Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Trustee Training topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustee training: guest speakers outline board ethics and intellectual‑freedom duties
Summary
United for Libraries and speakers from Califa Group and Amherst College led trustees through duties of care, loyalty and obedience, plus intellectual‑freedom principles (expression, access, freedom from surveillance). Trustees were urged to keep policies current and consult the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Trustee training during the meeting included two guest presentations. Deborah Doyle of United for Libraries introduced Kathy Spindel of the Fountondale Public Library board, who walked trustees through board ethics: duty of care (stay informed), duty of loyalty (put the organization first) and duty of obedience (adhere to mission and policies). Spindel recommended annual review and sign‑off on a code of ethics and consultation with counsel for suspected director misconduct.
"Duty of care requires that board members are well informed when making decisions and that means that they do need to read those board packets when they receive them," Spindel said, adding trustees should consult attorneys for director issues and act as a board rather than as individuals.
A second presentation by Veranda Pitchford (Califa Group) and Dr. Martin Garner (Amherst College) focused on the trustee role in intellectual freedom. Garner defined three freedoms trustees should protect: freedom of expression, freedom of access and freedom from surveillance (privacy). He urged trustees to ensure policies (collection development, challenge response, privacy) are current and available to the public and to use ALA resources for guidance.
Trustees discussed adopting a code of ethics and asked the director to research model codes and policy language to bring forward at a later meeting.
