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PHILADELPHIA — The state of South Dakota recently joined nine other states in making United for Libraries’ Trustee Academy, a series of online courses for library trustees, available to its libraries

“The Trustee Academy series is one of the best things to come along!” said South Dakota State Librarian Daria Bossman. “Being reasonably priced and ease of access are two great benefits. The webinars are engaging our boards and the information is relevant and timely. We had a very successful launch of our 26 libraries this spring. We look forward to doing this next year with another 26 of our public libraries.”

“As their director, I was glad to sit with the Trustees as a whole for viewing,” said Cindy Messenger, director, Hot Springs (S.D.) Public Library. “We had questions after each session and could visit about them. Now I feel we all are on the same page with our library.”

The Trustee Academy was so well received by South Dakota library directors and trustees that the state has also purchased United for Libraries’ three-part series for its libraries.

The Trustee Academy is series of online courses to help trustees become exceptionally proficient in their roles on behalf of their libraries. All of the courses are taught by a professional in the field and are priced both à la carte so individual attendees can pick and choose what courses are important to them and as a full curriculum that reflects discounted pricing per course. The courses are “Trustee Basics, Part I,” “Trustee Basics, Part II,” “Working Effectively with the Library Director,” “The Library’s Budget,” “Advocating for Your Library” and “Evaluating the Library Director.”

United for Libraries has developed pricing to be attractive to states or regions that want to purchase the series as a way to assist in fulfilling their mission for trustee education. The prices for state- or region-wide purchase are highly discounted.

For complete information about the Trustee Academy, which is also available to individual boards and trustees, visit . For information about purchasing the Trustee Academy for a state or region, please contact United for Libraries’ Director of Marketing and Communications Beth Nawalinski at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161, or bnawalinski@ala.org.

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the 91´«Ã½ that supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries. United for Libraries brings together library Trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information or to join United for Libraries, visit the United for Libraries website or contact Jillian Kalonick at (312) 280-2161 or jkalonick@ala.org.