Participate

Three open seats

Two Director seats and the Law Librarian. Postings published September 10, 2026 under the board's written consent of that date; the Law Librarian's role charter travels with its posting as a draft the board has not yet adopted.

America's School Trust Library is an Oregon nonprofit public benefit corporation, Oregon Registry No. 259005891, formed in July 2026. It collects, verifies and publishes the record of the school trust lands the United States granted to the states at statehood — what was granted, what was promised, what happened to it, and what the courts have said about it. It publishes in the open, corrects in public, and keeps a numbered corrections ledger that anyone can read.

Three seats are open: two Directors and the Law Librarian. All three are one-year terms, uncompensated and renewable, and all three require a signed annual disclosure under the Library's Conflict of Interest Policy. The board meets at least quarterly and works by written consent between meetings. The Library has not yet filed its application for federal tax-exempt recognition; it is being prepared. No federal tax-exemption determination has been issued, and until one is, the Library does not describe contributions as tax-deductible. The Library is not asking anyone for money; it asks for documents and hands.

If one of these describes you, or describes someone you know, write to the President, Dave Sullivan, at drdavesullivan@gmail.com. Two paragraphs is plenty. There is no form.

Director — two seats

What the seats are for. The board is three people: a President who also holds the Treasurer's office, a Secretary, and one Director. Three is enough to act and too few to disagree usefully. These two seats exist so that the Library's decisions are made by people who did not build it, and so that the founder can be outvoted.

The discipline the Library most lacks. One of the two seats should go to someone who can take the Treasurer's office — a person at home with accounts, budgets, tax filings and charitable reports. The President holds that office today under the board's written finding that the arrangement is temporary and necessary; it ends when a fourth director is seated or another Treasurer is elected, and no later than the election of officers in 2027. The bylaws also require, once the board reaches five, at least one educator and at least one librarian, archivist, records professional or equivalent collection steward; the other seat would ideally bring one of those.

What it asks.

1. Read the thing before voting on it. The Library's papers are short by policy; nothing put to this board should take more than an hour.
2. Say what you actually think in the room, and let it be recorded when you dissent.
3. Sign an annual disclosure of interests, and recuse without being asked when one applies.
4. Name two or three real people, once a year, for seats, council, or collections. Recruiting is part of the seat, not a favour.

What it does not ask. No fundraising quota. No litigation. The Library's adopted Constitution says it takes no position in any litigation, and directors are not asked to take one either. No public advocacy in the Library's name unless you choose to.

Who this fits. Someone who has sat on a board that governed rather than applauded — a trustee, a school board member, a librarian or archivist with governance experience, a lawyer who has been the one to say “not yet.” Subject-matter expertise in school trust lands is welcome and is not required.

One thing to know before you say yes. The Library publishes its own mistakes with numbers on them. If a corrections ledger that names the institution's errors in public would embarrass you, this is the wrong board.

Law Librarian

What the seat is for. The Library publishes claims about what courts have held. The Law Librarian is the person who can say, on the record, that a citation has been checked against the reporter — and who is accountable when one has not been. The bylaws make the seat a professional role, not automatically an officer or director seat.

What it asks.

1. Own the citation standard: every claim tied to a primary source, every pin verified against the official reporter, nothing published on a secondary source's say-so.
2. Sit as the second signature on the Verified shelf, so that no item reaches it on one person's reading.
3. Take the corrections that come in from outside, decide them on the merits, and credit the person who sent them.
4. Sign an annual disclosure.

What it does not ask. No litigation support. No brief-writing. No opinion on the merits of any pending case. The Library provides legal information, never legal advice.

Who this fits. A law librarian, a reference or government-documents librarian, a legal-research instructor, a retired appellate clerk, a paralegal with a citation habit. Public-lands or trust-law background is a bonus, not a filter. A person who would enjoy finding this Library wrong is precisely the person for this seat.

One thing to know before you say yes. The Library's method uses AI assistance and says so on every page. That method has produced real work and it has also produced real errors — quotations that were not in the opinion, a holding published backwards, a correction that reached six of the twelve pages citing a case and stopped. This seat exists because that method needs a human check with a name on it. If you think the method is unsound, say so in your two paragraphs; that is a useful answer and it will be read as one.

Role charter — Law Librarian

Draft. The board has not yet adopted this charter; it adopts it, with or without change, before or with the appointment. It is published with the posting so that a candidate can read what the seat would hold.

1. Purpose. The Law Librarian is the Library's standing check on the accuracy of its legal citations and the integrity of its verified holdings. The office exists so that “verified” means a named person verified it.
2. Appointment and term. Appointed by the board for a one-year renewable term. Uncompensated. Not a director; may attend any board meeting and must be given notice of any item touching the Verified shelf, the corrections ledger, or the citation standard.
3. Duties.
   1. The citation standard. Maintain and publish the standard by which a claim is admitted: primary source identified, pin cite verified against the official reporter, subsequent history stated, and any secondary source labelled as such.
   2. Second signature. No item enters the Verified shelf on one reading. The Law Librarian is the second, and may decline.
   3. The corrections ledger. Receive corrections from any source, decide them on the merits, publish the disposition with a number, and credit the sender by name unless the sender asks otherwise.
   4. Propagation. When a correction is made, satisfy themselves that it has reached every surface citing the item — not only the page that prompted it. The Library has failed this test more than once and the failure is the reason this duty is written down.
   5. Annual note. One page a year to the board: what was checked, what was found, what remains unverified.
4. Authority. The Law Librarian may withhold an item from the Verified shelf, may require that a correction be published, and may record a dissent in the ledger that the board does not remove. The board may overrule a withholding only by recorded vote, with the Law Librarian's reasons published alongside.
5. Limits. No authority over acquisitions, editorial direction, or the Library's public positions. Takes no position on any pending litigation, consistent with the Library's Constitution.
6. Disclosure and recusal. Signs the annual disclosure required of directors and officers. Recuses from any item touching a source, institution or person in which they have an interest.
7. Vacancy. If the seat is vacant, the Verified shelf does not grow. That is the point of it.

How to say yes

Write to the President, Dave Sullivan, at drdavesullivan@gmail.com. Say which seat interests you and what you would bring to it, and the board will answer. The lighter ways in — a source, a correction, a state to watch — are on the Contribute page; the invitation with a card for each kind of reader is Ways to Help.

Postings drafted September 5, 2026 and published September 10, 2026 under the board's written consent of September 10, 2026. Drafted with an AI system for the Library's board, from the Library's own record, and checked against that record by people.