Basic Responsibilities
The library board is legally responsible for overseeing the efficient and effective operation of the public library. Board members, operating as a team, hire the library’s administrator (the library director), plan the library’s services, and approve the library’s policies. They decide how much the library will request for its budget, and they have, according to Idaho Code, exclusive control of the expenditure of library funds.
Being a library trustee, then, is not just an honor. It is a responsibility. Good library board members do not just attend board meetings. They also take the time to study the role of library trustee. They are aware of the laws that govern public agencies in general and the public library in particular. They learn what is going on in the library community by participating in state-wide library organizations and attending continuing education opportunities. They read and understand the bylaws of their board and the policies of their library. They talk to members of the community about the library, and they bring this input with them to board meetings.
Effective Trustees
The issues and decisions involved in the administration of the modern public library are varied and complex. Trusteeship is not an honorary position. It is a working relationship with the community, library director, and fellow trustees. Trustees must devote a great deal of time and express a high level of interest to fulfill their duties. Commitment is the primary qualification for those who serve on the board.
Effective boards consist of informed, dedicated citizens who represent a cross-section of the community. There is a direct correlation between the quality of service a library offers its community and the knowledge, capability, and enthusiasm of its board members.
Being a trustee is the most important volunteer position in the library, and the only one that is not supervised by the library director or his designee. Because it is not possible to supervise one’s supervisor, it is important that each library trustee respect boundaries by not volunteering for other jobs within the library until after her or his term has ended.
Effective Trustees Are Citizens Who Have:
- Readiness to devote time and effort to learning about the library in addition to the statutory duties and responsibilities of the job
- Recognition of the importance of the library as a center of information, culture, recreation, lifelong learning, and economic development in the community
- Willingness to become knowledgeable in areas of librarianship that include standards, trends, and new developments
- Rapport with the community, including a concerned awareness of diverse social and economic conditions, needs, and interests of all segments of the public
- Positions of leadership in the community in government, business, education, finance, law, or related fields
- Initiative and ability to work cooperatively with others
- Sound judgement, a sense of fiscal responsibility, legal understanding, and political awareness
- Verbal and written communication skills, the ability to relate to the public, and the availability to represent the library at public functions and meetings
- Willingness to participate with local, state, and national library leaders and trustees to improve library service on all levels.
A Trustee Knows:
- Type and organization of your library board
- City library — a library established by a city ordinance and operating under the provisions of chapter 26, title 33, Idaho Code
- Public library district — a library established and operating under the provisions of chapter 27, title 33, Idaho Code, as an independent taxing district
- School-Community library — a public library established by the electors of a school district for the benefit of its citizens. There are currently three school-community library districts in Idaho. As of June 30, 1994, no new school-community library may be established.
- Laws under which the library is organized
- Duties and responsibilities of a member of the board
- Library services and resources available
- Local government – structure, people, and operations
- Information needs and interests of the community
- How to work effectively in a group
- That all powers are at all times vested in the library board and none at all in the individual board member
- That the individual has no power to act for the library in any way, unless authorized by the board itself
- That it is always the board as a unit that holds the responsibility and the powers
- The Idaho Commission for Libraries and how to contact her public library consultant
- National library trends, standards, and developments
- Librarians use a lot of professional jargon and will be glad to translate.
A Trustee Attends:
- Every board meeting and assigned committee meeting
- Idaho Library Association (ILA), Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA), Association of Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL), American Library Association (ALA) meetings and/or conferences whenever possible
- Other area and local library-specific meetings and workshops
- Online training opportunities to enhance board service skills.
A Trustee Plans:
- For future growth and priorities of the library
- Policies of the library
- Bylaws of the library board
- Active community awareness programs
- Orientation for new board members.
A Trustee Supports:
- The library director and library
- The local governing body
- The community and citizens she or he represents.
A Trustee Supports or Opposes:
- Local, state, and federal legislation affecting libraries — always for the good of libraries.
A Trustee Acts:
- To articulate the library’s needs
- To seek funding to support the library’s plan of service and its operations
- To promote the library at all times — not only when called upon by the library’s director, city council, or private citizens
- To develop good personal relations with local, state, and federal representatives of government
- To make himself, his board, and his library visible in the community
- To ensure the best interests of the library and the community it serves.
A Trustee Remembers:
- To keep confidential information confidential and does not give out information regarding future board actions or plans
- Not to voice her opposition or criticism, either publicly or privately, after a policy or rule is adopted by a majority vote of the board
- To carry his full share of responsibility as a board member, assuring that a few members do not have to do all the work or take all the blame or praise
- That all five trustees — including the chair — are equals, each with voting rights
- That individual trustees do not make assignments for the library’s director, but must make these decisions as a group, in an open meeting, and following chain of command
- That the library board does not involve itself in the internal operations of the library, which is the library director’s job.
