Adding a Library item directly

You don't need an existing agenda item to start a Library item — you can create one from scratch.

1. Navigate to CouncilAdmin > Library.
2. Click Add Library Item (top left of the page).
3. Complete the form:
   • Title (required)
   • Agenda Text (optional)
   • Committee Scope — choose a specific committee, or leave as "Council-Wide (available to all committees)"
   • Tags — use the tag picker to add existing tags or create new ones inline
   • Files — click Add File to attach files already in your council's file store
   • Links — click Add Link to add URL references
   • Internal Notes — reminders for staff only; these are never carried into an agenda
4. Click Add to Library to save.

The item appears immediately in the Library index, grouped under its committee (or under Council-Wide).

Sub-items can't be added when creating a Library item this way. To create a Library item with sub-items, save an existing agenda item that already has children — see below.

Saving an existing agenda item to the Library

Saving to library creates a copy of the original item unless you choose the Move option.

1. On the agenda view, click the Library dropdown next to the item you want to save.
2. Select Save to Library.
3. In the confirmation modal, choose:
   • Committee Scope — save to a specific committee's library (pre-selected as the item's current committee), or make it council-wide.
   • Move item (uncommitted agendas only) — if enabled, the item is removed from the agenda once it's safely saved to the Library. This cannot be undone.
4. Click Save to Library to confirm.

A success message confirms which library the item was saved to.

What's carried across: the full sub-item hierarchy, files, papers, links, and tags. What's never carried: minute text, minute ordering, prior/post comments, and approval/adoption flags.

Saving a sub-item on its own saves it as a new top-level Library item, detached from its original parent. Any children it has become sub-items beneath it in the Library.

On committed agendas, the normal per-item action buttons (including the Library dropdown) aren't shown. Instead, a standalone Save to Library button appears beneath each item. It works the same way, except the Move toggle is always disabled — items can't be removed from a committed agenda.

Editing a Library item

1. Navigate to CouncilAdmin > Library.
2. Click the item to open its detail page.
3. Click Edit.
4. Change any field — title, agenda text, committee scope, tags, files, papers, links, or internal notes.
5. Click Save Changes.

Changing committee scope takes effect immediately; the item will appear correctly filtered from the next page load. Adding or removing files affects the Library item only — it has no effect on the original agenda item it was saved from, or on any agenda items already inserted from it.

Managing sub-items on a Library item

Sub-items appear on the Library item's detail page under Sub-Items.

To edit a sub-item inline:

1. Click the pencil icon on the sub-item row.
2. The row expands into an edit form (title, agenda text, internal notes, Confidential / Do Not Index checkboxes).
3. Click Save — or Cancel to discard changes.

To delete a sub-item:

1. Click the trash icon on the sub-item row.
2. Confirm in the modal (it will warn you if the sub-item itself has children, which will also be deleted).

There's no way to promote a sub-item to a top-level item, or reassign it to a different parent, from the Library UI. If you need to restructure, delete the Library item and re-save it from a correctly structured agenda item.

Deleting a Library item

Deleting removes the item and all its sub-items permanently. It has no effect on agenda items already inserted from it elsewhere — those are unchanged.

1. Open the Library item's detail page.
2. Click Delete (top right).
3. Confirm in the modal.

Finding what you need: filtering and sorting

Both the Library management view and the Insert from Library picker (below) share the same filter bar:

Filtering and sorting happen instantly, without reloading the page. Click Clear to reset everything back to defaults — the button only appears once a filter is applied.

The management view groups items by committee in cards by default; applying any filter or a non-default sort switches it to a flat list. The picker always shows a flat list.

Inserting a Library item into an agenda

Library items can be inserted into any uncommitted agenda, in one of three positions relative to an existing item.

1. On the agenda view, click the Library dropdown next to the item you want to insert relative to.
2. Choose an option under Insert After This Item, Insert as Child of This Item, or Replace This Item.
3. For Replace, confirm the deletion warning in the modal before the picker opens.
4. The Insert from Library picker opens, filtered by default to the current meeting's committee.
5. Use the filter bar to narrow down to the item you want, if needed.
6. Tick the checkbox next to one or more Library items. Only top-level items can be selected — their sub-items come along automatically.
7. Optionally enable Move to delete the selected items from the Library once they've been inserted (see below).
8. Click the submit button (it updates to show how many items are selected) to insert.

You're returned to the agenda view with a confirmation of how many items were inserted.

The three insert modes

Insert After This Item — the new item lands at the same level, immediately after the one you selected. Example: selecting item 6.2 makes the new item 6.3, and the old 6.3 becomes 6.4.

Insert as Child of This Item — the new item becomes the last child of the one you selected. Example: selecting item 6 (with children 6.1, 6.2) makes the new item 6.3. If the Library item itself has sub-items, they become grandchildren (6.3.1, 6.3.2, and so on).

Replace This Item — the selected item and all its children are permanently deleted, and the new item (with its own sub-items, if any) takes its place. This cannot be undone, and a confirmation modal always appears first. Example: replacing item 6.2 (which has child 6.2.1) with a Library item that has two sub-items deletes 6.2 and 6.2.1; the new item becomes 6.2, with its sub-items as 6.2.1 and 6.2.2.

Selecting multiple Library items at once is only available for Insert After and Insert as Child — Replace always swaps in a single item (which may itself carry sub-items).

What's carried across on insertion: title and agenda text (with placeholders filled in), tags, files, papers (with approval/adoption flags reset to clear), and links.

What's never carried across: internal notes, minute content, minute ordering, approval/adoption flags, and agenda page positioning data.

The "Move" option on insertion

Enabling Move when inserting permanently deletes the selected Library items once they've been inserted into the agenda. The submit button changes to "Move N Items into Agenda", and a warning banner appears confirming the items will be removed from the Library. The operation is atomic — if the insertion fails, nothing is deleted from the Library.

Move isn't available in Replace mode, and isn't available at all when copying from a previous agenda (that source can't be modified).

Use Move for: a Library item that was only ever meant for this one upcoming meeting and won't be needed again. Don't use Move for: standing items or recurring content — the whole value of the Library comes from building up a stock of reusable items over time.

Using placeholders

Placeholder tokens can go in the title or agenda text of a Library item (or a Default Meeting Content template), and are filled in automatically at the moment the item is inserted or the agenda is created:

Type the token exactly as shown, including the double curly braces — a reference panel below the agenda text field lists them all as a reminder.

The Library item itself always stores the raw token, not the filled-in value, so it stays reusable across every future meeting.

If you mistype a placeholder (e.g. {{meting_date}}), it's left in the text unchanged and a warning appears after insertion, so you can go and fix it. A correctly-spelled placeholder that simply has no value yet (like {{next_meeting}} with nothing scheduled) uses its fallback text instead of showing an error.