Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) Definitions, for purposes of this
section:
(1) Public library system means a
library established by one or more counties, a group of libraries serving an
area including one or more counties in whole or in part, a library of a city
containing one or more counties, or a cooperative library system established
pursuant to the provisions of section
255 of the
Education Law.
(2) Approved plan of
service means a plan of library service submitted by a public library system
board of trustees in accordance with section
272 of the
Education Law that has been approved by the commissioner pursuant to the
provisions of this section. The plan of service defines the mutual commitments,
responsibilities and obligations of the public library system and its members
in meeting the service needs of the area served and statewide library service
goals.
(3) Direct access means the
ability of an individual, who resides within the boundaries of a public library
system and who has a valid borrower's card issued by the system or any member
library in the system, to borrow materials for home use directly from the
premises of any library that is a member of the public library system on the
same basis as that specified for cardholders in each individual
library.
(4) Chartered service area
means the geographic area served by a library as stated in charter documents
approved by the Board of Regents and on file with the department. For purposes
of this section, the phrase "and its environs" or its equivalent as contained
in any charter document will not be recognized by the commissioner as a valid
part of the library's chartered service area. For purposes of this section, the
commissioner will not recognize areas served by the library under contract as a
valid part of a library's chartered service area.
(5) Resident borrower means an individual who
resides within the boundaries of the chartered service area of a public or
association or Indian library as defined in section
253 of the
Education Law and who is a library cardholder at that library.
(6) Nonresident borrower means an individual
who resides outside the boundaries of the chartered service area of a public or
association or Indian library as defined in section
253 of the
Education Law and who is a library cardholder at that library or at another
member library of the public library system or who is a system
cardholder.
(7) Library resources
means the print and nonprint materials owned by the library and any other
services provided by the library to the resident borrowers of the library's
chartered service area.
(8) On-site
use means the ability of an individual to use library resources on the premises
of a library.
(9) Serious
inequities and hardships means those conditions which adversely affect resident
borrowers of member libraries. Such conditions are defined in accordance with
the free direct access provisions contained in each system's approved plan of
service and may include, but are not limited to, a definition of what
constitutes excessive borrowing of a library's resources by nonresident
borrowers.
(10) Unserved means
those individuals residing in geographic areas that are within the boundaries
of a public library system but outside the boundaries of a chartered service
area of a library which is a member of that system.
(11) Underserved means those individuals
residing in geographic areas that are within the chartered service area of a
member library and which the public library system has identified as having an
inadequate level of local income to support the delivery of acceptable library
services.
(b) A public
library system may be approved for State aid under sections
272 and
273 of the
Education Law if it complies with the provisions of the aforementioned sections
of the Education Law and the provisions of this section.
(c) Full approval shall not be given to a
public library system unless it will serve at least 200,000 people or 4,000
square miles of area. Provisional approval may be given to a public library
system which will serve at least 50,000 persons, provided the area includes
three or more political subdivisions, and provided further that a satisfactory
plan is submitted for expansion of service during the ensuing five-year
period.
(d)
(1) In order to qualify for full approval, a
public library system plan of service shall provide for:
(i) on-site use, by all individuals residing
within the boundaries of the public library system, of the total library
resources within the system. No such individual shall pay a fee for such
on-site use. No such individual shall be excluded from on-site use of the
library resources of the system or any of its member libraries because of age,
cultural, economic or civic status;
(ii) direct access, by all individuals
residing within the boundaries of the public library system, to the library
resources within the system, by acceptance of a borrower's card issued by the
system or by any member library in the system. Such card shall be issued at no
cost to the individual and shall be honored on the same basis as that specified
for resident borrowers in each member library. No resident shall be excluded
from direct access to the library resources of the system or any of its member
libraries because of age, cultural, economic or civic status;
(iii) a procedure, whereby member libraries
may discuss, modify or amend the conditions, procedures, and agreed upon means
of implementing, changing or altering the conditions of direct access within
the system service area pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subdivision.
The system board of trustees, prior to submission of a plan of service for
approval by the commissioner, shall by majority vote of the member libraries
obtain ratification of the direct access provision. The plan shall be
accompanied by a statement of agreement signed by the president of the public
library system board of trustees and the presidents of the board of trustees of
a majority of the member libraries;
(iv) an analysis of the library resources
available to unserved and underserved populations residing within the system's
boundaries in a format prescribed by the commissioner. Such analysis shall
include, but shall not be limited to:
(a) a
description of the unserved and underserved populations residing within the
system's boundaries;
(b) a
description of any deficiencies in library resources currently available to
individuals residing within the system's boundaries;
(c) a summary of recommended actions to
expand the availability of library resources to unserved and underserved
populations residing within the system's boundaries;
(d) a timetable for taking action on
recommendations; and
(e) assignment
of responsibilities for providing library resources to unserved and underserved
populations.
