Kentucky Administrative Regulations
Title 725 - EDUCATION, ARTS, AND HUMANITIES CABINET - DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
Chapter 2 - Libraries
Section 725 KAR 2:060 - Certification of public librarians
Universal Citation: 725 KY Admin Regs Service 2:060
Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2024
RELATES TO: KRS 171.250, 171.260, 171.270
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 171.260 requires certification of public librarians and other full-time employees. KRS 171.250(1) requires the board to promulgate administrative regulations in order to establish the requirements for the certification of public librarians. This administrative regulation establishes the requirements for certification of public librarians.
Section 1. Definitions.
(1) "ALA" means the American
Library Association.
(2)
"Asynchronous training" means training that allows students to access content
or learn outside the classroom at their convenience or independent of the
instructor.
(3) "Board" means the
Kentucky State Board for the Certification of Librarians.
(4) "Educational contact hours" means a
measurement used for an educational activity that applies extended, in-depth
study in the field of library and information science or any job-related
field.
(5) "Full-time" means
working 100 hours or more per month.
(6) "Job-related field of study" means an
area other than library science that is directly related to the applicant's job
duties.
(7) "Library services"
means duties performed by library employees that require special skills and
knowledge to be performed properly.
(8) "Library work experience" means
employment in a library that includes administration, collection development,
technical services, public services, or support for public service areas, and
excludes secretarial, custodial, groundskeeping, security, food service, and
messenger duties.
(9) "Part-time"
means working less than 100 hours per month.
Section 2. Required Certification by Public Library Position.
(1) A full-time or part-time
library director serving a population of more than 15,000 shall hold or obtain
a Professional I or II certificate.
(2) A full-time or part-time library director
serving a population of 15,000 or less shall hold or obtain at least the
Professional III or IV certificate.
(3) A full-time or part-time assistant
director, branch head, department head, manager, supervisor, or bookmobile
librarian, as determined by the library director or designee, shall hold or
obtain at least the Paraprofessional I certificate.
(4) Any other full-time position providing
library services, as determined by the library director or designee using the
Approved Guidelines for Determination of Paraprofessional Level of
Certification, shall hold or obtain the Paraprofessional II or Paraprofessional
III certificate.
Section 3. Types of Certificates.
(1) A
Professional I Certificate shall be:
(a)
Awarded if the applicant has obtained a master's degree in library science from
an ALA accredited school; and
(b)
Valid for five (5) years.
(2) A Professional II Certificate shall be:
(a) Awarded if the applicant has obtained:
1. A master's degree in library science from
a library school that has not been ALA accredited; or
2. A master's degree with at least fifteen
(15) graduate hours in library science; and
(b) Valid for five (5) years.
(3) A Professional III Certificate
shall be:
(a) Awarded if the applicant has
obtained:
1. A bachelor's degree with at least
twenty-one (21) graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in library
science; or
2. A master's degree
with at least fifteen (15) graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in
library science; and
(b)
Valid for five (5) years.
(4) A Professional IV Certificate shall be:
(a) Awarded if the applicant has obtained:
1. A bachelor's degree with at least nine (9)
graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in library science and six (6)
graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in a job-related field of study;
or
2. A master's degree with six
(6) graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in library science and three
(3) graduate or undergraduate college credit hours in a job-related field of
study; and
(b) Valid for
five (5) years.
(5) A
Paraprofessional I Certificate shall be:
(a)
Awarded if the applicant has completed or obtained:
1. A high school diploma or high school
equivalency diploma;
2. 360 total
job-related educational contact hours, including 144 educational contact hours
in library science and seventy-two (72) educational contact hours in Human
Resources or Management; and
3.
4,000 hours of library work experience; and
(b) Valid for five (5) years.
(6) A Paraprofessional II
Certificate shall be:
(a) Awarded if the
applicant has completed or obtained:
1. A high
school diploma or high school equivalency diploma;
2. 288 job-related educational contact hours;
and
3. 4,000 hours of library work
experience; and
(b)
Valid for five (5) years.
(7) A Paraprofessional III Certificate shall
be:
(a) Awarded if the applicant has completed
or obtained:
1. A high school diploma or high
school equivalency diploma;
2. 144
job-related educational contact hours; and
3. 2,000 hours of library work experience;
and
(b) Valid for five
(5) years.
(8) A
Professional or Paraprofessional Certificate shall be renewed according to 725 KAR 2:070.
(9) A Temporary
Certificate shall be valid for five (5) years and shall be issued to a person
who:
(a) Holds or is promoted to a job
requiring certification as provided in Section 2 of this administrative
regulation; or
(b) Does not meet
the requirements of Section 2 of this administrative regulation.
Section 4. Sources of Education for Initial Certification.
(1) The
board shall accept academic credit from college credit courses offered by an
institution of higher education, which is accredited by its respective regional
association.
(2) The board shall
accept library and information science academic credits from college credit
courses offered by:
(a) Graduate schools
accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of the American Library
Association and these college credit courses shall be approved for all types of
certificates;
(b) Colleges whose
library and information science departments are accredited by their respective
regional associations and these college credit courses shall be approved for
all types of certificates;
(c)
Accredited colleges that offer individual library and information science
courses and these college credit courses shall be approved for Professional III
and IV and Paraprofessional I, II, and III certificates; or
(d) Community and technical colleges that
offer library or information science courses and these courses shall be
approved for Professional III and IV and Paraprofessional I, II, and III
certificates.
(3) The
board shall also accept asynchronous training courses with a minimum of ten
(10) educational contact hours in length provided by an institution or
organization that meets the requirements of the Approved Guidelines for
Asynchronous Training Courses.
(4)As an alternative source of education for
the Professional III, IV, and Paraprofessional certificates, the board shall
accept completion of a library institute, which shall be an in-depth program of
library and information science developed according to the Approved Guidelines
for Library Institutes.
(a) The program shall
be submitted to the board for approval sixty (60) days in advance of
implementation.
(b) One (1)
institute shall substitute for a three (3) hour college credit library and
information science course and shall only be substituted once for initial
certification.
Section 5. Application for public library certification shall be made to the board by submitting a completed Application for Certification of Librarianship.
Section 6. A fee of twenty (20) dollars shall be charged for each certificate issued.
Section 7. A Professional or Paraprofessional certificate shall be issued to an applicant who meets the requirements and submits the required fee.
Section 8. Incorporation by Reference.
(1) The following material is incorporated by
reference:
(a) "Approved Guidelines for
Library Institutes", January 8, 2010;
(b) "Application for Certification of
Librarianship", October 18, 2019;
(c) "Approved Guidelines for Determination of
Paraprofessional Level of Certification", July 8, 2019; and
(d) "Approved Guidelines for Asynchronous
Training Courses", July 8, 2019.
(2) This material may be inspected, copied,
or obtained, subject to applicable copyright law, at the Kentucky Department
for Libraries and Archives, 300 Coffee Tree Road, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601,
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 171.250(1), 171.260, 171.270
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Kentucky may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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