New Course!
Participants will learn what it means to be an effective and ethical board member from the experts!
- Tracy Cook, Montana State Library Consulting Librarian
- Dan Clark, MSU Extension Local Government Center Director
- Ashley Kent, MSU Extension Local Government Center Associate Director
- Estimated Course Length: 2 hours
- Continuing Education Units: 2 - Library Administration
- Course Open Date: April 21, 2025
New Course!
Participants will learn about how to create a written strategic plan that will help library leadership effectively prioritize and take action on the decisions that will help the library be successful for many years to come.
- Estimated course length: 1-hour
- Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
- Course Open Date: April 21, 2025
This course was designed by the Montana State Library Consultants for public library trustees and directors. This is the first course in the "Trustee Essentials" series.
Participants will
- Gain knowledge of the defined roles of trustees' and how those roles support the functions of a public library.
- Gain knowledge of the Montana Code Annotated that relate to the support and management of public libraries.
Estimated course length: 1 hour
Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
Course Open Date: March 7, 2023
- Learn about different forms of local government and about how the form of government impacts the library
- Learn about the work of key local government officials and how the library interacts with those officials
- Be able to better understand some of the sources of tension between local government and library boards and why they exist
- Learn about techniques for managing areas of tension
Estimated course length: 1-hour
Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
Course Open Date: March 31, 2023
- Learn about basic principles of local government accounting in Montana
- Learn about the role of local government officials versus the library board authority when it comes to library funds
- Learn about financial reports, revenue sources, and key expenditures found in libraries
- Learn about best practices for building a library budget
Estimated course length: 1-hour
Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
Course Open Date: August 1, 2023 - minor updates and new resource links added September 2024.
- Learn about Montana’s open meeting law
- Learn about the laws that cover conflict of interest and trustee liability
- Learn about library board authority and the library records confidentiality act
- Estimated course length: 1-hour
- Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
- Course Open Date: October 6, 2023
- Raise awareness of attorney general opinions and case law and their impact on board authority.
- Increase understanding of board and local government authority in the following areas
- Personnel – management, salaries, and hiring/termination
- Property – ownership, remodeling, maintenance, and contracts
- Budget – setting, spending money, management
- Board – appointments and removals
- Estimated course length: 1-hour
- Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
- Course Open Date: December 6, 2024
- Learn about Montana’s public library standards
- Learn about what the public library standards look like in practice
- Learn about resources to help plan and evaluate how your library can meet the standards
- Estimated course length: 1 hour
- Continuing Education Units: 1 credit in Library Administration
- Course Open Date: June 28, 2024
The contents of the course are from webinars and the Connecting with Local Government Officials handbook.
Participants will learn about
- How to develop better relationships with local government officials
- How to talk about the value of libraries
- Estimated Course Length: 1 hour
- Continuing Education Units: 1 Credit in Library Administration
- Course open date: September 6, 2024.