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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
Webinars
Workshops
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. Note: Years 2,3 and 4 are still under construction, but topics to be covered are listed.
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
WEBINARS
Webinar on 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
WORKSHOPS
Regional Workshops on Governance Best Practices
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.
Please note a LearnHQ account is required to register. Each individual participant must register for the workshops.
For any inquiries, please email support@learnhq.ca or fill out the support form.
Location
Date
Time
Registration
Main Branch
100 Norfolk St
Guelph, ON N1H 4J6
Saturday, April 6
Central Branch
251 Dundas St
London, ON N6A 6H9
254 Pinnacle St
Belleville, ON K8N 3B1
130 Johnson St
Kingston, ON K7L 1X8
Saturday, April 27
360 Dibble St W
Prescott, ON K0E 1T0
Saturday, April 27
Eagles Nest Hall
178 Jane St
Eganville, ON K0J 1T0
295 Muskoka Rd S
Gravenhurst, ON P1P 1J1
Thursday, May 2
320 King St
Midland, ON L4R 3M6
Saturday, May 4
30 Herriott St
Perth, ON K7H 1T2
Saturday, May 4
Central Branch
1 Atkinson St
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 0H5
Saturday, May 4
Bridgenorth Branch
836 Charles St
Bridgenorth, ON K0L 1H0
Wednesday, May 8
824 1st Ave W
Owen Sound, ON N4K 4K4
Saturday, May 11
19 St Andrew St
Stratford, ON N5A 1A2
Saturday, May 25
(en français)
2-1525 Du Parc Ave
Rockland, ON K4K 1C3
Central Library
55 York Blvd
Hamilton, ON L8N 4E4
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 27th in West Lincoln for Niagara area libraries
- May 11th 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 scheduled for the Spring and Fall 2019 in select locations. Please send all expressions of interest to host a regional session to skills@olsn.ca.
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 Anne Marie Madziak, Service Development Director at SOLS or The Skills Team at OLS - North.
