Board members
OASTL board and ASTL board recognition.
Two badges on a Library Card identify board members of the organizations affiliated with the Library: OASTL board and ASTL board. This page explains what the badges are, what is expected of board members in their Library role, and how the badges are granted.
What the organizations are
OASTL stands for the Oregon Association of School Trust Lands. It is the organization out of which much of the Library’s work has grown, and the source of a great deal of the Oregon-specific record on the site.
ASTL stands for America’s School Trust Lands. It is the national counterpart, currently forming. Once the ASTL exists with a seated board, ASTL board badges will be granted to its members in the same way as OASTL board badges.
The Library is independent of both organizations. The board-member badges are not a sign of organizational ownership of the Library — they are a sign that a patron holds a governance role at one of the organizations the Library works alongside.
What is expected
A board-member badge does not change what a patron can do at the Library. Board members read, comment, and submit corrections like any other patron with a Card. What the badge does is identify them when they speak — so a reader who sees a comment from a patron with the OASTL board badge knows that comment carries the perspective of someone with governance responsibility at an affiliated organization.
Board members are expected to help in two ways. First, by helping the Library shape its priorities — what gets covered, in what order, with what depth. Second, by ensuring that the Library’s public-facing material about their organization and their state is accurate. If the Library publishes something about OASTL that is wrong, an OASTL board member is among the first the Library hopes will notice.
How the badges are granted
A board member writes to the head librarian — feedback works fine for this — saying which board they serve on and asking for the badge. The head librarian confirms with the relevant organization that the patron is in fact on the board, then grants the badge.
The badge displays the board name in its attribution, so a Card might read OASTL board or ASTL board directly, without further detail.
More on tiers and advancement: /pro/roles/ — the institutional ladder, with the full list of recognition and stewardship paths.
