April 22 Meeting link and April 15 Update

Hi Everyone,

We will be having a meeting through Zoom next week. Below is the invite to the meeting.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you were able to spend some days of rest with your nearest and dearest this past long weekend.

The Library and Union continue to meet regularly to implement the workforce adjustment agreement reached on March 25. We wished a sad farewell to our casual staff and clerks on April 12, and will be sorry to see many of our regular staff go April 26. I want to stress that these layoffs are by no way a reflection of our amazing staff and the wonderful service you bring to our community. The actions are driven by unique circumstances created by COVID-19 globally and within our City.  The City is forecasting a loss of $40 million by the end of the year as a result of the pandemic. Further, since the branches closed, work is dwindling for many of our staff, as the Library has focussed on providing essential services.

Initially, 7 staff were retained to support essential services – the website, social media, google project, card registration, and e-book cataloguing  (Beth Larssen, Tracy Hetherington, Shawn Feddes, Cassidy Foxtrot, Rajinder Bains, Paulette Hembroff, Eilleen McMillan).  As the pandemic continues, the Library would like to expand online offerings to continue to assist our community and provide more opportunities for employment for our staff.  I’m pleased to announce that the Library and Union reached an agreement to retain an additional 14 regular staff. These individuals will  host live or pre-recorded online programs such as storytimes, virtual book chats, readers advisory, newcomer conversation circles, tech help by appointment, etc. In addition, they will support email and telephone reference, ordering and processing new e-book material, print orders for the Clayton Library and other system projects as required.

The staff have been selected as stipulated in the workforce adjustment agreement. The following staff, based on their position and seniority, have agreed to remain to focus on our digital offerings. Some staff with more seniority opted to decline.

• 5 Public Services Staff – Youth:  Jennie Castleton, Leslee Gawthrop, Ginny Aho,  Susan Andrews, Linda Jones
• 5 Public Services Staff – Adult: Tania Tong, Deanna Scott, Renee Zolinski-Ward, Cecilia Roberts, Sandra Cole (also back-up for website/social media)
• 3 Collection Services Staff – Mariya Yang, Ellen Wu, Sarjinder Basra
• 1 website/social media coordinator: Cortney Taylor

We are still uncertain when the Library is able to safely reopen its branches. The Libraries will reopen based on direction from the City’s Emergency Operations Centre and the Library Board, which will be guided by advice from public health officials. Even when we reopen, physical distancing measures and other COVID-19 protocols will need to be in place to ensure the safety of our staff and community until a cure/vaccine is discovered. Hence, we will continue to monitor and expand our online services, and may be able to recall more staff later to assist.

I am available to attend some of your branch/department meetings over the next few days to respond to any questions. Also, please feel free to email me directly.

Thanks,

SURINDER BHOGAL | CHIEF LIBRARIAN – SURREY LIBRARIES

Tel: 604.598.7304  Email: sbhogal@surrey.ca

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Surrey Libraries recognizes that our work takes place on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territories of the SEMYOME (Semiahmoo),  q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations and on the ancestral and traditional territory of the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) First Nation.