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• Senior class visits state capitol• Edmunds County FSA Updates• Weather spotter class to be held in Roscoe

Thursday, March 5, 2020Volume 13 Number 41

Accreditation Achieved

Thirteen South Dakota public libraries have been accredited by the State Library in 2020. They were recently honored in front of lawmakers, library colleagues, and community members at the Capitol rotunda during an event held in conjunction with the annu-al South Dakota Library Associa-tion Library Legislative Day.

Accredited libraries demon-strate that they meet important benchmarks for providing high quality library services to their communities. Public libraries are accredited at one of three levels: Essential, Enhanced, or Exem-plary. Libraries are evaluated in the following areas, as outlined in South Dakota Public Library Stan-dards: governance, administration, access, collections and resources, funding, staffing, technology, and public relations.

The following libraries have been accredited:

Beresford Public Library – En-hanced

Rev Martin Bieber Public Li-brary (Bowdle) – Essential

Emil M. Larson Public Library (Clark) – Essential

Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Li-brary – Enhanced

Edgemont Public Library – Es-sential

Freeman Public Library – Es-sential

Harrisburg Community Library – Essential

Keystone Town Library – Es-sential

North Sioux City Community Library – Essential

Rapid City Public Library – Ex-emplary

Grace Balloch Memorial Li-brary (Spearfish) – Exemplary

Edith B. Siegrist Vermillion Public Library – Exemplary

Wessington Public Library – Es-sential

Detailed requirements for each level of tiered accreditation, as well as a complete list of all cur-rently accredited libraries, are

available on the South Dakota State Library’s website at http://libguides.library.sd.gov/services/cert_accred.

Local AccreditationBowdle Librarian, Lydia Schnai-

ble, is proud of this achievement and rightfully so. Bowdle Library has tried to get accredited in the past, but a couple things hindered it. One of the things that you have to submit when applying for ac-creditation is a document showing when your city established your public library. No one could find this. Marjean Gab pored over old city council minutes but couldn’t find anything. Schnaible ended up searching through the old newspa-pers and found it in a 1968 paper.

She shared, “Accreditation is completely voluntary with the state - it’s meeting the standards that all libraries should have. It helps assess the quality of what your library has to offer, helps the library identify what needs im-provement, and it is to help gain community support.”

Schnaible attended Library In-stitute to obtain a certificate to become the Library Director. She attends each summer for a week and takes a class each winter for continuing education credits.

The library board also has to have a set amount of continuing education hours, and the board stepped up and did the work. Currently serving on the board are President Chad Holsworth, Vice-President Ann Thomsen, and Trustees Michelle Kessel, Margie Bobby, Marjean Gab and City Council Representative Gary Frankfurth.

While they attained the first of three levels of accreditation, the additional levels require more, such as creating a strategic plan, setting long term goals, etc. They are going to continue to work on improving the library and work-ing towards the next accreditation level.

For now, certain grants are opened to the Library, as some accept accredited libraries prior to opening up their funds to other libraries.

Local library activitiesIn 2019, the Bowdle Library

had 981 visits, which is over 80 visits per month. Schnaible con-

tends, “Lots of people still have the mindset that libraries are just a quiet place with books. Libraries have evolved into so much more. A library is now a center of activ-ity and community. Parents with kids can meet at the library for a play date. Adults can come to the library for coffee and put together a puzzle. Families can come play a board game together. I have kids that come to the library because they can be loud and have fun. They get to use their imaginations and be silly. Bowdle Public Li-brary is a huge asset to not only our town, but the surrounding communities. You don’t have to live in Bowdle to use our library.”

Currently, they offer Library School for area pre-schoolers and see between 9-11 children each time. They keep an ample variety of movies for rent and viewing at home. There is a coffee bar for pa-trons to enjoy as they utilize the library’s resources. The “read” design art work on the exterior of the building, which was originally designed by MyRon Zimmer, has been replaced with permanent ma-terials as the paint had begun peel-ing away.

They are working on digitizing the catalog of library resources. Soon, visitors will no longer need to sign a paper card. Everything will be electronic and become automated. Fines have been elim-inated because it deters people from coming back.

Bowdle is hosting a workshop in March for area libraries as one of eight sites for the state. The work-shop will be focusing on Summer Reading programs. The dates and information for this summer’s program will be announced soon.

In the future, they are working to see more community involve-ment at the library. Schnaible is working on Teach Your Talent op-portunities. “We are looking for anyone who has a special teach-able talent, such as crocheting, cooking, etc. that they could teach others to do. We just had someone teach a group of 16 to Diamond Paint. I think someone who could teach a class on German cooking would go over well. That’s some-thing that is unique to our commu-nity and area that is a literal dying talent,” Schnaible explained.

Front row: Kathleen Slocum - State Library, Lydia Schnaible - Rev Martin Bieber Public Library director,

Bowdle, Daria Bossman - state librarian, and Liane Welte - North Sioux City Community Library director. Back row: Donna Runge - Wessington Public Library

director, Jane Norling - Beresford Public Library director, Daniel Burniston - Edith B.

Siegrist Vermillion Public Library director.

Wyatt Belcher (Charles & Jaime) showsoff his heart he made for Valentines Day.

Lydia Schnaible - Bowdle Library Director

Hope Drake (Ryan & Amber) and Marilyn Clark (Jason & Brittany) enjoy their time at Library School.

SUNDAY,MARCH 8