Director Briefing - September 11, 2023

OWWL Library System Annual Meeting and Trustee Workshop - October 11, 2023

On October 11, 2023 the OWWL Library System will be holding its Annual Meeting at OWWLHQ. The plan is to have a Trustee Workshop with the System's Attorney, Stephanie Cole Adams, at 5 PM where she will discuss legal issues happening in libraries. At 6:30 PM we will hold our Annual Business Meeting and Trustee Election. At 7:00 PM, the OWWL Library System Board of Trustees will meet for their regular Board Meeting.

Times may change, but I plan on solidifying everything this week, so I should have a better agenda for you during the OWWLDAC meeting and next week's Director Briefing. After that, I will send a message to Member Library Trustees to inform them of the event.

Questions Regarding Trustee Training Requirements

Several Trustees have reached out about fulfilling their two hours of continuing education requirement. They are welcome to watch any recorded Trustee Workshops and follow your library's local procedure for filing those hours.

Recordings can be found:

• OWWL Docs Trustee Workshops
• Trustee Handbook Bookclub
• Library Trustee Webinars from DLD

Also, if I have visited your Board in 2023 to discuss an educational topic, that counts. All Trustees who are participating in this year's Long-Range Planning Cohort may use those calls towards their two hours.

Finally, the Annual Meeting talk with Stephanie Cole Adams on October 11 will also count towards those hours.

All System Meeting: Solar Eclipse Training

Our next All System Meeting will be held Friday, September 15 at 10am. Following announcements, Dan Schneiderman for the Rochester Museum and Science Center will provide training for the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.

Click here for more information and to register.

This Week in OSC Audits

Below is a rundown of the OSC audits and the lessons learned for libraries and policies to review.

Note that three audits focused on the New York State-mandated Sexual Harassment Prevention training.

Audit	Key Findings	Takeaways for Libraries	Policies to Review
City of Niagara Falls – Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (S9-23-2)	The Sexual Harassment Prevention Training was not provided to all employees and elected officials.	Make sure your employees and Trustees are taking the annual SHP training.	Sexual Harassment Policies in the Personnel Handbook.
City of Watertown – Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (S9-23-3)	SHP Training was provided to employees and elected officials. However, there was a general lack of monitoring to ensure the SHP Training was completed by all employees and the City’s training completion records were unreliable. As a result, officials have no assurance all individuals who should have completed the 2021 SHP Training did so.	Document the completion of the training each year for Staff and Trustees.	Sexual Harassment Policies in the Personnel Handbook. Records Policy
Cold Spring Harbor Central School District – Capital Assets (2022M-37)	District officials did not properly record, tag and account for capital asset purchases. As a result, the District has an increased risk that its assets could be lost, misused or stolen.	Record all asset purchases. Retain asset handling information.	Capitalized Asset Policies Purchasing Policies Policies related to how staff use assets.
Eldred Central School District – Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (S9-23-20)	SHP Training was not provided to all employees or Board members and because the District’s training completion records are unreliable, officials have no assurance all individuals required to complete the 2021 SHP Training did so. Additionally, the District excluded new hires, and per diem employees from SHP Training.	Everyone needs to take this training. This topic is coming up more and more often in audits. Please be prepared.	Sexual Harassment Policies in the Personnel Handbook. Training Schedule. Onboarding for new employees.
Kiryas Joel Village Union Free School District – Network User Account and Shared Network Folder Access (2023M-64)	District officials did not adequately secure user account access to the network and shared network folders to help safeguard PPSI. As a result, there is an increased risk of unauthorized access to the network and PPSI stored on shared network folders. This audit also identified key weaknesses and confidentially reported to officials.	We are working at the System to safeguard as much information as possible. Report to support@owwl.org when an employee leaves or is terminated so we can end access. Maintain strong passwords. Develop in-house data privacy policies for any data kept locally.	Data Privacy Policies Data Breach Policies Employee Termination Procedures. Systems Access and Confidentiality of Library Records Policy
Persistence Preparatory Academy Charter School – Credit Cards (2022M-71)	Credit card charges we reviewed were not properly approved or adequately supported, and nearly all the charges lacked support to show they were for a valid School purpose. When credit card charges are not reviewed in a timely manner or supported, it could result in inappropriate or fraudulent charges or unauthorized payments being unresolved.	Your library should have a review procedure for all credit card purchases so it can be verified that they were used for an appropriate library purpose.	Credit Card Policy

Reruns

September 5, 2023 Director Briefing

There were quite a few pieces of important information in last week's briefing, here is the index in case you missed it: