PROPOSED NEW LIBRARY PERFORMANCE
EVALUATION MANAGEMENT POLICY STATEMENT
County of Los Angeles Public Library
7400 East Imperial Hwy., P.O. Box 7011, Downey CA 90241-7011
(310) 940-8461, TELEFAX (310) 803-3032
Library
SANDRA F. REUBEN
COUNTY LIBRARIAN
April 12, 1999
TO:
FACSIMILE
FROM:
SUBJECT:
The new Performance Evaluation Management Policy County Library
professional and paraprofessional staff is being distributed for your Administrative
Manual and will take effect immediately.
The "EXCEL" philosophy of quality customer information service was developed to
clarify the precise meaning of the County Library Department's commitment to public service. The
official Mission Objective states that all library staff are expected to provide outstanding
service to the public. It applies to all future Performance Evaluation and Appraisal
of Promotability rating procedures in all five regions and in library headquarters offices.
This new Performance Evaluation Management Policy applies to all library staff,
classified and management. The following policy requirements are based on the Civil Service
Commission Rules and the new Department of Human Resources training
manuals, which complement the historic requirements in the County's Performance
Evaluation Rater's Handbook, which was last changed about
1970.
To ensure that all full-time library staff members fully understand the new policy and
procedures, library administrators and supervisors are responsible for reviewing the complete
policy with all subordinate staff in each of the five librarian Salary
Classification levels.
A new policy statement form is attached for the review of all full-time library staff members, entitled
Performance Evaluation Management Policy. Each staff member must verify that
they have read and reviewed this new policy. The New Hire "Checklists" for permanent and
temporary employees will be updated to include this requirement for all newly hired employees.
(See the following Attachment)
After all your subordinate full-time employees have reviewed the policy and signed the form,
please forward the completed forms to Human Resources Development, 7400 E. Imperial Hwy,
Downey, by June 30, 1999.
If you have any questions, please call Priscilla Jubilado, Head, Human Resources
Development, or Rosemary Palermo, Assistant Head, Human Resources Development,
at 562/940-8431.
Attachments
cc:
Wendy Romano, Public Services
Priscilla Jubilado, HRD
Rosemary Palermo, HRD
Regional Administrators
Assistant Regional Administrators
Community Library Managers (CLMs)
Michael Henry, DHR
County of Los Angeles Public Library
7400 East Imperial Hwy., P.O. Box 7011, Downey CA 90241-7011
(310) 940-8461, TELEFAX (310) 803-3032
Library
SANDRA F. REUBEN
COUNTY LIBRARIAN
FACSIMILE
I.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the new Performance Evaluation Management Policy is to clarify the
responsibility of library administrators and supervisors regarding accountability for
performing objective uniform professional rating procedures for all "annual"
Performance Evaluations and all promotional examinations of full-time County
Library department employees at all Salary Classification levels.
II.
POLICY:
All supervisors responsible for doing the annual Performance Evaluations of full-time librarians
and library assistants shall be responsible and accountable for doing "timely
and complete'' Performance Evaluations. They must be done by the official annual anniversary
date established by the County Library Human Resources Development administrators.
A. If they are not done in a "timely and
complete" way, the supervisor will receive an automatic "Improvement
Needed" rating and have one month to improve his or her rating process or be
subject to suspension without pay.
B. If the supervisor's rating behavior does not change
after training by regional administrators and the County Library HRD (personnel) officers,
the supervisor will be terminated immediately, with due respect for all applicable
legal and professional rules and regulations.
C. When termination is an issue, the leadership
ability of the supervisor's immediate supervisor and regional administrator
will be thoroughly investigated.
III.
POLICY GUIDELINES:
The Civil Service Commission Code and the County Department of Human Resources
training guidelines shall be the basis of all future interpretations of the official
County Library rating process guidelines.
A. Rating Standards:
-
- "Ratings of efficiency of performance shall be made for
- permanent employees at least once each year and for
- probationers by the end of the probationary period.
- A revised rating may be submitted by the appointing power
- at any time." (CSC Rule 20.02)
B. Work Standards:
Further, the Performance Evaluation Rater's Handbook, stipulates the absolute and precise requirement
that a discernible "standard of efficiency" or rating criteria
must be in place in the Library Department:
-
- "The performance of each employee in the
- classified service shall be evaluated by the
- appointing power in relation to standards
- of efficient performance of work." (CSC Rule 20.01)
- See also page three of the Performance
- Evaluation Rater's Handbook
)
Therefore, it is clear from the language in the Civil Service Code that discernible
"objective standards" are required as an essential basis of comparison regarding the
"annual" measurement of performance of each professional librarian and paraprofessional
library assistant:
-
- "The word 'standards' refers to something
- established for use as a rule or basis of comparison
- in measuring or judging capacity, quantity,
- content, extent, value, quality, etc.. It is a level of excellence,
- attainment, etc, regarded as a measure of adequacy."
- (CSC Rule 20.01)
Also, an "Efficiency Standard," or "Work Standard," is
mandatory to "measure" the adequacy or attainment of a librarian's
work product and overall work performance. The phrase "Work Standard"
refers to the "criteria-based" rating standard used to establish a "basis of comparison"
in the rating of the "efficiency" of the performance of the work of librarians --- and also
their supervisors. The "Work Standard" (for "criteria-based" ratings) defines a level of
"expected" competence (or the capacity, quantity, content, extent,
value, or quality) of the work performance of full-time professional librarians. The
lack of "competence" is, of course, "incompetence."
Without a discernible objective and uniform"fixed" Work Standard for "criteria-based"
ratings, no supervisor or administrator can determine what the "quality" of a
librarian's work is --- except in an unlawful excessively "subjective" way.
C. Documentation of Factual Work Patterns:
It is essential to realize that "factual" information, which represents a
"pattern" of work behavior, and which has been properly documented,
must be used to support a supervisor's rating decision. And that rating
decision must be based upon properly documented commentary
concerning each separate "Rating Factor." The commentary must support the final
overall rating score which represents the overall quality of the "annual"
work performance of full-time professional librarians and paraprofessionals:
-
- "The judgment of a supervisor should be based on 'fact' rather than
- representing a 'pattern' of unsupported opinions. Therefore, each [library]
- supervisor needs to be able to identify and keep track of observed incidents
- of employee performance that clearly [indicate] whether an employee is
- performing above, on target or below the 'performance standards' previously
- described and agreed upon." (Performance Evaluation
- Rater's Handbook
, page 12)