6. FINANCIALS: Where does your revenue come from?
6
Taxes
Federal/State
Fines & Fees
97.00%
.50% 1.00%
1.00%
.25%
.25%
Grants
Foundation & Friends of the Library
Donations
REVENUES
8. FINANCIALS: Where should you spend the money?
8
Contractual
Services
Facilities
Collections
Professional
Development
Programming
Other Expenditure Categories
Insurance
Personnel
*This slide is using Font Awesome
10. FINANCIALS: What about special projects?
10
• Capital Improvements
• IT
• Differs by State
• Check the Law for what
you can set aside
• Assets minus liabilities
• Money carried over at
the end of a fiscal year
• Usually used for large
scale projects
• New Buildings
RESERVES
FUND BALANCE
STATUTES
DEBT
Reserves
Debt
Fund
Balance
Statutes
17. BOARD: What is a Library trustee?
17
Elected or Appointed Official
Volunteer
Advocate for the Library
Community Representative
Same as the Friends or Foundation
19. Did You Know?
19
ANSWER TRUE or FALSE
Do Library Board Members:
• Attend Library Board Meetings
• Create library cards for community members
• Approve an annual budget
• Create and Approve Policies
• Attend community events
• Advocate for the library in the community
• Hire and Review All Library Staff
• Prepare all library statistics
• Review and approve monthly financials and bill lists
• Negotiate vendor contracts
20. BOARD: What does a trustee do?
20
0301 02 04 05Be Present and Prepared
Board members should be present
and prepared for board meetings
and know what the Library is doing
when they are at outreach events
in the community.
Advocate
Board members should advocate for the
Library in the community, state and
federally.
Hire & Review a Library Director
The single most important thing the board
can do is hire a well trained and capable
Library Director…..they do not (and should
not) be in charge of hiring or supervising
other staff
Set a Course for the Future
The Board approves the policies
that tell the Director and staff how
to manage the day to day
operations, but also charts the
course for the future with a
strategic plan.
Approve the Budget & Policy
In addition to hiring the Library director, the
board is responsible for the fiscal health of
the Library including budgeting, funding,
and overseeing spending.
23. BOARD: Rank the Director’s Duties
23
Budget
Human
Resources
Board of
Trustees
Community
Spokesperson
Day to Day
Operations
RANK EACH CATEGORY
From 1 to 10 with 1 being not
important and 10 being very
important.
25. BOARD: What are board and director relationships like?
25
FRUSTRATING
ADJUSTABLE
CHALLENGING
EASY
26. BOARD: Why is it challenging to work with a board?
26
Who’s the Boss?
Agendas at play
Missing Board Members
Unprepared and Unaware
Don’t Understand Libraries
Multiple Opinions
27. BOARD: How can you foster good board relations?
27
Strong Communication
01
Good Listening
02
Don’t Get Defensive
03
Get to know individual
board members
04
Consider their POV
05
Give Good Information
06
30. BOARD: Where can you get more help?
30
United for Libraries
Other
State/County/Systems
Other Directors
31. BOARD: What should you prepare for meetings?
31
Agenda & Minutes
Financial Statements
Director’s Report
Statistics
*This slide is using Font Awesome
BEFORE WE START
Share what you are most hoping to learn today in the comments field- PUT IN PRE SLIDE
Welcome
Go over technical details
WHO WE ARE & WHY WE CAN TALK TO YOU ABOUT STUFF
KATE
Hi. This is Kate. I’m excited to be here today with all of you. A little more about me, I have been the Executive Director at the Northbrook Public Library, which is in the northern part of Illinois for almost 4 years and will be celebrating 8 years as a director in another month. I am very active in our regional library system and just finished serving as President of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System. I have been active in state and national organizations and boards and for the past two year’s have been part of the Director’s University training which offered an intense 3 days on how to be a library director for new Public Library Directors. I am thrilled to be here with my colleague Kathy Parker.
KATHY
I have over 35 years of library experience with 16 serving as library director at Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library. I have just retired this past summer. Kathy is active on various library boards, serving as library trustee on her local and regional library system, and starting several continuing education initiatives for library staff and trustees.
We have had numerous conversations in the past few years and what we hear from almost every director we talk to is “Why isn’t their a guide or training on how to be a director?” While we do learn things in library school, none of them really tell you the nuts and bolts of being a director in a public library. We have each experienced the frustration of not knowing what we needed to know or how to gain the knowledge we needed. That is why we are here today. We want to help current and future library directors have somewhere to go to get that knowledge. We want you to know what resources are out there and how you can learn everything you need to succeed.
