PVLD Director's Blog

PVLD Celebrates the 4th of July

It's Independence Day and the Peninsula Friends of the Library again have booths at the community celebrations in Palos Verdes Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes . Both are great opportunities to promote the Friends and the library - thanks to the volunteers who take time out of their holiday celebrations to set up and staff the booths!

It's Independence Day and the Peninsula Friends of the library again have booths at both the Palos Verdes Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes coomunity celebrations.

Thank you to the hardworking volunteers who take time away from their own celebrations to set up and staff the booths...and congratulations to Library Trustee Ed Long and his wife Pat for receiving the Van Dine Family Americanism Award from the Palos Verdes Estates Peninsula Independence Day Celebration Committee.

I hope everyone has a happy, safe, and relaxing 4th!

Start of a new fiscal year - rough waters ahead

Today is the start of a new fiscal year at PVLD, and it looks like it will be the most challenging of my 5 1/2 year career at PVLD so far.  We head into the fiscal year with a budget that is barely balanced, and with some known risks that could compromise even that outcome.

The 09/10 budget approved by the Board of Trustees reflects a net excess of only $31,000 - which provides a "margin of error" of less than 0.5% of our $6.58 million revenues - and that net excess was only achieved after substantial reductions in the budget for library books and other materials, elimination of a number of online databases, reductions to library open hours, elimination of contract services, deferral of a number of capital maintenance projects, and many other cost-cutting measures. 

The budget also relies on the Friends of the Library to double their level of support compared to the 08/09 fiscal year (the Friends will be providing about $300,000 of funding this year) and on using donations to the Library District accumulated over many years to fund important strategic plan initiatives and capital projects.  We do not meet our emergency reserve policy, and there is a significant risk that higher than expected property tax defaults for the 08/09 fiscal year (which won't be known until August) could put us into a deficit situation. 

The budget also does not make any provision for the State "borrowing" local property tax revenues, which could have a devastating effect.  Unfortunately, the longer the State budget impasse drags on the more likely it is that they will borrow our property tax revenues and we were advised today that this is again "on the table" for consideration.  This could mean the loss of $450,000 in revenue this fiscal year.

The projection for 10/11 is even worse - it already shows a projected deficit of $179,000 in the operating budget and again does not include the impact of any borrowing of local property tax revenues - and if that doesn't happen this year there is a good chance it will happen next year.  We also are short over $300,000 for important capital maintenance projects, and there is a limit to how much we can defer without compromising long-term facilities and technology needs or putting PVLD at risk of expensive emergency repairs.

The 09/10 budget also assumes the Friends of the Library will be able to sustain their 09/10 level of support...something that becomes increasingly challenging in the face of general economic conditions.

And of course we have no idea when the general economic recovery will kick in, or how long it will take for the property tax revenues that are our primary revenue stream to rebound.

Definitely rough waters to navigate! 

On the positive side we have a terrific staff and a wonderful group of volunteers who continue to try to do as much as they can to serve the community within the limits of our reduced resources.  I do worry about staff burnout, though, and will be working with the Department Managers to see what projects or activities we can eliminate or defer while still focusing on the core goals in our Strategic Plan.  A lot of "nice to do" things will almost certainly need to be dropped.

Rough waters?  For sure.  Will we make it through them?  PVLD is blessed in terms of staff, volunteers, Friends, and community support, and as a result we are much better positioned than many libraries to weather this storm..it just won't be much fun at times.  My personal goal is to not get swept into the water, to do my best to balance the needs of all of the people who contribute to making PVLD such a wonderful library, and to keep my eye on the long-term...and to remember, as one of our employees keeps reminding me, this too shall pass.

Seattle Central Library Part 3

Not sure why this didn't post last week! My final thoughts on the Seattle Central Library. Building is quite stark with touches of whimsy like the neon green escaltors and these holographs. Main collection organized in a "spiral" around a central core that I personally found confusing...and impossible to photograph. As Library Director Susan Hildreth said over dinner (bearing in mind she wasn't in that job when the library was built) "the architect won". In summary - very interesting layout but lots of functional issues, and I'm not sure how well it will age. But also clearly very well used by a very diverse, mostly adult, downtown population.