Twelve Golden Rules for Board Members
- A Trustee must have an interest in the library. Does she or he believe in the educational, informational, and recreational role of the library to fight for the library as the church member fights for her or his church, the school person for her or his educational program, the doctor for her or his patient? It is a duty of the Trustee to do so.
- A Trustee must have time to give to the library. Continuity of policy is almost impossible if a board member is absent two our of three meetings. No citizen should accept appointment as a library Trustee if she or he does not intend to come regularly to meetings. Likewise, a Trustee who finds new interests interfering with attendance should resign.
- A Trustee must consider the position not a matter or prestige, but an opportunity for courageous and forward-looking efforts to push the library ahead. An ideal trustee is a good businessperson, is interested in education, has few prejudices, and has good judgement, sound character, common sense, and public spirit. A Trustee should be chosen with these personal qualities in mind and not because of the church she or he attends, the section of town in which she or he lives, her or his political party affiliations, and so on.
- A Trustee must know the law under which the library is organized.
- A Trustee serves without compensation.
- A Trustee carries a full share of responsibility as a board member, assuring that a few members do not have to do all the work or take all the blame or praise.
- A Trustee does not voice her or his opposition or criticism, either publicly or privately, after a policy or rule is adopted by a majority vote of the board.
- A Trustee is careful to keep confidential information confidential and does not give out information regarding future board actions or plans.
- A Trustee treats the staff members and the librarian in a completely impersonal fashion. Under no circumstances does a Trustee listen to grievances of staff members or treat individual problems on her or his own. The library director is in charge of the staff and has administrative control until a grievance is presented to the library board as a whole.
- A Trustee should know the funding sources of the library and be familiar with the library budget.
- A Trustee must know the needs of the library and community and be aware of trends and new procedures in the library field. The best and perhaps only way to do this is to read professional library publications, meet with Trustees of other libraries, visit other libraries, and attend the annual conferences and meetings of Trustees and librarians.
- A Trustee knows that all powers are always vested in the library board and none at all in the individual board member. The individual has no power to act for the library in any way, unless authorized by the board itself; it is always the board as a unit that holds the responsibility and the powers.
Excerpted from The Public Library Start-Up Guide by Christine Lind Hage. Reprinted with permission from Ms. Hage.
Some Additional Guidelines for Trustees
- The actual management of the library is left to the library director, whose responsibility it is to select library materials, employ the staff, and supervise day-to-day operations.
- Trustees respect confidential information that is protected by Idaho’s Public Records Act, I.C. § 74-108. In addition, trustees do not divulge information regarding future board actions or plans until such action is officially taken.
- Trustees observe all publicity and information policies of the board and library. Trustees do not give information individually but refer requests to the library’s director or appropriate representative to interpret policies.
- Trustees do not suggest hiring a relative or two members of the same family as library employees.
- All rules, policies, and assignments directed to the library director are approved by a quorum of the board at a meeting held under the provisions of Idaho’s Open Meeting Law, chapter 2, title 74, Idaho Code. All five trustees — including the chairperson — are equals and abide by this rule.
- The board does not hold board meetings without the library director. It is the director’s job to attend all library meetings as stated in I.C. §§ 33-2608 and 33-2721.
- Complaints from the public are the library director’s responsibility. Continued dissatisfaction and problems are taken up at the board meeting only if policy revision is necessary or legal ramifications are involved.
Using Public Position for Personal Gain
I.C. § 18-1359(1)(e): No public servant shall appoint or vote for the appointment of any person related to him by blood or marriage within the second degree, to any clerkship, office, position, employment or duty, when the salary, wages, pay or compensation of such appointee is to be paid out of public funds or fees of office, or appoint or furnish employment to any person whose salary, wages, pay or compensation is to be paid out of public funds or fees of office, and who is related by either blood or marriage within the second degree to any other public servant when such appointment is made on the agreement or promise of such other public servant or any other public servant to appoint or furnish employment to anyone so related to the public servant making or voting for such appointment. Any public servant who pays out of any public funds under his control or who draws or authorizes the drawing of any warrant or authority for the payment out of any public funds of the salary, wages, pay, or compensation of any such ineligible person, knowing him to be ineligible, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished as provide in this chapter.
I.C. § 18-1359(3): No person related to a mayor or member of a city council by blood or marriage within the second degree shall be appointed to any clerkship, office, position, employment or duty with the mayor’s or city council’s city when the salary, wages, pay or compensation of such appointee or employee is paid out of public funds.
The above consanguinity chart is from the Idaho Ethics in Government Manual, published by the Office of Attorney General of Idaho. Reprinted with permission.
