At least for public libraries, the so-called "experts"
recommend a board of seven members. However, I also
believe that one-size does not fit all.
Andrew Carnegie set-up a 17-member Board of Trustees
when he founded the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and
Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania in 1899. I was
one of the Life Trustees until the rest of the Board
thought they knew better than Andrew Carnegie and cut
the Board size to 12. I immediately resigned as I
could not serve on a Board that violated Andrew
Carnegie's Trust Agreement.
One of the reasons that they cut the size was because
a lot of board members--particularly the 7 ex-officio
trustees [Carnegie Borough Mayor and all six Borough
Councilmen] rarely attended meetings, making it
difficult to have a quorum. However, the change has
not helped. After less than seven years with 12 board
menbers, they have now *increased* the Board size to
14 !!!
BTW, as a former Library Treasurer, I can tell you
that the Andrew Carnegie Free Library had an operating
budget of $150,000 about a decade ago, with one
full-time and eight part-time employees. Due to
library funding problems, the annual budget has only
increased slightly since that time.
Andrew Carnegie founded The Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh with 20 board members in 1890. Today, they
have 31 board members. When Allegheny County started
funding the library system in the 1960s, the County
was given a seat on the board. However, about a decade
ago several more "Term Trustees" were added,
supposedly to help with fundraising. From my
perspective, I have not seen any substantial increase
in funding to the library, as a result of these
additional "Term Trustees."
gaw
--- Todd Bothel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:47:30 -0500
From: "Todd Bothel" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Board Size
To: [log in to unmask]
> Does any have a recommended size for a Board of
> Trustees? Is there any
> source that states "for this budget or staff size,
> there should be X board
> members"?
>
> We have a budget of $160,000 with three staff
> members and a board of 16. I
> want to know if this is typical, or should we
> decrease/increase the number.
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
NEWS - Astronomy, Space, Science:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://www.incline.cc >
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