KATE
We are here because we want to help you.
Whether you have just become a director, want to be a director someday or have been a director for a number of years, this series will answer the questions you might not have known to ask while increasing your understanding of the key topics needed to run a library. When I first started out as a new director, I had just gotten my MBA. I thought I had asked all the right questions and knew what I was getting myself into. But there were many questions I didn’t even know to ask about. We are hoping that you will learn many of the things to ask about during this series and we have designed the next three weeks to give you a solid understanding of what you need to know to run a library.
This week we will cover understanding and preparing your financials, we will then move on to trustee and director relationships. In the second session, we will dive into hiring, evaluating, retaining and disciplining personnel and the legal ramifications that come with having staff. We will end the series with what you need to know about your building and insurance needs and review general legal practices and pitfalls to avoid. You will leave with a solid general understanding of the core competencies you need to run a library in addition to receiving practical takeaways you can start using immediately to help ensure your success.
POLL
Which are you?
A library staff member
A library manager
New library director (less than 1 year)
Currently a library director (few years)
A well seasoned director (been a director for 10+ years)
During poll, share anecdote (KP never wanted to be Director, and KH planned from Library School)
KATHY
Financials- 30 minutes
Where does your revenue come from?
How do you determine spending and create a budget ?
What do you need to consider when creating a budget?
What part does the board play in your finances?
Trustees- 40 minutes
What is their role in relation to the director’s role?
What is your role in relation to the board?
How can you work together?
What do you need to provide for meetings and follow-up?
What you’ll get after today’s session
Sample Timeline for budgeting
Sample Budget
Director’s Report Template for Board Meetings
Onboarding Trustees
Board vs Director Responsibilities
SHARE IN CHAT
Who feels completely comfortable with budgeting?
KATE
POLL
Before we start talking about finances, we have a poll to see where people are at in terms of financial knowledge.
I am always surprised by how many patrons assume that all of our money (or most of it) comes from Fines and Fees. As we will show later, that is not the case.
Where does most of your money come from?
Taxes
Fines & Fees
Grants/Donations
Federal/State/County
Don’t Know
THEN ANSWER THAT IT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOUR LIBRARY IS. IN ILLINOIS IT MOSTLY COMES FROM PROPERTY TAXES
Share in the chat any interesting ways you receive the bulk of your funding
6 of 14
So where does the money come from? Every library is different, but most receive most of their funding from taxes. This is a sample of what is typical in most Illinois libraries. Keep in Mind that every state is different and this may not be how your funding model works.
Where does the money come from? 5 minutes
Taxes 97%
This is usually property taxes, but can also include other types of taxes. In Illinois we have personal property replacement tax that we receive for instance.
Federal/ State .5%
Depending on the state, you may receive regular funding or it may be more project or need based. Federal funds come from LSTA and eRate funding and may flow directly to you or through your state.
Fines & Fees 1%
This includes overdue fines, lost books, copier and printing costs as well as things like rental fees. We have a piano we rent out with our meeting rooms. Our meeting room rentals are free, but the piano is $50 to rent.
Grants 1%
Not everyone gets grants and some may get regular grants that are critical to your regular operating expenses while others may get grants that are more specialized. We just applied for a 6 figure grant to teach kids about cyber security at my library. That is something that you won’t get every year.
With grants you also need to be careful that you can sustain the projects after the grant has ended. Most grant proposals are looking for the sustainability of the project when you are seeking funding.
Foundations & FOL .25%
Foundations and FOL could be a completely separate webinar. They are separate organizations and could also be classified as donations, but I find it is easier to list them separately as they usually have different strings attached to them than regular donations.
Donations/ Bequests/ Endowments- .25%
In addition to donations made in honor of someone, you might also receive bequests, which are donations left to the library in someone’s will, or endowments, which are typically set up as funds where the interest from the funds are used for the ongoing operating expenses of the Library.
7 of 14
POLL
Now that you have a sense of where the money comes from in general, let’s find out where your funding comes from. Please take the poll that appears on the side. This is also a great opportunity to post what your budget is in the comments. You will likely find similar libraries. Having a group of libraries with similarly sized budgets is helpful to help you have someone to ask questions or compare how your budget is laid out.
POP-UP QUERY
ASK: What is the size of your operating budget?
$0-$50,000
$50,001-100,000
$100,000-$500,000
$500,000-$1million
$2mil-$5mil
$5mil-$10mil
$10-20mil
$20+million
8 of 14
Now that we know that most of you have budgets in the XXXXX range, we are going to talk about where you should spend that money.
