appropriate for me so fix it and yeah so maybe having quiet spaces in the library versus loud spaces um yeah it's lot lots of things to think about oh yes we're our building is basically a big open box so setting up silent areas is problematic doable yeah okay um so I will acknowledge that everyone's code of conduct is different your the insides of your library are different what you do uh as a library is is different than the next Library over um and so I didn't I didn't find a code of con conduct I really that was like a great model because they're all different when you do your code of conduct I would say look at other Library codes of conduct and don't say oh that's a great one uh but look to see if there's something there that you like and there's something that you go oh that's horrible that no don't do that so read them and learn from them and and start from scratch make them positive as much as possible lead with the positive and then if you have to have the do Nots do that but Focus try to focus on the why right um um running uh whatever words you want to use uh are not allowed because um of safety whatever you want to say but try to get get to like so people understand the why um think about uh hygiene really problematic really problematic so think about both the why is it because of allergies or asthma is it um is it something else is there does this lead you to think about a different service Bingington Public Library actually has resources in the library there a a conference room that was not being used near the front of the library that's now used for services for people who are who are unhoused or who just want to drop into that particular area and so you know doing this code of conduct might make you think about things that you could be doing to support your community okay down to our last policy which is the meeting room policy and the meeting room policy is also one where there's lots of variations uh in policies because libraries do lots of things with their meeting rooms and they might have different Norms uh based on how many meeting rooms they have um how the board thinks the meeting rooms should be used um in some cases that meeting room may be actually a meeting room for the municipality or something else so there's a lot of things that come into uh meeting room policies meeting rooms are valuable you may have one you may have money many meeting rooms but you do want them used and you want them used without interfering with other Library operations and I think that's where the policy um where you see some of the stuff in the policy is that you're trying to ensure that people use the meeting rooms appropriately whatever appropriately means and that the use of that meeting room doesn't interfere with everything else and that everything else could be um impacting staff time so how do people use the meeting room without impacting staff time because staff aren't there to help you use the meeting room uh they'll do a little but they're not going to be there all the time so how can they use the meeting room and allow staff to do the work they should be doing um how can you minimize problems and headaches that's part of the meeting room policy is trying to figure out you know where those headaches are going to crop up and try to eliminate them um they provide guidance if something goes wrong so people I'm they use the word rowdy people get too rowdy you know the rest of the library is being impacted by what's happening in the meeting room uh the noise is impacting what's happening outside the library so what happens who takes care of that are they you know are they warned um maybe they can't look again for a while that would be up to you how do you ensure freedom of speech Equitable access and no discrimination that last line becomes important because uh we tend as librarians to want to make it um we tend as Librarians to not want certain groups to use the library meeting rooms so okay um is that Equitable are you limiting freedom of speech are you discriminating and so if every group in your community and I do mean every group in your community can use the meeting rooms what do you want to have happen so all these things go into the meeting room policy and there are policies that talk about um if they're if you can use the meum for free do you have to pay whatever and I'm getting ahead of myself because that's actually on the next slide so some question to consider and not all of these are are in every policy so this is a combination of things I've seen across policies why do you have meeting rooms again stayed up front you know why you have meeting rooms I know this is stating the obvious but it might be good for people to know that you have meeting rooms so they can use them that they support the community that they're there for everyone um whatever else you want to say about why you have a meeting room who can use them my assumption is everyone but sometimes a library will have that it's for nonprofit use only um it's they will maybe say it's not for family events birthday parties things like that some times a library will say who has priority so for example the library may have priority in using its own meeting rooms or the M municipality might have priority in using the meeting rooms so that's good to state if there is a priority of and there might be and it might be Unwritten but good to good to put it in your policy are there types of events that you want to have happen in in your meeting rooms or perhaps types of events that you do not want no solicitation no selling of goods and services um no uh political rallies no know what is it so think about that what types of events um do you charge for use of your meeting room and some libraries do it may not be a lot but uh it may be helpful for them to charge a little bit for the meeting room so is it free do you charge a fee how much is the fee uh that information some people will state and you can see that these um might not be an order of how you would put them in a document but how many rooms are there where are they and what's their capacity so I actually might put that where up Beyond up with why does a library have meeting rooms we have meeting rooms use them but we have five meeting rooms here's where they are and this is their capacity you might even want to say uh that they're Ada accessible uh if that can't be assumed because sometimes meeting rooms might be in an old part of the building and they're not very accessible so you might want to make that obvious but if that's helpful how can a room