Continuing Education -- Key to Your Library

Continuing education is required by law. Under NJSA (New Jersey Statutes Annotated 15:21-2.3): a member or members of the board or commission must have received a minimum of seven total hours of library-related education annually to qualify for state aid, among other requirements. An ideal way to accomplish this is attendance at the Trustee Institute when it is held. Other opportunities are provided   as well through the NJLTA. 

There are seminars held and other programs provided which allow for the education of trustees in their roles and responsibilities, library law, and other important trustee activities. 

In addition to the Trustee Institute is the Trustee Academy Webinar Series by ALA's ALTAFF.

The Trustee Academy is a series of online courses to help Trustees become exceptionally proficient in their roles on behalf of libraries.  The New Jersey State Library has paid for 100 site licenses that provide the Trustees, staff, and library directors with one year of access (July 1 to June 30) to the Trustee Academy.

Access to the Trustee Academy was first opened to Trustees who attended the NJ Library Trustee Institute on June 2, 2012.  We urge you to contact Beth Nawalinski bnawalinski@ala.org to register. 

Attending The New Jersey Library Trustee Institute provides trustees with many of the tools that will help them to achieve their goals. Like New Jersey's libraries, our Library Trustees just keep getting better and better. The next Trustee Institute will be September 13, 2014 at the Eatontown Sheraton, more details will be forthcomming.

The New Jersey State Library and its partners, the New Jersey Library Trustee Association (NJLTA) and New Jersey Library Association (NJLA), are committed to providing the highest quality of trustee education available. The Trustee Institute, held every two years, is part of our goal to train trustees to be knowledgeable about their responsibilities and to help them understand core competencies to improve their skills as trustees and therefore better advocate for their library.