Serving Our Public Committee Illinois Library Association

News

Member Spotlight - Betsy Adamowski: January 24, 2024; This week's member spotlight is on Betsy Adamowski, executive director of the Wheaton Public Library. Betsy has been involved in various ILA committees and served as ILA president in 2015. She is currently a member of the ILA Advocacy and Serving Our…
Member Spotlight - Jim Deiters: January 24, 2024; This week's member spotlight is on Jim Deiters. Jim is the deputy director at the Joliet Public Library and member of the ILA Serving Our Public Committee. Jim has also served on the ILA Advocacy and Public Policy Committees. We …

Events

Apr 29 2024
Serving Our Public Committee Meeting

Monday, Apr 29, 2024 2:00pm–3:00pm

Zoom
May 7 2024
Serving Our Public Committee Meeting

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 1:00pm–2:00pm

Zoom
Jun 4 2024
Serving Our Public Committee Meeting

Tuesday, Jun 4, 2024 1:00pm–2:00pm

Zoom

75 ILCS 10/8.1 states, to be eligible for grants under this Section [which include the Public Library Per Capita Grant], a public library must: “Provide, as determined by the State Librarian, library services which either meet or show progress toward meeting the Illinois library standards, as most recently adopted by the Illinois Library Association.” In light of this law and the Illinois State Library’s recent move to require a full review of the Serving Our Public: Standards for llinois Public Libraries every year as part of the Public Library Per Capita Grant Application, ILA has created a standing Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries Committee to ensure that Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries continues to be relevant and accurate for Illinois public libraries.

Committee Charge

Completely revise Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries, this would include:

Moving to an online format
Simplifying the chapters to an Overview, a Minimum Standards Checklist, and an Advanced Checklist

Similar to Colorado (https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/standards/index)

Reviewing and updating all the content, including the addition of a DEI chapter/section. This could tie into the DEI toolkit that the association is working on.
Determining how to incorporate appendices in an online format.

Timeline

Begin in July 2023 – end in January 2025

July 2023 – orientation, discuss overall vision, format, how to proceed (subgroups, shared google docs, etc.)
September 2023 – meet to discuss intro/how-to section and chapter 1, appendix A
October 2023 – meet to discuss chapter 2, appendix B-D
November 2023 – meet to discuss chapter 3, appendix E
January 2024 – meet to discuss chapter 4-6, appendix F-G, J-K
March 2024 – meet to discuss chapter 7-8, appendix H-I
April 2024 – meet to discuss chapter 9-11
May 2024 – meet to discuss chapter 12-13
June 2024 – meet to discuss DEI chapter, glossary
July 2024 (orientation) – meet to review the whole thing
August 2024 – submit to web designer
October 2024 – listening session at ILA
November 2024 – review web designers work, make adjustments
January 2025 (after per capita grant application deadline) – go live