(2) Subject to the approval of the majority
of the member libraries, certain modifications to unrestricted direct access as
described in subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph may be made without
the approval of the commissioner. An approved plan of service must describe the
conditions under which such modifications will be implemented. If such
conditions change, the public library system shall submit an amendment of the
plan of service to the department in a format and according to a timetable
established by the commissioner. The plan shall describe the conditions under
which registered member libraries:
(i) shall
not be required to provide free direct access to their materials and services
to residents of a jurisdiction of 10,000 population or more which has not
exercised the authority contained in section
255 of the
Education Law, or other pertinent legislative act, to establish and maintain a
public library, or which is not contracting for public library service in
accordance with section
256 of the
Education Law;
(ii) may place
restrictions upon the loan of library resources. Such restrictions shall be
limited to nonprint materials and equipment, and printed materials less than
one year old, including fiction and nonfiction books and periodicals. Such
materials must have been purchased from local funds; and
(iii) may place restrictions upon attendance
at library programs. If attendance must be limited, local residents may be
given first access to them. Such programs must have been supported entirely
from local funds.
(3)
Subject first to the approval of the majority of the member libraries, and then
to the approval of the commissioner, certain additional modifications to
unrestricted direct access may be made for individual member libraries beyond
those described in paragraph (2) of this subdivision. Such requests from
individual libraries, once approved by the majority of the member libraries
according to the procedures outlined in subparagraph (1)(iii) of this
subdivision, shall be submitted by the public library system to the
commissioner for approval in a format and according to a timetable determined
by the commissioner. The system board of trustees shall not unreasonably delay
consideration of transmission of a member library's request to the
commissioner. No such request will be approved if it includes a fee or charge
to an individual for a borrower's card. The request for approval of additional
modifications to unrestricted direct access shall be in writing and shall
include, but is not limited to, the following:
(i) documentation of the serious inequities
and hardships affecting the resident borrowers of the member library making the
request;
(ii) the proposed
modifications to unrestricted direct access that will be implemented and a
description of the anticipated impact on resident and nonresident
borrowers;
(iii) a proposed
timeframe within which such modifications will be in effect; and
(iv) recommendations for remedying the
underlying inequity with a proposed timetable for action.
(4) Provisional approval may be granted,
provided that each member library of the system shall have the right to borrow
for one or more of its cardholders from any other member library of the public
library system any book or other material on the same basis as that provided by
the lending member library applicable to its resident cardholder.
(5) The provisional approval of a public
library system may be extended by the commissioner for a period of not more
than three years after the expiration of the original five-year period, upon
satisfactory proof that immediate full compliance with paragraph (1) of this
subdivision would result in specific extreme hardship to such system or its
participating libraries and upon the condition that such public library system
submit to the commissioner, prior to such extension, a satisfactory plan for
compliance with paragraph (1) of this subdivision within the period of such
extension. As a further condition of such extension, the commissioner may
require a demonstration by the public library system of free access to a
portion of the population served by such system. Each such library system shall
annually submit a report of progress toward full compliance with paragraph (1)
of this subdivision.
(e)
Each system shall submit a plan which shall include a description of the means
by which the various economic, cultural, civic and age groups will be assisted
by qualified personnel in deriving maximum benefit from library
resources.
(f) Each system shall
certify that there will be employed within the library system at least one
full-time staff member (or the equivalent) for each 5,000 residents of the area
served by the system, exclusive of janitorial, cleaning and maintenance
workers. There shall also be employed by each approved system of libraries a
director who holds or is eligible to receive a public librarian's professional
certificate and who has eight or more full years of professional library
experience in libraries or systems of libraries of recognized standing
satisfactory to the commissioner, at least two years of which shall have been
in an administrative capacity. In addition to such director, each approved
system shall employ at least three full-time (or the equivalent) certified
public librarians who shall be engaged solely in services which are
administered by the system, exclusive of librarians employed in technical
processing or in federally funded positions.
(g)
(1) For
full approval, each system shall add annually at least 4,000 titles not
previously held by the system.
(2)
For provisional approval each system shall add annually at least 2,000 titles
not previously held by the system.
