However, the remainder of the press release – dishonest, incomplete, and irresponsible for how it erroneously contextualizes the results of the survey – shows that, once again, Elder’s pledges for transparency and accountability are insincere knee-jerk reactions intended only to ride out the current wave of scrutiny and save her job. Helped by a tremendously inexperienced and incapable communications director and a group of board members who long ago ceded its legal, proper fiduciary authority to a vindictive, dictatorial director who has no respect for the integrity of the public trust, Elder has crafted a narrative that is far from a verifiable representation.

After weeks of deliberate stonewalling, it was only a recent flurry of growing unrest surrounding the unprecedented shutting down of internal communications that forced Elder’s hand to release the survey. However, the results, paid for by city tax dollars and to which every citizen in Salt Lake City is entitled to see in its raw, uncensored form, have been craftily manipulated. Elder and the small cadre of Board members truly believe in the collective ignorance of the public to accept their presentations blindly without questions or challenges.

Elder, of course, has blocked the disclosure of the open-ended responses which, according to various sources, show in extensive detail the most pertinent concerns regarding the failures of Elder’s leadership. These, of course, also have been documented last spring in three long articles by The Selective Echo.

The Net Promoter Scores

However, what is missing from Elder’s report and from the press release announcing the survey results are the Net Promoter Scores that target specifically the most critical problems in this four-year-long leadership crisis, which has included at least two staff votes of no confidence. Not one problem has yet been resolved despite the fact that the Board has spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for two consultants and untold other services to bolster a director who has refused every suggestion to change her course of strategic leadership.

For the survey, staff members were asked to answer numerous items on a seven-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The two lowest and two highest points on the scale were clustered respectively and the difference between the results, reported in percentage form, generated Net Promoter Scores. This is a common measurement tool applied in surveys assessing the satisfaction of employees or customers for a particular organization.

The scores indicate, in part, the potential strength of stakeholder engagement as well as the potential commitment an employee would make to support or endorse particular strategic initiatives pursued by the company. High positive net promoter scores are desirable because they show that communication and strategic implementation are perceived by employees at all levels of the organizational hierarchy to be productive and effective.

Extremely low positive scores or negative scores indicate that employees are more likely to be detractors – not endorsers – of strategic policies and tactics that they see as hampering or minimizing their values and sense of connection to the library’s mission. Negative scores, therefore, should alert organizational leadership to cultivate authentic engagement in particular strategic areas. In subsequent surveys, both managers and employees could then see if, indeed, communications and strategic coordination improved to the extent of reversing those negative scores.

In the survey, the most problematic Net Promoter Scores – 18 in total – confirmed what many stakeholders have believed and what the Selective Echo has identified previously as being the most pervasive problems of the current library administration. The most prominent negative scores underscore the deep failings with regard to communication, transparency, and competent implementation of strategic plans:

Library policies and practices promote the most effective library services, 1%

The Executive Leadership Team is committed to providing high quality products and services to patrons, -15%

The Library recognizes employees who provide high-quality library services, -15%

I believe the Library has an outstanding future, -2%

I can see a clear link between my work and Library’s outcomes, -8%

The Library has set realistic goals and outcomes, -24%

The Library’s current strategy and mission are well implemented, -33%

The Library has a clear sense of direction, -33%

The Executive Leadership Team of the Library has communicated a vision of the future that motivates me, -41%

My ideas and suggestions are valued by management, 1%

I am satisfied with my opportunities for advancement, -15%

The information I receive from other departments and committees is adequate, 0%

Organization policies are clearly communicated, -13%

The Executive Leadership Team communicates the information that I need to know about the Library, -39%

The Executive Leadership encourages open and honest communication, -41%

If I had the skills necessary for another position at the library, I would receive fair consideration for transfer to or promotion to that job, -10%

The Executive Leadership Team cares about the staff and volunteers, -31%

Members of the Executive Leadership Team are accessible and approachable, -32%

In no way does Elder address these scores. She obviously must have been referring to some other survey – perhaps involving little elves working in a magical tree making cookies – in writing her recommendations. And, I quote:

‘There is good communication about the matters that affect people’s work. Employees feel that they have a grasp on their role in the Library’s strategy and mission.’

The Board should move to reject her report on the grounds that this is an intellectually dishonest, completely misleading interpretation of the results. This is a travesty of disregard for the integrity of public accountability and trust. And, for the record, there have been reports again from several sources indicating that Elder pressured the Library Employee Organization (LEO) Executive Council with threats of suspension and termination to sign off on this hastily assembled document. The LEO already has spent several weeks in forthright discussions with the Executive Leadership Team regarding how the survey results should be addressed.

The Invisible Director

Elder, despite the fact she is a public official in a role that should be as the city’s most visible cultural ambassador, has led for months now in virtual isolation away from the larger community. She appeared last month to make a few forgettable remarks at the opening of the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the main branch. She has had no meaningful contact with the shop vendors or organizations, who, like every other library stakeholder constituency, have many concerns.

Otherwise, she arrives at the City Library, grabs a coffee, and heads to her fifth floor bunker, popping out for the monthly board meeting or for sessions with her two most loyal supporters – Board members Hugh Gillilan and Mimi Charles who long ago abdicated any real sense of public fiduciary responsibility for proper conduct as library board members. And, as the survey results indicate, staff meetings have done little to make progress on issues that were identified several years ago.

