Clearinghouse of Professional Information

Library Administration Resources

This section includes links to a number of topics related to public library administration.

SOLS provides tools in this area such as Library Development Guides, Small Library Kits, Sourcebooks for Small Public Libraries, Trustee Tips. SOLS also offers various training opportunities such as Clinics and Workshops and EXCEL: A Certificate Programme in Managing Small Public Libraries. OLS - North provides access to various publications including Sourcebooks for Small Public Libraries and Trustee Tips. OLS-North also provides training opportunities through annual conferences and area workshops.


Topics include:

General Resources | Budgeting and Finance | Business Plans | Conservation | Disaster Planning | Fees | Safety in the Library | Issues | Joint Use Issues | Joint Use Facilities | Municipal Reporting | Pandemic Preparedness | Partnership Agreements Templates | Professional Journals | RFP's | Safety in the Library | Statistics | Symbols
 

indicates an item written by SOLS staff

indicates an item written by OLS-North staff

Clicking on certain topics will open a new window, if the link is to a topic included in an other Clearinghouse page

General Resources
  • ALA Professional Tips wiki For over 80 years, staff members of the American Library Association (ALA) Library have provided reference service not only to their ALA Headquarters colleagues but also to hundreds of librarians across the country and around the world.
  • CIO.com: the leading resource for information executives.
  • EDUCAUSE Information Resources Library: an international repository for information about managing information resources in higher education, includes assessments, studies, reports, manuals, guides, strategic plans, policies, RFP's, surveys., etc.
  • Fair and Balanced Copyright for Canadians Grassroots Advocacy Kit from CLA
  • The Five Minute Flow Chart
  • For Libraries (Library and Archives Canada) This page provides links to services and tools for the library community
  • Free Management Library Complete, highly integrated library of resources for non-profit AND for-profit businesses. Developed by Carter McNamara.
  • A Guide to Service Delivery For Municipal Managers (2004) (.pdf) (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing) and the shorter companion guide Making Choices: A Guide to Service Delivery Review for Municipal Councillors and Senior Staff (.pdf) provides a “high-level” overview of the process, focusing on outcomes and helping council think about the strategic choices for how services are delivered.
  • Handbook for New Public Library Directors in New York State, 2010 (.pdf) (Mid-Hudson Library System, Poughkeepsie, NY) This handbook is intended as a jumping-off point, to aid a new public library director in New York State to get the ―lay of the land’ both in the library and within the New York library community, to understand the basics and to get down to the business of providing quality library service to the community.
  • Internet Public Library: Subject collections: resources about library and information science or relevant to library professionals
  • LISWiki Library and Information Science Wiki, a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit
  • Librarian's Resource Center (SLA Toronto Chapter Toolbox)
  • The Librarian's Toolkit. (State of Ohio)
  • The Libraries FAQ Homepage The Libraries FAQ is a collection of basic information regarding libraries and librarianship, and an introductory guide to library resources on the Internet.
  • Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki "This wiki was created to be a one-stop-shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians. All over the world, librarians are developing successful programs and doing innovative things with technology that no one outside of their library knows about. There are lots of great blogs out there sharing information about the profession, but there is no one place where all of this information is collected and organized. "
  • OWLSweb Links for Libraries (Wisconsin) These links provide information on a variety of topics of concern to library personnel and trustees
  • PSAB/Asset Management (Municipal Finance Officers' Association (MFOA) and the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO)) Beginning with fiscal year 2009, municipalities must report on their tangible capital assets and move from modified to full accrual accounting.
  • Public Administrators in the Public Arena by June Garcia and Sue Sutherland, Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, 1999.This study attempts to identify the skills, perceptions, understandings and behaviours necessary to operate effectively in the local, state, political environment. The authors have developed a list of different dimensions of library administration that cover most situations in the political arena in which administrators find themselves.
  • Resource Directory for Municipal Managers was compiled to respond to the needs identified in the Municipal Management Needs Assessment Report (MMNA). Municipalities, professional associations, academic institutions and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing are providing a range of services individually and/or in concert with one another to help ensure that many of the needs identified in the MMNA report are met.
Budgeting and Finance
Business Plans
Disaster Planning and Conservation
Fees

Issues

Joint use issues
see also Facilities Resources
Municipal Reporting
  • MPMP Summary of 2005 Results. Municipal Performance Measurement Programme (MPMP) efficiency measures are based on operating costs for broad service areas. Effectiveness measures provide balance by measuring service delivery quality.
  • Municipal Performance Measurement Programme (MPMP). (Ontario Ministry of Culture) Library services were introduced in the 2004 MPMP. Library uses are part of the calculation of MPMP efficiency and effectiveness measures in their municipalities. Libraries should download the Forms for Libraries workbook
  • COLLECTION VALUATION (Summary from SIGNAL September 2007 issue)
  • Library Service Center reports periodically on Analyzing Canadian Library Purchasing Power for Books and Materials before discount (2007)and Book prices in Canada(2007) Use this to report for the PSAB\Asset Management
  • PSAB/Asset Management (Municipal Finance Officers' Association (MFOA) and the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO)) Beginning with fiscal year 2009, municipalities must report on their tangible capital assets and move from modified to full accrual accounting. Libraries are being asked to provide figures relating to the library's assets.
    • Getting Ready for January 2009: Calvin Hawke Presentation at Ontario Good Roads Association, Asset Valuation Workshop, November 2007. This summarizes the process the municipalities have to follow.
  • More recently, another method was presented in an AMCTO newsletter called PSAB/Asset Management Newsletter 35. (pdf) This newsletter, specifically covers library collection valuation. The author states that “they are not interested in individual titles but the collection as a whole” and so have used the library's book budget for the past 7 years to calculate the value after depreciation. The examples and scenarios provided are very helpful for this step in sorting out collection valuation.
Pandemic Preparedness

Based on an informal survey of Ontario public libraries, performed by SOLS staff, it appears that libraries are adopting their municipalities' plans which are established in conjunction with the local Public Health Units.

Partnership Agreements Templates

Consortiums and partnerships are formed by libraries collaborating on projects including those funded for IT Support as part of the Application Program - $15 Million Investment from the Ministry of Culture.  SOLS has developed two templates to facilitate the writing of partnership agreements for projects or consortium agreements for the implementation of open source integrated library systems.

Professional Journals
RFP's
Safety in the Library
MDS Muscular Skeletal Disorder (MSD)
Serving schools

Statistics
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