Board Orientation and Training
Meeting minutes from April 18:
You have new board members. Now what?
As someone who has recently been elected to a somewhat difficult board, here is what I would do now for my new board members:
First and foremost, please reach out to them to welcome them to the board. It doesn’t matter what your political feelings are or whether or not you know them. To start your working relationship on the right foot, please reach out and schedule a meeting. Ask the board president to attend the meeting also.
Things to ask:
· Ask what their preferred method of communication is and whether they need paper packets or electronic.
· Ask if they would prefer a large electronic or paper orientation packet.
· Ask why they ran for the board.
· Ask what their priorities are.
· Ask if they have questions about the library.
Things to explain:
·What is their role? Support, advocate, participate, hire/evaluate/fire the director
·How to contact the board president
·What to say to a taxpayer about the library
Have a conversation to see if you can find some common ground. The last thing you want as a director is to be unprepared for the first meeting with a new board.
Before the new board member’s first board meeting, schedule an orientation/tour. As part of the orientation, show them how to access their email and L2 account (set these up before the meeting). You might consider signing them up for some various library newsletters (RAILS, the consortium, Ancel Glink Municiple Minute, etc). Present them with their trustee binder and briefly go through the important parts. A lot of it will serve as reference for later on. Personally, I prefer a paper binder so I can read it later away from my computer. But, to each their own. Here is how I would organize my binders:
Welcome letter
By-laws/mission/vision
Meeting dates/times, committees
Calendar of events (I had a one-page list of months and deadlines)
Board list with term expiration dates and contact information
ALA/ISL/RAILS/Consortia and explanations of roles
Continuing education expectations: OMA/FOIA/L2/Trustee Handbook
Library map
Staff organization chart with job titles/descriptions if they’re not obvious
Current strategic plan
Current levy/bank balances/most recent audit
Policy manual
Employee handbook
Emergency preparedness plan
The tour: It should include the offices/back rooms and a casual conversation about your trouble areas. The new board member might be more amenable to voting yes on a capital improvement plan if they know that it has been an issue for some time. At the same time, let them know if there are areas that you are proud of. Also, make sure that you let your staff know when the meeting is happening and ask that key staff be ready to introduce themselves and talk to the new board member. It will make the new board member feel like part of the team.
Reserve time at the first board meeting for everyone to give a more in-depth introduction of themselves. Also, it is very important to have name tags or table tents, especially at the first meeting.
Next step: Continuing education and board development. Now is the time to ask the board to approve a policy to ensure that all trustees are learning something about their library. If passing a policy won’t work, ask them to sign a Continuing Education Pledge. I think that asking the board to commit to one webinar a quarter is not asking a lot. You could suggest that they focus on specific tracks based on their committees or interests (finance, legal, programming, etc.).
Continuing education opportunities for board members:
· Everyone on the board has to do the OMA training within 90 days. But, I think it would be good to go over some OMA/FOIA basics at the meeting. If anyone has a good resource for that, I would love to share it.
· Schedule a board development day and ask Nancy Sylvester to talk about parliamentary procedure.
· During a light board meeting, show your new board members how to log on to L2 to access continuing education opportunities (and you can filter the search in L2 to trustee specific audiences). Your current board will probably need the review as well.
· Illinois State Library training archives here
· Webjunction: you can limit search by Friends, Trustees, and Volunteers here
· RAILS has an entire page and SO MUCH on the archives list here
· The Illinois Secretary of State has a whole e-book they can read.
Once you have a better idea of who your trustees are, it’s time to think about how your trustees can serve the library. Here are a few ideas:
· Ask them to start attending programs to report on them at the meetings
· See if they can volunteer for a few hours a few times a year for craft prep
· Maybe they would be willing to be cookie distributors at the blood drive
· Or maybe they have a local connection to a business and can secure prizes for SRC?
Last but not least, check in with your new board member to ask if there is anything you can improve. After 4 months of meetings, they should have an idea of what to expect and have probably have a suggestion or two to improve the flow of the meetings. Try to take their suggestions with a grain of salt and a positive attitude.
The articles below are geared toward non-profit boards, but could apply to any board, including libraries. Here are some articles to read if you want more:
· Welcoming and Training New Members to a Board of Director
· Board Recruitment - Responsibilities, Electing and Training
· Welcoming and Training New Members to a Board of Directors
· Trustee Training | Reaching Across Illinois Library System
· Social Media Best Practices for Library Trustees
· Tips for Successful Onboarding of New Board Members
· Freedom Lifted Training | Reaching Across Illinois Library System
· iasb.com/IASB/media/Documents/JPBSunshine.pdf
Extra notes from the meeting:
· Megan mentioned in the meeting that she has started to include a “Staff Highlight” in her board packets so her board can learn a little bit about her staff.
· Jessica from RAILS asked me to share with you all an advocacy webinar coming soon on 4/23/25 at 1:00. Register here. She also asked that if you have IMLS or advocacy questions, please send them in on the form on the registration page.