Director Briefing - December 9, 2024

Written Notice of Pay Rate

The question of pay rate notices came up recently. Per the Wage Theft Prevention Act from April 9, 2011, employers must give written notice of wage rates to new hires, and must give additional written notice any time the information in the notice is updated. Written notices must be retained for 6 years. New written notices do not need to be provided when pay rate increases, but do need to be provided if pay rate is reduced. Notices must include:

• Rate or rates of pay, including overtime (if applicable);
• How the employee is paid (i.e. by the hour, shift, day, week, commission, etc.);
• Regular payday;
• Official name of the employer and any other names used for business (DBA);
• Address and phone number of the employer's main office or principal location;
• Allowances taken as part of the minimum wage (tips, meal and lodging deductions).

Notices must be given in English and the employee's primary language. More information here: dol.ny.gov/notice-pay-rate, Wage Theft Prevention Act Fact Sheet, Wage Theft Prevention Act FAQs.

2024 Annual Report Webinar from DLD

There will be a webinar on the 2024 Annual Report on Thursday, December 19, at 11 AM. Register here. The session will be recorded.

OWWLDAC Follow-Up: Survey, Hold Targeter, and More

Displays, Programs, and Book Clubs Survey

Please complete this survey on the use of other libraries' items for displays, programs, and book clubs. Understanding current usage will help EAC and OWWLDAC as the conversation on using each others' items continues.

Hold Targeter Changes

The new configuration for the hold targeter has gone into effect following our October OWWLDAC meeting. As a reminder, the changes are:

• Increase hold targeter interval from 24 to 48 hours.
• Add hold stalling for two days. If a library has a local copy available, that copy will be selected to fulfill the hold for two days after the hold has been placed.
• Adjust settings so Evergreen prioritizes targeting items at open libraries, except when the pickup library owns a copy.

To help facilitate these changes, please continue to process pull lists promptly, and if you are unable to find an item on the pull list, please mark it missing so the hold targeter can find and target another library's copy.

Upcoming Item Deletions Report

The new report, Upcoming Item Deletions Report, ran on December 1, and details all items that will be deleted at the end of the month. As approved by OWWLDAC, the report includes:

• Missing items at least three years after their last status update.
• Lost and paid items at least six months after their last status update.
• Lost items checked out to a deleted patron account.

Since this is the first run of this report, there are (many!) more items on this report than you'll see in subsequent months.

Out-of-System Profile Phaseout

As approved by OWWLDAC, the Out-of-System Patron Profile has been discontinued, and all patrons with this profile have been converted to standard Patron accounts.

Please continue to use the appropriate Residency and School Code statistical categories. If the patron is from an area that borders OWWL, there may be an applicable stat cat option. If not, then please do use the OOS entries.

OWWL Library Tour - Supplies Arriving This Week

Piety sent out a detailed program overview last week. The highlights are:

• Program Launch: Thursday, January 2, 2025.
• Program Overview: Participants pick up a county map at their local library and collect book stickers at each library to complete the map and earn prizes.
• All supplies will arrive via Delivery this week.
• Public-facing website is owwl.org/librarytour. Staff can access resources and FAQs on OWWL Docs.

Usage Statistics for e-Resources on OWWL Docs

Every month, the e-Resources Statistics page on OWWL Docs is updated with usage reports for Libby, Ancestry, Consumer Reports, Kanopy, and Mango Lanugages.

This data can be used to show how (or if) your patrons use available resources, to compare stats between libraries, and to track patterns (like the general preference for e-audiobooks over e-books).

Legacy OverDrive App Sunsetting on January 31, 2025, and Upcoming Accessibility Updates

From OverDrive:

Due to a majority of Fire tablet users already using Libby, OverDrive will sunset the legacy OverDrive app on January 31, 2025. After this date, the OverDrive app sunset will be complete on all platforms.

Users with Fire tablets running Android 9 or higher can install the Libby app instead. We’ve been encouraging users to switch to Libby through in-app messaging and will display a new message about the sunset beginning on December 9, 2024.

In the next few months, OverDrive will also be implementing some changes to their website to improve accessibility. These changes include:

• Removing star ratings on title details pages.
• Simplify hold notifications.
• Remove high contrast mode, and improve the default color contrast site-wide.
• Redesign the title details page.

These changes should be on your radar in case any questions come up for your patrons.

