Governance HUB

Recorded January 2019

With the recent appointments to library boards, there are many questions about the work to be done over the next four years. 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.

Southern Ontario Public Library Boards (Please see below for information regarding Public Library Boards in Northern Ontario)

In April and May 2019, SOLS staff will provide in-person governance workshops at several locations throughout southern Ontario. These workshops will highlight governance best practices and will be aimed at board members and CEOs attending together!  

These 3-hour sessions are an excellent opportunity for new and returning board members and CEOs to learn about boardroom practices that support informed decision-making and strategic oversight. The sessions will be interactive, with lots of time for networking, as well as time to have a valuable discussion as a board, weighing and sifting new approaches to doing things, and looking for ways to improve board functioning and decision-making. 

The location of the workshops is based on the geographical areas of the Trustee Councils. For the most part, there are two meeting locations for each of the eight Trustee Councils. Boards and CEOs are welcome to a workshop at the location that is most convenient.

In addition to the above workshop dates and locations, SOLS staff will also be presenting as part of two locally organized board development days:

• April 27^th in West Lincoln for Niagara area libraries
• May 11^th in East Gwillimbury for libraries in the north end of York region.

SOLS will consider organizing additional workshops if demand exceeds availability, based on the capacity of meeting rooms.

Northern Ontario Public Library Boards

Regional Training will be schedule for the Spring and Fall 2019 in select locations. Please send all expressions of interest to host a regional session to skills@olsn.ca.

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.