Elder, with the consent of most Board members who have become her collective docile eunuchs, was hoping to stonewall public discussion of the survey until the November board meeting. However, several recent incidents changed that as they involved reprimands and threats of dismissal for staff members who dared to carry on precisely the type of dialogue that she says will be a part of her recommendations. The growing public discomfort about a leader at a prominent public institution that exists to combat prior restraint and censorship made her and an already skittish Board that much more nervous.

Categorically False? Or Not?

Yet, as outlined above, no one should expect Elder to have a transformative moment here in the pursuit of transparency and accountability. On the same day Julianne Hancock, the Library’s communication director, was quoted in The Salt Lake Tribune as denying as categorically false claims that the leadership would review staff communications for signs of criticism or insubordination, an incident involving a Board member suggests that Hancock’s statement is actually the false one.

Mark Alvarez apparently received a message from the library offices to return a call from a KSL reporter. Tommy Hamby, Elder’s executive assistant, sent an email that includes the following:

‘If it is a Library matter, per recent discussions about Board communications, the following is the proposed procedure:

“Media Communications: All Library communication to the public through the media (including social media, print, radio, TV and blogs) will be arranged and coordinated by the Library Communication Director. The Communication Director is the spokesperson for the Library. The Communication Director may be the spokesperson for the Board with the approval of the President.”

Julianne can be reached at jhancock@slcpl.org or by phone at 801-524-8219.’

As Alvarez is not an employee but a Board member, the notion of using intimidation or implied threats is shocking and an egregious interference with the First Amendment rights of a publicly appointed trustee. Furthermore, Hamby, Hancock, and Elder – as well as all Board members – should familiarize themselves with the following pages from the July 2010 Utah Public Library Trustee Manual: pp. 35-36 with reference to Public Relations and Advocacy as well as Appendix K: A Comparison of Roles and Responsibilities of Public Library Trustees and Library Directors, pp. 65-70.

Hopeless Prospects

The prospects for improving communications – perhaps the most critical function to be faced by an institutional director – are hopeless.

For example, on the matter of public relations, one must consider the work of Hancock who, despite the fact that there are many unfilled vacancies including key posts such as finance director, has requested additional staff. This seems currently unjustifiable as the library’s public relations profile and media relations activities are extraordinarily weak for an award-winning institution. Clearly, neither Hancock nor Elder see the media as an important stakeholder in the organizational communication work, a fundamental acknowledgment familiar to every professional public relations person.

Last March, after administrative secretary Bobbi Bohman resigned because Elder wanted to control and delay the routine release of public records, The Salt Lake Tribune offered op-ed page space to Elder so she could address the paper’s March 19 editorial that criticized her stance. She never followed up.

Furthermore, there is no evidence of a communications audit – a standard public relations practice – nor any signs that Hancock nor Elder has developed an ongoing media relationship protocol. This would include arranging for regular appearances on public service programs both on local network affiliates as well as other broadcast outlets. Also, there should be regular media briefings with the editorial board of the major metropolitan dailies. Likewise, Hancock has done virtually no media promotional work for the numerous community outreach activities staff members have developed. Some programs would actually generate national media attention.

One example arose last month when libraries across the nation began offering e-books on Amazon’s Kindles. The Salt Lake Tribune featured an article with the Salt Lake County Library System but there was no mention of the city’s public libraries. Also, many libraries across the country had great feature articles and broadcast reports.

But not the SLC Public Library. Immediately afterward, Hancock sent out a five-sentence press release which had the effect of a “me, too” response. The release had no quotes or context for a feature news peg. A public relations colleague, upon reviewing the press release, said that a freshman in an introductory course could have written a much better media advisory.

One is hard pressed to think of any media campaigns that focus on positive actions, not restrictions that run counter to a public institution’s mission. Hancock’s most effective public relations work apparently is to help Elder push forward on stonewalling, intimidation, and misrepresentation.

For those of us who take to heart and mind a long-standing code of ethics in the profession, this disturbs profoundly. But, then, it is inconceivable to think that Elder would willingly listen to the wise, prudent advice of experienced public relations counselors who would explain just why the library’s communications infrastructure has been so deeply damaged.

TLC for a Library

The Selective Echo also would encourage citizens to do a complete walk through the library and its campus so they can assess the serious lapses in upkeep and maintenance. In June, I noted the walls along the staircase between the fourth and fifth floors, near the window where the beehives can be seen, were peeling. That has yet to be repaired. The rooftop gardens are in shabby shape, once again, and we have had long stretches of beautiful fall weather when landscaping work could have been easily accomplished.

There are many signs of roof leaks and water damage especially in the lower-level children’s library department. One can easily spot the dirt on the overhead shade panels. It is standard knowledge that any setting where you have an adjacent water element (such as the reflecting pool) will require regular maintenance against water leaks and damage. Left unaddressed, these problems could create an unhealthy indoor air environment for children who might be susceptible to respiratory infections and asthma.

The gargantuan sculpture in the urban atrium desperately also needs a major cleaning. In its better days, it would shimmer brilliantly in the daylight. The artist who created a dragonfly sculpture for the children’s area gladly cleaned and restored the art piece without charge, only asking to be reimbursed for the cleaning supplies. However, the sculpture has yet to be mounted.

Staff members often go on library business without being reimbursed for travel or gas. However, Elder has a $300 monthly car allowance. Staff members who were moved to new positions under the reorganization last January have yet to receive their two-percent cost of living increase. There were reports last spring when Elder’s contract was renewed of offering the director a raise, despite the fact that a formal performance review has yet to be performed.

