Excellence At Documentation
The original title for this presentation was going to be "The Public Library Is An Open Source Institution", and I was going to loudly and happily proclaim that we're transparent and accountable and just about everything we do, we publish the methods for so that if anyone wanted to replicate a public library, they could do so, with enough time and resources.
For example, want to know how we choose what materials are going to be stocked in a library? Here, take a look at Pierce County Library System's Selection Policy.
Would you like some of our core guiding documents? Have the Library Bill of Rights and the Washington Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Statement. That should give you an idea on how to act, and if anything's confusing, there's always plenty of support documentation on the Web.
How should we treat privacy issues? Pierce County Library System has a policy for that, too.
We even offer materials about making decisions on whether or not someone to join the library profession.