How should I spend the money? 10 minutes
But first, we need to define some terms. Your operating budget is the budget that tells you where to spend your money based on how much you are bringing in for your fiscal year. Your fiscal year is determined by the type of library you are. There are libraries with fiscal years that are also calendar years and then libraries that are on completely different FY. Mine is May 1- April 30. In order to successfully run the Library, you need to have a solid plan in place on how you are going to be spending your money. That is where your operating budget comes in. The operating budget gives you a road map for how you are going to spend your money over the next year. There are some general categories that, no matter the size of your budget, you will have.
The first is Personnel. This is the largest percentage of your budget and is generally half to 80% of your expenditures. This includes
Salaries
Benefits
Pension or Retirement
FICA / Social Security
Health Insurance
Life Insurance (if any)
Any other benefits your library might offer—have an interesting benefit? Share it in the comments.
Contractual Services cover the expenses for any outside vendors you pay that offer services to your library. These can include:
Attorney- I made a mistake in
Auditor
IT
ILS
Consultants (strategic planning, training, recruiting, etc)
Next is Collections
To break up or not to break up
Depends on the size of your budget
Adult/ Juv Book
Adult/ Juv AV
Periodicals
Databases
eBooks- can go into databases, stand alone, books--it really is what your library needs/wants
Facilities
Building Maintenance
Building Contracts (snow, lawn, janitorial, HVAC)
Utilities
Supplies
Insurance
Worker’s Compensation
Unemployment
Health
Liability
Other: D&O, Crime, Flood, Cyber Security
Programming
Adult
Youth
Teen
Staff Development
If we are institutions of lifelong learning, we should ensure staff are lifelong learners as well
CE
Conferences
Staff vs Board
Travel
Other
Furniture & Equipment
IT
General Supplies
Memberships
Misc
Marketing
PR
Outreach
Ads
Newsletter
Postage
9 of 14
Here is a sample budget based on a $750k budget. As you can see, personnel takes up the largest percentage.
10 of 14
How can you pay for special projects?
RESERVE FUNDS
Building addition, renovation or new building
IT or building projects like wireless upgrade
This is where you set money aside for large projects. This can be a good idea, but you need to have a plan so that your taxpayers don’t become upset that you are sitting on money. It is not your money and you want to make sure you are being fiscally responsible. IMHO, I think having solid reserves is being responsible because then you don’t have to go the taxpayers each time a large scale problem comes up but instead can take it from your reserves. If you are planning ahead, you can ensure you have money set aside to keep the building maintained.
STATUTES
Each state differs in how reserves work and how you can set aside money for special projects.
Look to the statutes
They are all different so you need to make sure you know how much you can set aside.
DEBT
This is generally for new buildings, but can be used for other Capital Improvements
Try to avoid for regular projects or try to plan ahead for larger projects so you don’t have to take out debt.
This is like a mortgage for your library so you don’t want to take out more than you can afford.
FUND BALANCE
Your fund balance is your assets minus your liabilities
This is the money in your general account that you carry over at the end of the year
People wonder where money goes that isn’t spent at the end of each year, and while some may be put into reserve, you want to keep some in your fund balance.
Your library should adopt a financial policy that details how much you want to set aside.
In cook county here in IL a few years ago, the county assessor’s office did not release the payments to the libraries on time and so libraries received none of the tax money for almost half a year. Those that had a good fund balance were able to keep going without a problem, but those that didn’t have money in their fund balance had trouble.
11 of 14
Now that we have covered what makes up the different pieces of a budget and shared what a sample budget would look like, let’s share What scares you most about putting together a budget? in chat
KATE
For me, nothing is more terrifying than feeling like I have forgotten something. I am always worried we have not captured something and tend to review everything multiple times to ensure we have captured everything we have to do. The easiest way to make sure you are set with your budget is to have plans for larger projects in place so you have forecasted when you will need funding for different projects and when they are coming up.
KATHY
Ok, so as I mentioned, my biggest fear with budgeting is fearing that I will forget to put something critical in. In order to combat that, I try to involve as many people in the process so it is not just my brain looking at things.
How do you get the numbers for the budget? 7 minutes
Gather the Data
Crunch the Numbers
Review, Review, Review
Look to the Future
POP UP QUERY
Now that you have gotten the basics on putting together a budget, take this poll to tell us how comfortable you new feel with budgeting.
How comfortable do you now feel with budgeting?
So comfortable I could wear my PJs all day
Pretty comfortable, but I will always have questions
Feeling better, but still have lots of questions
Still not clear on what this all means
What’s a budget?
Where does the board come in? 5 minutes
Now that you have a rock solid budget, you are probably wondering where the board comes in to play.
