By ALEXANDRA NEWMAN

While Westchester Public Library Board of Trustees waits for the Indiana General Assembly to act on the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform’s recommendation that WPL consolidate with the Porter County Library System, the Board met Thursday evening to conduct business as usual.

The Board approved sending a letter to Porter County Commission-ers and Porter County Council in support of Portage Adult Education and the Chesterton Adult Learning Center, urging them to do all they can to insure it continues to provide its valuable services to citizens.

The letter notes WPL has provided housing, telephone and utilities for the Chesterton Center since 1975. And over the past 32 years served free education to thousands of students who have benefited by improving computer, language and vocational skills. Also adult students can learn to read, study for high school equivalency degree, learn English and prepare for college or for civil service tests or for the U.S. Citizenship exam.

Director Phil Baugher reminded the Board many libraries all over the state operate centers for adult learning.

Also Thursday, Baugher reported The Librarian Certification Taskforce unanimously recommended new certification rules for Indiana library professionals. The requirements differ for employees of libraries grouped into three different sizes. WPL is a Class B Classification. (Library population between 10,000 and 39,999).

Highlights of the new certification rules include:

• On-going continuing education to maintain certification.

• Staff currently certified will be grandfathered at their current job level within their current library district. New staff hired after the adoption of the rule, or staff seeking promotions to higher level positions would become subject to the new certification education requirements.

• Certification has been changed from life-time to five-year renewals.

• The public library directors serving populations greater than 10,000 will be required to hold an MLS and directors serving populations less than 10,000 are required to hold a Bachelors and 15 hours of library science courses.

• Library directors, branch heads, department heads and professional assistants must be certified whether part-time or full time.

• Professional assistant was defined by the committee to include positions in which a person devotes more than half of his or her time to work that calls for knowledge of professional library practice, collections and of technical library processes; ability to deal with people in a professional capacity as distinguished from clerical; and includes, but not limited to, staff classified as librarians, paraprofessionals, catalogers, copy catalogers, reference assistants and program coordinators and a department head responsible for professional library duties.

• Voluntary Specialist Certifica-tion Levels will continue to exist and there remain five specialist levels.

For WPL’s Class B classification the Director must meet the requirement of Professional Librarian 2 - ALA-accredited MLS degree (or equivalent) with three years professional library experience or higher, plus 100 CEUs every five years. A department and branch head must have Professional Assistant 2 (60 hours of college or associate’s degree plus 9 semester hours of required library science courses or higher, plus 75 CEUs every five years; a Professional Assistant, must meet the requirement of Professional Assistant 3 or higher, plus 50 CEUs every five years.

The State Library anticipates that the new rules, if adopted, could be enacted in the second quarter of 2008.

Baugher explained a calculator was developed to help local public libraries produce their own annual benefit-cost analysis. The calculator lists the item or service and its estimated value.

In other business, Baugher reported WPL’s finances are still good, although Circulation is down slightly. The 2007 year end balance to date is $3,151,483.15.

The Board approved a $500,000 transfer from the Operating Fund to the Library Improvement Reserve Fund, which Baugher said leaves a margin for a shortage in its property tax collections.

Baugher said WPL can transfer up to 10 percent of the previous year’s budget if it is appropriated and unspent. The transfer can be made anytime during the subsequent year. Ten percent of the 2007 budget appropriation would be $274, 566.

“Once we have received our 2007 tax collections, I’ll be in a better position to calculate how much we might be able to transfer to the Rainy Day Fund from the Operating Fund,” Baugher said.

Also the Board authorized Baugher to calculate how much of mature funds to reinvest.

“We still need to have beginning appropriations,” Baugher advised the Board.

The Board approved its preliminary proposed 2008 budget even though it still doesn’t have an official 2007 budget or 2008 budget of $1,826,850. The budget includes providing salary increases for employees. Also, the Board approved the legal services contract be renewed as is.

The Board will send a recommendation that John Corso be reappointed to this Board by the Duneland School Board. His term expires March 31.

The next regular meeting will be Jan. 11.

Posted 12/21/2007