Update on System Membership Standards by Dee Brennan

Here is an update on a topic of interest to all:

42 volunteers have been working on system membership standards.  The current standards are very minimal:

A library must:

• follow the ILLINET interlibrary loan code

• provide reciprocal borrowing to other public libraries in the system

• honor non-resident cards if it does not opt out of the program

• have a bibliographically organized collection that is accessible centrally

• have permanent financial support for the library collection

• have paid staff for 15 hours per week

• occupy identifiable quarters in one principal location

These standards were adopted when the systems merged in 2010; previously, standards varied widely across systems. 

Many states have statewide standards for public and school libraries, including Iowa. 

Six subcommittees are working on different aspects of standards:  professional leadership; training and certification; content/collections; customers; facilities; and funding.

Preliminary drafts have been developed and it is now time to gather more input from colleagues in RAILS, IHLS and the Illinois State Library, to ensure that we can move forward to create standards that will help all libraries serve their communities better.

We will devote our June 18 Member Update to a discussion of standards.  Stay tuned for confirmation and details.

In the meantime, I welcome your comments about statewide system membership standards.