Basic Public Library Management

This course satisfies a requirement for certification in WI and IN. To find out if it fulfills a requirement in your state, check with your state library agency.

Designed for newly hired directors of small public libraries (for a service area of under 3,000 people), this course covers the basic operational skills needed in public library settings. Successful completion of the course includes reading all course materials and actively participating in online discussions.

Topics covered:

• Library governance and structure: The role of staff, trustees, and director; working with elected officials; the role and mission of public libraries, values and ethics of the profession
• Financial management: budgets, record keeping, financial procedures, the role of the board
• Personnel management: policies, recruiting, hiring, and training staff; performance reviews, volunteers, federal and state employment laws
• Facilities management: policies, space planning, safety and OSHA, maintenance, repairs and capital improvements, building codes, meeting rooms, relationship with municipalities
• Planning and evaluation: policy development
• Community needs assessment, standards, planning, and evaluation documents
• Services and programs: customer service and service to special populations
• Technology
• Organization of materials
• Selection of materials: reference and information services, processing and repair of materials
• Shared resources, including interlibrary loan
• Advocacy, marketing/cooperation, and networking
• For those students working in Wisconsin, there is a module that specifically covers Wisconsin laws and policies governing public libraries in our state.

Expectations:

There are no graded papers or exams. However, students are expected to read all course content, visit assigned links, and actively participate in online discussions of the materials presented.

Instructor:

Anne Moser is Special Librarian with Wisconsin's Water Library, a special purpose library at UW-Madison that is open to the public and serves all residents of the state. She was previously web manager for the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, WI. She has more than 20 years of experience working in libraries and managed a small (one-person) public library in the Seattle, Washington area.