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April 6, 2009
Ontario
Very interesting and informative international correspondence in progress from which I extract this view from Peter Griffith, who used to be on the board of public libraries in Ontario
"In Ontario, the Libraries Act of Provincial Government in Toronto governs how libraries controlled in the province - not the federal government in Ottawa. The library is to be governed by a Board of Trustees who have two legal responsibilities - to hire a Chief Librarian/CEO and to prepare the annual budget. The budget is then presented to city hall at their budget time.The budget is presented initially to two city hall committees and finally the full council. They can refuse to give us the money we ask for - but mostly they tinker about the edges. The city provides the Library Board with 95% of its budget, the remaing 5% coming from the Provincial Government of Ontario
The Board will usually have 2-3 councillors on it, with lay people being chosen by City Council and the two Boards of Education through an interview process. Some Boards are better than others and some people do see it as the first step in a political career! But it does keep the city council a step removed from library service management. As an example, when we developed a new Central Library and built two new branches, the Board chose the Architects - not city hall. It also allows the Board to make deals with private businesses.
Having a Board has some additional benefits for libraries. Firstly, we can fundraise for a Trust Fund through all kinds of typical and not so typical fundraising activities of our Friends of the LIbrary, or having people leave money in their wills to the library (gift giving). This money is not controlled by the politicians of city council ... which often makes people more willing to support the library by donating money in someway.
Secondly, the Board owns many of the library buildings and in a couple of instances is infact a landlord - this generates revenue too.
Finally, there is a Library Board Trustees Association which allows trustees to learn about what other libraries are doing and any innovative ideas that are being tried.
Personally, I think it is an idea that should be pursued in the UK."
Thank you, Peter, for your permission to quote this
Posted by Perkins at April 6, 2009 5:21 PM
Comments
One of the other advantages we have at the city council level is NO political parties. So despite being of a leftish persuasion, I have worked with more conservative politicians because they have strongly supported the public libraries in my community. An example would be a politician who got money put back into a budget after someone had "tinkered at the edges" and tried to remove monies for the Childrens' Library.
And as I pointed out, you don't always get good trustees. One I remember in particular (an assistant school headmaster) looked at a strategic plan and said, "ooh the graphs are pretty".
I almost cried.
gryff :)
Posted by: gryff at April 6, 2009 9:27 PM