Alberta’s public libraries ensure or grant local access to all the information in the world, in all formats. Always important, such access has become even more vital in today’s high-speed environment. Our libraries are essential public services, critical to our quality of life and our communities’ success.

The Alberta Library Trustees’ Association (ALTA) has been advocating for public libraries and the patrons they represent as trustees since 1971. For more information on ALTA, take a look: https://librarytrustees.ab.ca/about-us/.

There is great value in the stories that entertain us and bind us together. Alberta public libraries link Albertans to information, worlds of imagination and leisure.

Alberta’s public libraries are governed by Boards of volunteer trustees appointed by local municipal councils. Your Board, with its intimate knowledge of your community, is in the best position to navigate the challenges your library faces.

As a trustee, you are to be commended for agreeing to become a part of the network of individuals working to ensure that public libraries continue to contribute to the ideals of a free society:

• Access to knowledge
• Freedom of information
• The right to communicate

In appointing you as a library trustee, your municipal council has expressed its trust in your skills, diligence, integrity, and ability to effectively govern the public library for this and future generations.

The task demands time, energy, and competence. This Handbook from the Alberta Library Trustees’ Association’ supplies the tools and references you need to do the job! You can also access the Handbook as an online learning module on ALTA’s website: https://librarytrustees.ab.ca/trustee-handbook/.