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Due On April 30th
Earlier this month, Iowa libraries of all types—public, college, schools, and specials—should have received an email from Scott Dermont regarding Enrich Iowa Letters of Agreement (LOAs) Yes, it’s that time of year again when Iowa libraries need to renew participation in the Enrich Iowa Program, now for FY2025. These Letters of Agreement are due on April 30.
Enrich Iowa is made up of three distinct programs: Open Access, ILL Reimbursement, and Direct State Aid, which is the funding awarded for meeting public library standards. The agreements for FY 2025 are ready to go, find them by clicking the button below. The EI Agreement is available as a digital form only, we no longer accept faxed copies.
Follow These Steps-to-Completion
- Find the Enrich Iowa Agreement by clicking on the button below . Note there are various agreements for various types of libraries, so be sure to open the agreement that matches your library type.
- Mark the boxes on the Agreement, making sure to check each box next to the program that you wish to participate in. You must check at least one box to submit the form. If you intend to participate in Direct State Aid reimbursement, you also need to participate in the Open Access Reimbursement and Interlibrary Loan Reimbursement programs. NOTE: Tier 0 libraries may only participate in Interlibrary Loan Reimbursement, true since 2017.
- Within the orange text box, fill out the contact information and sign the Enrich Iowa Agreement. It can be signed by the library director or other signatory authority; the form uses digital signatures.
- Submit the EI Agreement by clicking the blue “Submit & Sign” button at the bottom of the screen. Once submitted, you will receive an email notice with an attached version of the completed document. You can keep the attached copy for your records.
Library directors and trustees will benefit from reading the Terms of Agreement for each individual Enrich Iowa program. The Terms of Agreement for Open Access, Interlibrary Loan Reimbursement, and Director State Aid (meeting standards) outline the rules and regulations behind each program, find each one at the button below.
Please be mindful of the deadline—April 30, 2024. Scott will begin posting the EI Agreements as they are received at the State Library, so you can track your library’s status. Contact Scott Dermont with questions scott.dermont@iowa.gov This is an annual opt-in proposition, thanks for doing so!
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Just Ahead: May 6-12
In April each year, celebrations abound during National Library Week. Now coming in May, there’s another week dedicated to reading and literacy, this time with the reading interests of kids at heart. May 6-12 is Children’s Book Week.
This year marks the 105th anniversary of Children’s Book Week. The theme for this year’s celebration is No Rules, Just Read. Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national celebration of books for young people.
Every year, children and teens participate by attending events at libraries and at school, engaging with book creators both online and in person. It’s estimated that 2,300 libraries, schools, and bookstores nationwide tout Children’s Book Week by highlighting the joy of reading for kids and to kids of all ages. And this is especially cool: in 2024, Children’s Book Week will actually span two dedicated weeks: May 6-12 and again November 4-10.
Award-winning author and illustrator Sophie Blackall is the poster art creator and this year’s Children’s Book Week spokesperson. Find that poster, along with coloring pages, program ideas, and give-aways at the button below. Then share your Children’s Book Week plans with each other on Library Talk 😊
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Each year during National Library Week, ALA releases a publication titled The State of America’s Libraries Report. With each edition, ALA editors look back on the year past with stories about library funding, programming, advocacy efforts, and more.
The look back at 2023 is best characterized in the publication’s subtitle “libraries adapt and innovate in the midst of record-breaking censorship challenges.” 2022-23 ALA president Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada writes “we have continued to face unprecedented attempts to ban books and other assaults on the freedom to read. In the face of these challenges, our libraries have found opportunity and our communities have shown that there’s more to the story for everyone.”
From the full report, here are some stats and stories that impacted Americans and their libraries in the past year:
- Libraries contribute to economic vitality in virtually every community across the country. Nearly half of libraries in the U.S. provide free services to entrepreneurs who wish to start and grow a business. This ranges from offering free access to market databases, hosting business classes, providing collarboration space, and providing seed money through business-plan competitions.
- The combined outcome for Fiscal Year 2022 and FY 2023 was a net gain for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) the leading source of federal funding for America’s libraries. LSTA funding received an increase of $13.5 million, which raised the program to $211 million. The boost for LSTA in FY 2023 was encouraging to library advocates after a lackluster close to the FY22 budget
- Las Vegas-Clark County Library System has a cell phone lending program; phones are loaned for an 18-month period. Kelvin Watson, LVCCLD executive director, told American Libraries: “Our Cellphone Lending Program is an example of how public libraries empower and uplift members of underserved communities by finding innovative ways to expand that access.”
- Hinton (WV) Public Library is part of the Library of Things action—a growing movement proving that our institutions are loaning so much more than books. So this library, with budget dollars and aided by donations, purchased a fleet of lightweight utility wagons for about $100 each. The goal behind this service is to help people without cars to be able to carry groceries home up and down steep neighborhood hills. The library had a fundraising goal of $1,200 and ended up raising $2,000, checking out six wagons within a month.
The State of America’s Libraries Report also includes ALA’s tradition of including the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of the past year. The report cites these statistics: in 2022, ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom received a record 1,269 book challenges, the highest number of demands to ban books reported to ALA since the Association began compiling this data. This number nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2021.
The full ALA report is a free PDF download. Read more about the nation’s libraries, financial conditions, and advocacy efforts, as well as the Top Ten Most Challenged Books. Alongside the full State of America’s Libraries Report, find social media graphics and messages at the button below
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Lunch with the State Library:
Bridges Service. April 18.
Online. 12:15-12:45
This month’s Lunch with the State Library highlights our eLibrary Consortium—Bridges. Did you know that there are currently 492 participating libraries? This lunchtime session explains how Bridges titles are selected, how the program is funded, and how to promote this service to your library users. Not yet a Bridges member? We’ll touch on the process for joining the Consortium at the next annual opportunity, which will be March 2025.
Lunch with the State Library is a series of short sessions designed to give library workers a high-level overview of a featured product or service available to them through the State Library of Iowa so they can most effectively take advantage of that product or service and use it in their library to serve their patrons.
The Boardroom Series: Basically Incredible Boards.
Online. April 18. 6:00-7:30PM
Our first Boardroom webinar of 2024 takes the ideas of Iowa author Matt Booth and applies them to the work of library boards. Booth’s book, Basically Incredible: Doing the Basics Consistently Leads to a Better Life, argues that despite the complexity of life, it’s the simple and fundamental practices that truly make a difference. It is critical for trustees to understand the fundamentals of serving on a governing board—that’s where the good work of boards begin. But we’ll also look at going beyond the basics to find enhancements and advancements.
Participation in The Boardroom helps satisfy Standard #8:
“All members of the library board of trustees participate
in a variety of board development training each year”
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