This Administrative Essential
covers:
- Typical library policies
- Policy development steps
- Legally defensible policies
- Policy versus procedure
- Policies for Results
- Policy Audit
- Policy and procedure manuals
Policies establish a framework
for efficient library operations, with clear directions for staff to
operate the library. Understandable rules and regulations for the public
also promote equitable use of the library’s facility and collections.
As the library director, you may have started your job with a set of policies already in place. Or
you may have discovered that the previous director and the library board
gave inadequate attention to the library’s policies and failed to
review them regularly. Or perhaps few policies were in place and those
gave no indication of when they had been adopted or reviewed. Occasionally
directors discover that commonly accepted staff procedures do not consistently
mesh with established policies. In such cases, the director should encourage
the library board to review existing policies and consider others that
may be appropriate to local needs.
The library board is responsible
for adopting policies that govern the operation of Wisconsin public
libraries. Wis Stats 43.42(2) provides that “Every public library
shall be free for the use of the inhabitants"subject to such reasonable
regulations as the library board prescribes in order to render its use
most beneficial to the greatest number. The library board may exclude
from the use of the public library all persons who willfully violate
such regulations.” Furthermore, Wisconsin law establishes that the
library board has exclusive charge and control of the library budget
and of the library facility and property. In addition, the library board
hires the library director and establishes the duties and compensation
of library employees. The board may wish to consider and develop policies
for
- the public’s use
of the library and its resources
- the staff and director’s
duties in operating the library and maintaining the collection
- the conditions of
employment and benefits for library personnel
Although the library board
adopts policies, it is often the library director who is called upon
to recommend policy and create drafts for the library board’s consideration.
Not only will the library director be involved with the policy development,
but it will also be the director’s responsibility to disseminate the
resulting policies and implement procedures to carry them out.
It may seem like there will
be little time left to do anything else in the library, but policy development
and administration does not have to consume an inordinate amount of
time. When done well, the resulting policies and procedures actually
streamline library operations and save time otherwise spent unraveling
problems.
Typical library policies
Typical policies might include:
- Personnel (including
grievance process, and utilization of library volunteers). Because of
their complexity, the library board may wish to adopt the municipality’s
personnel policy and then delineate where the library’s policy differs.
- Circulation (loan
periods and renewal policies, holds and reserves, fines and damage charges,
process for recovering overdue materials, confidentiality of patron
records, inter-library loan, equipment lending)
- Collection Development
(encompassing materials selection scope; responsibilities for selection;
range and priorities for collection development; withdrawal of obsolete
materials; gift and donation policy; censorship and reconsideration
of library materials)
- Patron conduct (food
and drink, harassment or threatening behavior, noise, unattended children)
- Facilities (including
meeting room use, public notices and displays, hours of operation, security
emergency procedures, and use of the copier and other equipment)
- Computer and Internet
use
How many policies a library
adopts and how they are sub-divided is up to the library board to determine
based on the size of the library, the range of services, and local circumstances.
The board and director may wish to review policy manuals from other
libraries to establish the method for organizing most appropriate for
the locality.
Policy development steps
The following basic steps provide
for careful development and review of library policies:
- Director, with staff
(and perhaps public) input, identifies need and develops recommended
policies.
- Board discusses,
revises (if necessary), and approves policies.
- Director makes sure
staff and public are aware of policies.
- Director and staff
enforce policies uniformly.
- Board reviews policies
on a regular cycle so all policies are reviewed regularly.
The frequency of review for
individual policies may also vary depending on local circumstances,
but policies should be reviewed regularly, at least every three years.
Perhaps one or two policies could be reviewed at each library board
meeting until all of the policies have been considered, and, if necessary,
revised. It is important that the library board approve all policies
in properly noticed public meetings (see Administrative Essential #19:
Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law for details) before the policies are
implemented and enforced.
In consideration of policy
matters, it is important that you give adequate time and attention to
the many complex issues that may be involved. All library policies
should promote the best interests of the community and be consistent
with the library’s mission and long-range plan. You should be
satisfied that a policy is legal, clear, reasonable, and can be applied
without discrimination (see "Legally defensible policies" below). Consider all ramifications, including the possible
affect on the public image of the library—good policies should be
in the public interest and promote a positive public image of the library.
After a new policy is established,
it is important that the policy be clearly documented and disseminated
to the staff and public. It is helpful to organize all library policies
into a policy manual available to all staff and readily available to
all library users. If the policy will alter or affect the public’s
use of the library (such as a reduction in hours open, or a substantial
change to the fine policy), consider posting the change prominently
or issuing a press release to publicize the change. Many libraries are
now posting their policies on their web sites to help make the public
more aware of the library’s services and policies (see http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/policies.html
for examples).
Although disagreements during
the development of policies are natural, all library staff and trustees
should work cooperatively in the implementation and enforcement of approved
policies. Also, the staff and public should have some means of communicating
exceptions, unusual circumstances, and complaints to the director. The
director can convey appropriate issues for the board’s consideration
in amending or revising the policy. Challenges to policies are most
common in the areas of material selection and public Internet access
(for more information on dealing with challenges to policies, see Administrative
Essential #24: Collection Development).
Legally defensible policies
It is important for policies
to be legal. Illegal policies can open the municipality to liability.
(See Trustee Essential #25: Liability Issues, for more information.)
Below are four tests of a legally defensible policy:
Test #1: Policies must
comply with current statutes and case law. For example:
- A library policy
charging patrons for use of computers in the library would be contrary
to Wisconsin Statutes Section 43.52(2), which requires that public library
services be provided free of charge.