Seattle Central Library Part 2

"Mixing Room" technology center was packed. It's hard to tell from the photo but we counted over 100 computers and every one was in use. Also have scanners, printers, workstations for laptop users and a Job Resource Center with dedicated computers.

Cool sign at the technology desk had ever changing words.

Spectacular views over the city - the library has 11 floors.

"Living Room" on main level has lots of seating, popular fiction, cafe, and very nice open plan Friends of the Library Shop that flows into the space.

Seattle Central Library Part 1

Rem Koolhaus building. High concept, not so sure about function. EVERYTHING is named after donors. Kind of cold feeling but extremely busy.

Dewey numbers at the end of shelves are rubber tiles in the floor.

Getting away and a bit of good news

It's been a tough couple of weeks, for me and for the library staff....much of it my own doing, unfortunately, as my stress spilled over in destructive ways that I am only recognizing with a bit of distance and perspective. 

I unintentionally hurt the staff who continue do do such an amazing job for PVLD and it is literally making me I'll. To the staff - I'm sorry and I never meant to imply that the challenges we face are your fault.

I am heading off for a few days of vacation - catching up with friends and family in Washington and British Columbia.  I am badly in need of an attitude readjustment, and hope the time away and change of scenery will help...although the first part of the trip will be a bit of a "busman's holiday as we visit the newish Seattle Public Library Central Library and catch up with former California State Librarian Susan Hildreth.  Look for some pictures of the cutting edge library as I try out the photoblogging capabilities of my Iphone.

The bit of good news is that the "Daytrip" section of the July issue of Westways Magazine features the Palos Verdes Peninsula and makes special mention of the Malaga Cove Library and its "cozy young readers area", which was made as cozy as it is thanks to the soft furnishings and toys purchased by our Young Readers Librarians. 

Last August the Peninsula Center Library was mentioned in a similar article in Sunset Magazine, and now Malaga Cove gets mentioned in Westways...tI think that puts us up there in the class of "destination libraries" that Seattle Public and others enjoy!  Now we just have to figure out how to get the Miraleste Library the recognition it deserves....after all, there aren't many public libraries with a view like that.  And we need to figure out how to get that kind of recognition for our services, not just our buildings since that is what truly makes us special.

With that, I'm heading off until next week.  Any blog posts will be brief and full of photos!

Rivers, Rocks, and Perspective

First, thank you to all who have expressed concern and support following my post last Friday.  I know some people have questioned why I would write something like that because it portrayed PVLD in a less than favorable light and also had a level of emotional content that people are not used to reading in a library blog.

The answer is that I write the blog for seveal reasons - to help me process my own thinking about what is happening at PVLD,in the library world in general, and in my own leadership practice; to provide transparency about the library, both the great things our staff achieve and the challenges we face, to our stakeholders (the community, staff, and supporters); and to give the community insight into the workings of an organization that they support with their tax dollars, donations, and time.    My blog is not intended to be a PR tool to just promote good news about the library, and Friday's post reflected all of these objectives. 

That said, I had an opportunity this weekend both to get a bit of a break and to reflect some more on what is going on here at PVLD.  Upon reflection I think that my analogy of rocks in a river was sound and that we certainly are feeling the stress of falling water levels, exposed rocks, and more turbulence.  I also realized, though, that the rocks look bigger when you are on the river than when you are sitting on the bank...and even smallish rocks can look pretty enormous if you find yourself out of the canoe and actually in the water.

To continue the analogy, last week felt like I fell out of the canoe.  I was feeling more stressed than I have at any other time in my 5 1/2 years at PVLD for lots of reasons, only some of them work-related. I was also feeling more tired than usual after a couple of months of intense work and more than the usual outside-of-business hours work commitments.  The result was that I felt like I had fallen out of the canoe and like I was bouncing around in the current and barely keeping my head above water...and as a result the rocks I was seeing an bumping into seemed enormous.

