The First 100 Days

By Teresa L. Jacobsen -- Library Journal, 5/15/2007

Somehow, it's comforting to know that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has to worry about plumbing, too. Not that opening a new library branch is analogous to running the House of Representatives, but what is she going to do about the lack of women's restrooms in Congress? I know way too much of my time has revolved around public restrooms during the first 100 days of the opening of my new branch. In fact, there are a number of things that fill my brain that bear little resemblance to librarianship. No matter how beautiful one's new library may be—and I do occupy a stunning facility with plenty of wow here in Solano County, CA—there are some basic lessons that await just after opening.

1. Attend to the Library Service Plan (LSP). Before opening day, there was an opportunity, probably a requirement, for you to draft an LSP for your branch. This is your chance to present your service goals and objectives, incorporating your management style and programming plans as well. Do this, really do this, because by the time you open, you will have not one ounce of brain tissue left for lofty ideals. Instead, you can refer to “the plan” and remind yourself that, yes, you do wish to offer exemplary customer service. Your attentive staff will appreciate your noticing them, too. The halcyon days of preplanning end about six weeks before you open to the public, and they don't return anytime soon. Right after opening day, a staggering darkness may overtake you; I was told this is called “postproduction letdown.” Whatever it is, at least you can pull out “the plan” and pretend to be happy.
2. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Recently, as I pondered the automatic flush valves that were not flushing in the women's restroom, I asked myself what was so wrong with handles or pedals? Why are we asking our public to understand that the tiny recessed black button (“the standard mechanical override button”) will act as a manual flusher? Beware the post–story hour bathroom fallout, since the children are too small to activate the override.
   I also ponder the automatic exterior doors that won't allow us to lock them manually anymore. Splendidly programmed to lock automatically at a given hour, these doors behaved more like possessed demons when Daylight Savings Time kicked in. No manual override for those two, that's for sure. The swinging interior doors leading into the library itself are truly destined for the Door Hall of Shame. I've wrestled with plenty of miserable doors in my career, but these poor doors weren't meant for foot traffic averaging 500 people a day, seven days a week. No, I can't say that sliding doors are superior, but these portals, with their sensitive locking position, stiff push/pull hardware, slipping weatherstripping, and flimsy rubber threshold, will never win an award.
   TIP: Keep every business card a tradesperson offers you during this window of opportunity when all the subcontractors are tackling their respective punch-list items. As the weeks go on, the subcontractors' friendliness may dissipate, but sometimes you are the only one who knows how to get in touch with that guy who knows why the furnace shuts down on Sunday afternoons, and, more importantly, how to restart it.
3. They were here first. There was a frog in the library during our donors' reception—cute. There were field mice sprinting through the children's picture books during our winter evening hours—less cute. Then there were the ants in the library card application area making tracks for the beautiful orchid plant given as an opening-day gift. I feel warmly toward Danny the exterminator, who has shown me numerous points of entry and tipped me off to the strong relationship between mice and peanut butter.
   FURTHER: Your colleagues in the trades might be slow to get that the library is now open to the public. During construction, they could shut off the water without telling anyone, right? That nice display table is a great place to leave a cordless drill. Yikes!
4. Let's talk trash. There...is...so...much...trash—the opening-day collection (OCD) and the post-ODC alone make your site the cardboard capital of the state. An elaborate tutorial about Dumpsters and containers enhanced my vocabulary this year. I recommend short-term lease of a flatbed roll-off just for cardboard initially, but be prepared to defend the container's domain from neighbors who like to dump their trash there as well. Another thing to remember: book trucks come individually packaged in cardboard, and they don't always come quickly. Order early!
5. Beware of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), your building's Achilles' heel. We have an elaborate heating and chilling system for our beautiful building (remember Lesson #2?). Foolishly, I had not realized that I would learn so much about it. But as I stood upon a folding chair, on the roof, one chilly February afternoon listening carefully as my coworker explained how we could restart the boiler ourselves by “hitting this little red button...” and then gazing into the tiny porthole where the pilot light shows up...I had to laugh. At least I didn't have to relight the pilot. Yes, I am grateful for electronic ignitions.
6. It's a public facility. Most people love our new building and actually say “Wow” when they enter. However, others have felt the need—already!—to tag the men's restroom in a vibrant blue (more people to meet, more reports to file). Someone else was intrigued by the attractive, dangling little light fixtures in our children's area and tried a slam-dunk move on them, rendering them useless.
7. Operator error happens. Sometimes it's your fault. I may never recover fully from the now-infamous fire alarm incident. No one (translation: I)had paid enough attention during the training sessions on the fire alarm enunciator panel. When it went off, thanks to an inquisitive preschooler, no one could silence the blooming thing. That lesson only took us one time: we now have the most explicit fire alarm silencer directions ever written.

There you have it—water, trash, phone systems (Oh, I didn't mention that little problem with VoIP?), and fire alarms (You do have an emergency evacuation plan, don't you?). Oops, got to go—it's heating up. I can't wait to see how the AC unit is going to survive the summer. Oh, and the lawn sprinklers are running constantly again.... And sometime, let me tell you more about the master clock and that pesky Daylight Savings Time conversion.