Elder would have done well to follow the example of the state’s public university presidents who gave up raises and made personal concessions as a small yet important gesture in a tight budgetary period.

Final Questions

The Board must answer several questions. If indeed the Board believes Elder is the rightly qualified director to lead the library, then why does it continue to condone stonewalling and hiding information that unquestionably falls under the public’s right to know category? If specific information and data are available that justify Elder’s continued employment, then why is it not on the record?

The Board has been so caught up with lapping up Elder’s restrictive policy that members even are hard pressed to identify specific accomplishments which might underscore her managerial worthiness.

Eight days ago, in The New York Times, Thomas Galante, the chief executive officer for the Queens Library, said libraries need to be less introverted. And, so do their leaders.

As for why maintenance issues become significant to note, the same article contained the following:

‘And it’s the small things, after all — some greenery, good lighting, well-maintained sidewalks and well-made buildings — that shape our perceptions of where we live, whether or not we’re always conscious of them.’

The City Library has ranked just behind the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as among the most visited destinations in the city. However, just ask if Temple Square would ever be allowed to show the same signs of negligence or shabbiness in maintenance.

The Board should take a walk on the library campus and on every floor. And, then, it should return to the survey results that were just released. The evidence becomes clear: The library’s best strategic move at this point is to accept the resignation of Beth Elder and to facilitate a transition where real outcomes can be achieved without fear and intimidation.

Films about one of Gandhi’s earliest colleagues in the Pashtun frontier of the Indian subcontinent, the groundbreaking Christian-Muslin women’s peace movement in Liberia which led to the election of Africa’s first woman head of state, the 2009 Green Wave Revolution in Iran, and the president of Maldives facing the dual challenges of democracy building and climate change highlight the inaugural Gandhi Film Festival which will be held September 23-25 (Friday-Sunday) at the Salt Lake City Public Library in the main auditorium.

Sponsored by the Gandhi Alliance for Peace and the Utah Film Center, the slate of eight films, directed and producers by artists and documentarians in five countries, focus on events, movements, and individuals that often fly under the radar of mass media coverage. The films – with stories from India, Iran, Liberia, Maldives, Palestine, and Serbia – exemplify the accurate and appropriately situated historical significance of Gandhi’s meticulous step-by-step approach for achieving true independence and democratic enlightenment while maintaining an unwavering commitment to nonviolent protest and resistance.

As Ian Desai wrote earlier this year in The Wilson Quarterly, Gandhi’s success was predicated on the tremendously hard work of a deeply rooted social network:

‘The real magic of the Mahatma was not a trick of popular charisma, but in fact a deft ability to recruit, manage, and inspire a team of talented individuals who worked tirelessly in his service. Gandhi himself was one of the few people to recognize how this phenomenon worked. “With each day I realize more and more that my mahatmaship, which is a mere adornment, depends on others. I have shone with the glory borrowed from my innumerable co-workers,” he wrote in 1928 in Navajivan.’

Those sentiments are evident in each of the festival’s films, which are free and open to the public. The festival opens with a 2008 biographical documentary film about Badshah Khan, born into a Pashtun warrior society who worked with Gandhi and formed a nonviolent army of resistance including Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Parsees, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Made by Teri C. McLuhan, the daughter of one of the most famous media theorists (Marshall T. McLuhan), the film – ‘The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan: A Torch for Peace’ – brings to light an historical chapter that too easily has been obscured by the more familiar legacy of Gandhi.

Working more than 20 years on the film, she shot footage in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and interviewed many key figures who worked with Gandhi and Khan and were in the 80s and 90s at the time of the film’s production.

McLuhan will attend the screening (Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.) and will take questions from the audience following the film.

Audience members also should take note of ‘The Island President,’ which will be screened Saturday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. Directed by Jon Shenk, the 2011 film just earned the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. Shenk is one of the most widely respected documentarians, having won awards for ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ as well as ‘Smile Pinki’ which won an Oscar in 2009. A Q&A session with the director will follow the screening.

While the film’s title refers to Mohamed Nasheed, the president of the Maldives, Shenk quickly earned the trust of governmental officials and the film is remarkable for its unscripted, unquestionably realistic chronicle of the nation’s efforts to promote governmental transparency, to deal with climate change threats, and to showcase its cultural heritage. The nation, with a population of just 385,000, encompasses 2,000 islands.

Nasheed gained international attention in 2009 when he conducted a meeting of his cabinet ministers underwater to emphasize not only the Maldives’ amenities as an ecotourism destination but also to highlight the vulnerabilities of rising seas as a result of global warming.

The festival will close Sunday, Sept. 25, at 3 p.m. with a screening of ‘Gandhi,’ the 1982 blockbuster biographical film which starred Ben Kingsley and was directed by Richard Attenborough.

Previews of other films that will be screened in the earlier portions of the Sept. 24 program are featured below. Tomorrow, The Selective Echo will present previews of the remaining program of films.

As it marks its 10th anniversary, the Utah Film Center continues to broaden its community partnerships, adding the Gandhi Alliance for Peace to its network.

The alliance arose out of a small group organized in 1988 to conduct a grassroots campaign to urge for a comprehensive test ban treaty on nuclear weapons. The group expanded its efforts by collaborating with Peace Brigades International to conduct a local albeit smaller and shorter version of the famous ‘Salt March’ along the shore of the Great Salt Lake, which took place on Gandhi’s birthday (October 2). This year’s celebration will be held Oct. 2 at Jordan Park. For more information about the alliance, which was incorporated in 2000, see here.

For information about the Utah Film Center’s screenings, see here.

