Chapter 78

Section 1. Library corporations and associations which have been legally established shall continue to have all the powers and privileges and be subject to all the duties and restrictions attaching thereto.

Section 10. A town which raises or appropriates money for the support of a free public library, or free public library and reading room, owned by the town, shall, unless the same has been acquired entirely or in part through some gift or bequest which contains other conditions or…

Section 11. The board shall have the custody and management of the library and reading room and of all property owned by the town relating thereto. All money raised or appropriated by the town for its support and maintenance shall be expended by the board, and all money or proper…

Section 12. The board shall make an annual report to the town of its receipts and expenditures and of the property in its custody, with a statement of any unexpended balance of money and of any gifts or bequests which it holds in behalf of the town, with its recommendations.

Section 13. The three preceding sections shall not apply to library associations, nor to a library organized under a special act.

Section 14. There shall be a board of library commissioners for the commonwealth, in this section and in sections fifteen to thirty, inclusive, called the board, consisting of nine residents of the commonwealth appointed by the governor. Upon the expiration of the term of office …

Section 15. The board of library commissioners shall advise the librarian or trustees of any free public library, and may on request advise the librarian or other person in charge of the library of any state or county institution, relative to the selection or cataloguing of books…

Section 19. The board of library commissioners may expend such sums as may be appropriated for the extension and encouragement of library services within the commonwealth. The said board is hereby designated as the state agency to deal with the federal government with respect to …

Section 19A. The state treasurer shall annually, on or before July first, pay from monies appropriated from the Local Aid Fund for that purpose, to each city or town certified by the board of library commissioners to have met certain minimum standards of free public library servi…

Section 19B. The board of library commissioners, in setting up minimum standards of free public library service and in certifying such libraries for aid under section nineteen A shall require the filing of an annual report and shall require that such public libraries (1) be open …

Section 19C. The board shall establish a comprehensive statewide program of regional library service, consisting of regional library systems, which shall not exceed six, for the purpose of providing reference and research services, interlibrary loan, delivery, and other regional …

Section 19D. For each regional library system, the board shall establish a council of members which shall consist of the chief librarian or one trustee to be so designated by the board of trustees or other appropriate administrative authority of each participating library and one…

Section 19E. The board of library commissioners, hereinafter called the board, shall, subject to appropriation, establish a comprehensive statewide program for the improvement and development of library services for all citizens. Such funds as may be appropriated shall be distrib…

Section 19F. Any library system providing service under an approved plan as provided in clause (3) of section nineteen C or such public library or libraries designated by the board may through the board enter into an arrangement or arrangements with libraries not included by clau…

Section 19G. The board of library commissioners shall, subject to appropriation, establish and administer a program of state assistance to cities and towns in the planning, reconstruction, construction, design, acquisition of real property, renovation, preservation, rehabilitatio…

Section 19H. As used in sections nineteen G to nineteen K, inclusive, the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Addition, expansion or extension'', work which will result in an increase in the overall external dimension of a…

Section 19I. The board of library commissioners shall establish rules and regulations which shall govern the application for and distribution of said funds. Any such rule and regulation shall require that any city or town receiving a grant for an approved public library project f…

Section 19J. In allocating said funds, the board shall give priority to library construction projects within communities (a) in which the most recent fiscal year's tax levy as a per cent of its levy limit exceeds the statewide average, as determined by the commissioner of revenue…

Section 19K. Cities and towns may accept grants or gifts for purposes of library construction or renovations, including the planning therefor from private persons or corporations and from charitable foundations and may disburse the same for such purposes. Cities and towns may inc…

Section 19L. The board of library commissioners shall, subject to appropriation, establish and administer a program for the purposes of providing funds for a Massachusetts library and information network. Grants and contracts awarded under this section shall be awarded for, but n…

Section 19M. The board of library commissioners shall establish a statewide advisory council on cooperative library programs. This advisory council shall advise the board with regard to the following: statewide program of service; proposed standards for the delivery of statewide …

Section 19N. The board of library commissioners shall establish such rules and regulations as are necessary and proper for administering sections 19C to 19F, inclusive, and sections 19L and 19M.

