Library officials seek balance in background checks
Posted on Thursday, January 3, 2008

By
MARSHA L. MELNICHAK
Northwest Arkansas Times

The struggle to find balance between safe hiring practices to protect library patrons and personal concerns for privacy continues for the Fayetteville Public Library board of directors.

Directors asked staff to follow up on questions raised about the proposed screening process at the December board meeting while staff asked board members to bring more specific questions about the policy proposal so they could provide exact answers.

Board members had questions during the December meeting about what kind of background checks would be conducted on which people and when. They asked who would do the background checks and if there was a way to combine them.

They wondered if credit checks were really necessary for all positions, if there was a way to reduce the number of people who handle money, what would cause drug and alcohol tests to be required, if there would be credit checks on people who don't handle money, how uniformly the background checks would be applied and how to draw the line between policy and procedure.

"What does it cost in terms of the resistance you might encounter versus what do you gain in protecting the library ? "asked board member Beverly Bassett Schaffer.

In October, some library volunteers resigned over the possibility of the background checks, saying they were hurt and angry and that the checks were too broad.

"When that many people have questions, it's time to develop some answers and make people feel comfortable," board President Daniel Ferritor said Monday.

He said the screening policy is an important policy that needs to be thought out.

"You don't want to do something wrong on this," he said. "You can always change it, but why not get it right the first time ?"

As proposed by staff, the policy would require background checks for all staff and volunteers who sign a consent form. Any applicant not signing the form would not be eligible for employment or volunteering at the library.

Identified in the proposed policy are checks on criminal history, sex offender registry, employment verification, education verification, license verification, drug and alcohol tests, credit history and identity verification.

Some tests, such as criminal history and sex offender registry, are suggested for all hires. Others, like employment and education verification, are suggested if applicable. Drug and alcohol and credit histories could be requested at any time if the policy is adopted as proposed.

Board member Don Marr is one who supports the policy but would like to see more definition before it is adopted.

He said it's extremely important to see what jobs are to be evaluated and what assessments apply to which jobs, and to identify what types of results could lead to disqualification.

Marr brings to the discussion his experience and knowledge as president and CEO of HR Factor, a human resource consulting and outsourcing firm.

"It's human nature," he said. "People want to be compliant, but at the same time privacy is important to people. I think they don't want to feel they're targeted by someone simply because they might have some type of personal conflict. "Marr also said he thinks a professional third party should be hired to do background checks even though there would be additional cost involved. "I may have somebody who could read through the forms to do my taxes, but that doesn't mean they're the most qualified person to do it," he said as an example. Louise Schaper, executive director of the library, said she was thinking of having the Fayetteville Police Department do the checks. She said one reason the checks are important is because newcomers to the community volunteer at the library and without background checks there is no way to know if they really had the job and education they claim. Fayetteville police Sgt. Shannon Gabbard said Monday the department can only do background checks based on the person's interaction with local law enforcement.

Marr and Ferritor stressed that the policy is a work in progress and will be discussed again at the board's February meeting.

"Bad guys do stuff they don't get caught for," Ferritor said. "It seems to me that what you do is you do due diligence and you say to the public, ' We will do everything we can to protect your right to be comfortable in the library, to have your children there and feel safe. ' I'm not sure you catch them all, but if you don't try, then I think you have failed the public trust."

Marr said the last thing someone wants to do is to have something that could have been prevented by having good background assessments.

"You wouldn't want to be on the front page of the paper because of something bad happening because you didn't do something that should be in place," he said. "And at the same time you want to have good guidance to the people who are going to be using the assessment tools to make sure they're not used improperly."

Marr said he is totally for the screening policy.

"I wouldn't want to be advocating we not do it," he said. "I just want us to do it right