All posts created by wintonian@gmail.com

In my experience, it's all about relationships. I spend a good amount of time keeping in touch with the City's CAO, department Directors. I would love to see my Board Chair do more work to speak to Councillors, since it really should be elected official to elected official, but I understand they have day jobs, so realistically, it's me taking Councillors for coffee and learning about their priorities.

I try to present to council a couple times/year outside of budget with good news stories and our annual report. And definitely attending community events. Getting staff involved in appropriate ways (on work time) is something I want to start thinking about this year too. Would love any ideas on how to talk to staff about their role in advocacy and developing talking points for them.

Hi Everyone,

We're doing research into self-checkout solutions and wondering if anyone has recent experience with a procurement process for these, plus experiences with current machines.

It seems the two options are: component based, which are cheaper, but more likely to have parts breakdown. All in one: costly upfront, but reliable.

We've spoken to Envisionware and Biblioteca, and both have been responsive and helpful up front, but I'm curious to know about experience working with each company after initial purchase.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

Hi Haley! I spent some time speaking with Fund Development consultants a while back about this very thing. The advice I got from them was: definitely not too early to fund develop, but 1) make sure your town is aware you're doing this and they have some type of plan for a new library, otherwise community members will start asking them questions about the new library and you never want them to feel in the dark. 2) Build a case for the new library or expansion. This can be a document that identifies the need, the planned timelines, and the key messages to potential funders - you want everyone to get the same information, and you'll have more luck getting funds with a solid package outlining the project. 3) have policies governing fund development and sponsorship.

Hope that helps!