Trustee Newsletter

News and information relevant to public library trustees, sent monthly on the second Tuesday

In this Issue MSL Consulting Support

We're Here to Help!

Your Montana State Library consulting and learning team is here to help you and your board be successful with your important work. Please reach out to us if you ever have questions about the following topics, or anything else related to being a library trustee.

• Library board development/training
• How to run effective and legal meetings
• Government relations
• Library budgeting and finance
• Policy development
• Personnel policies and procedures
• Planning and evaluating library goals
• Library facilities
• Information about laws and rules
• Continuing education

Trustee Training and Continuing Education

• Your library has an assigned Consulting Librarian who is available to lead trainings for your board in person or online. We will work with you to find the right day, time, topic, and duration for a training that works for you.
• ASPeN Events Calendar is where we post our upcoming training events and meetings. Sign up to attend a training or to receive a link to the recording.
• MSL Learn is our self-paced learning platform where you can enroll in free courses on trustee essentials, budgeting and finance, local government, library law, and more.
• MSL YouTube is where we post our video recordings on a variety of topics, including a Trustee Training playlist of nearly 40 short videos and recorded webinars.

Additional Resources

• State Library staff maintain several handbooks and information guides for trustees.
• Sign up for our monthly Public Library Trustee Newsletter.

Questions? Contact Us

Colet Bartow Continuing Education Coordinator colet.bartow@mt.gov 406.444.3365

Tracy Cook Lead Consulting & Learning Librarian tcook2@mt.gov 406.431.0685

Cara Orban Consulting Librarian corban@mt.gov 406.444.5350

Corey Sloan Consulting Librarian cosloan@mt.gov 406.459.4147

Read past issues of the Trustee Newsletter and important announcements from MSL.

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Statewide Consulting Librarians are assigned to individual public libraries within specified consulting territories. These territories are based on the six Library Federations. 

The consulting program is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and  Technology Act as administered by the Montana State Library.