The Kalona Public Library has been honored by the State Library of Iowa in Des Moines with an accreditation. The library achieved Tier 3 status. Olivia Kahler, who was named Director of the Kalona Public Library in February, tells KCII News they have been recognized continually as a Tier 3 library, dating back to Director Ann Skaden and Kahler’s start in 2018. There are three levels of accreditation that can be achieved, with Tier 3 being the highest. Kahler talked with KCII News this week about the application process and how each library is judged.

Kahler said, “Every three years you get the application emailed to you in December and it is due at the end of February. Some of the standards are, your ADA compliance, is your library ADA accessible? Number of staff members with college degrees. How many people on staff have a higher education degree? The number of new items that we buy per year. We keep categories of everything we buy from non-fiction to little kids picture books. So it’s just a matter of keeping your entire collection up-to-date and used by your community. We pride ourselves on being that gold standard. We love having that accreditation title attached to our building and we want to do everything we can to maintain it. We want to provide the best for this community and having an accredited library is a step in that direction.”

Accreditation is not only a point of community pride, but it also makes extra funding from the State Library of Iowa available. The Kalona Public Library also receives an official certificate once accreditation is achieved. The library retains that status for three years.