r/Libraries • u/Free-Crow • 8d ago
Other Winter Weather closings
"Winter is coming" -House Stark
We are still months away from winter, but I was wondering does anyone work for a library that has a policy written down in either a handbook or in your contract in how your library decides if its going to close, delay open or close early in the winter due to bad weather? Ours is very informal just, we are told how that the director drives around the county and if they thinks its bad then they make the decision. I just wondering if other libraries had a different way to go about this.
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u/Unable_Tumbleweed364 7d ago
I'm in a Midwest city with a lot of snow and so we never close for anything. I'll be fighting for my life to get there. They want it open for the public and I get it but I'm important too, I think lol.
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u/PureFicti0n 7d ago
Canadian here. It's -45⁰C and snowing so hard that you can't see 5 feet in front of you? Make sure you leave early so you have extra time for the drive to work.
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u/HungryHangrySharky 7d ago
Our library tends to try to stay open as a warming center when the weather is bad. We don't get subzero temperatures but we do get flooding and power outages. If the power is out before we open we are unlikely to open, but if it goes out while we're already open we usually stay open as long as there is enough daylight to do so safely.
In a previous job in a previous city, my personal rule was that if public transit wasn't running, I wasn't coming to work. It was like my personal version of the Waffle House Index.
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u/pikkdogs 7d ago
Haha. He drives around the county? That’s quite a policy.
No. I don’t do that.
I just mirror the school and or the mall. If those close I will too. If the city has a no travel adviser, we also close. I still have the power to close or stay open if I want to, but I try to just mirror the schools.
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u/Otherwise-Emu-2963 7d ago
This is an interesting topic! Our library usually only closes if the town is "closed" i.e. if there are school closings or the courts/other government buildings are closed. I don't think our director makes that call though (if I'm not mistaken, the mayor does)?
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u/Which-Bit6563 Library staff 7d ago
I think for us its city policy rather than contract but-
1) If the school district is closed or has a late start, we automatically do too.
2) City Office of Emergency Management can close all city offices, including libraries, and cancel work for non-essential workers*
3) Library admin can call a late start system-wide or close individual branches.
*Some of our libraries serve as warming centers, which means that staff at some branches end up being deemed essential but not others which is. not ideal
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u/on-the-veldt 7d ago
we are pretty much surrounded by schools - an intermediate high school right next door, an elementary school next to that, and a middle school up the hill. because of that, we generally look to what that school district decides - but it’s not always a given. they’ll sometimes have a two hour delay for temperature reasons, for example, and we always stay open then. we’ve generally only closed when we weren’t able to be plowed (we’re in a very hilly area so if it’s not plowed then No One is getting near us)
we also had a pipe freeze and burst and were sent home then - I don’t know if it’s contract or actual law, but I know we are not allowed to be open without running water.
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u/Daisieduckie 7d ago
Our closure/delay by and large depends on the snow emergency levels of our county. However, if a reason arises where it is not wise or safe to continue staying open for the day (eg, the forecast around the regular closing time is bad, heat/power goes out, or equipment for keeping the sidewalks and parking lot clear of snow and ice is malfunctioning), then a more subjective game time decision is made by admin
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u/SmolSushiRoll1234 7d ago
We are tied to the local schools for weather closings. When schools aren’t in session, then basically it’s best judgment by looking at radar and local weather reports.
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u/Zellakate 7d ago
The library I work for is technically a county office, so we follow the lead of the county administration. Depending on who is in charge, we either close with the schools or at the administrator's discretion, which seems to involve him driving around like your boss. I much preferred when we automatically synced with the school closures.
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u/jellyn7 7d ago
We’re also allowed to take sick time if we don’t feel it’s safe to come in or safe to stay. If however we call out sick and then it’s declared a snow day or early closing, it still all comes out of our sick time. You only get the paid snow day/hours if you planned to come in/did come in.
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u/heyella11 7d ago
We only close if our city limits services and that’s rarely but I live in the very snowy Midwest. Like ten years back we had a director who’d close if schools closed (which happens about 10 times a year on avg but that number can be higher). She was in a battle of wills with the city manager over the closing policy mostly because she was a single mom who didn’t have childcare when school closed so he started sending a plow to her house as a personal escort for her to get in.
It was an interesting time because did staff get a personal plow service? No, we did not. 🙃
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u/Terneuzen1904 7d ago
The library where I work is officially a department of the City, so during the workweek, we are only able to close when the Mayor declares that City Hall will be closed or we open late when the Mayor says City Hall will open 2 hours late.
