Just Published! Trusty Trustee Newsletter - July 2025
July 28, 2025
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Kristin Pekoll, LTF Staff Liaison
kpekoll@ila.org
The ILA Library Trustee Forum newsletter, The Trusty Trustee, serves as a resource for the ILA trustee community (members and non-members) by providing the latest education, information, and news to help trustees successfully perform their duties.
All ILA Trustee Members ($75/year) receive the Trusty Trustee Newsletter by email. Anyone can access it on the ILA website.
Read The Trusty Trustee Newsletter (July 2025) online
Message from the President - Tom Stagg
Dear Fellow Library Trustees,
Happy New Fiscal year in the Library world. As the incoming President of the Library Trustee forum, I would like to thank Jennifer Lucas for the great work she did this last year. She hit the ground running and never stopped thinking about library trustees and the issues that you face at your library daily.
If this is your First ILA Trusty Trustee newsletter—WELCOME! The newsletter is here to help you gain valuable knowledge about your role as trustee. Today I would like to take the opportunity to talk a little about being an advocate for your library and all libraries.
As you are aware the largest portion of public library funding is from property taxes. When you look at your property tax bill the library portion is a rather lower number than other tax categories.
Your library gets a lot of support from the Federal government as well through the Illinois State Library and the Library Systems. These funds support the interlibrary loans that your library uses to increase resources for the patrons. The funds also support many other programs through the Illinois State Library.
Get to know your local legislatures to let them know you support libraries. In the communications from the Illinois Library Association you may be asked to fill out a form to send to your legislator supporting an ILA position on legislation and funding. Sometimes a note or phone call is needed as well. You may already have a connection, if so feel free to let them know how you feel on issues.
The Illinois Library Association has legislative meetups in December. We hope you can attend the meetups and meet other Library Trustees, Directors and ILA staff.
Mark your calendars for the ILA Annual Conference October 14-16, 2025 in Rosemont. You can attend the whole conference and/or Trustee Day on Thursday. It’s a great experience for Trustees.
— Tom Stagg, ILA Library Trustee Forum President
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