[Publib] Re: Children of staff

[Dale McNeill]

I have just a few thoughts:

as an administrator in a large public library system--it only makes sense to
have a very clear rule that only staff who are actually at work can be in
staff areas (no children, no friends, no spouses, no "I thought I would come
by on my day off and drink coffee")

as a former manager--I did (with my supervisor's approval) allow staff to
bring children to work from time to time.  I worked in a non-public part of
the library and had two young employees with young children and complex
lives; it wasn't easy, though, as it's very hard to be fair to other
employees.

as a child of a single mother (for a few years)--I waited for my mother
every day for at least 3 hours, either at the public library or at a local
version of the Woolworth luncheonette.  I know how difficult this was for my
mother and for both places where we waited.  But that job, almost an hour
away, was the only job my mother could get and our house was the only asset
she had.

It is very easy to forget how complicated people's lives can be, especially
of those staff members who carefully *don't* bring their personal lives to
work.

Dale (a child in rural Oklahoma, a librarian in Texas and New York)
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