Trustees edit public-service language to clarify staff responsibilities

Trustees reviewed the public-service policy and agreed to tighten wording about staff responsibilities when patrons ask for services the library cannot provide.

The revised language will instruct staff to be familiar with library policies and to provide patrons with alternative solutions or referrals when requests cannot be accommodated. Trustees removed a requirement that staff explain the rationale behind policies; instead they said the library director or trustees are the appropriate contacts for policy rationale or formal disputes.

Trustees said the changes are intended to keep frontline interactions customer-focused and practical: staff should be able to describe policies and offer alternatives without being expected to defend trustees’ written rationale at the service desk. Trustees also noted these clarifications support compliance with grants or other programs that may require staff to perform service-level tasks beyond normal operations.

No formal vote was taken. Trustees asked staff to refine the language and return a clean draft for formatting and web publication planning.