Rawlins Municipal Library and its Board of Trustees received an Award of Excellence from the South Dakota State Library at Library Legislative Day today at the State Capitol. The Library received the award for achieving Exemplary Level Accreditation. It’s the highest level of recognition a Library can achieve in South Dakota.
Robin Schrupp, Rawlins Municipal Library Director, says that the Library’s Board of Trustees played a major role in this achievement. Collectively, last year, they were required to attend a minimum of 45 hours of continuing education regarding specific library issues.
“Our board members completed this training on their own time,” said Schrupp. “It really speaks to their desire to enrich the library and improve services in our community.”
Accreditation Standards are established through the South Dakota State Library in conjunction with national public library standards. Exemplary Level accreditation requires libraries to meet more than 80 criteria in the areas of governance, administration, access, collections and resources, funding, staffing, technology, and public relations. Accreditation is valid for three years.
“This accreditation takes years of dedication,” said Pierre Mayor Steve Harding. “It’s a big deal, and I’m really proud of the library staff and its board for having the initiative to take our local program to the highest level of professionalism.”
Rawlins Library offers more than 159,000 books, ebooks, digital magazines and other materials for research and entertainment. In 2017, more than 152,000 people visited the library with an average daily count of more than 430 patrons. It also offered more than 230 programs for readers of all ages, including 152 specifically designed for children.
For more information about library programs and activities visit, rawlinslibrary.org.
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