256.51 Division of library services — duties and responsibilities.

1. The division of library services is attached to the department of education for administrative purposes. The state librarian shall be responsible for the division’s budgeting and related management functions in accordance with section 256.52, subsection 3. The division shall do all of the following:

a. Provide support services to libraries, including but not limited to consulting, continuing education, interlibrary loan services, and references services to assure consistency of service statewide and to encourage local financial support for library services.

b. Determine policy for providing information service to the three branches of state government and to the legal community in this state.

c. Coordinate a statewide interregional interlibrary loan and information network among libraries in this state and support activities which increase cooperation among all types of libraries.

d. Establish and administer a program for the collection and distribution of state publications to depository libraries.

e. Develop, in consultation with the area education agency media centers, a biennial unified plan of service and service delivery for the division of library services.

f. Establish and administer a statewide continuing education program for librarians and trustees.

g. Give to libraries advice and counsel in specialized areas which may include, but are not limited to, building construction and space utilization, children’s services, and technological developments.

h. Obtain from libraries reports showing the condition, growth, and development of services provided and disseminate this information in a timely manner to the citizens of Iowa.

i. Establish and administer certification guidelines for librarians not covered by other accrediting agencies.

j. Foster public awareness of the condition of libraries in Iowa and of methods to improve library services to the citizens of the state.

k. Establish and administer standards for state agency libraries and public libraries.

l. Allow a public library that receives state assistance under section 256.57, or financial support from a city or county pursuant to section 256.69, to dispose of, through sale, conveyance, or exchange, any library materials that may be obsolete or worn out or that may no longer be needed or appropriate to the mission of the public library. These materials may be sold by the public library directly or the governing body of the public library may sell the materials by consignment to a public agency or to a private agency organized to raise funds solely for support of the public library. Proceeds from the sale of the library materials may be remitted to the public library and may be used by the public library for the purchase of books and other library materials or equipment, or for the provision of library services.

2. The division may do all of the following:

a. Enter into interstate library compacts on behalf of the state of Iowa with any state which legally joins in the compacts as provided in section 256.70.

b. Receive and expend money for providing programs and services. The division may receive, accept, and administer any moneys appropriated or granted to it, separate from the general library fund, by the federal government or by any other public or private agency.

c. Accept gifts, contributions, bequests, endowments, or other moneys, including but not limited to the Westgate endowment fund, for any or all purposes of the division. Interest earned on moneys accepted under this paragraph shall be credited to the fund or funds to which the gifts, contributions, bequests, endowments, or other moneys have been deposited, and is available for any or all purposes of the division. The division shall report annually to the commission and the general assembly regarding the gifts, contributions, bequests, endowments, or other moneys accepted pursuant to this paragraph and the interest earned on them.

93 Acts, ch 48, §18; 2001 Acts, ch 158, §12; 2006 Acts, ch 1152, §21; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §316, 321; 2010 Acts, ch 1183, §15; 2010 Acts, ch 1193, §44, 80; 2011 Acts, ch 132, §45 – 50, 106

Referred to in §256.57