B&ECPL Governance

Library operations within the City of Buffalo, including the Central Library, are governed by the B&ECPL Board of Trustees. The B&ECPL Board also oversees System-wide issues, including the total amounts allocated to each service area. The relationship between the B&ECPL Board and the other service area Boards of Trustees is contractual, taking the form of an annual contract between the B&ECPL Board and the other 22 individual "contracting library" Boards of Trustees.

Once the B&ECPL Board determines the total allocation to each contracting library, it is their Board of Trustees that determines how to operate that facility with the amount of funds provided. In the case of the Town of Tonawanda Libraries , that Board chose to address the reduced funding by preserving as many full-time personnel, which meant fewer staff hours were available than would have been the case if the budget cuts had been split between full and part-time staff.

More detailed information on how the B&ECPL is structured and governed can be in the Library's Strategic Plan at: http://www1.buffalolib.org/aboutthelibrary/strategicplan/index.asp

Each library service area is governed by a Library Board of Trustees as follows: