This section is for your library’s job descriptions; vision, mission, and core value statements; policies; board bylaws; strategic plan; and other plans.
- The job description for your library director.
(See director description examples from Webjunction) - The job descriptions for your library staff members.
(See staff description examples from Webjunction) - The job description for your library trustees.
- The job description for your library’s city council liaison (does not apply to district libraries).
- Your library’s vision statement and/or mission statement, and/or customer service vision statement, and/or core values statement.
- A library’s vision statement is a broad view of how it is going to leave an impact on patrons and the greater community. The library’s mission statement, on the other hand, tells a) what the library does, b) how this is done, c) for whom it is done, and d) what value the library brings to the community. A library’s mission statement does not have to look like any other library’s mission statement. The important thing is to figure out what is important to the library’s community and start from there. A customer service vision statement is one that clearly defines the type of customer service employees are expected to provide. In some organizations, this is a standalone statement that is separate from the mission, vision, and values statements. It can also be integrated into one or more of the other statements.
- Your board’s bylaws, your library’s strategic plan, any other plans the new or interim director should know about, and the dates these documents were created and modified
- The board’s bylaws are the rules that govern how the board operates. Boards that create good bylaws for themselves can operate with greater efficiency, consistency, and objectivity. Bylaws describe the offices of the board, duties of each office, the rules under which regular and special meetings will be held, the standing committees of the board (if any), and any other permanent operating procedures for the board itself.
- If your library needs to create or modify its strategic plan, ICfL Public Library Consultant Clay Ritter (clay.ritter@libraries.idaho.gov) can help with development or revision.
- Your library’s emergency preparedness plan, or where to find it.
- A copy of the Idaho Ethics In Government Manual.
- Your library’s policies. Library policy defines the framework of the library’s operation. The library director implements policies set by the board. The board works with the library director to adopt, amend, or retire library policies. This is one of the most important functions of the library board. A library policy is only a policy once it has been approved by the library’s governing board in an open meeting held according to Idaho’s Open Meetings Law, chapter 2, title 74, Idaho Code. The most common library policies include:
- 3D Printer and Maker Policy
- Acceptable Conduct Policy (sometimes known as Patron Conduct Policy)
- Circulation (of Library Materials) Policy or Lending Policy
- Collection Development and Management Policy (sometimes known as the Collection Development Policy or Materials Selection Policy)
- Confidentiality of Patron Records
- Gifts and Sponsorship Policy (sometimes two separate policies)
- Internet Use and Safety Policy – see the requirements in Idaho Code section 33-2741
- Meeting Room Policy
- Unattended Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy
United for Libraries offers links to several sample policies.