Other films:

‘Pray The Devil Back to Hell’ (Virginia Reticker, U.S., 2008, 72 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (11 a.m.)

The West African nation of Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic, founded in the middle 19th century by former slaves, but it seemed doomed to an endless stream of warlord thugocracy and civil war (with more than a quarter of million deaths in a 14-year period) until thousands of women bridged the Christian-Muslim divide to push for an end to violence and to ensure a transition to a democratic government free of corruption. Reticker steers wisely clear of leavening the film with political ideology, instead focusing on the emotional yet maturely poised efforts of women who are so desperate for peace that they are willing to withhold sex from their husbands and men who seem irrevocably tempted by violence, greed, and corruption.

More importantly, the film documents in exceptional detail the rise of a movement, which was nearly ignored in total by the international media who were swept up at the same time by the American push to topple Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. The film follows the ouster of dictator Charles Taylor (who is now awaiting the verdict on his international war crimes trial for acts of murder in Sierra Leone’s civil war during the 1990s) and the subsequent campaign to elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman head of state. Controversial in her own right, Sirleaf – widely known as Africa’s Iron Lady – has been cited by The Economist as the best president the country has ever had, singling out her zero-tolerance campaign against corruption as well as her efforts to rebuilt Monrovia’s battered infrastructure.

Reticker’s film, which has won nearly 20 film festival awards including Tribeca and Silverdocs, stands out for its simple yet unforgettable portrayal of deeply courageous women who followed Gandhi’s example step by step.

This film is presented with KUER-FM.

‘One Man, One Cow, and One Planet’ (Thomas Burstyn, New Zealand, 2007, 56 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (1 p.m.)

Among the many tectonic shifts taking place in India’s economy, farmers are reviving old biodynamic approaches to agriculture, thanks to Peter Proctor, an octogenarian who has shown how cow manure can make compost for restoring spent soil along with agricultural practices that can be adapted for the benefit of India’s poorest farmers. The film, narrated by Peter Coyote, includes an amazing soundtrack by Mercan Dede, a Turkish-born turntablist and DJ who works out of Montreal.

‘The Green Wave’ (Ali Samedi Ahadi, Germany, 2010, 80 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (3 p.m.)

Before the Arab Spring revolutionary phenomenon began its sweep through the Middle East, the rapidly spreading Green Wave movement at the height of the 2009 presidential election campaign in Iran was on the verge of transforming the police-state Islamic republic into an unprecedented democracy. So quickly the movement had spread that government officials had no choice but to rig the election results and return Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. However, Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme religious leader, unleashed a torrent of brutal repression and violence that will never extinguish the flames ignited by the unforgettable crowds that marched in Teheran’s public spaces two years ago.

Ahadi’s film, with collages of animation and mobile phone footage footage inspired by the writings of bloggers and Twitter feeds, is a near heart-breaking account of the sinister oppression where a government did not hesitate to maim or kill its own people who merely wanted to know: ‘Where is my vote?’

Ahadi traces the movement with quick pace from a campaign where voters were excited about the prospects for significant change and for the opportunity to express themselves freely, ironically coming from their support of the opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who really was far from being a radical revolutionary. Citizens – wearing green that symbolized both the hope of spring and Islam – are encouraged as one blogger who says, ‘many people thought the elections could not be manipulated.’ The deceit and violence which follow the rigged election are chronicled in voiceovers that were rarely captured in tone or impact by traditional media coverage.

Despite the film’s deeply depressing tone at times, Ahadi, who now lives and works in Germany, leaves telling signs in his work that the willed spirit to continue the fight was not broken. There are plenty of cues in the film that Ahadi believes that the patience, so essential to the core of Gandhi’s work, will serve the Iranian people well. And, certainly the most recent reports from respected international journalists indicate that the majority of Iranian citizens no longer believe the government represents the well-being or safety of its people.

The film already has been screened at Sundance, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Likewise, emphasizing that not every locally made food product is necessarily worthy of gold star treatment, Caputo regularly introduces participants to the producers behind names such as Creminelli, Snowy Mountain Sheep Creamery, Slide Ridge Honey, Epic Brewing Company, and others whose foodstuffs have captivated specialty food stores in and out of the United States.

Of course, tasting and cooking classes at the downtown and 15th-and-15th locations of Tony Caputo’s Food Market and Deli regularly sell out because the overall program offers a refreshing cost-friendly path to connoisseurship without the intimidating or alienating effects of a staid or stodgy approach that otherwise would match exclusivity with an out-of-the-ballpark price. Along with the meticulous background research that goes into each class, Caputo focuses on the face-to-face interactions between producers and customers as leading to a more effective way of comprehending the true complexities and genuine goals of a food system that is not only known for being local but also for being sustainable and beneficial to the community.

The classes succeed because they serve a longer-term objective about building a resilient food culture in Utah that goes well beyond the obviously inherent retail advantages Caputo’s justifiably reaps from its education program. And, the classes continuously evolve to incorporate broader, more diverse, and more focused elements of tasting and cooking with the meats, cheeses, oils, vinegars, butters, chocolates, and salts so that increasing proportions of participants return for intermediate and advanced levels of experience. Francis Fecteau of Libation, Inc., offers supplemental wine education and, more recently, representatives of Epic Brewing Company have coordinated information about craft beer pairings with meats and cheeses.