Over the weekend I got myself out of the water and onto the riverbank, and the rocks don't look nearly as big from that perspective.  I was able to confirm that I had done nothing wrong in sharing information about potential MOU changes with employees; had my bruises healed with an outpouring of support from my Board, friends, and colleagues; and realized that both PVLD and I are strong enough to navigate these rough waters.

Am I still concerned about the financial pressures we face? Absolutely.  Our revenues continue to deteriorate, and while the borrowing of local property tax revenues seems to be off the table for now, it could re-emerge as a threat in an instant if the Legislature is not able to reach agreement on a budget or at any time after a budget is adopted given that the State's financial situation continues to deteriorate....but we'll navigate that waterfall when we come to it.

Am I still concerned about the union's comment that I should not talk to employees about possible changes in MOU conditions - yes, but I'm not going to let that fundamentally change my leadership style or my basic personality.  If we need to "shoot the rapids" of a fiscal emergency we'll work together as a PVLD team to do it in a way that inflicts the minimum possible pain on all concerned.

The biggest lesson for me is that I need to find a way to keep myself out of the water.  I can't let myself get so stressed that I lose the perspective of being able to accurately size up the rocks in the river and work with the staff to deal with them.  I need more time on the riverbank and less time in the canoe - after all we have a talented and dedicated management team that is quite capable of steering the canoe without me!

With that I am off for a few days of vacation, and after that I have promised myself to do much better at taking the breaks I need.  If I'm not in the office,or available by email,  or out in the community as much as I have been in the past it will be because I'm taking some time to rest on the river bank.

I'll be back next week...hopefully in better spirits...

Rocks in the River

I sometimes think that managing an organization is like steering a canoe down a river.  When times are good and resources are abundant it's like being on a river that is full of water and flowing freely.  In those times you need to keep your eyes ahead and look for bends and you may encounter patches of still water that require everyone to paddle harder, but generally you can plot your course and steer accordingly without much fear of hitting major obstacles.

When times are tough it is like the water level in the river drops and all of the sudden rocks that had been submerged start showing.  Now instead of focusing on the bends and curves downstream you also have to be very alert to the rocks that might be right in front of you and the turbulence they cause.

Here at PVLD the rocks are starting to show.  Sometimes they are inefficient work practices that were acceptable when resources were abundant and are now barriers to getting things done.  Sometimes they are policies that no one paid attention to but that seem absurd when exposed.  Sometimes they are working relationships that were strained even in good times but tear apart completely when they hit the rough water.  Sometimes they are work performance issues that could be tolerated in good times but are intolerable in the more stressful environment. 

Most of the time the rocks can be addressed - streamline the work practice, change the policy, address the work relationship or performance issues, etc.

But sometimes they are so big that they challenge the very way you lead the organization.

This week I hit one of those, and I'm still bleeding.

On Wednesday we had a meeting with union representatives to discuss options for dealing with the financial situation we are in and, in particular, the uncertainty about whether the State will borrow our property tax revenues.  It's no secret to anyone who's watched my body language or who follows me on Twitter or Facebook that I was upset and disappointed by that meeting.

People may think "She's just upset that she didn't get what she wanted."  It is true that I am very disappointed that a proposal that I think was fair to employees and bought us some time to deal with the fiscal crisis was rejected without even giving the affected employees an opportunity to consider it, but that's how these things go sometimes and the union is accountable for its own decisions.

What really hit me hard was that the union informed me that the employee presentations that I made a couple of weeks ago, during which I explained the budget situation and talked about what I saw as some of the options for addressing it including things that I clearly stated would need to be negotiated and agreed with the union, was in their view an unfair bargaining practice.  This was certainly not my intent.  I was just trying to keep employees informed about the situation, help them understand the cost structure of the organization, and give my views on the kinds of employment actions being taken by other organizations and widely reported in terms of whether they would be effective at PVLD.  I clearly identified those that I understood to be subject to union negotiation.

 I was told that all discussion of employment terms and conditions governed by our Memorandum of Understanding must be held with union representatives and not employees, and the unspoken implication was that to do otherwise  would expose me to a charge of unfair labor practices.

