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Library Trustees - Overview

Orientation

An article in the July 2017 Library Hotline by Maxine Bleiweis, 2015 recipient of the Charles Robinson Award for Innovative Leadership and former Executive Director of the Westport Library in Connecticut, neatly orients new trustees.

Additional resources for anyone serving on a library board is United for Libraries (formerly the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF)), a division of the American Library Association. Additional pointers can be found in United for Libraries' Trustee Tip Sheets.

Library boards

• Represent the community to the library;
• Advocate for the library:
  • To the community at large;
  • To elected officials.
• Work with library administration in planning and setting goals;
• Develop and implement policies that govern library services;
• "Adopt such bylaws, rules, and regulations for their own guidance and for the government of the library." RCW 27.12.210(1)
  • Bylaws should clearly describe the:
    • Purpose of the board of trustees;
    • Officers of the board, election method, their authority, duties, and term of office;
    • Role of the library director in support of the board;
    • Requirements for board members to remain in good standing, such as attendance at regular and special meetings;
    • Cause and process for removal from board membership;
    • Quorum required for a meeting;
    • Procedural rules for conducting meetings, such as Robert's Rules of Order;
    • Requirements of the state open public meetings laws in relation to study sessions, special meetings, executive sessions, notice to the public, etc.;
    • Requirements that implement state public records laws for access to board minutes, policies, planning documents, and other materials;
    • Standing committees, their duties, and membership;
    • Provisions for special committees or task forces that may include members in addition to the board;
    • Regular meeting pattern (e.g., the first Friday of each month);
    • Annual timetable for required activities, reports, reviewing bylaws, library policies, etc.;
    • Process for amending bylaws.

Board-Director Relationships

The healthy board-director relationship is about mutual understanding and respect. The healthy relationship is demonstrated in the following ways:

• The board and the director recognize that each has an important role to play in providing library services.
• The board provides the director with a written job description and evaluates the director's work in a constructive way at least annually.
• The board does not interfere with the daily operation of the library unless specifically asked to do so by the director. In other words, the board allows the director to do the job she or he was hired to perform.
• The director keeps the board adequately informed about the operation of the library. He or she recognizes when a decision goes beyond the authority of the library's staff and takes these issues to the board.
• The board solicits the director's opinions about all issues upon which it will act. The board will always show the director the professional courtesy of asking her or him how a specific decision might impact the day-to-day operation of the library.
• The director carries out policy set by the board even if he or she does not agree with it. The director, in other words, recognizes that the board has the ultimate legal authority for governing the library. (N.B.: In some states, the library board is advisory, not governing.)
• When disagreements occur, they are discussed openly and honestly between the library's director and board in regular or special board meetings held pursuant to their state's open meeting law. Neither the board members nor the director discusses these problems with other members of the public behind each other's back.

In order for the trustee-director relationship to work, trustees need to adhere to the following principles:

• The staff is directed only by the library director, who interprets board-approved policies to the staff and carries out the total library program as accepted by the board.
• Individual trustees never give orders or instructions to the staff.
• Trustees wishing to comment on the performance of the staff make these comments directly to the library director.
• Trustees never interfere in the hiring process other than to agree to job descriptions and personnel policies.
• The board is a final recourse for employees who have exhausted accepted appeals channels.
• The Director was hired to run the library and has supervisory authority over the library's other employees.
• Chain of command is to be respected without exception.

What Library Boards Should Not Do

The board is charged with establishing policy and long-term plans for the direction of the library. The board hires the library director and delegates to the director the responsibility for managing the library and all of its daily operations. The director implements the policies and direction set by the board. Although planning, policy-making, and management are obviously interrelated, the following caveats should be kept in mind:

• Boards should not run their libraries; they should see that they are run properly;
• Boards should not attempt to manage their libraries; they must see that the libraries are managed properly. Micromanaging is always a temptation that board members must avoid;
• Individual board members have no legal authority over the library. Their authority is derived as a member of the board during official meetings or as an authorized representative of the board;
• Boards should not demean library staff in public;
• Boards should not disregard without consideration suggestions or advice from the library director;
• Boards are not the communication link between:
  • The staff and the director;
  • The community and the staff;
  • If a municipal library, the city government and the library.
  These are the responsibility of the library director.
• The relationship between the board and the library director is not a competition. The board should not try to dominate the director; the director should not try to dominate the board. Neither should try to undermine the other by discussing problems with members of the public or library behind each other's back. Both parties need to remember their ultimate purpose - to serve the needs of their community;

Summary of Recommended Board Officers and Committees

Organizing the board is the first step toward realizing its goals. Sample job positions for the following positions may provide a framework for delineating the roles of board members:

• Chair;
• Vice Chair;
• Secretary;
• Treasurer;
• Basic Library Trustee.

Some boards establish a number of standing committees to address specific matters such as:

• Budget and finance;
• Buildings and equipment;
• Planning;
• Policy review and development;
• Public relations;
• Personnel.

Consider organizing your board's work through task forces:

• Task forces are a dynamic alternative to committees, designed to get specific things done;
• Task forces can focus on strategic priorities and urgent business.

The following guidelines should be kept in mind when using task forces:

• A specific task is to be achieved in a limited amount of time, usually less than 3 months;
• A trustee should be appointed leader, working with 2 or 3 others;
• Deadlines should be set to create a sense of urgency;
• The group should work on the task between, not at, board meetings;
• The task force should report on progress, outcomes, next steps, and new tasks that need to be done;
• Each board member should serve on at least 1 task force;
• Never allow task forces to turn into static committees! Task forces are designed to take SMALL steps that add up to big results.

Standing committees, as well as ad hoc committees or task forces, may include appointees that are not board members.

Committees and task forces provide options and recommendations to the board. They do not make the final decisions. The library director is also expected to provide options and recommendations for board consideration.

Role of the Library Director in Board Meetings

The director attends all board meetings, and is usually asked by the board chair to participate in executive sessions.

The library director is responsible for all operations of the library. In order to support the work of the board, the director provides information and research, proposes options, drafts policies, or makes other recommendations for board consideration. The director supplies staff work, coordinates major efforts such as a long-range planning process, raises questions, describes programs, and assesses both the successes and failures of the library program. The director may also provide, or arrange for, continuing education for trustees.

Model Friends' Cooperative Network, a helpful chart illustrating the roles of the library director, trustees, and friends, may be found among the Organizational Tools for Trustees provided by United for Libraries.

Frequently Asked Questions