Furthermore, the classes help establish an immensely useful baseline of trust where the personal interactions and connections between and among customers, producers, and retailers operate more effectively as a friendly, accessible expert system in lieu of the sterile, impersonal, and technically confusing realm of standard product certifications. Caputo and his staff understand that it’s not merely satisfactory to have the right attitudes and values to make customers want to learn more about these extraordinary food items. Instead, it is better to foster a mutually adaptive capacity on both sides of the transaction. That is, customers are inspired to try these products as well as broaden and diversify their repertoire as food consumers. Likewise, producers and retailers learn what drives the impetus for shared values and attitudes. They also learn what customers expect from these products, what they currently know (or don’t know) about how these products are made, and what they think about the products.

So much valuable information is gathered from classes that could never be generated from an advertising-driven promotion or marketing campaign that uses one-time surveys or focus groups to gather opinions and attitudes. The classes become the ideal vehicle for reaching as many demographic groups as possible that are taking a greater interest in the quality as well as responsible production methods for the food they eat.

Along with the live music Troy Petersen offers each Friday at the 15th and 15th location, the classes have been the perfect medium for reaching out to neighboring residents as well as students, faculty, and staff from the nearby campuses of The University of Utah and Westminster College. “Not only is it a great way for customers to go for the red pill and sample a goat’s milk or sheep’s milk cheese for the first time and pair it with a wine they might never have tried before,” Petersen explains, “but it also is a great excuse for neighbors to walk down to the store and get together.”

The classes not only serve the needs equally of the gourmet foodie and the thrifty consumer but they also orient the store’s employees at the front line to be effective guides for the customer’s specific needs. “Our customers deserve that we are honest and it makes no sense to try and do the hard sell of the most expensive products,” Caputo explains. For example, the classes are designed to help consumers navigate with an increasing sense of confidence the imposing selection of olive oils or vinegars available. Rightly so, Caputo and Petersen break the products into manageable categories ranging from least expensive to most expensive, paralleling the best ways to use them.

Caputo’s usually offers four classes per month (mainly Mondays at 7:15 p.m. at the downtown location and Tuesdays at 7:15 p.m. at 15th and 15th, with some exceptions). The cost per class is a highly reasonable $25 with a wine pairing available at an extra $15.

One class remains in September – a tasting session for olive oils and vinegars on Monday, Sept. 26, at the 15th and 15th store. Fall classes include introductory sessions for chocolate as well as cheese and wine. Others are focused on holiday themes including Italian cooking as well as a comprehensive VIP shopping and tasting tour of the store. Cooking classes, offered less frequently and which cost $20 more than the basic class rate, include a full meal. Private classes for groups also are available. For more information, see here.

Kudos to Bombshell Music and Media for a great series of webisodes.

Continue to follow The Selective Echo’s wall-to-wall coverage with my colleague and assistant editor, Max Dahl.

Making Tracks to the Utah Arts Festival from Utah Arts Festival on Vimeo.

And, continue to follow The Selective Echo for wall-to-wall coverage and previews of the festival. The Selective Echo is joined by Max P. Dahl, an intern journalist from Utah State University, who is the blog’s assistant editor.

Utah Arts Festival – Random Acts of Art. Yarn Bombing! from Utah Arts Festival on Vimeo.

Previews of various events and activities will be followed by frequent updates and spotlight features during the festival. There will be more than 40 feature articles and 200 images. Each day’s coverage also will include a Did You Know micro-feature to lead the day’s events. Max Dahl from Utah State University has joined the coverage as assistant editor.

Coverage also will be featured at the Utah Arts Festival Web site here. Unquestionably, the Utah Arts Festival is the state’s largest and most significant event of culture in virtually every realm of the visual, creative, and performing arts. Readers also are encouraged to subscribe to the Twitter feed here and to look for our Facebook postings.

Ten years ago, The Utah Arts Festival began extensive environmentally friendly measures at the festival, including a trash recycling program and a bike valet lot that have grown by substantial proportions in recent years as festival attendance pushed upward to a record-breaking 82,000-plus in 2010.

Staff and volunteers are being especially vigilant about reducing the volume of waste that would end up at a landfill and ensuring that recyclable plastic, cardboard, aluminum, paper, and glass are being processed within the state, according to Mitch Davis, a Salt Lake City employee who is one of the coordinators overseeing the festival’s eARTh team.

‘We’re even sending out the vegetable oil used at the food booths to a local business that converts it into bio-diesel,’ he adds. The four-day event resulted last year in more than 16.84 tons of garbage with more than five tons captured directly from the familiar blue-bin receptacles for materials that can be recycled.

Festival staff also managed to capture more than 5.5 tons of glass, 5.3 tons of cardboard and 600 pounds of ‘green’ and food waste, which can be composted. All told, this means that 16.11 tons of materials were diverted for recycling and other purposes.

Davis says that festival staff and volunteers continuously tweak and improve the learning curve when it comes to helping make festival visitors attentive to the overall mission of making a smaller environmental and carbon footprint. For example, nearly 20 volunteers – including interns from the city’s division of environment and sustainability as well as students from schools such as the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College – will be stationed throughout the festival grounds just for the objective of helping visitors decide which bins they should use for disposing their plates, cups, and paper. Along with city and state employees, Momentum Recycling, a local firm committed to helping organizations move toward zero waste, will be assisting.

Indeed, every small action has potential multiple-effects impact. In 2008, festival organizers eliminated the use of plastic bags in disposal bins that alone saved more than $4,000. Also, 2010 trash recycling figures spiked dramatically upward from the previous year. Staff and volunteers were able to capture two and one-half times more materials from the blue bin receptacles than in 2009, and nearly three and a half times more cardboard, glass, and green waste in the same period.