This hit me like a punch in the stomach, and it has taken me a couple of sleepless nights and a couple of days of hard thinking and reflection to understand why.

Not being able to  to talk to Bargaining Unit employees below the management level will certainly require a change to my leadership style, which tends towards trying to share as much information as possible, but I've worked in that environment before and I can certainly do it.

What I am finding truly agonizing is that 1/2 of the PVLD Management Team are, for some reason shrouded in the fog of history, in the same Bargaining Unit as the other employees.

When I arrived at PVLD 5 1/2 years ago I found a divided management staff.  The "non-represented" Managers who handle the administrative functions of the District (Finance, HR, Facilities, and IT) were clearly treated differently/better than the managers of the library operations departments (Adult Services, Branches, Circulation, Technical Services, Young Readers Services) who were responsible for delivering the services at the core of our mission,  supervise the vast majority of our employees, and have the greatest influence on how our customers and our community perceive the library.

The "administrative" Managers were clustered (sequestered really) in the "admin corridor", which had its own kitchen area, restricted access, and the aura of an executive office.  The Finance Director and Library Director developed and managed the budget with little input or involvement from the "library service" managers.  Management meetings that included both groups were rare.

For the past 5 1/2 years I have worked very hard to create a single leadership team that encompasses both the administrative and library service functions and works together to create and execute the strategic vision for the organization.  We've changed the budgeting process to give every Department Manager more involvement in and accountability for the budget for their department.  We meet regularly as a Management Team.  We introduced a new Strategic Planning process that engaged the entire Management Team along with the Board of Trustees in developing the Strategic Plan. And along the way the fact that 1/2 of the team members were subject to a different system of employment was submerged as we worked together to steer the PVLD canoe towards the future.

On Wednesday that boulder became exposed, and I smacked into it with devastating results.

The reality is that at a time when PVLD needs unity of leadership more than ever, I can't engage 1/2 of the Management Team (the ones who provide leadership to most of our employees) in helping think through options and scenarios for addressing our budget deficit if those options and scenarios include changes to the MOU (and of course many of them do).  Those options and scenarios could have a profound impact on our financial situation, our services, how we are perceived and supported by the people we serve and who pay our salaries, and on employee morale and we will be making decisions without the input of the Managers who are responsible for providing our core services.

Even more significantly to me is that the force of impact of this boulder has made a huge crack in our efforts to create a single, unified leadership team and I'm not sure how we're going to glue it back together when the water levels rise again and the turbulence subsides.  It is breaking me apart that I can't share information or get input on critical issues with people whose opinions I respect enormously, and that I now in effect have to go back to having a two-tiered management team.

It also means that I can no longer pretend that PVLD is fundamentally different from (and better than) city and county libraries where the Director and in some cases a handful of others are "executive management" and the library service managers are "middle management" whose interests are assumed to be different.  We're not.

One of the things that I love most about what we have built at PVLD is the sense of "one team" across our three libraries, between the Board and staff, between PVLD and the Friends, and across department boundaries.  It's not perfect, and frictions and disagreements do emerge, but we have come so far together.  This is the first time in 5 1/2 years that something has come up that I feel truly threatens that achievement, and it is literally making me sick.

It is also something that I can do little to nothing about.  Those who know me know that I am always looking for how we can address issues and move forward, and so not being able to "fix" this situation is very uncomfortable.

I'm going to need some time to think about whether I have the will, the desire, and the strength to push forward in an this environment, and whether I am prepared to accept the restrictions on my leadership behavior.  I love this community and this staff, but I know from past experience painfully gained that I do not want to work in an environment of "us and them."  If I can't figure out how to move this boulder, I may be the one who needs to move.

I certainly have no intention of not honoring my employment contract with PVLD, but for the first time since I came here I am seriously thinking about my options once it comes to an end.

With that sobering thought I am looking forward getting out of the water for a few days as I visit family next week and rest and reflect.  Keep me in your thoughts.

