The Sumner County Library Bylaws & Policies Committee on Jan. 2 approved a revised conduct policy for county libraries and forwarded several other personnel and governance policies to the library board for consideration.

The committee voted, by voice, to adopt the conduct policy as amended in the meeting and to move it on to the Sumner County Library Board for approval. The conduct policy draft the committee approved adds a consolidated list of prohibited behaviors, clarifies enforcement language (including possible suspension or revocation of library privileges), and delegates discretion to library directors for extenuating-service exceptions. Committee members agreed to leave enforcement discretion in directors' hands rather than enumerating additional punitive specifics in the policy text.

Separately the committee agreed to present a newly revised confidentiality policy — which staff updated to cite Tennessee's library-record privacy statute (the Library Privacy Act and Tennessee Code Annotated, title/chapter references identified during the meeting) and to add direction for staff notification and legal response — to the board. The committee voted to forward the confidentiality policy draft to the board by voice vote.

On employee appearance and dress code, committee members spent an extended period revising language to balance a professional standard with modern workplace practice. The committee directed staff to include the following items in the employee dress-code draft for board review: a business-casual standard (with explicitly allowed dark, tailored jeans), prohibition of suggestive or revealing clothing and logos unrelated to library programs, footwear that is clean and in good repair (with no flip-flops; Crocs or similar without a back strap were discussed), and a requirement that staff and volunteers wear an identifying name tag or lanyard while on duty. The committee voted to forward the amended dress-code draft to the board.

Committee members also discussed the unattached-children policy and concluded that the existing unattended-children directive needs substantial revision; they added that policy to the committee's next-review list. A new fundraising policy introduced by staff was moved to old business so members can review the draft before deciding at a later meeting.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved the conduct policy as amended (voice vote, 4-0), agreed to forward the confidentiality policy to the board (voice vote, 4-0), voted to forward the employee dress-code draft to the board (voice vote, 4-0), and voted to move the fundraising policy to old business (voice vote, 4-0). All formal motions taken during the meeting passed with the four members present voting in favor unless otherwise noted.

Next steps: staff will prepare the consolidated drafts (conduct, confidentiality, dress code, fundraising) and circulate them to committee members before submission to the library board. The committee asked staff to bring the unattended-children policy back for a detailed rewrite in a future meeting.