Festival organizers also will continue the free bike valet service, sponsored by Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program, and, as further incentive, cyclists will get a $2 discount on their festival admission.

In the last three years, the program has grown by an average annual rate topping 25 percent. In 2010, 1,590 cyclists used the valet service, compared to 1,280 in 2009. Typically, almost one-third of cyclists who used the valet service come on Saturday during the festival. Members of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective will serve as lot assistants, which is located on 400 South, adjacent to the City-County Building on Washington Square at the midpoint of the block between State Street and 200 East.

Five years ago this week, the Salt Lake City Public Library was named as ‘Library of the Year’ in 2006 by Thomson Gale/Library Journal. In an extraordinary city, where many prominent symbols of the 2002 Winter Olympics remind residents and visitors just how extraordinary this city truly is, the honor bestowed upon the Library also reminds people just how extraordinary this institution really is. In fact, the City Library – which lies at the heart of Salt Lake City’s emerging civic campus – is the city’s second most visited destination after the Salt Lake temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Today, however, a visitor can no longer find the prominent honor displayed on this magnificent library, save for a single fleeting mention on a south entrance doorway. In the mind of director Beth Elder, who has embarrassed the whole of the staff and the community stakeholders with a display of monumental cluelessness and organizational incompetence, that era has passed. Rather than build upon the glorious culture that led to that exceptional distinction, Elder has removed all public signs of that honor.

She has said that the honor was bestowed because of the new building. Actually, the library received the honor three years after the new main branch opened – more about that later. However, she certainly has shown little respect for her stewardship of the library. Once a beautifully maintained campus, the grounds no longer show that same immaculate touch. Weeds have grown over the area around the dome covering the auditorium, for example. The rooftop garden area – not only a wonderful urban refuge but also the scene of numerous memorable community receptions – has weeds in the concrete and many indicators that the once meticulous landscaping care is no longer available.

The walls along the staircase between the fourth and fifth floors, near the window where the beehives can be seen, are peeling. Rain leaks have occurred more than occasionally and the problems are not immediately addressed. Public relations experts place high value on impression management and the physical appearance of the location. It is the most visible first sign to a patron, guest, community leader, donor, or visitor that strongly suggests the value and commitment to the community an organization desires to communicate.

Does Beth Elder really care about The Salt Lake City Public Library?

BOARD RETREAT

Less than two weeks ago, the Library Board of Trustees held a retreat with Elder, presumably arranged to help bolster her severely weakened position as director. The entire session was recorded and is available at the library’s Web site. The Selective Echo has listened to it and offers its analysis along with some further context. If it was not clear in the first two perorations, there should be no question at the end of this article about Beth Elder’s management and leadership failures being so irreparable that her immediate resignation is the only justifiable option to be exercised.

Unlike what one should expect from an organization’s chief executive officer, Elder’s presentation at the retreat was passionless, uninspired, defensive and defeatist. It was difficult to extract any significant passage from her presentation about the library’s promise, its traditions, its staff, and its engaged constituencies. While she did acknowledge the library as having the most forward-looking mission statement of any in the United States, she appeared to go to great pains choosing her words so as to avoid championing or celebrating the work, spirit and effort of staff members, community supporters, and auxiliary groups comprising a library community that miraculously has continued to sustain itself despite the catastrophic collapse of executive leadership.

Ironically, it was left to two guest presenters who happened to be colleagues of Elder – Pam Sandlian Smith, director of Anythink Libraries, and Donna Morris, director of the Utah State Library – to offer public, positive comments, using words such as ‘great job’ and ‘magnificent’ in references to staff and the overall library. And, it was their presentations that underscored why ignoring the Library of the Year honor is a serious miscalculation.

Furthermore, after hearing Elder’s presentation concerning strategic objectives, which showed a disturbing lack of engagement and familiarity with programmatic details on her part, I returned to the June 15, 2006 article in the Library Journal which can be read here in full. If Elder wants to set aside completely the honor, then how does the following differ from the statement she made at the retreat:

‘That multidimensional, varied, and high-risk style is the key to SLCPL’s success. It has made the library a new model that harks back to the tradition established in Boston in 1852, when the trustees told the city fathers the mission of the public library would be to inform democracy, to help citizens answer questions on the public agenda that go down to “the very foundations of public order.”

‘SLCPL truly deserves to be Library of the Year in 2006. Its model for the library of the future includes a magnificent setting in which to hold the community forum and brings the riches of a full array of library materials and services to a public that is clearly hungry for them.’

The answer is regrettably obvious. As indicated in an earlier article, Elder’s actions consistently have lied louder than her words.

At the retreat, several Board members, Sandlian, Morris, and Debbie Ehrman, assistant director of the library, latched onto the branding tagline ‘Where Democracy Happens’ – as highlighted in the article about the award.

And, if the Board would wrest back its rightful fiduciary authority and not allow a terribly disillusioned director to dictate its approach or agenda, it would see quite quickly that the only stakeholder who has no intention of upholding that deeply valued brand is Elder.

After more than three years of nonperformance, how much more evidence does the Board need?

CONTRADICTIONS, TANTRUMS, MANAGERIAL PARALYSIS

At a meeting with managers, Elder reiterated her contention that the libraries were overstaffed – despite reassurances made in agreement with the Board that the library’s staffing requirements needed to be replenished. Quite ironically, one of the branch managers (Sprague) had to leave the meeting immediately because she was informed that there were insufficient staff to open the branch that morning. In other instances, staff members had been suddenly reassigned without consideration for how a branch or department would handle the change without disrupting public services.

