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Public Library Board of Trustees: Running a Meeting

Parliamentary Procedure

To help keep meetings on track, your board may choose to use a parliamentary procedure such as Robert's Rules of Order. Regardless of what parliamentary procedures you use, it will help meetings follow an established agenda, keep track of motions and decisions made, and create minutes as records for the meeting.

Types of Parliamentary Procedure

Parliamentary Procedure Resources

Parts of an Agenda

A basic agenda will look something like this:

Call to Order
Approval of Agenda
Approval of previous meeting’s minutes
Director’s Report
Old Business
New Business
Adjournment

The agenda is the roadmap for your meeting. Once the agenda is approved, stick to it.

Minutes

According to the ND Open Meetings Guide, minutes must contain at a minimum:

1. The names of the members attending the meeting;
2. The date and time the meeting was called to order and
adjourned;
3. A list of topics discussed regarding public business;
4. A description of each motion made at the meeting and
whether the motion was seconded;
5. The results of every vote taken at the meeting; and
6. The vote of each member on every recorded roll call
vote.

Meeting minutes are open records and need to be made available upon request.

Procedural vs Nonprocedural Votes

A procedural vote is anything that is dealing with how the board conducts its business. Examples of this would be approving the agenda, approving the minutes, close discussion, table a motion, etc. These can be done with a simple voice vote. A roll call vote is not necessary.

Nonprocedural votes (or substantive votes) deal with issues currently facing the board. Examples would include approving the budget, policy approval, facilities projects, etc. These require a roll call vote. This allows for transparency in the minutes.

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Many of these resources and programs are funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.