One of the many pleasures of the Kansas Library Trustee Certification Program has been to hear so many library directors praise their trustees. Again and again, librarians have pointed out that good boards have made good progress possible.
The Caney trustees are all certified now, with fall qualifications by Verna Neuhaus, Toni Scimeca, and Debbie Wood. Library Director Sandra Freidline says her board gives great support and are particularly excited by the library’s technology development. They are just going on the KOHA System now.
The Colony City Library has been very active in the trustee program. Board member Terrie Gifford completed her certification in the fall training. Library Director LaNell Knoll had gone through the training in the spring and received a trustee certification, commenting that the material was very useful to her own position.
The Elmendaro Township Library has also been very active in the program. Patrick Gonzales, Jennifer St. Bonnett and Betty Tucker qualified for certification in the fall program. Peggy Chaffain, Beverley Laws and Ronda Parks had achieved certification in earlier training seasons. Library Director Catherine Schmidt says that her board is very active in their support of library and community projects and very willing to give their time to the library. At present, the board and staff are very involved with automation planning.
The Fall River Public Library, in the Southeast System, has certified five of its trustees through board tutorials. Fall River has had a challenging year. They lost the library director, Carol Palsmeier, to cancer at the end of 2008. The board has been working with new director Venita Elrod and have made remarkable progress on a number of projects. They have worked to make their library more friendly to children and have had an active summer reading program. They have been working on a weeding and collection development program. They also plan to establish a music scholarship in memory of Carol, who was an accomplished pianist.
The newly certified trustees at Fall River are Sue Ann Clay, Frankie Cook, Sherry Evans, Mary Fortuna and Betty Poore.
The Lyon County Library in Allen honored their first certified trustee, Dennis Stout. Mr. Stout is a fairly new trustee but obviously won’t remain inexperienced for long.
Two Oakley trustees were certified this fall. Jim Ball and Barbara Voth joined several trustees who were certified earlier. Joyce Homm is very proud of her dedicated board. Because of supportive boards, the library has a very good record with technology development and has recently switched successfully to the new online Verso software. The trustees are very active in the community and both board and director have a real commitment to marketing the library services.
The Oskaloosa Public Library had two trustees that received certification this fall, Gladys Capesius and Cammie Garrison. Oskaloosa is very busy planning for the migration to KOHA over Thanksgiving. Library director Paula Ware commented that the board members did more than planning, they helped bar code the entire collection. The board is also busy with the county-wide Santa Express Toy Fair.
The Richmond Public Library certified one new trustee, Sheryl Reiter, in the October Statewide Training. They now have four active trustees who have qualified for certification. Barbara Wuertz has just qualified for re-certification. Director Connie Weber says that all the trustees plan to pursue certification and are looking into the current options. The board is also actively pursuing financial development and automation planning.
The Sedan Public Library got its first certified trustee with Richard Blankinship, who attended trustee training in both the spring and the fall. Library director Kathleen McCorkle says that he is a booster for all of Sedan and a great asset to the library.
The Waterville Public Library has been very active in the Statewide Trustee Training programs and have certified six of their trustees. Director Heather Dreith says she has a dedicated board that does an excellent job of advocating for the library. They make sure that the library is host to many community events during the year, cheerfully taking on the extra work involved. They have also been active in planning library technology, including a digitization of the local newspaper.
Waterville’s certified trustees are Mary Irons, Beth Krasny, Eunice Larson, Beverly Roepke, Mary Lou Roepke and Ruth Ann Ropeke. The Chair, Bevy Roepke, is also an active member of Kansas Library Trustee Association Board. In the picture below are five members of the Waterville Board: Beth Krasny, Eunice Larson, Jeannette Bergquist, Bevy Roepke, and Mary Lou Roepke. Mary Irons and Ruth Ann Roepke, though certified, are not in this picture.
The Williamsburg Community Library has been an active participant since the launch of the trustee certification program, working hard to get their trustees to the Coffey County location. Donna Stahl earned her certification, joining Lila Rekie and Arlene Lindskog. Arlene qualified for re-certification during the fall 2009 season. Library Director Eloise Bennett also completed the trustee training program and took advantage of the opportunity to express her appreciation of her board members.
Kansas now has 169 certified trustees. The Lawrence director has honored his trustees by writing a separate article for this issue of the newsletter. The library at LaCygne, in Linn County, has just sent word that their entire board is now certified. They will be honored in the December issue of SLK News.
The State Library staff continues to be delighted with their relationship with KLTA and many dedicated Kansas trustees.