Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of attending the New Jersey State Library Trustee Institute with Cathi Alloway, Director of Schlow Centre Region Library in State College, Pa. and one of our libraries consultants.

After my fourth time attending one of these events, I have found that the New Jersey State Library and New Jersey Library Trustees Association do a fantastic job of making training available to Trustees. Trustee education is a so important, because the responsibilities of Trustees are becoming more complex -- legal issues, fundraising, financial management, construction and renovation, etc.

Now more than ever, there is a critical need for well informed and competent people to serve on boards.

I was pleased to see that more than 200 New Jersey library trustees took the time on a Saturday to come to the training. They were interested, enthusiastic and appreciative that they had the opportunity to interact with other trustees and learn. Nothing is more personally gratifying than to have a Trustee who has attended a previous session on strategic planning come up to me and say, "You helped us so much. We are creating our plan and we refer to the information that you gave us all the time."

Interested in having The Ivy Group speak to your Board of Trustees? Let us know!