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 141.26 - Basic standards for local library members of a library system

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) A local library member of a library
					 system is a local library, as defined in §
											141.25(a)
					 (relating to basic standards for local libraries) which has agreed to
					 participate in a county, township or school district public library system from
					 which some or most of its financial support is derived in the form of money,
					 library materials, personnel or services.
(b) For a plan to be approved for the use of
					 the equal distribution grant awarded to a library system on behalf of a member
					 local library as authorized by section 303(7) of The Library Code
					 (24
					 P.S. §
												4303(7)), a local
					 library member of a library system shall fulfill the following requirements:
(1) The local library member shall be
					 governed as specified in §
												141.21(2)(i)(B)
					 (relating to local libraries).
(2)
					 The library system shall qualify for basic aid as specified in section 303(1)
					 of The Library Code (24 P.S. §
													4303(1)).
(3) Service shall be provided as follows:
(i) The local library shall 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 shall 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 headquarters library or the district
					 library center, whichever is most appropriate, 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.
(4) Library
					 materials shall be provided as follows:
(i)
					 The local library shall 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 shall 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 10 different periodicals which are indexed in
					 the
Readers Guide to Periodical Literature
or other recognized
					 periodical indexes.
(5)
					 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 administrator of the library system or 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.