(h) Each system shall provide a means of
location of materials added in the libraries of the system.
(i)
(1)
Each system shall prepare annually a budget (statement of receipts and
appropriations) on forms prescribed by the Commissioner of Education, and file
such budget with the department within 60 days after the beginning of the
calendar year.
(2) Whenever the
apportionment of State aid to any system shall be increased, the system shall
file with the department an amended budget showing how such increase will be
used for the improvement of library services.
(j) The plan of service of each public
library system shall be revised periodically on a schedule to be determined by
the commissioner.
(k) The plan of
each public library system shall provide for coordination of the reference and
interlibrary loan programs and functions of the public library system with the
approved plan of the reference and research library system of which it is a
member. Each proposed revision of such plan shall be accompanied by a statement
that the proposed revision has been transmitted to the board of trustees of the
reference and research library system of which the public library system is a
member, prior to its submission to the commissioner.
(l) Coordinated outreach services.
(1) Definitions. As used in this subdivision:
(i) Solely for the purposes of Education Law,
section 273(1)(h), coordinated outreach services shall mean a planned and
integrated program of library services designed to identify, contact and serve
persons who are educationally disadvantaged, members of ethnic or minority
groups in need of special library services, unemployed and in need of job
placement assistance, living in areas underserved by a library, blind,
physically disabled, have developmental or learning disabilities, aged or
residents of institutions, or who are at-risk youth from birth to age
twenty-one.
(ii) Institutions shall
mean correctional facilities, hospitals, youth facilities, nursing homes,
developmental centers, psychiatric centers and extended care
centers.
(2) Eligibility
criteria. In order to be eligible for State aid for coordinated outreach
services pursuant to the provisions of paragraph h of subdivision 1 of section
273 of the
Education Law, a public library system shall:
(i) be operating under a plan of service
which has been approved pursuant to section
272 of the
Education Law;
(ii) include in its
plan of service, subject to approval by the commissioner, a description of how
coordinated outreach services to persons who are educationally disadvantaged,
members of ethnic or minority groups in need of special library services,
unemployed and in need of job placement assistance, living in areas underserved
by a library, blind, physically disabled, have developmental or learning
disabilities, aged or residents of institutions, or who are at-risk youth from
birth to age twenty-one will be developed and implemented throughout the public
library system service area. Such description shall include, but not be limited
to:
(a) identification of special populations
to be served, including persons who are educationally disadvantaged, members of
minority groups in need of special library services, unemployed and in need of
job placement assistance, living in areas underserved by a library, blind,
physically disabled, have developmental or learning disabilities, aged or
residents of institutions, or who are at-risk youth from birth to age
twenty-one ;
(b) identification of
special needs of such populations;
(c) a description of proposed additional or
adapted services to meet the identified special needs;
(d) a description of methods for coordination
of expenditures and services in programs supported by coordinated outreach
services funds provided under Education Law, § 273(1)(h), State funds
provided for services to local correctional institutions, other public library
system funding and as appropriate, local funds;
(e) a description of cooperative efforts with
representatives from Federal, State and local institutions; or
(f) a description of system efforts to assist
libraries to comply with State and Federal laws regarding coordinated outreach
target populations;
(iii)
certify that there will be employed by the library system at least one
full-time professional librarian who holds or is eligible to receive a New York
State public librarian's professional certificate with expertise in outreach
services who shall administer the coordinated outreach program and assist
persons who are educationally disadvantaged, members of ethnic or minority
groups in need of special library services, unemployed and in need of job
placement assistance, living in areas underserved by a library, blind,
physically disabled, have developmental or learning disabilities, aged or
residents of institutions, or who are at-risk youth from birth to age
twenty-one in deriving maximum benefit from library resources;
(iv) appoint an advisory council of not less
than 5 nor more than 11 members, which shall be composed of one director of a
member library; representatives of agencies who serve the target population
groups detailed below; and persons who are educationally disadvantaged, members
of ethnic or minority groups in need of special library services, unemployed
and in need of job placement assistance, living in areas underserved by a
library, blind, physically disabled, have developmental or learning
disabilities, aged or residents of institutions, or who are at-risk youth from
birth to age twenty-one. Council members shall serve three-year terms. The
council shall meet at least twice each year, shall advise the public library
system and assist in the evaluation of activities in the coordinated outreach
program; and
(v) submit to the
commissioner, in a format and according to a timetable prescribed by the
commissioner, a budget application and narrative describing its coordinated
outreach services program.