This Week in OSC Audits

Audit	Key Findings
Town of Oxford - Procurement	Town officials did not always use a competitive process when purchasing goods or services, as required by New York State General Municipal Law (GML) Section 103 or the Town’s procurement policy (Policy). Of the purchases totaling $1.7 million that we reviewed, Town officials did not seek competition for purchases totaling $848,783. In addition, the Town may have saved $44,828 if officials had alternative procurement procedures in place. Specifically, competition was not sought for: 52 purchases subject to competitive bidding requirements totaling $463,310. 31 purchases totaling $165,747, which were subject to the Policy. Four contracts for public works purchases totaling $31,689. Insurance coverage and engineering services totaling $188,037. Because officials did not seek competition, the Town Board (Board) did not ensure that the Town obtained the most favorable terms and conditions in the best interests of its taxpayers.
Randolph Academy Union Free School District - Capital Asset Inventory Records	District officials did not maintain complete and accurate capital asset inventory records. The District Superintendent (Superintendent) was responsible for maintaining capital asset inventory records but was unfamiliar with the requirements of, and did not comply with, the District’s capital asset policy. As a result, of the 90 capital assets with a total purchase cost of approximately $93,000 that we selected for review, four laptop computers with a purchase cost totaling approximately $2,000 could not be located, and five capital assets with a purchase cost totaling approximately $3,000, including a gaming laptop, a karaoke machine and noise canceling headphones, were not included on the inventory records, making them more susceptible to theft without detection. In addition, capital asset inventory records also contained one or more of the following exceptions: For all 90 capital assets reviewed, certain key information such as the purchase cost, current value and salvage value was not recorded. 44 capital assets totaling approximately $26,000 did not have the individual who was assigned custody of the capital asset listed.
Oakfield-Alabama Central School District - Procurement	District officials did not always comply with GML Section 103 and Section 104-b or the District’s procurement policy and supplemental procedures (Policy) when procuring goods and services. Of the 62 purchases totaling $4.9 million that were tested, District officials did not have evidence that goods and services totaling $930,806 were competitively procured. Officials did not: Verify that three purchases totaling $167,619 met the “piggybacking” prerequisites and did not obtain competitive bids for a $54,235 public works contract, as required. Obtain competitive pricing for 26 purchases and public works contracts totaling $107,441. Request proposals within the last five years for six professional service and insurance coverage purchases totaling $601,511. As a result, there is an increased risk that goods and services were not obtained at a favorable cost. For example, for three purchases totaling $14,146, officials may have saved $4,055 or 29 percent had officials competitively procured the goods. Officials also paid $8,641 for software it did not need because they did not cancel the software license renewal timely.
Town of Volney - Financial Operations Oversight	The Supervisor did not perform his financial responsibilities, and the Board did not provide adequate oversight of financial operations. As a result, the Town may have levied more taxes than necessary. Specifically: The Supervisor did not maintain financial accounting records or present records to the Board for audit as required by New York State Town Law (Town Law), Section 123. As a result, the Board was unable to monitor the Town’s overall finances or conduct required annual audits. The Board adopted budgets for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 that were not based on prior-year results of operations. Transparency was impaired because the Town’s 2021, 2022 and 2023 Annual Financial Reports (AFRs), a report of a town’s fiscal position and results of operations, were not filed with the New York State Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) in accordance with New York State General Municipal Law (GML), Section 30.
Village of Sloan - Clerk-Treasurer	Although the Clerk-Treasurer generally recorded financial transactions accurately, transactions were not always recorded in a timely manner. The Clerk-Treasurer also did not provide timely or accurate financial reports to the Board of Trustees (Board). As a result, the Board may have made financial decisions with inaccurate and out-of-date financial information. Specifically: Collections totaling $130,515 were not deposited within 10 days, as required by New York State Village Law Section 4-408. The cash balances reported on the monthly Treasurer’s reports, that were provided to the Board approximately six weeks after month-end, were not accurate. For example, the general fund cash balance was repeatedly understated by over $70,000 and the capital projects fund cash balance was repeatedly understated by over $33,000.Had the Clerk- Treasurer performed and the Board reviewed bank reconciliations these inaccuracies would have been identified and corrected. The Board did not periodically review the Clerk-Treasurer’s financial records to ensure transactions were recorded accurately and in a timely manner. The Board did not annually audit the Clerk- Treasurer’s records and reports as required by Village Law Section 4-408.