Thursday Night in Middletown & Newport
The Middletown Library Board of Trustees meets Thursday at the library at 6. I picked this up from the town's website, and not the library's. Ironic, don't you think when I hear the Director's technology skills touted? Evidently the Director is good at everything except dealing with people. Gee, that's kind of important for a director, don't you think?
I hear about a very unhappy Union, an increasing turnover of personnel, and a childrens' room that belongs in the Smithsonian as an example of the '60's. No Sunday hours, and no wifi. There's room for improvement here. The town's website is also looking a WHOLE lot better & more professional with more info than when he managed it (and no complaints). You can now pay online & there is even a town survey that you can take.
The director's claims of "freedom of speech" violations seem mainly to refer to his continuing tirades of state, federal, & ALA violations which never seem to materialize and the Board's telling him to knock it off. Again, I repeat, some written policies are necessary here. These are what keep a librarian's ass out of the flames. For a librarian, this should be a duh! moment. Perhaps that's why we're having the problem & Newport isn't. BTW, check out their webpage - cleaner, colorful, & easier to navigate. Frankly, better than ours.
I speak from experience here (hey, I was one!). Libraries are all about organization, not egos. When the main focus of a library is it's director, rather than the library, it's in trouble. It's not about free speech, it's about having policies and procedures in place rather than investing all of this in one person. It just begs for controvery which seems to be the point of this whole mess. "Because I say so," has a limited range.
Where will I be? Probably home in bed where I belong with a nasty infection. B-o-o-o-ring.
