If you are a trustee, a public library leader, or someone tasked with appointing or training trustees, please join us.
How are public library trustees selected and trained? What problems do they encounter, and how do they understand their work? The Trustee Project aims to find out, with your help.
These are the sorts of questions we are asking in The Trustee Project—and no one has answered these sorts of questions in a national research study in decades! Please join us in participating in this study as we seek to learn we hope to learn how public library directors and other public library leaders and trustees understand their roles and do their vital work in sustaining public libraries and the communities they serve.
Our team is currently analyszing the data from Phase 1 and 2 of this project, and Phase 3 will commence Spring 2027.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services by an Early Career Research Development Grant (#RE-256642-OLS-24), made through the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The Public Library Trustee Pilot Study.
Library boards and the trustees that form them are largely unexplored in terms of their training, selection, and practices.
Through interviews and discourse analysis, the Public Library Trustees pilot study examines the perspectives of Kentucky public library administrators, trustees, and county judge executives on the role of the trustee, the ways in which they are selected and trained, their perceived value, and challenges with appointing trustees or working together as judge executives, librarians, and trustees.
This study is UK Institutional Review Board study #83283. The IRB ascertains the ethical collection, storage, and use of data to protect participants; approval by the IRB is not an endorsement of the study by the University of Kentucky.
