CHAPTER 8
IOWA REGIONAL LIBRARY SYSTEM
286—8.1(256) Purpose. This chapter describes the organization and operation of the Iowa regional library system (hereinafter referred to as the regional system or system) consisting of seven regional libraries (hereinafter referred to as the regions or the regional libraries) and establishes regional library service standards.
286—8.2(256) Definitions. The definitions in Iowa Code chapters 17A and 256 and in other chapters of the division’s administrative rules apply for terms used throughout this chapter. In addition, the following definitions apply:
“Consultation” means the process of advising librarians, trustees, local government officials, and others on local library management and operations.
“Continuing education” means a lifelong learning process, which builds on and modifies previously acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the individual.
“Information services” means providing local library patrons with access to professional reference librarians and to larger reference collections in order to answer local patrons’ information questions.
“Interlibrary loan (ILL)” means providing local library patrons with access to materials that are not available in the local collection.
“OCLC” means the not-for-profit organization that cumulates electronic card catalog records from member libraries around the world and makes those records available to all members for the purpose of cataloging, interlibrary loan, and acquisitions.
286—8.3(256) Organization. The regional library system consists of seven regional libraries each located in and serving a different geographic area of the state. Business hours are 8 a.m.	to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excepting legal holidays. The seven regional libraries are:
	1.	Central Iowa Regional Library System, 8345 University Blvd., Suite E-1, Clive, Iowa 50325, telephone (515)223-7709 (serves libraries in Polk, Marion, Greene, Dallas, Madison, Warren, Boone, Story, Marshall, and Jasper counties);
	2.	East Central Regional Library System, 222 Third St.SE, Suite 402, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401, telephone (319)365-0521 (serves libraries in Linn, Jones, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, Tama, Benton, Poweshiek, Jackson, and Clinton counties);
	3.	North Central Regional Library System, 22 North Georgia, Suite 208, Mason City, Iowa 50401, telephone (515)423-6917 (serves libraries in Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Humboldt, Wright, Webster, Kossuth, Winnebago, Hamilton, Hardin, Worth, Mitchell, and Floyd counties);
	4.	Northeastern Iowa Regional Library System, 415 Commercial St., Waterloo, Iowa 50701, telephone (319)233-1200 (serves libraries in Black Hawk, Delaware, Dubuque, Grundy, Butler, Bremer, Howard, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Chickasaw, Buchanan, Fayette, and Clayton counties);
	5.	Northwest Regional Library System, 529 Pierce St., P.O. Box 1319, Sioux City, Iowa 51102, telephone (712)255-2939 (serves libraries in Woodbury, Lyon, Sioux, Osceola, Dickinson, Emmet, Clay, Palo Alto, O’Brien, Plymouth, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Pocahontas, Ida, Sac, Calhoun, Monona, Crawford, and Carroll counties);
	6.	Southeastern Library Services, 4209½ West Locust, Davenport, Iowa 52804, telephone (319)386-7848 (serves libraries in Scott, Appanoose, Davis, Wapello, Jefferson, Van Buren, Lee, Monroe, Mahaska, Keokuk, Henry, Des Moines, Muscatine, Louisa, and Washington counties);
	7.	Southwest Iowa Regional Library System, 310 W. Kanesville, M-4, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503, telephone (712)328-9218 (serves libraries in Pottawattamie, Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, Guthrie, Cass, Adair, Mills, Fremont, Page, Montgomery, Adams, Union, Taylor, Clarke, Lucas, Ringgold, Decatur, and Wayne counties).
286—8.4(256) Governance.
	8.4(1) Regional boards of library trustees. The system consists of seven regional boards of library trustees whose election and representation are prescribed in Iowa Code sections 256.61 and 256.62. Each board of library trustees sets its own meeting schedule and operating procedures.
	8.4(2) Minutes. Minutes of meetings of regional boards of library trustees are available for inspection at the administrator’s office of each respective regional library during regular business hours.
	8.4(3) Iowa regional library system trustees council. Membership of the council is comprised of all the boards of library trustees of the seven regional libraries. The council’s purpose is to further the programs of the regional library system and to serve as a clearinghouse, coordinating cooperative actions and programs initiated by the individual regions or by the council itself.
	8.4(4) Iowa regional library system trustees executive board. Comprised of 2 trustees from each of the regional boards of library trustees of the seven regional libraries, the 14-member executive board is responsible for approving the system’s budget request, long-range plan, and annual joint plan of service, and pursuing opportunities to enhance system services.
