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Public Library Standards 2007 - Acknowledgements, Process, and Committee Acknowledgements

The Maine Library Association Standards Committee appreciates the librarians who took time to review the public library standards drafts and provide comments through the online form provided by the MSL website. We also thank the librarians who attended one of the public forums and offered thoughtful, insightful comments on our drafts. Contributions from both groups were an invaluable asset to our work. Your suggestions have made this document a more useful tool for Maine libraries and are reflective of the collaborative, thoughtful nature of Maine librarians. Thank you to each one of you. We also thank Ellen Wood and Felicia Kennedy of the Maine State Library for their Web work on our behalf and David Warren (MSL) for collecting Public Library Standards from each state for our review.

The Process

August 18, 2005

The Standards Committee met for the first time. It was agreed to maintain the well-thought-out format of the 2000 Standards document and to have each member assume specific responsibility for updating one of the seven chapters in the 2000 Standards document. The committee was provided access to Standards from each State Library or Commission.

September 2005 to March 2006

The committee met to review and approve updates to each 2000 Maine Public Library Standards chapter. Once a chapter update was approved by the committee, the draft was posted on the Maine State Library web site with a feedback button in order to glean reactions from Maine librarians.

March & April 2006

Public forums were held at Caribou Public Library, Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library, and Portland Public Library during the MLA annual meeting on May 5, 2006. The purpose of these forums was to discuss the newly revised updated standards and most importantly get feedback from attendees. At least two and often 5 or more MLA Standards Committee members were at each of these meeting.

May 30, 2006

The Standards Committee met at Belfast Free Library for the day and carefully considered each suggestion made online and at the public forums. Addition revisions were made and the resulting document was posted on the MLA and MSL web sites.