WebJunction

British Columbia’s public libraries are governed by trustees who volunteer their time on library boards throughout the province. 

Trustees represent the community and ensure that the library provides relevant, comprehensive, and efficient service to its patrons. The board sets strategic directions and policies for the library, employs a director to implement its plans and priorities, and monitors and evaluates that implementation.

Under the British Columbia Library Act, board members may serve a total of eight consecutive years.  

Links to the BC Library Trustees' Association and the Canadian Library Trustees' Association, along with key resources for library trustees, are provided in the "Documents" tab.

We encourage trustees from BC and beyond to visit this page often and to feel welcome to share their thoughts, observations, questions, and concerns regarding public library governance via the "Discussion" tab.

This is your WebJunction BC gathering place, and we hope you will use it to "Explore, Connect, and Learn" about your role as a public library trustee.

About the BC Library Trustees' Association

BCLTA was founded in 1977 to represent the boards and trustees that govern local public libraries
in British Columbia. 

We represent 69 library boards and over 675 library trustees who volunteer
their time on library boards throughout the province.  Our mission is "to develop and support library trustees to advance public library service in BC."  Therefore, we strive to provide a range of services to trustees and boards to make them leaders in BC’s library community.  The products and services we offer include an annual conference for trustees, training workshops, trustee awards, bulletins, newsletters, and more. 

BCLTA also fills an important strategic role, providing organized representation to the provincial government for library trustees, and undertaking advocacy work on behalf of trustees and public libraries with various levels of government and the public.

BCLTA is governed by a Board of nine and the work of the Board is supported by an Executive Director and Administrative Assistant.   Membership in BCLTA is based on an institutional membership for the library board, which includes membership privileges for each individual board member.