Pennsylvania Code › Title 22 - EDUCATION › Part IX - State Library and Advisory Council on Library Development › Subpart B - Advisory Council on Library Development › Chapter 141 - PLANS FOR THE USE OF STATE AID › CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL › Section 141.25 - Basic standards for local libraries

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) A local library is any free public
					 nonsectarian library-whether established and maintained by a municipality or by
					 a private association, corporation, or group-which serves the informational,
					 educational and recreational needs of all the residents of the area for which
					 its governing body is responsible by providing free access including free
					 lending and reference services to an organized and currently useful collection
					 of printed items and other materials and to the services of a staff trained to
					 recognize and provide for these needs.
(b) The central library unit of a local
					 library is the principal resource library or administrative center.
(c) For a plan to be approved for the use of
					 basic aid provided by section 303(1) of The Library Code (24 P.S. §
												4303(1)) and the equal
					 distribution grant provided by section 303(7) of The Library Code
					 (24
					 P.S. §
												4303(7)), a local
					 library shall fulfill the following requirements:
(1) The local library shall be governed as
					 specified in §
												141.21(2)(i)(B)
					 (relating to local libraries).
(2)
					 The local library shall qualify for aid for the city, borough, town, or
					 township in which the central library unit is located.
(3) Any municipality for which a local
					 library claims and qualifies for State aid must be claimed by that local
					 library in each year for not less than 10 successive years, and the minimum
					 required local financial effort for such a municipality will be taken into
					 account each year when determining the library's eligibility for State aid
					 except when any of the following apply:
(i)
					 Special approval is granted by the State Librarian for excluding such
					 municipality from such service area.
(ii) The municipal officers of such
					 municipality resolve to withdraw from such service area.
(iii) The municipality is included in another
					 library service area through merger of two or more libraries or by contractual
					 agreement.
(4) Service
					 shall be provided as follows:
(i) The local
					 library must be open for service at least 20 hours per week during hours which
					 are best suited to the needs of the residents of its service area.
(ii) Ready reference service must be
					 available at all times the local library is open.
(iii) The staff of the local library shall be
					 ready and willing to communicate with the district library center for reference
					 assistance and interlibrary loans.
(iv) The local library shall have a telephone
					 which is listed in the local directory.
(v) The local library shall have a sign which
					 clearly identifies it, from the outside, as a public library.
(5) Library materials shall be
					 provided as follows:
(i) The local library
					 must have in its collection, available on its premises, not less than 6,000
					 items which are organized by subject and recorded in a manner which makes them
					 easily accessible to the public. These items must be currently useful to the
					 residents of the service area. Libraries with collections of less than 6,000
					 will not be denied State aid if they can demonstrate the usefulness and
					 vitality of their collections by circulation per capita or collection turnover
					 rate in excess of the average for other libraries of comparable size and
					 service area.
(ii) The local
					 library shall budget and expend annually for the purchase of library materials
					 twice the amount of the equal distribution grant allotted to it. For example,
					 if the equal distribution grant is $900, then the expenditure for library
					 materials in the year of the grant must be not less than $1,800.
(iii) The collection shall be selected to
					 serve the informational, educational, and recreational needs of all residents
					 in its service area.
(iv) The local
					 library shall have a collection of ready reference items of sufficient scope to
					 meet the needs of the residents of its service area.
(v) The local library shall subscribe to and
					 make available for use at least ten different periodicals which are indexed in
					 the
Readers Guide to Periodical Literature
or other recognized
					 periodical indexes.
(6)
					 Personnel policies shall be as follows:
(i)
					 The local library shall be in the charge of a person who has been trained to
					 recognize and provide for the informational, educational, and recreational
					 needs of the residents of the library's service area. The training may be
					 provided by the district library center.
(ii) The person in charge shall work on the
					 premises of the local library not less than 20 hours weekly during hours when
					 the library is open for service to the public.