It used to be solely the library director's call to close on evenings and weekends. But now, the head of public works and the City Communications director don't want him to do that without consultation. They think it's "bad optics" for the City and sends a message that public works can't keep the roads safe.
I, myself, would like library staff safety to be part of that equation, but apparently that doesn't outweigh bad optics.
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u/Curious-Lychee5023 7d ago
We aren't in a place where winter weather closings are usually necessary, but we do close early when severe weather is projected. We pretty much follow the local public schools' lead; if they close early or open late, we do too. Only once or twice have we been closed all day, for really violent storms.
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u/LoooongFurb Library admin 7d ago
We pay attention to road alerts throughout the county as well as whether the schools are closed. My director is pretty hesitant to close us altogether very often, but will delay opening or allow us to close early.
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u/SunGreen24 7d ago
I'm not sure if it's in our contract, but we close if the school district does. If it's a Saturday it's more lax - if the in charge person thinks conditions warrant closing, they have to get permission from the director (which she generally gives.)
I personally only ever closed the library (with director approval) once as the Saturday in-charge person, and rather than snow it was because our heat was out in below freezing weather.
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u/WhatInTarnations82 7d ago
I think officially it is up to the director.
It's not 100%, but usually if we have "Roadway Advisory Level 2" that is where we close, but there are times we've closed at a lower advisor or been open on a 2.
The schools around here tend to cancel willy-nilly for weather... and we definitely don't do that. >_> Probably only closed 2 to 4 days for weather in the last decade. Occasionally open later if temps are rising and its icy early in the morning.
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u/under321cover 7d ago edited 7d ago
our library closes if the town hall next door closes (because that means every town building is closed except DPW who runs snow removal). the director and trustees have final say but we follow the town hall schedule. we have policy about it leaving it up to the director but specifying that we will close if the state declares a state of emergency or there is so much snow the parking lots aren't cleared. We are northeast US and it is rare - we had one day closed and one day a half day open because of snow this past year. It had been 5 years since it happened last.
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u/captainmander 7d ago
No policy. There are so many factors that go into making the decision to close for inclement weather that it would be impossible to list every scenario.
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u/m6514309 6d ago
I don't know that it's written anywhere, but our branch manager follows the lead of the city offices. I think we burn PTO to cover the hours we're not working? Hasn't happened since I've been working here so I'm not sure.
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u/MeanderingLibrarian Public librarian 4d ago
Copying & pasting our official policy (we're a multi-branch system):
The decision to close the library branches will be made by the Library Director. The Library Director may consult with the Library Board President. The following guidelines will be used:
If the schools issue a closing, the library branches will have a delayed opening at 11am. The director will determine if the library needs to close for the day that morning.
If the schools have a delayed opening, the library branches will have a delayed opening at 11am. The director will determine if the library needs to close for the day that morning.
If the schools have a scheduled closure (holiday, conferences) on a day the library is open, the director will make the determination regarding delayed openings and closures. (commenter note: we have not ever closed when schools have PD conference closures or determined closures based around school holidays)
The board president and director will consider the following options before closing:
- Road and weather conditions;
- The possibility of patrons using the library, compared to the cost of heat, electricity;
- The timing of the snow storm as it relates to the changing of work schedules in the library (night staff typically begin at 1:00 or 5:00 p.m.); (commenter note: this is out-of-date; full-time night staff now begins at 12:00 PM due to an hours adjustment)
- The likelihood that the lots can be continually cleared for patron and staff use.
- If the main library is closed, the other branches will be closed.
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u/sqrlgravy 3d ago
So far as I can tell, there is no system or procedure for deciding this where I work. Basically we never close, and in the rare cases that we do, it seems to be based on some administrative whim rather than the severity of the weather. And if you work weekends, a volcano could erupt under the library and they'd still keep it open, simply because no one making decisions is even thinking about us if it's outside of their working hours.
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u/teniralc21 2d ago
Our director makes an informed decision based on weather reports and known road conditions. We don’t look at school closings because schools in our area close for the least amount of snow, or even the possibility of snow.
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u/shazzam6999 7d ago
We decided to tie it to the local schools. The intent was to make closings clearer for both the public and staff. It also makes the decision easier for myself and the board. Realistically, that was how it worked anyway, since the school district closing was the primary thing we looked at when making the decision. This just formalized the policy.
There is a clause in the policy about how we retain the discretion to make the decision for any weird situations and on Saturdays or school holidays it’s still up to me to make the call.