Libraries, Archives, Museums: Resources for Library Trustees: Home

Board Orientation

The Successful Library
Trustee Handbook written by Mary Y. Moore includes an excellent list of orientation documents to give to newly appointed library board members.

A list of current board members, their contact information, and terms of office
description of board committees
bylaws of the board
library's vision and mission statement
copies of all current library policies
copies of current budget and latest audit report
board minutes for the last six months
annual reports for the last five years
diagram of organizational structure
copy of your state's library laws, including public meetings acts and library privacy laws
your state's trustee manual
description of the library's programs, services and hours
most current annual statistical report and other evaluative data
brochures or other publications about the library

Alaska Library Resources

Alaska Libraries
Interactive map of all the public libraries in Alaska. Includes contact information for each library.
Alaska Library Association
Alaska Library Law
Alaska Public Library Statistics
Alaska State Library

Advisory Board vs. Governing Board

A governing board determines the policies of the library, sets its budget, advocates for it and is responsible for the hiring and firing of the library director.

An advisory board provides counsel and recommendations to another. May be asked to advise on the hours the library is open, assist with strategic planning, evaluation of the librarian, and advocate for the library.

Websites

American Library Association
"The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world."
Association for Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends, and Foundations
"On February 1, 2009, Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA) and the Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) joined forces to become an expanded division of ALA known as the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, now United for Libraries."
BoardSource
BoardSource is a non-profit consulting organization that provides assistance to funders, partners, and nonprofit leaders.
Building a Culture of Learning with Library Boards [Recorded Webinar]
Candid
The Foundation Center and Guidestar have merged to form Candid. Resources available from Candid include training to improve your nonprofit, finding grant funding, researching and verifying nonprofits.
Copyright Clearance Center
"CCC's OnCopyright Education programs are designed to help you appreciate the importance of copyright and assist you in understanding what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content and explain the steps you and your colleagues can take to obtain copyright permission."
Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits
"Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits (FUN) covers the five main topics that board members need to know about nonprofit finance: Balance Sheets, Income Statements, IRS Form 990, Giving, and Oversight. It tells you what to look for in your organization to grow your mission and protect your assets."
Getting on Board! [Recorded Webinars]
This 8-part video series by WebJunction covers the following topics: board orientation, hiring and managing relations, planning and meetings, policies, PR and marketing, advocacy and money matters and buildings.
The Grantsmanship Center
The Grantsmanship Center provides grant seeking and proposal writing workshops to non-profits.
I Love Libraries
A website created by the American Library Association to keep the public informed on the exciting things happening in America's libraries.
Intellectual Freedom Resources for Trustees, Friends & Foundations
Libraries Transform
National Council of Nonprofits: Financial Management
Excellent list of free financial management resources. Topics include financial policies, financial education resources for board members and financial self-assessment tools.
Proactive Advocacy and Communication for Library Trustees and Staff [Recorded Webinar]
"Explores communication tools and strategies for boards and library staff to be better prepared for unknown changes."
State Libraries
List of state libraries in the United States.
Statistics
Library Statistics Program from the National Center for Education Statistics
The Trustee Toolkit
"The Trustee Toolkit: Hiring the Library Director is intended for use by library board members or trustees faced with the important task of hiring a new leader to run their library. Resources included in the toolkit include templates, including sample job descriptions, interview questions and a sample offer letter. "
Trustee Trouble: The Misadventures of a new library board member
This series of thirteen short and humorous videos are a great way to inform new library board members of their roles and responsibilities. The series follows Dan, a new library board member as he muddles through his 1st year on the library board.
The Washington Nonprofit Institute
The Washington Nonprofit Institute's website contains an excellent collection of board, finance, legal and planning tools and training materials.
Webjunction
"WebJunction partners with state library and other service agencies to provide cost-effective training and staff development programs that are convenient to access and easy to manage."

Trustee Documents

Citizens-Save-Libraries: A Power Guide for Successful Advocacy
United for Libraries
May 2013
Citizens-Save-Libraries Power Guide
This guide will walk you and your trustees through the advocacy process.
Five Leadership Roles for the Library Trustee
The five leadership roles are visionary, connector, fundraiser, voice and team player.
Board Roles and Responsibilities
National Council of Nonprofits has created a web site with extensive links to information and resources to new library trustees.

Public Library Trustee Manual
A template for use by state library agencies and public libraries

Handbook

The Successful Library Trustee Handbook by Mary Y. Moore; Association for Library Trustees and Advocates Staff (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9780838908914
Publication Date: 2004-11-01
Some boards of directors micromanage; others protect their turf to the detriment of their customers .Library consultant Mary Moore offers guidance on what trustees can do to foster an effective organization. This ALTA-approved training manual for members of library boards of trustees is for new trustees and experienced board members.

Contact me!

Valarie Kingsland

Email Me

Contact:

907-465-6611

Essential Library Documents

Hiring a New Library Director

Trustee Toolkit: Hiring a New Library Director
An online resource intended to assist library board members when tasked with hiring a new director for their library.
Happily Ever After: Board-Director Relationships that Work!
"A 4-part webinar series by Catherine Hakala-Ausperk focused on creating a strong foundation with clearly defined roles and responsibilities that will ease the impact of changes in management personnel at the library."

Organizational Self-Assessment Resources

The Performance Imperative
“The Performance Imperative” (PI) is the result of a full year of collaborative work by the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, a group of nonprofit leaders brought together and coordinated by the Leap of Reason team.
The purpose of the community is to:

inspire, motivate, and support nonprofit and public sector leaders (and their stakeholders) to build great organizations for greater societal impact
increase the expectation and adoption of high performance as the path toward that end."
Performance Imperative Organizational Self-Assessment (PIOSA)
"The PIOSA is designed to assess the core tenets of organizational culture and practice and how they lead to the results your are trying to achieve."

Financial Management Self-Assessment Tool
Created by the Nonprofit Association of Oregon
Indicators of Financial Crisis
Developed by the Foraker Group

Board Self-Evaluation Questionnaire
"A tool for improving Governance Practice for Voluntary and Community Organizations"