Michael Casey Recording

Director Engagement and Leadership Disconnect

• Directors losing touch with customers and staff: a recurring pattern among long-tenured regional directors.
• Recent example: a director was fired after demanding a reserved back-door parking spot and refusing 360-style staff input into board evaluations.
• Gwinnett’s approach to staying connected:
  • Director visits branches regularly.
  • Leadership team meetings rotate across all 15 branches.
  • Each branch gets at least three leadership visits per year.
• Michael Stephens’ old “Director Parking Only” slide resurfaced as still relevant.
• Columns referenced: “Open Door” and “Insights from the Front Lines” (Library Journal, still available online).

Serving Elementary Schools via Public Library Partnerships

A class question prompted discussion of Gwinnett’s partnership model with Gwinnett County Schools (~175,000 students):

• Every student’s school ID doubles as a library card.
• A dedicated website serves elementary-age children.
• Book hold-and-deliver pilot: Students place holds and books are delivered to their school within 3–4 days.
• Annual summer training introduces school librarians/media specialists to library resources.
• The library and schools co-create marketing materials for parents covering in-person and online offerings.

Advocating for Participatory Service Under Resistant Leadership

A class question explored how staff can encourage participatory service upward without overstepping.

• Two levers that get leadership attention: money and solving a visible problem.
• Frame increased leadership engagement as a solution to a morale or service problem.
• Position leaders’ experience and knowledge as something staff needs.
• Show how their participation can pay dividends in public relations.
• Make the conversation about their legacy and visibility rather than criticism of their current behavior.
• A past column by Michael Casey and Michael Stephens on selling ideas up the chain of command was referenced.

Open+ Extended Hours Program

• Running since 2016 at 5–6 Gwinnett branches.
• Hours: 8–10 AM and after regular closing until 10 PM. These are described as “unstaffed” hours, although staff generally arrive around 8:30–9 AM.
• Evening hours always include a security guard: the cost of one guard versus 4–7 staff members.
• Nearly zero security incidents over approximately 10 years.
• One recent incident involved a contracted security guard who falsely claimed prior police experience; a background check failed.
• No harm came to staff or customers, and the vendor’s screening process is now under review.

Key user groups served:

• Parents between school drop-off times.
• Remote workers seeking quiet morning computer access.
• Students and adults who cannot visit during regular hours.

Recommendation: Include evening security, particularly in suburban or urban locations and when daylight hours shorten.

AI in Libraries: Current Use and Future Vision

• Gwinnett launched an “AI Navigators” team about a month ago.
• The team includes a cross-section of staff, from leadership to part-time frontline employees.
• Two-year roadmap: discovery phase, benchmarking other library systems, and eventually policy recommendations to the board.
• At the same time, all staff are completing a Google/Coursera AI course.
• Gemini, available through the library’s Google EDU account, is being used internally to search Gmail and Drive more effectively.

AI, Marketing, and Authenticity

Discussion highlighted a tension between efficiency and authenticity in using AI for library marketing.

• An agreement was reached with the marketing director to use real photographs of real staff and library spaces.
• AI-generated imagery may undermine long-term trust with the community.

AI Literacy in School Libraries

A school library perspective introduced the idea of a stoplight model for student AI use, balancing AI literacy with traditional database research skills.

A Future Vision for AI-Powered Library Catalogs

Possibilities discussed included:

• Natural-language and visual searching, such as: “blue cover, mystery, man fishing.”
• Integration with cover art through services such as Syndetics and with published reviews.
• Full-text searchability, with publisher agreements, to surface thematic connections that go beyond traditional subject headings.
• Talpa Search (talpasearch.com) was suggested as an example of this approach. The LibraryThing/Delaware Libraries project is already exploring these possibilities. Michael Stephens will add the link when posting the recording.
• The Netflix documentary The AI Doc was recommended for broader context on the field.

Ideas & Resources to Explore

Talpa Search — talpasearch.com
A LibraryThing/Delaware Libraries AI catalog-search project worth exploring.

The AI Doc — Netflix
Recommended during the session as a resource for broader context about developments in artificial intelligence.

Open+ Security and Vendor Screening
The discussion also underscored the importance of carefully reviewing vendor background-check procedures when implementing extended-access library services.