	8.4(5) Federated system. The Iowa regional library system is a federated system, meaning that all public libraries within each region’s jurisdiction are independent libraries with their own administrative boards of trustees.
286—8.5(256) Services.
	8.5(1) Advisory. Regional libraries act in a consultative and advisory capacity, providing support services and encouraging local library development and funding.
	8.5(2) Consultation services. Regional libraries:
	a. 	Provide information, technical advice, and professional opinion on all aspects of library management for local library boards, staff, and governmental officials. Requests from local libraries are answered as soon as possible, within an average of two days. Responses are delivered via telephone, fax, E-mail, or by an on-site visit to the local library, depending upon the need and the complexity of the question.
	b. 	Provide training and development opportunities for Iowa’s public library trustees on the nature of public library law and governance. These opportunities may take the form of workshops or on-site presentations at local board meetings.
	c. 	Visit new library directors to discuss the responsibilities of the director’s position and the effective provision of library service, as well as to acquaint them with services available from the regional library system and from the state library.
	d. 	Provide information and technical advice on the uses of technology in public libraries, including implementing automation systems, converting data to electronic form, acquiring and using the Internet, purchasing new computer hardware and software and using electronic information resources including SILO and online databases.
	e. 	Answer questions regarding statewide programs such as Enrich Iowa, Open Access, Access Plus, SILO, librarian certification, library accreditation, and annual reports, thus enabling library boards and staff to better understand these programs and to participate more effectively.
	f. 	Communicate with libraries on a regular basis via newsletters and electronic media.
	8.5(3) Continuing education. Regional libraries:
	a. 	Conduct annual continuing education needs assessments of libraries within each respective region in order to address continuing education needs and to coordinate statewide delivery of continuing education activities for local library personnel.
	b. 	Sponsor continuing education workshops on all aspects of public library governance and management for local library boards and staff.
	c. 	Sponsor training in the use of the Internet and other information technologies for local library boards and staff.
	8.5(4) Information services. Regional libraries:
	a. 	Provide backup reference service for local libraries, answering questions from library customers that local library staff are unable to answer with their own resources. Eighty percent of these questions are answered within one week of receipt; all questions are answered or a progress report is supplied to the local library within two weeks of receipt.
	b. 	Train local library staff on reference service including conducting effective reference interviews with customers, evaluating/building a reference collection, using the Internet and other electronic information resources such as SILO to supplement local collections. At least one continuing education workshop on providing reference service is offered each fiscal year.
	8.5(5) Interlibrary loan services. Regional libraries:
	a. 	Train local library staff in the effective use of the SILO ILL system. Regional staff visit libraries and offer on-site training within one month of the local library’s acquiring Internet access.
	b. 	Answer SILO-related questions from library boards and staff within two working days.
	c. 	Provide access (within two working days) to the OCLC interlibrary loan subsystem in order to facilitate access to materials owned by libraries outside Iowa.
	d. 	Process interlibrary loan requests for those libraries without access to SILO. Regional library staff process all interlibrary loan requests within two working days of receipt.
286—8.6(256) State library of Iowa. The regional library system and the state library work cooperatively to improve library service within the state of Iowa. These agencies are partners in advancing local library service and library development across the state. Chief partnership efforts include, but are not limited to:
	1.	An annual joint plan of service;
	2.	Joint sponsorship of continuing education programs for local library boards and staff;
	3.	Cooperative training of local library boards and staff on state library-administered program;
	4.	Effective use of technology; and
	5.	Planning, in partnership with Iowa’s library community, for library service delivery in the future.
286—8.7(256) Planning.
	8.7(1) Annual joint plan of service. The joint plan is developed with the state library. The plan includes a description of the system’s programs and services. The annual joint plan is submitted to each regional library board of trustees for approval. Upon approval, the plan of service is submitted to the director of the department.
	8.7(2) Long-range plan for the regional library system. The long-range plan includes how the system intends to provide programs and services to Iowa’s public libraries for the next three to five years. The long-range plan is submitted to each regional library board of trustees for approval. Upon approval, the document is submitted to the director of the department.
These rules are intended to implement Iowa Code section 256.51(1)“k.”
[Filed 11/10/99, Notice 9/22/99—published 12/1/99, effective 1/5/00]