By Ellen Miller
How to build a savvy, diverse board that gets results? Start with candidates who match your skill profile. In addition to racial, ethnic, gender or age diversity, look at job and community experience. For example, adding Don Developer not only strengthens planning for your new branch – he also counterbalances that powerful city architect.
Recruiting FAQ
- Should only library users apply? No! Library virgins bring an outsider’s eye to strategic issues such as annual budgets and the collection development policy. They could be your most credible advocates, too.
- Who does the recruiting? It depends. Practices range from director-only to board chair-only, and every combination in between. Whoever does it, make sure prospects care about the library – and are willing to be a link with the community.
- How to set realistic expectations? Urge the prospect to attend 2-3 board meetings. Agenda, time management, personal chemistry – they’ll see both diamonds and duds. Sending your trustees’ duties list and ethics statement show that legal and fiduciary duties are more than fancy words.
Once Walter Wonderful is hooked, he’ll either file for election or fill out an application form. This blog post deals with appointments.
Appointers Need Deft Handling
Some mayors and county judges indeed choose only chums. And some directors passively wait to see who’ll be named to the board. However, communicating with appointers often gets the diversity and skills you need.
Library directors, only you can captain the appointer education effort. With your board’s help, decide who’s best to pitch Walter Wonderful’s candidacy. Enlist Friends’ president Franny who is close to Mayor Marsha. Franny’s words will score two ways:
- Walter — a marketing executive and former Parent-Teachers president — has needed experience
- Franny — a busy bank vice president and mom — took the time to urge this library board appointment
Does contacting appointers work? Sometimes. But Mayor Marsha will certainly note two other messages with longer-term implications:
- Both the contactor and the candidate are her constituents
- Both care enough about your library to advocate for it.
Fast Start Needed
Help your newbies catch on. Provide an orientation mix of tours, demos, briefings and documents. Documents start with your strategic plan and your state trustee manual. Cover legal documents such as joint agreements with county and municipal governments. Also have your attorney conduct a legal briefing on executive sessions, conflict of interest, etc.
A solid orientation gives new trustees the confidence to ask questions. Constituents get effective trustees who pull their weight faster such as Kansas’ Terry Goodman, Jennifer Lathrum and Ken Davis (with Johnson County Librarian Donna Lauffer).
Storks don’t bring babies. So don’t wait for fate — or storks — to deliver your new trustees. Take charge to get the diverse board your community needs.
Hi, Ellen-Glad to find this! Thanks for pointing to our trustee manual, (which is just about to undergo an update). If you want to point to the specific page with the “skill profile”, here’s the link to that: http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/publications/trusteemanual/appendices/Appendix_V.pdf
FYI. I updated the post to reflect the direct link Lyn mentions.
Thanks Lyn for the detailed URL. Your Georgia trustee manual has other very useful parts such as “Local funding authorities and political leaders” on pdf p. 23 — http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/publications/trusteemanual/
If there’s one thing we trustees need to know more about, it’s dealing with folks at City Hall and the Courthouse.