Village Board must approve all members, not just the Village members, as recommended by the Library Board for renewal. (3 year appointments)
Library Board Trustees (General Function)
Participate as a member of a team (the library board) to protect and advance the interests of the broader community by effectively governing the operations and promoting the development of the local public library.
Responsibilities of the Library Board
The primary responsibilities of trustees assigned here include:
Exclusive control of all library expenditures.
Purchasing of a library site and the erection of the library building when authorized.
Exclusive control of all lands, buildings, money, and property acquired or leased by the municipality for library purposes.
Supervising the administration of the library and appointing a librarian.
Prescribing the duties and compensation of all library employees.
This charge from the legislature provides library boards, but not individual trustees, with considerable discretion to operate libraries as they deem necessary independent of direct control by other municipal players - city councils, town boards, mayors, village board presidents, etc. In providing this governance structure for libraries, the legislature was attempting to keep library operations under direct citizen control and as far as possible outside the political sphere of government. Compared with other appointed boards, library boards have extraordinary powers and responsibilities. Many other appointed boards can only recommend actions to an elected board or council higher up the ladder of government. Library board actions are made independently of any further approval by other government bodies or officials as long as such actions are within statutory authority.
The independent authority granted to public library boards is intended to protect the historic role of the public library as a source of unbiased information.
The above definition is from the Library Trustee Handbook by the DPI/ Division for Libraries and Technology.