Elected Library Trustees serve the community
Dear Community:
As the Chair of Trustees of the Peterborough Town Library, I would like to express opposition to House Bill 1214 relative to changing the oversight of public libraries.
Library trustees are elected officials and have a unique skillset and understanding of library oversight. As they serve over time, they keep up to date with library policies and patron needs. They help to set budgets and priorities. They participate in trainings to help them best serve their communities while protecting the rights of all users.
The role of library trustees is to hire and manage the library director, set/maintain library policy and prepare the annual budget and capital project funding requests. Policy is unique to local libraries and drives procedures based on staffing and other factors.
Allowing a municipality’s governing body to assume control of the library would undermine the authority of these duly elected trustees. It is unnecessary and will result in a reduced understanding of library operations and policy. It could also reduce public trust in the independence of library operations.
Funding for public libraries follows the same process as other departments, which enables taxpayer oversight. Members of the public are welcome at trustee meetings and can ask questions and raise concerns, proposals, and issues directly. Taxpayers approve the library budget as part of the overall town budget, and capital expenditures are handled similarly to other town funding requests.
NH libraries vary in size and HB1214 assumes that the governance of a large city library and a small rural library could be handled in the same way.
If you value the independence of your library and the experience of your library trustees, please contact your House Representative and the sponsors of this bill and ask them to vote against HB1214.