Latah County Library District
By Sylva Staab, Trustee, and Anne Cheadle, Library Director
March 9, 2010

Library Trustee Election in May

It is time again to select new board members for the Latah County Library District. As the current board president and a member for five years I would like to encourage you to take up the challenge of serving your community in this way. It is particularly rewarding to look back at the time I have been on the board and see the growth and changes in our library district. We have a wonderful director and staff and it is a joy to work with them. Following are common characteristics of successful board members:

1. Willingness to commit time and energy to the position
2. Desire to see the library assume an important role in the community that fully serves its customers
3. Record of working well with others
4. Willingness to make decisions
5. Ability to participate in discussions without taking over meetings
6. Knowledge of the community
7. Ability to advocate for the library in the community and in presentations to some units of government
8. Commitment to progress for the library
9. Willingness to consider new programs, methods, and technology to solve problems
10. Willingness to attend retreats, conferences, and workshops for continuing education
11. Willingness to participate in fund-raising

(This list comes from The Successful Library Trustee Handbook by Mary Y. Moore)
I hope this will help you consider a role with our library district.

The above piece was contributed by current Board President Sylva Staab. Sylva was modest in describing her own contribution to the library over the past several years.  I would suggest she is a prime example of the significant difference one person can make in his or her community. As a Latah County Library Trustee she contributed to strategic planning for our seven-library system and helped shape library administrative and personnel policy.  During her tenure the LCLD joined the VALNet consortium and saw the volume of materials available to patrons through their local library skyrocket.  She represented the Board of Trustees to the Friends of the Moscow Library and together the Friends and the District funded significant library programs and improvements, ranging from the annual Summer Reading Programs to the Moscow library’s beautiful new outdoor sign.  For those who love libraries and are committed to strengthening their communities, serving on the LCLD Board of Trustees is a wonderful opportunity.

If you are interested in more information, we have several ways to offer it to you.  For some the easiest will be via the LCLD Web site at www.latahlibrary.org.  Linked from the main page are trustee candidacy forms as well as the Idaho statutes pertaining to trustee responsibilities.  Candidate information packets are also available at any of our Latah County libraries, which include those in Bovill, Deary, Genesee, Juliaetta, Moscow, Potlatch and Troy.

The deadline for filing a Declaration of Candidacy for this election is Friday, March 19th, by 5:00 PM and the deadline to submit a write-in candidacy form is 5 p.m. Friday, April 30th. Please consider becoming part of the constructive partnership between the Latah County Library District and the community it serves.