Top Ten Risk Management Exercises For Governing Boards of Libraries & Cultural Institutions During the 2025 Federal Shift; Western New York Library Resources Council, February 4, 2025

  Western New York Library Resources Council; Top Ten Risk Management Exercises For Governing Boards of Libraries & Cultural Institutions During the 2025 Federal Shift 

"Question:

Early 2025 has brought changes to stability of certain federal programs, funding, and governance. This instability is creating concern about access to grants, federal programs, and legal frameworks. What can our board do to address this?

Answer:

2025 has INDEED started off with a great deal of instability to federal programs, funding, and governance. In this answer, we’ll call this phenomenon the “2025 Federal Shift.”[1]

During such times as the 2025 Federal Shift, it is the role of a governing board to assess factors that could risk the achievement of an institution’s mission and develop plans to address them. This is a process called “enterprise risk management.”[2]

While confronting risk can be intimidating, it can also be empowering. And while not every risk can be avoided, it can often be mitigated.[3]

So, whether you’re on the board of a small public library or helping to lead a library within a large institution, now is a good time to inventory newly emerging risks and develop a response plan.

While the array of risks may seem infinite, below please find a chart of risks created by the 2025 Federal Shift. Following that is a chart of institution-specific risks.

Neither chart lists everything facing your institution, but these charts are provided to inspire the start of an orderly, meaningful, and impactful risk management strategy to assist governing boards in performing their fiduciary duties to their institutions.

Top Ten Risk Management Exercises

For Governing Boards of 

Libraries and Cultural Institutions

During the 2025 Federal Shift"

Trump says he will fire Kennedy Center board members, appoint himself chairman; The Washington Post, February 7, 2025

 

Travis M. Andrews

 and 

Ben Brasch, The Washington Post; Trump says he will fire Kennedy Center board members, appoint himself chairman

"President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans to overhaul the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, writing that he had decided to “immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees,” including chairman David M. Rubenstein, in a post on Truth Social. He added that he plans to install himself as the new chairman of the prominent arts institution.

He did not say which board members he plans to terminate. It is unclear whether the president has the power to make such changes.

“The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation,” Trump wrote. “For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”"

York County Libraries halt new purchases of books with sexual content for 17 and under; WCNC, October 15, 2024

Julie Kay , WCNC; York County Libraries halt new purchases of books with sexual content for 17 and under

"York County Library Board of Trustees has decided to halt purchasing any books for minors that include any sexual content. 

The decision, made in a heated special meeting Wednesday night, is a change from their original statement. 

Board Chair Anne Witte previously posted that they would halt purchasing all books for children, until "further clarification and guidance is received from the state regarding Proviso 27.1 and until the Attorney General makes a ruling providing libraries with guidance for collection development.""

10 Things Every Board Member Needs to Know; American Libraries, July 1, 2024

 Sanhita SinhaRoy, American Libraries ; 10 Things Every Board Member Needs to Know

Kip Currier: Preparing Board members for effective, ethical service is vital for all organizations. Surprisingly, the word "ethics" is never specifically mentioned in this article, though ethics is implicated with the words "abiding by the duties of care, loyalty, and honesty" at the very end. Board members need to be aware of ethics principles/codes of organizations where they serve, as well as legal requirements and fiduciary responsibilities that have ethical dimensions in states where their organizations are located. 

[Excerpt]

"As libraries and library workers face censorship attempts, campus protests, and budget cuts, among other challenges, Harrington—a consultant and current president of the Timberland Regional (Wash.) Library board of trustees—led the program “Top 10 Things Every Library Board Member Should Know—but Often Doesn’t.”...

#10 There are specific attributes of an effective nonprofit board member.

They include a commitment to the mission of the organization; understanding of the board’s governance roles; active involvement in board activities and committees; thinking and acting strategically; not being involved in day-to-day management of the organization; abiding by the duties of care, loyalty, and honesty; and supporting the organization financially and through advocacy."

Jacksonville library keeps policy affirming Library Bill of Rights; My Journal Courier, October 13, 2023

Ben Singson, My Journal Courier ; Jacksonville library keeps policy affirming Library Bill of Rights

"Jacksonville Public Library's board of trustees unanimously voted during a meeting Tuesday to maintain the language in its policy regarding the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights. Under current Illinois law, libraries in the state must officially adopt the Library Bill of Rights to be eligible for state grants.

First adopted in 1939, the Library Bill of Rights outlines seven points of best practice libraries should follow, including one that says "material should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.""

Former Weld County librarian wins settlement after district fired her for promoting LGBTQ, anti-racism programs; Colorado Public Radio (CPR), September 22, 2023

  Matt Bloom, Colorado Public Radio (CPR); Former Weld County librarian wins settlement after district fired her for promoting LGBTQ, anti-racism programs

"A former librarian will receive $250,000 from the High Plains Library District as part of a settlement in a lengthy civil rights dispute over her firing. 

Brooky Parks lost her job at Erie Community Library in 2021 after promoting anti-racism and LGBTQ history workshops for teens. The programming drew backlash from the district’s board of trustees, which oversees more than a dozen public libraries across Northern Colorado.

Members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission signed off on the financial agreement on Friday, making it official. It also drops discrimination charges against the district and includes requirements that district leaders update their programming policies to be more inclusive. 

“I feel validated and really vindicated,” Parks said. “I think this sends a message to all libraries that there’s consequences for retaliation against people and that libraries are meant to serve all members of the community.”"