Recently Asked Questions

Is it required or advised that the Friends group (ours is a separate non-profit) have their own insurance? Monetary restrictions have resulted in our FOL group dropping their annual insurance as they understood it was not "required."

I have always been under the impression that it is illegal for public libraries to fundraise on their own, aside from 2 book sales per year. If a school district public library no longer has a Friends Group, can it host fundraisers? For example, could the library itself host a bingo night and raise money? Can a school district public library send out a fundraising letter?

Or is it important that all library staff and trustees refrain from fundraising efforts in order to separate public funds from fundraising? I am struggling because we have a lot of great ideas, but the future of our Friends Group is unclear. I am wondering what options are available to me as a library director, and my Board of Trustees, if the Friends Group were to dissolve.

Thank you so much.

The [NAME REDACTED] Public Library has a materials selection policy in place. When recently updating the policy, trustees had questions about the "responsibility" section which states:

"Authority and responsibility for the selection of library resources is delegated to the Library Director by the Board of Trustees. At the discretion of the Library Director, staff who are qualified by reason of education, training and experience are given the responsibility to select resources within the framework of this policy."

The question we have is should the word "delegated" be used in this context. The Handbook for Library Trustees includes sections stating that the board is legally responsible for all aspects of the library as an institution and have broad and almost exclusive powers and authority to administer the library. We wonder if the delegated section is correct, or if the responsibility section should just say that the Library Director is responsible for the selection of library resources.

A local artist has asked for us to become a fiscal sponsor (act as a “pass-through” organization). Is this something a public library can do?

[This question is a quasi-fictional mash-up of some questions we got from some town libraries and a cooperative library system.]

We are a town public library, so our town board appoints our trustees.  We know New York's Public Officers Law Section 3 requires that the appointed trustees be residents of the town, but recently, our town attorney said our town adopted a local law to exempt appointments from the Public Officers Law's residency requirements.  Can a town do that?  And if so, can that be a way to address a shortage of trustees who reside within the Town limits?