[Michlib-l] Answer to question about whether we are paying staff during closure

[Reed, Nyama]

Hello Everyone,

Here is an answer to someone's question about whether we are paying staff during closure.

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First off, I hope you stay safe and healthy!

Thankfully our municipality said they would be paying all of their staff if they closed. I was going to ask my board to approve that even if the Village didn't, but it made it much easier to do once the Village Manager and Village Board President approved it for everyone. FYI, as of today no one is Village Hall, PD or DPW is "off" Also, I made the case that:
1) it is budget neutral since we would have been paying them anyways

2) it is a way to be a supportive workplace so staff don't have to worry about paying bills or going into debt

3) we don't want staff to quit during the closed period to go get a different job in order to pay bills, we would then be worse off when we reopen

4) yes, we will have a reduction in revenue, but we can adjust operations to make up for that after this is over and we see the final impact.

5) as a public library (in Wisconsin) we are allowed to have a fund balance, unlike other municipal departments, and we can use it for emergencies. Ours is currently 5% of our total operating expenses and will enable us to cover shortages in revenues w/o paying for it by not paying staff.


If your admin really wants even part time staff to work to earn their money, tell them to read at home for their work hours so they can provide great reader's advisory once you re-open! Record storytime videos from home and post them online. Find easy crafts and post to your fb. etc.

I personally advice against having staff in to clean or check in books bc that still offers the opportunity to spread the virus. I know I am being extremely cautious on that front and some might say "overly" cautious. But I'd rather err on the side of caution in this instance.

What we are currently doing:
Staff will be paid their regular working hours. At this time there is no expectation of work from part-timers. Department heads and the 1 full time librarian are being asked to work 4 hours per day from home. We set up remote desktops for each of them using google's remote desktop app. That has to be set up on their work desktop in person, but then can be accessed from home if they have home internet. I also offered for those staff to take home a library laptop or chromebook if they didn't have a home computer.

This week they are working on FAQs and tutorials for e-resources to put out to patrons. Initially we announced a 1 week closure but today will be announcing a full month. After this week we'll see what else they can do from home. I'm not having anyone in the library except me so as to keep new germs away. We can still pass it to each other and I'm high risk due to asthma, so I'm keeping it to only me (and my 11 year old son) in the library.


Best of luck!


Have a wonderful day,
Nyama

Nyama Y. Reed (she / her / hers)
Library Director
N.Reed at WFBLibrary.org
414-755-6551 (direct line)

Whitefish Bay Public Library
5420 North Marlborough Drive
Whitefish Bay, WI 53217
414-964-4380 (main line)

Our Mission
The Whitefish Bay Public Library, as a cornerstone of the community, is dedicated to connecting people of all ages, inspiring a love of learning and providing easy access to ideas, information and resources.
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