Here's the very rough draft/takeaway from our discussion just now at the Quarterly. Just some points to mull over for next Friday's extended board meeting discussion:
Discussion Item: Plan for Strategic Planning Committee
Milavec introduced the Strategic Planning process to date. A board retreat was held last summer on June 30th, and it was identified that a new Strategic Planning process will be needed going forward, and to ensure that it includes our new 19 libraries. At the next board meeting on December 15th, we will be holding our first "planning to plan" meeting, to determine what process we will use, our timeline going forward, who we may use to facilitate, etc. Today is the membership's opportunity to share their feedback: what would they like to see, which recommendations that they may have regarding processes or facilitators that they have used in the past, etc.
Comments from the membership: Robin from South Holland noted that they are also starting their SP process. At ILA there was a session on "out of the box" ideas to make Strategic Plans a one-page graphic plan for ease of understanding, and also to add a dashboard on the website to show where the organization is in the process. It was also noted that for action steps, rather than a 3-5 year planning process, it should be taken year by year to ensure flexibility with technology and changing needs. She felt that these ideas may be beneficial for SWAN as well. PrairieCat also used that model. This plan can also be posted in public areas and staff rooms. Verzani shared that it is important to determine who should be involved in the process - membership, SWAN staff, even patrons? Kathy Berggren from Matteson noted that it is important to determine the function of this process - is it a plan, or a marketing tool? Action verbs will be important to make this a true plan, while using realism to ensure that they can be achieved within the designated time-frame. Sue from River Forest thought that the "big picture" things that we want to deliver to our membership and our users is important to keep in mind. Obviously, action steps are important to get there, but big picture is equally important. She noted an easy to use catalog and self-sufficiency in funding as examples. Values also figure in, but what will we see at the end of this - what are we working towards? Milavec asked, "What is SWAN?" This has actually been more difficult to define, as different stakeholders may have differing definitions for the organization. It is important to get the feedback of not only library leadership, but also staff. What about library boards? Is it beneficial to have them involved? This may help them to better understand what SWAN is, and what it provides to our libraries. Susan Ricker, SWAN staff member, would love to know how we define "who are SWAN's customers?" Is it the directors, the library staff, the patrons, or all of the above? How involved will library directors like to be? Robin from South Holland felt that moderate involvement is good - in person discussions at membership meetings, sharing of viewpoints, bouncing ideas off of one another. Pierre Gregoire from Frankfort agreed with Robin's level of involvement, but intensified direct involvement of Circ Managers is probably even more important. Guided discussion is helpful, perhaps among smaller focus groups. An online comment from Kevin Davis was shared; an online survey would be helpful, perhaps a focus group of directors and staff. Also, take advantage of existing groups (i.e Circ and Cat Advisory) to gather input and feedback. Discussion was also held on the benefits on hiring an outside facilitator to aid this process. Seleb noted that it is important that we make clear what we hope to get out of this process, both process and outcomes. Gregoire shared that another approach is to look at excellence practices.
Thanks!
Brande Overbey
Operations Manager
brande(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:brande@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7104
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
SWAN Board,
Sharing with you all some news shared yesterday with LINC libraries. This is great news for Carol, considering the circumstances she was in.
I am discussing some options with LINC Board President Dawn Bussey to assist them, seeing as that LINC only has two PT staff and one contracted staff at the moment.
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7022
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
844-792-6542
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
From: Dawn Bussey [mailto:dawnbussey@gepl.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017 5:05 PM
To: Aaron Skog <aaron(a)swanlibraries.net>
Cc: Dawne Tortorella <dawne(a)swanlibraries.net>
Subject: News from Carol Dawe
FYI
Dawn Bussey
Glen Ellyn Public Library
Director
630-790-6760
GEPL............so much more than books
From: CSTF(a)linc.lib.il.us<mailto:CSTF@linc.lib.il.us> [mailto:CSTF@linc.lib.il.us] On Behalf Of Carol J. Dawe
Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017 1:40 PM
To: CSTF LINC Group <CSTF(a)linc.lib.il.us<mailto:CSTF@linc.lib.il.us>>
Subject: [CSTF] News from Carol Dawe
Hello everyone,
I have accepted a position with the Lakeland Library Cooperative in Grand Rapids, Michigan as their Director. LLC is one of 9 library cooperatives in the state of Michigan. It supports 42 libraries in 8 counties in Western Michigan. The focus is governance, advocacy, continuing education and managing an ILS. (They will be searching for a new one!)
This is very bittersweet. I have loved my time at LINC but I am very excited about this new challenge and the timing could not be better. I will start in Michigan on the 1st of February. An end date here will be determined but EVERY EFFORT will be made to make this a smooth transition.
Thank you for all your support these many years.
Carol Dawe
Executive Director
Library Integrated Network Consortium
1001 East Main Street, Suite A
St. Charles, IL 60174
Cell Phone: 630-207-1205 (Best way to reach me.)
LINC Office: 630-377-6960
http://www.lincnet.info/<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.lin…>
SWAN Board,
Some bad news that I just shared with staff. If you recall, Carla Owens was at our last COW at Oak Lawn.
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7022
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
844-792-6542
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
From: Aaron Skog
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2017 2:29 PM
To: All SWAN Staff <allstaff(a)swanlibraries.net>
Subject: Brookfield Zoo Library Closed Indefinitely
SWAN staff,
We received some sad news on Friday before last week. I followed up with the Brookfield Zoo, specifically Angela Sullivan, Interim VP of Conservation, Education & Training with a brief phone call, and Dawne spoke again with her today.
Carla Owens is no longer with the Chicago Zoological Society. The Library has been closed. At this time, I'm unsure of their future participation with SWAN. They have asked for a few months to figure things out. I am not sure the extent of the changes at the Zoo beyond their library.
