Welcome to the Iowa Library Services Reorganization Blog, from Dale Vande Haar, ILA President.  This blog is intended to provide a forum for discussion on the proposed changes to Iowa library service provision, as requested by the legislature. 

First, a little history on why and how this group was convened:

• The Iowa Legislature originally asked all state agencies for ideas on how to save money, streamline services, and incorporate new guidelines for span of control, or a larger ratio of employees to supervisors, and create a transparent accounting of state funds.
• Legislation introduced to merge the two existing service delivery models (LSAs and State Library) did not pass, and it became evident to the legislators that the Iowa Library Community was not in agreement on how to reorganize library services.
• After a special meeting with legislative leaders in March, a mandate was passed in the Legislature to require the two groups (LSAs and State Library) to sit down and come up with a new service delivery model.  The Iowa Library Association took on the responsibility of brokering this new plan of service delivery.
• The Legislature also called for elimination of perceived duplication of library services and perceived inconsistency of these services across the state to libraries of all sizes.
• To meet the legislative mandate, the ILA Executive Board authorized ILA President Dale Vande Haar to form a committee of 11 individuals to create a new library services delivery model.
• Information on the Reorganization meetings has been posted to the ILA website here:  http://www.iowalibraryassociation.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=100  We are now putting this information in blog format, to facilitate comments.