Wishful thinking

I've been working very hard to share as much information as possible about the financial pressures we face, and the options I think we have to address them, with PVLD employees, other stakeholders, and the community.  At the same time I've been trying to maintain and portray a positive and optimistic outlook in the face of these very trying times. 

Upon reflection I realized that the model I've been using is one I learned from my several mentors who have a military leadership background, and that is exemplified in this video of Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore, who wrote We Were Soldiers Once...and Young (as an aside, I found the video on Michael Hyatt's blog after Googling "leadership and accountability"...you can see what's on my mind!)

As you can see from the video, one of the key elements of this model of leadership is the need for the leader to inspire confidence and a determination to prevail despite the odds.

The problem, as I've painfully learned over the past couple of days, is that efforts to inspire confidence can have the unintended consequence of shielding people in the organization from the harsh reality of a situation which in turn can lead to wishful thinking that is disconnected from that reality.  My guess is that on an actual battlefield this is not the issue it can be in a non-combat situation....when bullets are flying and bodies are falling the reality of the situation is pretty clear to everyone, and the leader's efforts to inspire confidence are clearly understood to be within that reality.

Here at PVLD I think many people have not yet come to grips with the difficult situation we are in, and I worry that my attempts to put a positive face on things have contributed.  While I want to be positive, I also want to be honest, so here are some of the "wishful thoughts" I am hearing and my take on the actual situation.

Wishful thought #1 - If we can only avoid the borrowing of our property taxes under Proposition 1a we'll be fine

Reality - The 2009/2010 budget adopted by the Board of Trustees (without any Proposition 1a impacts) is barely balanced.  We do not meet our reserve policy requirements, and we do not fully fund our upcoming capital maintenance needs.  We only achieved this results by making significant cuts to services and by asking the Friends of the Library to double their level of support.  The 09/10 budget reflects a 1% growth in revenue but a 1.4% growth in expenses compared to this fiscal year, with the "salaries and related" expenses that comprise over 71% of the budget growing at twice the rate of our revenue.

Furthermore, if our estimates of our property tax revenue for 08/09 prove to be off  when we get our final numbers in August (e.g. because of increased defaults), we could start 2009/2010 with less money than we thought and move into a deficit situation.  The projection for 2010/2011 shows a further deficit of as much as $175,000 in the operating budget, with no money available for capital maintenance needs.

We need to continue to find ways to cut expenses, and it is hard to see how we can achieve the savings we need without reining in salary and related expenses.

Wishful thought #2- We need to continue to cut services instead of affecting employee compensation.

Reality - We have already made cuts that have a significant impact on our customers.  We've eliminated databases, cut the budget for books/movies/audiobooks etc by 20%, increased fees, and next year the library will be open 250 hours fewer than it was this year.  Some of these changes actually benefit staff or reduce workload (e.g librarians get off work at 8 instead of 9, fewer purchases means less cataloging and processing).  It is not reasonable to expect the community to continue to bear the brunt of the financial situation.

Also, service cuts that don't deliver real cost savings don't help much.  For example, further cuts to library hours only make sense if we also cut salary and related costs proportionally, which means salary cuts.  We can continue to cut the materials budget, but at some point the associated reduction in staff workload also needs to be addressed.

Wishful thought #3 - We serve an affluent community, surely they can afford to provide more support

Reality - This community is more diverse and less generally affluent than it seems.  Many families, including some on our own staff, are stretching their resources to the limit inorder to live here and take advantage of the excellent schools.  The population is also aging, and a large number of residents are people who bought their homes back in the 60s and 70s when prices were low, retired from not-particularly high-paying jobs, and now live on modest pensions, Social Security payments that will not be increased for the first time in decades, and investments that are very much depleted.

Our community is also not unaffected by the general economic circumstances.  10% of all Californians are unemployed and that includes many of our residents.  Many residents own businesses that are struggling or even failing. Many have seen the value of their homes, the money they have saved for their children's college educations, and their retirement funds decline significantly.  Many of those who remain employed are losing employer funding of their retirement plans, paying substantially more for their medical benefits than we do, being furloughed, or experiencing pay cuts.  Is it realistic, or even fair, to ask them to suchion us from experiencing any financial impact?

