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Listen up, trustees!  It’s time to get serious about showing your library’s value to your community.  A rocky economy means fierce competition for tax dollars from the police, Public Works and others.

Make sure local officials help, not hinder, your library.  Where to start? With ARSL’s first-ever two-part webinar, Library Value:  What’s YOUR score? On October 9, find why you need “TWO goal posts:  Library and community.”

• Learn why trustees are the essential ingredient in savvy communications with officials
• Review the skill set needed for an effective board
• Hear “How we made friends with officials and gained control of our own budget” from library director P.J. Capps, Atchison, KS

Veteran trustees Jim Connor and Ellen Miller will join PJ to “tell it like it is” to get your dream team. Audience participation includes rating your relations with city/county officials, Q&A and a webinar evaluation.

On November 13, log in for the ARSL webinar’s second part, “How they see us:  Bulls-eye or fringe?” Topics will include:

• Image and marketing – and why your hard-pressed staff should bother!
• How partnerships can stretch dollars and show your community commitment
• Ways to position your library to get seats at – not under – decision-making tables

Tip:  Bring a power bar to these fast-paced sessions!  To join the ARSL webinars visit us at: http://www.webjunction.org/rural-webinars

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Ellen at www.ellenmillergroup.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.

Money talks! In good times and tight economic times, people are conscious of spending their money wisely. People also want their hard-earned dollars, given in the form of tax dollars, spent wisely. As a library trustee on a governing or an advisory Board, can you convince elected officials, your neighbors and taxpayers in general that they are getting a good return on their investment (ROI)? In other words, can you talk in dollars?

Investment

For-profit companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies need money to provide products and services. People who invest in these organizations, stockholders, individuals and grant agencies and taxpayers, all ask: “How do I measure my return on investment?” and “How do I know if my investment is really paying off?”

Return on Investment (ROI)

In the for-profit sector:

Company officials and boards of directors have developed formulas to measure the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. As stated in Wikipedia’s definition, this ratio is usually expressed as a percent and is referred to as ROI.

In library land:

Can you say your library users derive more than $4.00 in benefits for every $1.00 spent of taxpayer money? St. Louis Public Library can!

A pilot study of the St. Louis Public Library (SLPL) provided this claim of return on investment. The pilot study and its results are described in a Library Journal article, “Proving Your Library’s Worth: A Test Case.” The full research on library use of cost-benefit analysis to measure economic benefits and impacts is detailed in a how-to-manual: Measuring Your Library’s Value. Elliott, Donald S., et. al, American Library Association: Chicago. 2007.

In “Public libraries pack a powerful $$$ punch”, Tom Story summarizes findings from studies to show the economic impact of public libraries. Among the findings were:

• In Florida: for every $1.00 of taxpayer dollars spent on public libraries, income (wages) increases by $12.66.
• In South Carolina: In return for an investment of $77.5 million, public libraries pump $347 million into the state’s economy.

Numbers Aren’t Enough

While numbers are impressive, you need to be able to put the numbers in context to emphasize your point. Some publications that put interesting numbers in context include:

1. An OCLC report, Libraries: How they stack up, which makes comparisons:

• Five times more people visit U.S. public libraries each year than attend U.S. professional and college football, basketball, baseball and hockey games. If library patrons were to pay the average sporting game ticket price of approximately $35 per visit, libraries would generate more than $39 billion in annual revenues.

2. Quotable Fact Cards -state cards modeled after an ALA publication, proclaim:

• Texas libraries spent an average of about $18 per capita for public library service in 2003? For a family of four, that’s library service for a year for only about $72.00. It would cost $130 for the same family to attend Six Flags Over Texas for one day.

• Marylanders borrowed an average of 7 books per person in 2003. At $25 for a hardcover book, each citizen’s taxes paid for one book and $10 toward a second book. Each citizen saved $140 by using their public library.

Everything is Local

National and state statistics about return on investment (ROI) are nice, but as the song says “God bless the child that’s got its own.” As trustees of local public libraries, you will be 100% more effective if you can quote numbers from your own libraries.

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Pat at http://www.pfisherassociates.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.

Trustee topic:
http://www.webjunction.org/trustees

Friends & Trustees discussions:
http://www.webjunction.org/friends-trustees/resources/discussion

“Become an Effective Trustee” course:
http://www.webjunction.org/catalog/courses/details/WJ_Global/UNT_Trustee
/ONL/1210745400000

Trustee Blog series:
http://blog.webjunctionworks.org/index.php/category/trustees/

Board Challenges and Successes – Webinar Archive:
http://www.webjunction.org/rural-webinars/articles/content/455948

Motivating Your Board: Lawsuits, Money and Facilities – Webinar Archive:
http://www.webjunction.org/rural-webinars/articles/content/4645872

Two upcoming Trustee webinars in the series listed here (rural focus, but relevant to all trustees):
http://www.webjunction.org/rural-webinars

Library board culture rules! So where does yours fit on a six-point continuum, from passive to passionate? At the July 31st “Motivating Your Board” webinar, most participants chose the middle ground.

Boards listen to three proven motivators—lawsuits, money and facilities. Trustee Jim Connor told how a meeting room policy caused a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court. Partnerships should include for-profit entities, too. And whether you repaint, remodel or get a new building, you’ve boosted the library’s and the board’s image.

Transitioning from one board to another can be thorny. The previous Aztec, NM advisory board loved high-profile partnerships that got national kudos. The new board worried about being over-extended. To bring the new board on board, director Leanne Hathcock:

• Invited state library staff to talk about legal responsibilities and roles
• Reviewed facts about the library’s acclaimed partnerships
• Had the board do more, e.g., set its meeting agendas

One bonus for having a passionate board? It makes recruiting the trustee skill set you need easier!

View the webinar archive for more tips and register now for the upcoming two-part trustee/board webinar, “Library Value: What’s Your Score?”

• October 9, 2008—“TWO goal posts: Library & Community”
• November 13, 2008—“Your Library’s Role: Bulls-eye or Fringe?”

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Ellen at www.ellenmillergroup.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.