- A policy that says
the library’s public meeting room cannot be used for religious purposes
would be unconstitutional under a Wisconsin federal district court decision.
Test #2: Policies must
be reasonable (and all penalties must be reasonable). For example:
- A library policy
that says, “All talking in the library is prohibited, and anyone who
talks in the library will permanently lose library use privileges,”
is clearly an unreasonable rule with an unreasonably harsh penalty.
Test #3: Policies must
be clear (not ambiguous or vague). For example:
- A policy that says,
“Library use privileges will be revoked if a patron has too many overdue
books,” is too vague to be fairly administered.
Test #4: Policies must
be applied without discrimination. For example:
- If a library charges
fines, it cannot give preferential treatment to some individual patrons.
For example, if the library sometimes waives fines, that waiver must
be available to all patrons on an equal basis—not just to friends
of library staff or to politically important people.
Many libraries find that it
is helpful when developing or revising policies to review the policies
of other libraries. While it may be tempting to adopt another library's policy as written, be careful that you and your board consider local circumstances and practices and adapt the policy to your needs after careful consideration and review. Many examples of Wisconsin public library
policies and other resources are available from the Wisconsin Public
Library Policy Resources Page at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/policies.html.
Policy versus procedure
Traditionally, policies are
approved by the board and then procedures are established by the director
or management so that staff can apply general policies to specific situations.
The policies establish and delineate general rules for library operations.
Procedures, on the other hand, detail the specific steps that the library
executes in implementing those policies. Policies make statements of
what is being established and why. Procedures detail the specifics of
“how,” “when,” and “who.”
Recently, the Public Library
Association has promoted a model where policies, procedures, and guidelines
are all included in a policy manual format that incorporates the needs
of the board, the staff, and the public.
Policies for Results
In 2003, the American Library
Association published Creating Policies for Results: from Chaos to
Clarity in its PLA Results series. Written by Sandra Nelson and
June Garcia, the book outlines a comprehensive series of steps to inventory
library policies and regulations, assess and compile them, and create
an effective policy manual.
Under the system, library policies
have three or four components:
- The Policy Statement
explains WHY the library wants to establish a policy. Example: The
Hypothetical Public Library will not charge for the use or loan of materials
it owns or obtains. However, the Library may assess fines or fees to
encourage the return of Library materials and charge for services including,
but not limited to, photocopies and meeting room rentals.
- The Regulation
establishes the specific written rules defining the policy and establishing
WHAT must be done. For the example above, the regulation for a loan
policy might list the type and quantity of materials that may be borrowed,
as well as the length of time for loan, the conditions under which renewals
may be made, the circumstances under which fines would be assessed,
and distribution of notices and bills.
- The Procedure
is a step-by-step outline of HOW the library will carry out the policies
regulations. Usually written by library staff and approved by department
heads or the library director, it is good practice to distribute the
procedures to the library board as well so they are aware of the impact
of the policy implementation. Make sure the procedure reflects achievable
and expected practices. For our example, the procedure might delineate
how overdue notices are generated and distributed.
- Finally, Guidelines
may also be necessary to give examples of best practices in specific
circumstances or to delineate when exceptions may be made. Guidelines
for the example above might describe the circumstances under which exceptions
may be made, or how to deal with difficult situations at the circulation
desk.
Policy Audit
The full Policies for Results
process may be more complex than is necessary or achievable for a smaller
library with limited staff. But the process does include good suggestions
for conducting a policy audit when current policies may not be collected
together in a uniform form or where procedural inconsistencies may exist
in executing the policies. An audit will help to determine what variant
policies are in use, where they are kept, and what procedures are being
used to carry them out. Then the most recent versions can be compiled
into a single volume with a table of contents. As you and your board
review, update, or add policies, they can be put into a standard format
for consistency and ease-of-use. Be sure to indicate on each policy
when it was first adopted, when it was last reviewed, and when the most
recent revisions were made.
Policy and procedure manuals
A combined policy and procedure
manual provides an organized, single reference point for library policies
and the procedures you staff needs to carry them out. But including
all policies, procedures, and related guidelines may result in a volume
of unwieldy proportions. Circulation staff may find it unnecessary to
know about procedures for technical services. More and more, libraries
are compiling their policies and related procedures online where they
can be easily updated and readily located and searched. By posting policies
on the Web, increased public access and awareness is achieved, assuming
the policies can be easily located.
Keep in mind that the policy
manual is the framework to support all your library operations. It is
both an outline for services as well as a legal defense when those services
are called into question. As legal documents, they are ultimately the
board’s responsibility, but it is the director’s duty to ensure
that staff and the public are aware of policies and that they are enforces
uniformly and consistently.
Sources of additional information
The Wisconsin Public Library
Policy Resources Page at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/policies.html includes examples of policies and
links to other resources.
Nelson, Sandra S., Creating
Policies for Results: From Chaos to Clarity,
Chicago, American Library Association, 2003.
Workforms: www.elearnlibraries.com/workforms/creating_policies_for_results.html
An exhaustively thorough manual
for auditing, developing, and implementing library policies. Appendixes
include comprehensive policy development templates including questions
to consider on policy and regulations. May be more appropriate for mid-to-large
public library.
Turner, Anne M., It Comes
with the Territory: Handling Problem Situations in Libraries, revised
edition. McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina,
2004.
Focuses on “behavior policies”
and methods to contend with difficult patrons and situations. Also includes
sample policies and procedures.
For questions about this information, contact John K. DeBacher (608) 266-7270
Last updated on 6/25/2008 4:09:00 PM
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