Plus, residents already support the library financially at a much higher level than do most other communities.  Our local public revenue per capita is nearly three times the California average, which allows us to have a staff to population served ratio much larger than that of other communities. We also charge fees for services that in many other communities are free such as movie, audiobook, and video game rentals.  In addition, our hardworking Friends of the Library group will be providing an astounding 6% of our funding next year, and over 200 community volunteers give over 27,000 hours of their time each year.

That is an amazing level of support, and I don't think we can reasonably ask for much more in the short term.

Wishful thought #4 - We have money in the Gift Fund, and the Friends have money in their reserves.  Let's just use that to get us through the crisis.

Reality - Both the Gift Fund balance and the Friends reserves were accumulated over many years and are there not only to help in the event of a rainy day (and we all agree that it is raining!) but to support the long-term needs of the District to expand and enhance facilities, technology, and services.  This coming year we are already drawing on both reserves - as already mentioned the Friends are doubling their level of support, and we are drawing on Gift Fund monies in 09/10 for some of our Strategic Plan initiatives as well as for some of our capital maintenance needs.

Furthermore, according to a report on the radio this morning, California is experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression and we are unlikely to see any significant improvement in the economy until the end of 2010.  Property values are likely to decline further, and to remain stagnant for years so we can't count on any increases to our core revenue source for a long time. If we spend all of our "rainy day" funds this year and next we could be in real trouble down the road.

Depressing as they are, these are the realities of our situation.  That is why I keep saying that I am trying to find ways to keep as many options open as possible, so we are not backed into a corner where we have to inflict a lot of pain on employees or the community.  I also want to find solutions that "share the pain" rather than having a disproportionate impact on the community vs employees, or on one group of employees over another.  I am already concerned that the cuts we have made so far are directly impacting the pay of our part-time hourly employees, many of whom rely on their modest incomes to pay for medical care, go to school, or supplement small retirement incomes.

On the positive side we have managed to get this far without experiencing the pain many in other libraries and other communities are already feeling.  We also have an amazing staff who I know can and will pull together to help us get through the next few rough years and continue to provide the levels of service that will sustain our community and secure their continued support...but this is only possible if we have a shared understanding of the reality of the situation.

Delicious ambiguity

These are uncertain times for everyone, and we here at PVLD are feeling our share of anxiety as we see our revenues deteriorate and wait to hear whether the State will borrow our property tax revenues.  There are many unknowns about the future, and at the same time we need to make decisions based on some kind of assumption about what the future will hold. 

Even little things become big things in this environment.  For example, employees need to make their benefits elections for the fiscal year starting July 1st.  Normally this isn't such a big deal, but this year we don't yet know what the benefits allowance will be because that is subject to union negotiations that are just starting today.  Why are we just starting to talk to the union today?  Because the union officials are busy dealing with similar issues in every organization across the State, and even though we requested a meeting several weeks ago this is the earliest they could make it happen.  The result - added stress for everyone.

The stress that all of the uncertainty about our PVLD budget is having on employees has been weighing heavily on me, but there is little I can do to alleviate it other than try to keep everyone as informed as possible.

Then, over the past couple of weeks, I've had some reminders that life itself is uncertain and you never know when something will happen that will change your life in an instant in ways far more profound than not knowing how much money you will have to apply towards your benefits or whether you will get a pay increase.  A friend's daughter is seriously injured in a tragic accident and now faces weeks and months of rehabilitation; you learn that not one but two childhood friends have terminal brain cancer; you face a health scare, as do several friends and colleagues...and you are reminded that despite our almost overwhelming human desire to have all the answers, life itself is uncertain.

With this thought on my mind, I came across this quote from Gilda Radner who knew as well as anyone how your life can change in an instant -

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.

I'm not sure I yet have the wisdom to embrace ambiguity as "delicious", but I'm trying to learn to at least accept it.  Time will tell how successful I am...