Jackie Mills, Library Director, Mt. Angel Public Library, Mt. Angel, OR (Population served: 3,400) Big Talk From Small Libraries 2023 February 24, 2023 http://nlcblogs.nebraska.gov/bigtalk

1. Effective Staff Evaluations
Made Easy
Jackie Mills, MLIS
Library Director
Mt. Angel Public Library, OR
jmills@mtangel.gov

2. Hello! I’m Jackie
Been a librarian for 30 years
Mostly as a school librarian Pre-12th grade
A short time in a college library
Eleven years (and running) in a public library
I am NOT a HR person
I apologize in advance to any source that should
be acknowledged/credited in the presentation

3. Mt. Angel, OR & Its Library
• Small town (pop. 3500) in theWillametteValley, est. 1893
• Known for annual Oktoberfest in September, the largest of
its kind in the Pacific Northwest (400,000 visitors)
• The Library:
• 4,100 square feet; 29,000 items in the collection
• Part of the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service
(18 libraries in 4 counties)
• Open 34 hours per week
• 4 staff=2.5 FTE

4. Today’s Goals
Identify some characteristics of effective, and not so
effective, evaluations
Introduce and review the elements of the “Monthly
Employee Checkin” worksheet and “Annual Employee
Questionnaire”
Tips for writing an evaluation
Questions

5. Characteristics of Evaluations
Think about some of the evaluations you’ve
experienced in your career—the good, the bad &
the ugly
How many of you have had awful evaluations?
What made them bad?
What about great evaluations (or even feedback)?
What made them good?

6. Employee Engagement Study
In a recent Gallup survey* regarding employee measurements, it
was found that:
 Only 1 out of 5 employees strongly agree their performance is managed in a way
that motivates them to do outstanding work
 30% of employees strongly agree that their manager involves them in goal setting
 27% strongly agree the feedback they receive helps them do their work better
 22% strongly agree their performance is managed in a way that motivates them
 19% strongly agree that they talked to their manager about steps to reach their
goals
As supervisors, we want to beTHAT manager. But how?
* https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231620/why-performance-development-wins-workplace.aspx

7. Monthly Employee Checkins—Why?
• COMMUNICATION
• Sets clear goals and expectations
• Allows me to stay plugged in to what my employees are
doing and HOW my employees are doing
• Provides regular and balanced feedback
• DOCUMENTATION:Timely, detailed notes on the good as
well as the bad
• Keeps (annual) performance discussions in perspective
• Invests value into employee—dedicated time just for them

8. Monthly Employee Checkins--How?
Set aside 30 minutes per staff member, on the
schedule and calendar, to do a monthly checkin
Start with a deep breath and total focus on the
employee—put on your listening ears. Switch from
“task mode” to “people mode”
Make it a two-way conversation
Listen and watch for insights

9. Elements of theWorksheet
CoreValues
• Do you have them?
• Does your staff know them?
• Do you live them?
• Having them at the top of the
page, helps both of you to
keep them in mind as you
review the month. “How have
you demonstrated these this
month?”
Key Discussion questions
1. How’s it going?
2.Is there something I can
do for you?
3. Are there any barriers
making your job harder?
4.Anything special you
want to work on?
•

10. Summary of the Past Month
Positives Things to work on Training
(Completed and
upcoming)
Projects
• SRP
• Creativity—
programs like
sidewalk chalk
festival/escape
room, STEM exhibit
• Interaction with
patrons—take time
to talk to Mrs. M
about her baby and
signing up for 1000
Books Before Kind.
Organization of
cabinets—putting
things away promptly
and neatly
Making change $
Not eating at your
desk or drinking while
talking to patrons
Ancestry.com
StartingYouth Service
course this week
Teen book club
Begin promoting TAB
Collection development

11. Action Plan
EmployeeTo Do: SupervisorTo Do:
Theme for next escape room
YA lit survey
Watch for anything with clasp
locks for future escape rooms
and for props
Show XXX where Booklists are
and how to use

12. Future Goals or Improvement Areas (from
previous Annual Evaluation)
Review and evaluate progress each month so they aren’t forgotten.
Example:
1. Create an ongoing reading program forYA (i.e. 100 Books to Read Before College) by
September
2. Start aTeen/YA book club by May andTeen Advisory Board by October
3. Continue to participate in monthly training opportunities, including at least one that focuses
on diversity, inclusivity and equity, and one that involves technology by next annual
evaluation.

13. Training
Your Responsibility
Providing options for training
and paying for it, as needed
Adjusting schedules as needed
and paying for the time to
complete training
Acknowledging training in
annual evaluation
Employee Responsibility
Selecting appropriate training
Communicating with supervisor
about time needed to complete
training
Completing the training and
reporting to supervisor (I ask for
an emailed paragraph)
Record keeping

14. Any Questions, Comments,
Suggestions about Monthly Checkin?
1. I supervise ___ employees and can’t do this monthly.
2.Doesn’t it get repetitive?
3. I don’t have the time.
4.Other?

15. Annual Employee Questionnaire
Completed and submitted two weeks prior to when annual
evaluation is due to HR (to allow you time to write and
discuss the evaluation)
1. What are your short-term (at least three) and long-term (at
least one) professional/career interests, and how can I help
with them?
2. What do you think is your greatest accomplishment in the
past 12 months?

16. Annual Employee Questionnaire
3. What do you think is your greatest improvement in the past 12
months?
4.What has been your greatest challenge in the past 12 months?
Please attach a list of all the trainings you have completed in the last
12 months.

17. Developing SMART Goals
Improves the
service to
patrons in some
way

18. Writing the Evaluation
Review the previous monthly checkin forms and decide
how to utilize the contents/assign to different performance
categories
Document issues even if they were resolved
Use specific examples to support your rating
Use “Performance Appraisal ActionWords”
Avoid the use of “good” or “excellent”
Make sure cases/tenses match (i.e. decide, deciding,
decided)
ALWAYS proof read—do NOT rely on spell check

19. The Evaluation Meeting
Private
Plenty of time with no distractions
SandwichApproach (positive, “negative,” positive)
Review each section and allow for questions/comments
Review job description for accuracy
NEVER address an issue for the first time in a review

20. The Evaluation Meeting
Questions for the employee and manager to both answer during
ongoing performance previews.
1.What are you getting from me that you like and find helpful?
2.What are you getting from me that impedes your effectiveness and you would like
to have stopped?
3.What are you not getting from me that you think would enhance your
effectiveness?
4. In hindsight, what things in the last few months do you wish you had done
differently? What have you learned from that?

21. Training Sources
State Library https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/conted
WebJunction https://www.webjunction.org/find-training/free-
events.html
NicheAcademy https://my.nicheacademy.com/libraryresearch
Eresources https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/SDLP_FAQ/LEL
Vendors
Lyrasis
https://www.lyrasis.org/services/Pages/Classes.aspx?type=leftna
v&val=free

22. Questions about Annual Evaluation Process?
Do you have scenarios you want to use? Please don’t use
real names.
Practice writing SMART goals.

23. Questions?
•My contact information:
•Jackie Mills
•jmills@mtangel.gov
•503.845.6401