Governance HUB
Resources, training, and information for members of Ontario's public library boards
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The Four Year Board Cycle
10 Things to Know
Workshops
Webinars
THE FOUR YEAR BOARD CYCLE
The Governance HUB is organized around a 4-year life cycle for public library boards, aligned with Ontario’s 4-year board and council terms. Below you will see the theme and some sample topics for each of the 4 years.
By no means prescriptive, the 4-year cycle is designed to offer boards suggestions for developing a work plan. A balanced work plan should consider the board’s education needs as well as the scheduling of tasks to meet the intended goals of the board.
You can access the resources by clicking on any one of the Year Boxes below.
Resources to assist with board orientation are part of Year 1 and include suggestions for successfully orienting new board members.
10 THINGS TO KNOW AS A BOARD MEMBER
10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
AS A NEW BOARD MEMBER
WORKSHOPS
Regional Workshops on Governance Best Practices
From April to October 2019, SOLS and OLS-North staff will provide in-person governance workshops at several locations throughout Southern Ontario.
These 3-hour sessions are an opportunity for new and returning board members and CEOs to:
- Learn about governance best practices that support informed decision-making and strategic oversight.
- Find new approaches to doing things and ways to improve board functioning and decision-making.
- Network and participate in valuable discussion.
Webinar Recording
Download Webinar Slides
Download Workshop Handouts
WEBINARS
Financial Stewardship: The Public Library Board's Role and Responsibilities
Join a staff member and board member from London Public Library for a discussion about the public library board’s role in the financial management and stewardship of the library. Emphasizing the public library board’s role in ensuring good governance, this webinar highlights the kind of information boards need to make informed decisions and the questions that boards should ask of staff related to the library’s finances and budget.
Our Presenters:Emily Schinbein, Director, Financial Services, London Public Library
James Shelley, Board Member, London Public Library Board
Governance Fundamentals
New and returning board members benefit from governance training in addition to having access to good information. To aid in your board’s early orientation, OLS – North and SOLS are offering a recorded webinar on the topic of Governance Fundamentals (Duration: 25 minutes).
This webinar covers topics such as the legislative context of the library board, the authority of the library board, the appointment of officers, the management of meetings, including open and closed meeting processes, as well as begin to discuss roles and responsibilities for policy-making and planning.
Recorded January 2019
Download Webinar Slides
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
ABOUT US
The provincial government funds two public library support agencies: the Ontario Library Service-North (OLS – North) and the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS). OLS-North and SOLS deliver programs and services on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport by increasing co-operation and co-ordination among public library boards and other information providers, and to promote the provision of library services to the public by assisting public library boards with services and programs that reflect their needs, including consulting, training and development services.
The Ontario Library Association (OLA) is the oldest continually-operating non-profit library association in Canada, with over 5,000 members comprised of library staff and supporters from the public, school, academic, and special libraries. The Ontario Library Boards' Association (OLBA) is a division of OLA that represents public library board members (trustees) on issues relating to their areas of responsibility. The work of the OLBA is primarily to build a professional development (training) program that is responsive to common issues of common concern
The Federation of Ontario Public Libraries (FOPL) represents 246 public library systems in Ontario, including 45 First Nations public libraries, in communities throughout the Province.
CONTACT US
For more information, please contact the Consulting Team at SOLS or the Skills Development Team at OLS—North.