First, the board does not create the budget. You Present it to them, but they should not be creating it. They are, of course, responsible for approving the budget, and may ask you to make changes to the budget based on their feedback, but they should not be crunching the numbers.
Many libraries have committees. While some boards might have a finance committee, my recommendations is to review the budget either at a regular board meeting or a special meeting of the whole
Ideally, you will present it to them, get feedback, and then have them approve the next month. Sometimes you can do that in the same month, but I have found they usually like to think about it before approving. Which is a good thing. If they are thinking about it, that means they are paying attention.
When presenting, how much information should you provide? We provide a general overview to the board, but do not give them the breakdown for every single category.
Part of how you present to the board will be based on how large your budget is. My library’s budget is about $7 million and so we have more money than I did at my last library which had just under $2 million. As a result, we have more categories and breakdowns.
The board may want more information in certain areas and it is your job to ensure they have the information they need to make an informed decision. I have also found that the amount of explaining I need to do or the numbers of questions I get asked depends on the backgrounds of my board members.
After the board approves the budget, you will need to present a monthly financial report to your board. This will show them
How much money you have and in what accounts
How you are doing on spending based on the budget that was approved
What the actual bills are for each vendor with amounts that they will then approve
Most libraries have the treasurer’s report or monthly financials on their website so you can see different formats. You need to find what format works for you and your board and ensure that your board understands what is being presented each month.
KATE
2 minute mental break
Get up
Stretch
Have some h2o
Stop staring at the screen
Listen for the bell
KATHY
Welcome back! Hopefully you took time at the break to look away from the screen. Before we dive into board and director relations, let’s find out who has joined us today. Take a moment to respond to the poll that will appear momentarily on your screen.
POP-UP QUERY
How long have you been a director?
I’m not yet, but hope to be someday
Under a year
2-3 years
4-10 years
More than 10 years
FOREVER (OR AT LEAST IT FEELS LIKE IT)
Little query on what board members do
QUIZ (T/F)
PUT UP AND HAVE PEOPLE FILL OUT AT THE OFFICE DURING PRESENTATION
Do Library Board Members:
Attend Library Board Meetings TRUE
Create library cards for community members FALSE
Approve an annual budget TRUE
Create and Approve Policies TRUE & FALSE
Attend community events TRUE
Advocate for the library in the community TRUE
Hire and Review All Library Staff FALSE
Prepare all library statistics FALSE
Review and approve monthly financials and bill lists TRUE
Negotiate vendor contracts FALSE
SUMMARY OF WHAT TRUSTEES SHOULD DO
Hire and Review Director
Be present and prepared at meetings and in community
Be prepared and know about what the library is doing
Advocate
Approve policy
Approve budget and financial statements and vendor contracts (depending)
WE WILL PROVIDE CHEAT SHEET ON LIBRARY TRUSTEE VS DIRECTOR RESPONSIBILITIES
What is the most important thing you think a director has to do? Share in chat
KH making connections and keeping up to date
What is the role of the director?
Run the day to day operations
Hire/ Train/ Review/ Discipline staff
Maintain the building
Negotiate contracts
Informative and advisory to the board –only there once a month so keep them informed
Crafts policies and procedures
Spokesperson in community and advocate for staff to board
Creates and manages the budget
Handles HR issues
Deals with
Can change based on size and need
NOT A POLL
RANK WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO LEAST IMPORTANT (1-10) FOR EACH FOR YOURSELF
HR
Board
Budget
Day to Day operations
Community spokesperson
SHARE IN CHAT: WHO FOUND IT HARD TO RANK AND WANTED TO RANK EVERYTHING 10? 1? 5?
Role of director fluctuates depending on what is going on and how you approach your day and what emergencies (I mean surprises!) crop up
And all of these really work hand in hand (DISCUSS)
POP-UP QUERY
What kind of relationship should a director have with the board?
BFFs and we vacation together
Cordial and we only socialize at library functions
Cooperative with good communication with appropriate boundaries
Adversarial with occasional productive conversation
Life long enemies
No relationship necessary
SHARE IN CHAT: WHO HAS A FABULOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERY BOARD MEMBER?
Board and Director relationships can be frustrating, but adjustable, challenging, and even sometimes easy. You don’t get to pick your board. Even if you have a good or great board, you may still run into differences of opinion from time to time.
What is important to remember is that a board acts as a whole….no one member has more power or actually ANY power. They must act in concert. No man is an island
KP Share story of board member calling on the side and then having her understand what you need to do to redirect their energies (use Angela example) – DO IF HAVE TIME
Why is it challenging to work with a board?
