HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 30, 1992COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
PUBLIC LIBRARY
U20 - zl01h AVENU[E N. E.
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, MN 5542']-2996
PHONE: (612) 782-2805
FAX: (6'12) 782-2804
CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
TO:
FROM:
Stuart W. Anderson, City Manager
M. Rebecca Loader, Library Director~
SUBJECT:
October, 1992, operational report
DATE:
October 30, 1992
Significant Accomplishments
A. The Board met on 10/6 with all members present.
The annual pot-luck dinner
was held immediately after the business meeting.
B. The Friends met on 10/5 with seven members present.
C. 35 senior citizens attended filmtime on 10/14.
D. Redeemer Lutheran Pre-school came to the library on 10/12 with 36 children for
a special field trip.
E. Headstart came to the library on 10/19 with 38 children for a special field trip.
F. Eight sessions of pre-school storytime were held in October with a total of
188 participating.
G. Eight sessions of Tiny Tots storytime were held in October with a total of
211 participating.
II.
Departmental Goals
A. Two new lobby chairs were recieved 10/2 as a gift from the Friends.
B. On 10/8 Becky attended a Total Quality Management conference in Minneapolis.
C. On 10/8 Jeanine and Kelly attended the fall Municipals banquet.
D. On 10/13 the last session of "The Citizen as Customer" was held. 107 employees
attended the six sessions of the class.
E. On 10/13 the Friends decorated the children's department with a fall theme.
F. On 10/15 Katie and Molly McClanahan participated in an in-service experience
at the library during MEA. Both girls got to participate in storytime, inter- ~
library delivery, mending, and computer use.
G. Statewide sampling week was October 19-24. During the week libraries collected
statistics to be used in the 1992 annual report. 2,307 people came into the
building and 451 items were used in-house.
On 10/22 the library staff got to judge the fire poster contest again.
III.
Issues and Problems
A. On 10/9 the air conditioning unit over the East Room turned on. Minnegasco
responded quickly and corrected the problem.
B. On 10/11 the janitor discovered the cash drawer unlocked. No cash was missing.
C. On 10/12 the library was contacted by a local video store that a section of
the 1961 Jamboree Parade on 16mm film had fallen into their possession. It
was ours if we wanted it. This film is now ours and Becky is going to have it
transferred to videotape for preservation purposes. In the future she will
be looking for long-time residents to view it to see if the people pictured
in it can be identified. The footage includes a police cruiser, a fire truck,
an emergency vehicle, and the high school band.
On Thursday, October 8, 1992, I had the opportunity to attend the Munici-Pals fall
banquet. There was a short business meeting, dinner, entertainment, and a speaker.
The theme for the evening was "The Old and New". In keeping with the theme, the guest
speaker, Karen Ray, presented a short program on change. She pointed out that change
takes many forms. She gave three examples of these forms and then outlined ten
strategies for dealing with change. She is the President of Karen Ray Associates, a
consulting firm which specializes in training and organization development for non-profit
agencies. She focuses her work on collaboration, team-building and leadership. She
was an excellent speaker, with several fresh and interesting approaches to the area of
dealing with changes on the job. I appreciate the opportunity to attend this function.
I had the chance to attend the Munici-Pals banquet on October 8, 1992, at the
Northland Inn, hosted by the City of Robbinsdale. It was a good opportunity
to meet with people from neighboring communities. After a brief meeting,
dinner, and entertainment by the Satin Dolls, Karen Ray, our speaker for the
evening, presented a program on change. She pointed out that change, in any
work pi. ace is constant, and that change intended to help or improve your work
load may actually end up causing you more work. You need to be aware of change
and approach it with a positive attitude to be more successful at adapting to
it. I enjoyed the evening and I look forward to attending another Munici-Pal
banquet in the future.
On October 8, I attended the conference, "Quality in the Public Sector--Beyond
the Theory," as part of a team of administrators from the City. In this manner
we were able to have representatives at nearly all the sessions. Total Quality
Management is a concept for encouraging positive change and the incorporation of
new ideas into the organization to improve service and image to the public.
A follow-up meeting was held afterwards to let the group discuss how TQM could
apply to the City and results it could have. The conference was a concentrated
introduction to TQM and provided many ideas for consideration.