APLE General Membership Meeting - January 23, 2021

Meeting called to order at 7:07 pm

Officer Roll Call ○ Present: Brooke Cox, Teresa Alvarado, Steve Nichols, Michelle Gasser, Sally Sherman-Weckerlin, John Cook, Eisha Hearn, Carlye Seybold

Total Attendance: 25

Old Business

● We are adding the previous minutes to the agenda starting with this meeting.

● COVID Protocols

  • Remind people what needs to be done to keep us all safe. Follow the Protocols.

  • Don’t forget to fill out your daily form before reporting to work.

  • Stay home if you are not feeling well!

  • Disciplinary action may be taken for people who come in to work sick and ignored their symptoms.

  • So much of being safe is on you.

  • Call HR if you are not sure about what qualifies as exposure to COVID.

● Updated Dress Code Policy

  • Waiting for new policy to roll out. This is supposed to be a topic of discussion at the next town hall meeting.

  • Previously approved Logo Wear will still be appropriate attire.

● What’s Up

  • APLE Newsletter is not just for the Chairs to send out news. Any members are welcome and encouraged to share interesting things related to unions, libraries, or work life in general.

● Staff Awards

  • Congratulations to anyone who was nominated for a staff award. Big thank you to those who wrote nominations and any members on the SA committee.

● Building Use

  • Refresh yourself on Andrea Francis’ email from 1/15 regarding patrons staying in the building and capacity. Capacity is flexible.

  • Hopefully you are getting support from other staff in the building regarding patrons wearing masks appropriately and social distancing.

  • It is OK to do reference work at the greeter station if you have no other options available.

  • Doors should be open at all locations.


New Business

● Secretary/Treasurer

  • Congratulations to Christina Gaydos on her promotion. Steve Nichols has been appointed Secretary/Treasurer for the remainder of the term.

● Schedules

  • Your schedules should be posted 4 weeks in advance. The agreement we had with the Library on the flexibility of posting expired once we returned to our full work hours.

  • Let us know if they are not posted on time.

  • You can follow schedules posted on the Intranet. Any changes made will send you an email notification that a changed occurred. Your manager should still be notifying you of schedule changes.

  • To follow a schedule go to your agency’s intranet page. Find the posted schedule you wish to follow. Click on the ellipsis. You should see a “Follow” option to click on. A notification will appear that you are now following the document.

  • NOT recommended getting alerts via the action button under “Schedules.” You will receive a ton of emails if you do.

● New Call off Procedures

Has your manager talked to you about the new call off procedures? Everyone should have been informed of them by January 15.

New procedures hold exempt staff accountable as well.

● Role of Regional Managers

  • Role is going to evolve, but we need to know how it affects APLE members as it changes.

  • APLE has requested minutes from Regional Mangers meetings to be made available on the Intranet.

  • APLE asked Jason and HR when it is OK for a member to go to a Regional Manager with a question or a concern. OK when a manager has not gotten back to you after a reasonable amount of time OR if your manager is not available and a response is needed immediately. You should not feel uncomfortable approaching an RM.

● Direct Line

  • See Jason’s email from 1/22

  • Jason is getting a lot of policy questions that can be answered elsewhere. If you feel comfortable, ask your manager before sending to Direct Line. If you are not sure about something, feel free to reach out to APLE chairs. If Brooke and Teresa can’t answer it, they can probably steer you in the right direction.

Open Floor

● Zach Huber shared the link to his upcoming program on February 17th: LIBRARIES AND NONPROFIT STARTUPS: AN EASY LIFT. https://www.everylibrary.org/events

● Reminder that printing for patrons is free and do not limit.

● Important Tax Filing Info: You should be receiving a 1099G in the mail to file with your taxes for 2020. This is for our unemployment compensation during our Shared Work Ohio plan. If you don’t get one in the mail, you should be able to print one from JFS website. Thanks, MT!

● Amy Hartman wants to know if you are receiving new materials. Have any patrons complained or asked about a lack of new stuff? Why holds are taking so long to move? Frontline staff needs to know what’s happening behind the scenes.

  • There were 4 retirements in Tech Services. Work is backing up. Current staff are working as fast as possible.

  • There are a lot of 2020 items still coming in and waiting to be processed.

  • Publishers are still facing delays in getting books out.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:50 pm