They are your bosses
Each person has their own opinion, but must act as part of a whole
They sometimes have other agendas or are using this as a stepping stone
They sometimes don’t show up or do but are completely unprepared
Don’t understand how a library is run and think it is a school/business/ home
What can you do to foster good board relations?
Strong communication
Good listening
Don’t get defensive
Get to know each board member as an individual; what drives them? Why did they get on the board?
Think about what they are hearing from their POV and not from yours; what are they hearing in the community
Give them good information to make informed decisions
POLL
How often should you communicate with your board?
I have daily, maybe even hourly, communication with my board
I update them weekly to stay up to date about what I’m doing
I give them a monthly report and share any emergencies or surprises when they occur
They can talk to me at board meetings
Why do I need to communicate with them?
DISCUSS WHAT IS APPROPRIATE AND WHAT IS NOT
KP share monthly meetings
KH share Elmwood park story about weekly board meetings
Some boards may require more frequent communication, but they really only need to be informed of things outside of your monthly report if there is an emergency.
However, you want to cultivate good relationships so it behooves you to respond when asked. If a board member is being overly persistent, make sure you understand where they are coming from, what their background is, why they are on the board. If it becomes problematic, talk to your board president
If questions arise at meetings, respond as quickly as possible to the full board
If board members ask about things 1:1, get back to them the same way you would with patrons; If one asks for something, you can say, “I will put this on the next meeting agenda to discuss with the full board.”
Depending on what is asked, tell them you will need more time, etc to gather info….they always ask for very complicated information when you are most busy
Ask for feedback on director’s report and stats so that they can share if they want anything. Then, it is on them and not on you. Be proactive, not reactive
DO IT WITH A SMILE
When all else fails, ask for help
ALA’s Trustee Division: United for Libraries - Shorttakes, Consulting for issues, Trustee Academy
Other resources
Ask the state/ county/ system/ another director
Communication is an important piece of the puzzle, but what you present to the board at each meetings is also important
What do you need to provide for meetings and follow-up
Agenda
Minutes
Financial Statements (account reqs and bills)
Show examples
Director’s Report
Summary of Agenda Items
Building & Technology
Meetings
Personnel
The importance of how you word things: So and so is no longer employed for terminations and So and so has left the library for a FT position, etc for resignations
Programming & Outreach
News & Marketing
Other
Finance
CE
SHOW SAMPLE
Statistics
Circs
ILL
meetings/ ce
Collection
Technology usage
Programming
Questions
Foot traffic
Outreach
Special projects
SHOW SAMPLE
WE WILL PROVIDE A SAMPLE DIRECTORS REPORT
KATHY
Summary:
Financials
Revenue
$$$ comes from taxes, donations, other
Expenditures
Personnel
Benefits
Collections
Facilities
Insurance
Programming
Marketing
Staff Development
Contractual Services
Other
Get Everyone involved to create the budget
Ask vendors for next year costs
Management team
Look at previous year costs
The board approves it. THE END
Trustee
Trustees are there to
Approve budget & bills
Hire and review director
Approve policy
Be an advocate
Directors are there to
Do everything else :)
HR
Board
Budget
Day to Day operations
Community spokesperson
Board and Director Relations
Can be like pb&j or tuna fish and chocolate
Be proactive to make it work
Board Meetings
Agenda
Minutes
Financials
Director’s Report
Stats
SEE OUR SAMPLES THAT WE WILL SEND
Timeline for budgeting
Sample budget
Director’s Report Template
Onboarding Trustees
Board vs Director Responsibilities
KATE
So we covered a lot of ground today in a pretty short period of time. So before we switch to questions, let’s get a sense of how you are feeling. There is a poll on the right. Take a moment and fill it out.
POLL
Are you more confident in thinking/talking/ understanding finances and trustee roles and responsibilities vs director roles and responsibilities?
I’m the king of the world
I am feeling reasonably confident, but plan to look at the additional resources
I feel like I can fake it a lot better now
I still have no clue
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!
This is the part where I keep my fingers crossed and hope that no one chooses Please Help Me.
KATE
Thank you
We’ll be talking personnel next Monday and look forward to seeing you then!
We are excited to announce that ALA is publishing our book next spring, entitled The Public Library Director Toolkit. The book covers everything you need to know as yu start out as a library director and includes a detailed appendix filled with forms, sample documents and policies, all ready to use.
You are also invited to join our facebook group Library Director Bootcamp
KATHY
Thank you & Questions
We will also be sharing some supplemental documents that ALA will be sending out after today’s webinar.