Section 2. Attorneys at law who have been admitted to practice in the courts of the commonwealth and who are resident in a county for which there is no law library association may organize, under chapter one hundred and eighty, by the name of the law library association for such …

Section 20. The board may determine by examination or by such rules as it may establish the selection and appointment of supervising librarians and all other library workers who are paid wholly or in part, under the authority of said board, by the commonwealth. Such selection and…

Section 21. Sections ten to twelve, inclusive, and sections sixteen to eighteen, inclusive, shall not apply to cities.

Section 22. The board of library commissioners shall certify, and issue certificates to, librarians. The board shall appoint an advisory committee of professional librarians practicing in the commonwealth to advise with it concerning certification.

Section 23. The board shall hold at least four regular meetings each year for the purpose of granting certificates. A quorum for said purpose shall consist of three members.

Section 24. The following words and phrases used in sections twenty-two to thirty-one, inclusive, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Board'', the board of library commissioners. ''Professional librarian'', a person qualified by education…

Section 25. The board shall make such rules and regulations not inconsistent with law as are necessary and proper for the conduct of the process of certification, including issuance, renewal or revocation of certificates, and to provide for hearings in the case of applicants whos…

Section 27. The board may expend, subject to appropriation, such sums for clerical assistance and incidentals as may be necessary for the proper performance of its work.

Section 28. The board shall:— (1) Keep an official record of all its meetings or parts of meetings concerned with certification. (2) Issue, suspend, revoke or renew certificates to properly qualified persons. (3) Keep a roster showing the names and last-known business addresses o…

Section 29. The board shall issue a certificate certifying as a professional librarian any person who requests certification upon a form prescribed by the board and who fulfills one or both of the following requirements:— (1) Graduation from a library school accredited by the Ame…

Section 3. Inhabitants of the county shall, subject to the by-laws, have access to the library and the books therein.

Section 30. The board may fix fees for the issuance of certificates and for their renewal.

Section 31. Any person who, upon the effective date of this act, is employed in a position defined as that of professional librarian or subprofessional librarian in section twenty-four, shall be granted a certificate as a professional or subprofessional librarian, if he makes app…

Section 32. In a city or town which accepts this section the board of trustees of the public library or the city or town official possessing the appointive powers of such board may grant a leave of absence for study or research to any library staff member which would enable him t…

Section 33. The board of trustees of a free public library in any city or town, or in the absence of such board, the city or town official possessing the appointive powers of such board, shall establish a written policy for the selection of library materials and the use of materi…

Section 34. The board of trustees of a free public library in any city or town, or in the absence of such board, the city or town official possessing the appointive powers of such board shall, except in the case of those employees subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred …

Section 4. The treasurer of each county shall annually pay for the support of law libraries therein such sums as may be appropriated therefor by the general court, and the county commissioners shall include in the estimates required to be filed under the provisions of section twe…

Section 5. Each law library association shall be entitled to receive from the sergeant-at-arms, immediately after their publication, one copy of the volume of the legislative documents of the senate and house, the journal of the senate and the journal of the house.

Section 6. All incorporated law libraries in the commonwealth shall be entitled to receive from the officers charged with the distribution of the same, copies of all books and documents to which the county law libraries are entitled by law, and one additional copy for each branch…

Section 7. A town may establish and maintain public libraries for its inhabitants under regulations prescribed by the city council or by the town, and may receive, hold and manage any gift, bequest or devise therefor. The city council of a city or the selectmen of a town may plac…

Section 8. Any free town public library may loan its books or other library material to any other such library or to citizens of other towns or non-residents, under such written conditions and regulations as may be made by the board of trustees or other authority having control o…

Section 9. If the trustees of any town library shall vote not to keep or receive any of the books and reports which the state secretary is authorized to send thereto, the secretary, at the request of the supervisor of public records, may discontinue sending them. Any of said book…