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Hamilton City Library has taken paperbacks to our County Jail. Also, there is Kimmie's Closet in Eureka -any books you want to give. One time a board member took a couple of boxes (none that have been in a library- but will take books that we have donated) and sold a few for a small amount of money.

watched the recording of this zoom

Thanks for doing this. There were some I hadn't seen before, and that is good!

The library board should not dictate the day-to-day running of the library to the director. If a new director feels that library furnishings need to be updated or replaced with something more comfortable, she should have the flexibility to do that within reasonable budgetary constraints. It may not be comfortable for the board to be asked to make many changes before a director has proven her judgement to be reliable, but both parties need to work toward making the other happy and strive for a healthy give-and-take relationship. The director is hired to run the library, which includes choosing topics and presenters for programs. Boards should let the director try new topics and speakers without interference. The mere fact that a topic has never been done in a community before does not mean that there is not an audience for it in even the smallest town. The Director makes programming decisions as she makes materials choices. The board does not choose programs, books, movies, magazines, etc. A professional director is prepared to make programming and collection development choices because she is trained for exactly that purpose. Continuing education to aid the director in keeping her professional skills up to date is necessary. The board should be prepared to approve travel and education for the director to the extent the budget can be stretched to do so, and sometimes the budget may need to be expanded to cover necessary educational expenses.

The tax funds that support a public library were voted for by citizens for the purpose of establishing and running that public library. They were never meant to be diverted for the purpose of providing college scholarships for anyone. Library boards do not have the authority to provide college scholarships with library money. Library money is only legally used for operating the public library. When libraries have fund-raisers for purposes other than operating the library, the implication is that the library already has enough money to operate. Most small libraries do not have enough money to meet state standards, much less donate fund-raising money to alternate causes. Libraries that sometimes hold fund-raisers for non-library causes are trivializing the very real budget-crunch public libraries experience. When they are operating under the name of the library, the library board and the library staff should only be fund-raising for the library. Sometimes holding bake sales to buy more library materials and sometimes selling raffle tickets to raise scholarship money makes it unclear to the community where the library's priorities lie. It is not ethical for libraries to use money raised by the library (trustees or staff) for anything other than the library. Citizens and members of the press could very well raise the conflict when these discrepancies become public. Don't do this in your libraries.

If any member of the library director's family is a member of the library board, there will always be the appearance of unfairness. Decisions of the board will always be suspected of unfairly favoring the director's perspective, or of going too far in the opposite direction by being too negative against the director. Nepotism is always a bad idea and in a government work setting such as a library where tax dollars are being spent, it is doubly unwise. Small libraries and large libraries are bound by the same laws. There is no exception to the Open Meetings or Open Records laws for small libraries. Citizens of small communities and rural areas deserve to have libraries that adhere to the same ethical and legal standards as libraries in larger towns and cities. Ethical standards or legal requirements are not optional, no matter the library's size.

It is critical that the library have regular hours, prominently posted for the public to see. Opening when we say we will open is of major importance because the library should be a community resource that everyone can depend on. If the director has to be late occasionally, arrangements should be made in advance for another staff member or volunteer to open the library and help patrons until the director arrives. I have heard library staff and board members talk about computer use not being as important as book circulation. These comments seemed to mean that patrons who check out books are more legitimate than those who use our computers. But it is not the job of the library to place more or less value on library uses. Every person who comes in, whether for the very first time, or for the fifth time in one day; to stay for a single reference question, or to play games on the computer for five hours; to check out the latest bestseller or ten movies, deserves the same amount of respect and service from all library staff. If we greet some patrons with a smile and call them by name, but don't even acknowledge the entrance of other patrons, or if we ask a patron who is using a computer to play a game to give up the computer before his time, we imply that some library uses are more valid than others. When a library payment is made using a check, a credit card, or cash, a receipt showing the date, purpose, payee, and amount should always be retained. This is the way that every expense for running the library can be tracked and justified if there is ever a question. Small amounts of money that are unaccounted for add up to questions about the legitimacy of library spending.

lee.. very interesting

lee...very helpfull

The director should have addressed this issue, before a member of the community had to take the problem to the board. Hopefully this is not a very common problem, but we are sure sometimes it could happen. Maybe the patron has a medical condition that causes a strange odor, hopefully it is not that the patron just has poor hygiene. Maybe the staff could start talking about some new body soap, or shampoo and ask if the patron has tried it, and suggest, very tactfully they might want to try it . That would not solve the problem, but if the situation does not change, it might be the only way to fix the problem. This video was watched by Elaine, JoAnn, Carla, Lee.

They might think that the library was not spending the monies on the library. If the library is holding a fund raiser for the sole purpose of raising monies for a scholarship, there should be that information provided to the community. Once again, they might think that the taxpayer monies are not being spend properly. We do not think so, sometimes, community members, or a reporter can get a better feel of what the library is trying to do, by helping a deserving student in the community.

it seems that the director and the board do not communicate very well, it seems the board thinks the director is just off doing something that has nothing to do with library business. The director needs to make it clear to the board members that all the meetings he or she is attending are for the benefit of the library. The board should expect the director to keep them completely updated on any old business and on anything that may benefit the library in the future. The director should expect the board make suggestions and advice about anything that would help they library grow. And help the librarian and director in any way they can, in otherwords, all work together to better the library. The director needs to be professional when it comes to working with the board, if there is any criticism , questions, or any problems, the director needs to address them maturely, and work with the board to resolve the issues. This video was viewed be, joann, carla, elaine, tiffiny and lee.

elaine, joann, carla, lee have the same thoughts on this subject. the board members needed to ask if they could help clean the library. they had no right just to go in and start throwing books away. and if they do not know the mpaa ratings, do not touch .

joann, elaine, carla and lee liked this idea. we have had some members of our little community ask if we have ever done anything like this. our board interested in getting more information about being able to set up a scholarship fund.

lee, elaine, carla, joann thought this was good information. we do not hire new workers, but we are starting to use some of these ideas in getting new board members, friends of the library, and our jr. friends of the library . so we have people that will help us in the library.

carla, elaine, joann, lynn, nicole and lee liked this video. carla said they dont have to worry about getting a full explanation and receipts for all our expenditures. and the board and the librarian do not play favorites, family or not.

nice!