be reserved who do you contact how do you contact them how far in advance do you contact them um when should you cancel if you need to cancel can the library cancel you out of the meeting room how could that happen can you get bumped in other words what are the Community member whoever reserves what are they responsible for spell that out are they responsible for um setup tear down does the time that they Reserve include any setup and tear down that they need or can they bring food in can they bring in certain certain types of food so uh for example no powdered Donuts which can make a mess of the floor and the carpeting nothing that has to be heated or served hot so think through that because that can be really helpful what's the library responsible for what are you going to do do you just unlock the door and let them in do you TR do any troubleshooting do you help them with technology do you give them technology what is it what happens if something goes wrong what happens if they get too loud um if that meeting spills out into the rest of the library what happens if protesters come and these might not be things you want to name specifically but they should be things in your mind as you're writing what happens if something goes wrong um so think about the if some if something goes wrong and it impacts the rest of the library or if it becomes a hazardous situation um just think through those uh and write them down who handles if something goes wrong is it staff is there a point where uh security gets involved or you call the call the police so again things to think about and things you might want to write down finally how are you supporting freedom of speech and freedom to assemble I will go back to the fact that you want everyone to use Library meeting rooms but sometimes that can be uncomfortable and so uh there are libraries who will say uh that you have to keep the meeting room door open that whatever happens in that meeting room is not private no door has to be left open while meeting is in progress and that could be helpful yes the noise is going to come out into the hallway um but uh less likely I think to become um Rowdy whatever that word means um contentious so something to something to think about and perhaps something to try uh any other things that you think about in terms of meeting room policy questions to consider I will say that I've seen meeting room policies like this and and they yes they can be long attached to the reservation form if it's a printed reservation form or on the same page on the website if it's a digital form so people um see the policy before they uh reserve a room you might want to have them maybe check on the policy you know yes I've read before they can move on uh maybe in a printed form sign that they've read the policy so kind of holding them to you know you know what we're what we're agreeing to in terms of of using the meeting room I've just spoken for a long time so I'm pausing to hear what you have to say and I will tell you that this is my last content slide so the next thing that's going to happen is I'm just going to ask you for questions questions comments ideas concerns next steps so you can feel free to jump into that right now if you want yeah I'm curious with the meeting room policy because I know a few years ago there were some public libraries who had specific right-wing groups trying to use meeting rooms and then there was talk around who you could say cannot use the meeting room and why and I'm just curious if anybody's working in a library currently if that's been an issue in recent years or if your policy addresses that Jessica you that reminds me of um Seattle Public Library where they uh hosted an event a speaker in one of their meeting rooms it was not a library event it was someone else's event in the library but it caused uh protest to happen and so um and I don't know if anything like that has happened in central New York but you have to in that case the leadership of the library felt that they were supporting the F of speech and the freedom to assemble um some people in the community thought El uh thought otherwise a weapon B yeah so I've turned off my share uh so I can see all of your names and uh maybe a few faces a weapons petting zoit yeah so uh in your uh Patron code of conduct something I didn't put in there but thank you uh Danielle for pointing that out is uh again local law may come into play uh is a excuse me is about weapons are you a weapon-free facility can you be a weapon free facility uh and if you can be a weapon-free facility and that's what you want that should be in your your code of contct state it as a positive first we are a weapon-free facility because um and then that means you cannot bring in you know these things um that's a good one thank you sorry I had to had to cough for a second no weapons is awesome um I would also say uh you're right in some states you may not be able to do that uh no weapon um I don't know if you want to name the weapons that gets problematic because some things that uh could be used as a weapon that aren't a weapon uh so think through that maybe think through it with um your communities your municipalities or organizations legal council uh or someone else who is very knowledgeable uh service animals something that that libraries have I'm sure every place is wrangled with uh it's not service animals service animals are legal it's um emotional support animals uh or support animals or Just Pets so um there are certain things you can ask about the animal uh very specific uh in what you can ask and so uh knowing what those things are maybe stating uh I don't know if that can go into your Patron code of contuct you know what those things are uh but understanding how to handle animals that come in with no redfest um people are taking their pets everywhere so we have to be cautious uh and then I'll just note that Aon said by Kid coming to the library with his baseball bat because he'd come from baseball practice wouldn't he had liked the storage facility in the library to store that while he was in the library I think that would have been just perfect Jessica I just see that we're at the top of the hour so I wanted to just point out that I did put a a survey for the webinar into the chat and we'll be sharing the recording and the slides uh early next week I want to thank everybody for engaging in the chat as well I think I'll stop the recording now and then if anybody has any questions that they didn't want to have on the recording we could continue that way as well