Board Orientation Materials

Documents

• Board Bylaws (updated 9/2024)
• 2024 Sunshine Law book

Handouts from the 2023 OLC Board of Trustees Workshop

• 2023 Trustee Workshop Francis Welcome Power Point
• Boardmanship
• Don't Ask What Your Director Can Do for You
• Funding and Other Legislative Issues for Ohio's Public Libraries
• History of Funding (1/11/22)
• Legal Issues
• On the Money Article Feb 27, 2023
• The Importance of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion in Public Libraries
• Thriving in the New Normal
• Trustee Handbook 2021

Organizations

• Ohio Library Council (OLC): www.olc.org
  • OLC is our statewide professional organization. Various CRCPL staff are active within the organization. There are two membership levels:
    • Individually, it gives staff access to conferences, committees, and networking.
    • Institutionally, OLC lobbies at the State House on behalf of public libraries. They keep Directors, Fiscal Officer, and Trustees abreast of pending legislation and state funding (There is a useful History of Library Funding in Ohio pdf at the bottom of this page:  http://olc.org/funding.)
• Southeast Regional Library System (SERLS): https://serls.orgSERLS (formerly OVAL) is our regional library organization. They provide affordable (usually free for members) continuing education opportunities and circulation activity kits for programming. The SERLS Board is a great opportunity for the Director (and sometimes other staff) to network with the other public libraries in the SE corner of the state.
• Serving Every Ohioan (SEO):  https://servingeveryohioan.orgSEO is a consortium of 97 Ohio public libraries that CRCPL belongs too. As a member, we have access to cataloging resources, circulation software, interlibrary loan materials, and more.
• Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN):  https://www.oplin.ohio.govOPLIN receives funding from the state’s Public Library Fund (PLF) and provides one direct high-speed internet connection to each of Ohio’s 251 public libraries. They also negotiate contracts and provide high-quality research databases to public libraries.
• The State Library of Ohio:  https://library.ohio.gov The State Library provides a myriad of services to public libraries, including coordinating state-wide delivery services, state-wide library program planning, LSTA grants, training, government information, and more.