Upcoming Staff Retirements & Important Information about Accreditation & Legal Reference Coverage
Greetings! I wanted to send an update with some important news about upcoming State Library staff retirements and the programs that will be affected. First, we are pleased to offer congratulations to Scott Dermont and Mandy Easter on their upcoming retirements!
Scott Dermont has been with the State Library since 2008 administering the Standards & Accreditation program, the Public Library Annual Survey and associated statistics, and dispersing Enrich Iowa funding to Iowa libraries. His last day with the State Library will be Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Mandy Easter has been the Law Librarian at the State Library since 2000. She fields questions from librarians, trustees, and city officials to help them understand and apply library-related law and answers general legal reference questions from the public. Her last day with the State Library will be Thursday, Nov. 7.
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Accreditation Cycle Deferment
With our lead program staff departing and the large amount of administrative work required for the more than 200 libraries set to go through the next cycle, the State Library management team has made the decision to defer Accreditation and Tier Status applications during FY26 (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026).
This means that all libraries will have one extra year added to their Accreditation and Tier Status cycle. For example, if your current status is set to expire June 30, 2025, your new expiration date will be June 30, 2026. The addition of one extra year on your Accreditation/Tier Status has been updated in the Iowa Library Directory. Existing certificates will not be replaced. If you have an existing certificate, you may manually increase your current renewal date by one year. Note that library director and staff Endorsements will not be affected and will remain on the current cycle.
The Accreditation and Tier Status application process will resume December 2025. We will make an exception for the current year for any library that anticipates moving up a Tier Status. If this applies to your library, please contact Scott.Dermont@iowa.gov by October 31.
Legal Reference Coverage
We also wanted to provide you with some resources for legal questions you may have following Mandy’s departure:
Library Law FAQs
In recent years, Mandy Easter has been using her breadth of knowledge to prepare a resource on questions related to library law. The Library Law FAQs cover a wide range of topics, including labor law, open meetings, policies and procedures, city government relations, and more. This resource is the best place to start if you have a question or issue on laws related to libraries. Bookmark the link below:
People’s Law Library of Iowa
Mandy has also been instrumental in developing the People’s Law Library of Iowa, an online resource providing easy to understand information on topics related to Iowa’s laws. The People's Law Library is an excellent resource for librarians to provide patrons when they have legal questions. The newest topic area, Voting Law, launched last week. Access the resource below:
If you have a question or issue that is not addressed in the above resources, the State Library Reference Team will be happy to assist in the interim. They will be monitoring the Law Library email and phone at Law.Library@iowa.gov or 1-800-248-4483 (option 2).
Please join me in offering congratulations and best wishes to Scott and Mandy! We are grateful for their years of service and dedication to Iowa libraries. Feel free to send them a note before their retirements at Scott.Dermont@iowa.gov and Mandy.Easter@iowa.gov.
Following their departures, any questions related to their programs and responsibilities can be directed to Library Program Director Brenda Hall at Brenda.Hall@iowa.gov.
Sincerely,
 Michael Scott
State Librarian
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