Dawne has details on how they are going to handle returning borrowed items, and when to shadow their collection. This is a situation where we also need to determine what they will want to do with their library collection data we care for in Symphony. Right now, Member Services staff have helped with suspending holds and preventing future holds being placed on their collection.
That is all the information I have at the moment.
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7022
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
844-792-6542
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN Board and Management Team,
For those interested, RAILS is hosting an OMA meeting/webinar in January. Sounds like it could be an interesting one so we wanted to pass it along:
https://www.librarylearning.info/events/default.aspx?eventID=25947
This session will cover the basics of complying with the Open Meetings Act (OMA), provide an update on any recent amendments to the statute, and summarize and discuss recent opinions issued by the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor (PAC) office and court cases involving OMA.
Topics:
* Basic overview of OMA requirements
* Discussion of procedures for complying with OMA
* Summarize most common OMA exemptions for going into closed session
* Address recent amendments to statute
* Discuss PAC opinions and court cases
Desired Outcomes:
Attendees will learn best practices for complying with OMA, and learn about new opinions and court cases that interpret the statute.
Thank you,
Brande Overbey
Operations Manager
brande(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:brande@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7104
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hi All,
I received an email this morning from Aaron that contained this article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/news/ct-prh-director-candi…
Aaron is a finalist for the director job at the Park Ridge Library. I spoke with him, wished him luck and told him that I hope he succeeds! Jeannie Dilger from LGS is the other finalist.
He was caught off guard by the article being printed and was not notified nor asked if it was ok. Aaron has notified his staff as well.
If the offer is made to Aaron and he accepts, I know that we will be in a good position to continue moving forward during the transition of finding his replacement.
I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and a great weekend!
Rich
Richard A. Wolff, Administrator
Tinley Park Public Library
7851 Timber Drive,
Tinley Park, IL. 60477
708-845-5718
Hi All,
After reading the proposed agenda for the December Quarterly meeting, what would all of you think of canceling the meeting? All of the information could be provided in a memo from the board.
Just a thought-please write me back to let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Rich
Richard A. Wolff, Administrator
Tinley Park Public Library
7851 Timber Drive,
Tinley Park, IL. 60477
708-845-5718
SWAN Board Members:
The Friday, November 17th board meeting packet is now available for you:
https://support.swanlibraries.net/sites/default/files/meeting/2017-11-17/pa…
This month's packet is 84 pages long. We will be knocking out a lot of tasks on Friday, including getting started with Strategic Planning via a committee charge, officially ratifying the vote for the New19 libraries to join us, reviewing and accepting the FY17 audit, looking at our 2018 meeting dates, reviewing the bond updates for the fee structure/approving that, and talking about our plans for December Quarterly. Whew!
See you all on Friday,
Brande Overbey
Operations Manager
brande(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:brande@swanlibraries.net> * (630)326-7104
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://www.swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Correct, I am interested in both topics for my staff. I have yet to discuss with staff and board about half days or closed days. I also know the social worker at the Addison Library, not sure if she has any insight that can help us out.
Sent from my iPhone
> On Nov 9, 2017, at 10:14 AM, Tiffany Verzani <tverzani(a)elmwoodparklibrary.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all.
> I am working on two in-house training initiatives for my staff. I know that there was some definite interest in a sexual harassment event that could be an-all day multi-library event, but I also think that would go hand-in-hand with mental health awareness training and general cultural sensitivity awareness.
>
> 1. Mental Health First Aid - how to identify, understand, and assist people struggling with issues and illnesses and how to positively and proactively handle situations in our libraries, work with police or other agencies as needed, etc. Sertoma would do a 3 hour workshop and answer our questions for free as part of their statewide grant funding. I would offer them a donation for their time so I would suggest we pay $5-10 per person. (I attended the full day training from Sertoma at an ATLAS meeting and it was very timely and helped us jump start some important conversations here.)
> I told the coordinator that I would pick 3-4 dates through Feb-April and let her pick.
>
> 2. The sexual harassment/general harassment program we already talked about. There is an article in the current American Libraries on the topic and I also got a lead from another librarian and will start contacting possible speakers. If anyone has ideas to share, please do.
>
> 3. I can go in several directions here - do these on my own, do these as a joint program, when the library is open, when it is closed, etc. I know the preference is for closed days, but need to know who is on board for each thing and then we can break off into smaller groups as needed.
>
> 4. I know this is repetitive because some of you already responded with preferences, but you can please confirm your interest in both, one, or none of the topics. If I end up scheduling on my own, I would still let you know of dates/times and if you want to send 1-2 staff while your library remains open.
>
> 5. Please respond and let me know if I am correct in my memory here....
> - I believe Jorge was interested in both
> -I believe Sue and Stacy were interested in sexual harassment training
> -Pilar said she has this training already
> -David, I don't think we heard from you...Also, David is your Social Worker staff member available for any outside training employment opportunities and/or do you think he would be a good presenter for any of these topics?
>
> Thank you all.
> Tiffany
>
>
>
> --
> Tiffany Verzani
> Library Director
> Elmwood Park Public Library
> 1 Conti Parkway, Elmwood Park, IL 60707
> 708-395-1230
> tverzani(a)elmwoodparklibrary.org
Hi All,
For item #10 on the agenda tomorrow, I would like to talk about the links below. They deal with Cooperatives and this is the information that Jamie provided us at the September board meeting.
http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/whatisacoop/http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/issues/Governance/
Please read the sections on what is a co-op, types of cooperatives, business structure comparison and governance.
I would like to address item A-How do Swan board members see the organization.
I hope your day is going well and I will see you tomorrow morning.
Rich
Richard A. Wolff, Administrator
Tinley Park Public Library
7851 Timber Drive,
Tinley Park, IL. 60477
708-845-5718