Exceptionally protracted meetings, which managers and other administrative staff indicated rarely accomplished sufficiently elucidated instructions or objectives, dramatically reduced, in part, the critically important contact time managers and other administrative personnel traditionally had maintained with the public throughout the branches in the library system. Normally, those staff with decision-making authority who were authorized to satisfy or reconcile any patron concerns or issues would have a combined presence of between 40 and 50 hours on the public service desk. However, because of Elder’s near-total obsession with centralized micromanagement and her total disregard for symmetrical communication, that contact time had been reduced by as much as 80 percent at some branches.

Furthermore, these new procedures were compounding additional costs reaching into thousands of dollars per month at each branch in the system. A stunning example arose when Elder originally had scheduled a long managers’ meeting during a week in which she had arranged her vacation. So disorganized, she rescheduled the meeting with less than a day’s notice, forcing managers to scramble once again so that sufficient staff was available to cover their branches and departments. They already had gone to great length to reconcile the schedule for the original meeting date.

Elder repeatedly insisted that it was not within her realm of oversight to observe or to work occasionally the public service desk to get a solid feel for the front-line customer service dynamics of the public library and for how they would be addressed in the strategic plan. Instead, she made a beeline to the city administration offices asking for advice on matters concerning library operations for which city employees were not qualified to respond.

Virtually every fundamental management training protocol for top leaders and executives recommends that top-ranked executives and officers make periodic visits to the day-to-day operations for which their organizations are chiefly responsible. However, Elder, who mentioned at the board retreat that visibility was key and insularity was to be avoided, has virtually disappeared from any meaningful contact with staff or any semblance of public access. She has remained hidden in her fifth-floor offices.

Likewise, she has become a virtually unrecognized face in the broader Salt Lake community. For example, normal protocol would indicate that the director of the building at which a major event is being held – such as SLC Mayor Ralph Becker’s recent inaugural session for Utah Civility and Community 2011 – would be on hand to greet guests and to introduce the mayor. However, Elder, who is now into her fourth year as director, was absent at the outset.

She appeared just as the session began but then was virtually ignored by others when the audience broke out into smaller discussion groups. One would expect that the director of the city’s library – who should be among the most highly visible ambassadors for community activities, culture, and education – would take on eagerly a prominent role in such an initiative. While she did spend the first year of her tenure meeting various community leaders, she never followed up with any of them in succeeding years. It was as if community interaction was a perfunctory task on a checklist that, once complete, would no longer require her attention.

During the retreat with library board members, Elder, who had virtually no encouraging words of appreciation for the staff or really for any broader stakeholder constituency that would be served by the library, said rather oddly, “We are afraid of people from outside, ideas from outside, consultants from outside and all of that.”

One wonders how she could make such a negatively skewed civic assessment with so little effort put forth on her part to reach directly into the community. Meanwhile, scores upon scores of library staff members are highly visible as participants and volunteers in many community organizations and cultural gatherings that underscore the incredibly vibrant scene of open-minded sensibilities to ideas and activities creating an energetic, bohemian dynamic for the city’s image and reputation.

As for civility, Elder would have done well to cast aside an unflattering and highly disturbing penchant for pettiness along with an inexcusable propensity to fly off so impulsively at the handle. Never concerned about being indiscreet, she would launch into a tantrum or tirade that was easily within earshot or which could be witnessed by any visitor coming to the fifth floor.

Often, she never checked initially into the actual facts and contexts of a matter, as was the case with several incidents. In one instance, a long-time staff member had presented for her signature checks that were small monetary book awards sponsored through an ongoing U.S. Library of Congress program. Elder exploded in a public fit, berating the staff member when she saw the amounts of the checks. Even when she was corrected, Elder begrudgingly acknowledged her error.

ORGANIZATIONAL DETACHMENT

There also were many instances where Elder has been oblivious to organizational cycles critical to any strategic plan implementation. Programming for any forthcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, must be in place 90 days in advance. Three days before an April 1 deadline to identify program outcomes that inevitably require a good deal of research for effective implementation, Elder informed staff that she wanted a summer toddler’s reading program ready to hit. Surprised to hear about the impending deadline, she indicated to staff that she had never heard of it. This was a target date virtually every library staff member was aware of when it came to obtaining assurances that a proposed program would be funded and operating in the new fiscal year.

Likewise, many staff members indicated that, even after two years, Elder did not know their names or could not even identify if the individual worked for the library. In another instance, she had failed to make arrangements for the library to be present and to have an informational display at a Utah Library Association conference. A staff member had to assemble quickly materials so that the library would have at least some presence at the meeting.

So detached from the library’s day-to-day affairs, she would couch her egregious incompetence and ignorance in contradictions that defy reasonable explanation. One incident involved a reading program that was initially targeted for boys. Ignoring the research and data staff had gathered to justify the program, Elder nixed it, saying it was discriminating on gender. The refurbished program, which eliminated any gender references, narrowly passed approval by the administration.

However, Elder is not a fan of consistency. When questioned whether male participants could attend a writing program for female teenagers that was being held in the Salt Lake Community College Writing Center on the library campus, Elder refused without any hesitation. Challenged further, she relented, begrudgingly. Similar communication dynamics concerned a pet tortoise that the children’s department had adopted in connection with a popular reading program. Elder issued an edict of “no pets,” claiming inexplicably that the staff would not be able to sustain proper care or responsibility for the animal. Less than two months later, the rooftop beehive project was adopted. And, as The Selective Echo reported previously, a temporary employee had failed to secure substantial external grant funding for a project called ironically “The Hive.”

