Public Libraries

I work at a library with a diverse range of employee types, including part-time, full-time, union, and non-union staff. Unfortunately, time tracking methods vary widely, with most employees using paper timesheets. There are also inconsistencies in how comp time, overtime, flexible schedules, and double time are applied, even for those not in the union.

The best approach to standardize and streamline scheduling, timekeeping, benefits, and compensation management is to use a single automated payroll system that enables tracking of all accruals and leave time offered by your library.

[We got a question from a library system...]

SPOILER ALERT!!

For those of you who need to know: in the end, the service at a regional council “counted.”

And now for the questions...

Outside of best practices for staff handling of sensitive documents, are public libraries otherwise bound by HIPAA, FERPA and SOX when sending faxes for patrons, in terms of the privacy protections provided (or not) by the type of fax technology?

This is a great question. Before we jump into it, let’s summarize the three types of faxing set out in the referenced article:

Our school district public library has offered early mail ballots for our 2024 and 2025 budget vote and trustee election. The school district is now telling us that the library is not obligated to offer early mail ballots and that only the school district is obligated to participate in early voting.

So, we have two questions:

Early mail ballots are required in most school district elections by the 2023 “New York Early Mail Voting Act” that went into effect January 1, 2024.[1]

We got a series of questions from a public library system about New York State Retirement. Buckle up, this is a LOT.

I wanted to host a fanfiction writing contest for my teen department, as we have a lot of teens who enjoy writing fanfiction about their favorite characters and fandom. However, I know fanfiction is always a little tricky.

The idea was to set rules and guidelines, such as:

The member posing the question is 100% right: the copyright considerations of fanfiction are “tricky.”

Our trustee petitions to run for board seats are due 30 days before our election. That date happens to fall on a Sunday. What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Sunday? What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Saturday? Our petitions are due at the school, the school is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

WARNING! This answer applies only to school district public libraries.[1]

In addition: Caveat…[2] this answer will apply differently to different school district public libraries.

I’m assuming the age requirement for youth cards varies widely even among NYS libraries, but what are the key determining legal factors which inform how libraries settle on an age range for this policy? I can think of three factors, and libraries likely conflate all of them together.

When advising on a policy or set of terms for a library or library system to adopt for children’s library cards, I ask for the following information:

The board of trustees of a public school district library owns the library building. A private club occupies the entire second floor. The private club has traditionally not paid any rent or utilities, nor has it contributed to the upkeep of the building in any way.

What an interesting set-up! If I started a private club,[1] I would totally want it over a library. Or a museum. Either way, very cool.

Our library is trying to set some parameters around what we require from a patron in order to check out library materials to them. For adults and teens, this is straightforward: we require they have their library card or a form of identification.

First, I'll answer the easy question: No, you are not overthinking this.

For children fortunate enough to be brought to the public library at a young age, the experience is life-altering. They grow as readers and thinkers. They see themselves as part of a community that shares resources. They start to absorb the values of privacy and information access.