Elder also singled out a staff member who had written a letter to The Salt Lake Tribune in late January, which defended her against criticisms laid out in an op-ed commentary by Chip Ward, a longtime former assistant library director who was retired. She indicated to the staff member that should he encounter any harassment or difficulty from a colleague for coming to her defense, she would take some form of disciplinary or punitive action against the employee.

Meanwhile, it was being made patently clear that any staff member who publicly criticized the state of library affairs could be vulnerable to some form of punitive action. Elder certainly has not said anything to lay to rest any rumors or concerns that she might make an example of one of her staff critics by firing the person.

Rather than engage any productive two-way communication channel, she clearly prefers the insulated secrecy of her fifth-floor office suite and must see some strategic value in leaving the question open concerning any potential threats of intimidation or vindictiveness.

This is, of course, being realized during a time when the board recently recommitted the organization to transparency and accountability.

NO SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT

In a 2010 meeting with staff in a main library department after the no confidence vote, Hugh Gillilan, board president, said he and fellow board members had taken staff members’ concerns seriously. He also indicated that the board had outlined some criteria for improvements especially in organizational communication and had directed Elder to be more visible in her staff relations.

More than fifteen months later, there is not one bit of evidence suggesting that Elder has acted on any direct communication recommendations whether from board members, former allies who no longer support her continued tenure, or from George Needham’s consultant report.

If the intent of Needham’s report was to guide the library toward streamlining and expediting the decision-making process in a collaborative design, Elder’s actions or performance show no indication whatsoever of following those recommendations. For example, she took more than three weeks to approve an ordinary purchase request – amounting to petty cash – to frame some materials given for display by a guest author.

Marathon meetings with her executive leadership team and managers lead to a frustrating cycle where recommendations are given to Elder who then, in turn, tosses them out, and starts the process over again – only to repeat the cycle again.

At the moment, every organizational management process has stalled – from hiring to performance review – because Elder insists upon total control of every decision, no matter how insignificant. There is little evidence of any delegation because plainly Elder trusts, at best, only a single handful of individuals.

However, more importantly, Elder shows no sign she is planning to correct these problems or make amends for her numerous failures. She has no respect for any responsible organizational governance mechanism. Her presentation at the board retreat certainly gave no indication of that.

Back on February 4, a report of the library’s reorganization concerns task force raised numerous issues that were to be addressed promptly by Elder. Nearly four and a half months later, there is still no response. Meanwhile, Elder talked at the retreat about building upon the culture at the library.

However, she has failed to define, for example, what she means by ‘professionalism’ or what it takes to ensure that staff ‘act professionally.’ The definition should be evident to any reasonable observer. On any given day, any visitor or patron will see a staff that consistently exercises patience, professionalism, dignity, and pride in its work and service to the public. Left unanswered also are basic issues about the interdependencies of agency and departmental services as well as how lines and channels of efficient, productive communication are constructed.

Also left unanswered are issues about how concerns or grievances should be addressed and resolved. Going broader, how do the library’s basic services fit in the elements of strategic objectives as well as tactics to realize those outcomes? Furthermore, how are relationships established between members of the library’s executive leadership team and direct staff?

A CLEAR VERDICT

It is operationally impossible for a director to cut herself off, in effect, from virtually every stakeholder and then to expect some semblance of a common ground of understanding to emerge instantaneously out of the organizational ether. It bears repeating what The Selective Echo said in April:

Ideally, a director should be a visible, open champion for internal communication. Visibility is the most elemental form of nonverbal communication leaders can exercise.

The decision is clear. No one can expect realistically a leader to hide, be silent and then run one of the city’s most important public institutions, which operates on a budget of many millions of dollars and has a staff and volunteer corps numbering in the hundreds. Even those who were looking out for Elder’s best interests, to help resolve these problems, have put every opportunity forward.

The result? No change. No improvement. No possibility. No probability. No progress. No chance of recovery.

It is unconscionable to think that this magnificent institution – which has a Library of The Year distinction to its name – cannot secure the services of a qualified, conscientious, engaged leader who can visualize just how the potential can be expanded from the rich gifts already a part of this library. The people of Salt Lake City deserve much better in terms of a steward and leader for its much beloved library.

To everyone who cares about the Salt Lake City Public Library, make it loud and clear: Beth Elder must resign. Now.

And, stay tuned to The Selective Echo for wall-to-wall coverage and previews of the festival which begins June 10 (tomorrow) and will run daily June 18-26. The Selective Echo is pleased to welcome Max P. Dahl, an intern journalist from Utah State University, who is the blog’s assistant editor.

Jazz Commission from Utah Arts Festival on Vimeo.

And, stay tuned to The Selective Echo for wall-to-wall coverage and previews of the festival which begins June 10 and will run daily June 18-26. The Selective Echo is pleased to welcome Max P. Dahl, an intern journalist from Utah State University, who is the blog’s assistant editor.

SLAPercussion from Utah Arts Festival on Vimeo.

And, stay tuned to The Selective Echo for wall-to-wall coverage and previews of the festival which begins June 10 and will run daily June 18-26. The Selective Echo is pleased to welcome Max P. Dahl, an intern journalist from Utah State University, who will be assisting with festival coverage.

Uinta Arts Fest Amber Ale from Utah Arts Festival on Vimeo.