[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Lowell 4-26-1988 as Ch. 17, Art. V of the 1988 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
The Directors of the City Library for the time being are hereby made a corporation by the name of the "Trustees of the City Library of Lowell," for the purposes hereinafter set forth, with all the powers and privileges and subject to all the duties, restrictions and liabilities in the General Laws that now are or may hereafter be in force relating to such corporations.
B. 
Such corporation may receive and hold real and personal estate for the benefit of the Library to an amount not exceeding $200,000, but the value of the books that are now in the Library or may hereafter be added thereto shall not be included in such amount. Money received by the corporation shall be invested under the direction of the City by the City Treasurer, provided that both the principal and income thereof shall be appropriated by the corporation in conformity with the terms upon which the same shall be held, and all the securities of the corporation shall be in the custody of the Treasurer.
C. 
The Trustees of the City Library shall be 11 in number, which shall include two associate members, and the City Manager, or his/her designee, who shall be ex officio President of the Board. Associate members shall be nonvoting members. In the event that a Board member(s) is absent, the most senior associate member(s) may take their place and vote. The chief executive officer of the City shall appoint, subject to the approval of the City Council, eight citizens of the City to be members of the Board of Trustees of the Library. Of the five terms currently filled, one will expire each December, beginning in December 1990. In the month of December next the chief executive officer of the City shall appoint, subject to the approval of the City Council, three citizens of the City to be members of the Board of Trustees of the Library, one of whom shall hold office for two years, one for three years, and one for four years, and they shall enter upon their duties on the second Monday of January next. Annually thereafter, in the month of December, the chief executive officer of the City shall appoint, subject to the approval of the City Council, from the citizens of the City a Trustee to serve for the term of three years or until a successor shall be appointed.
[Amended 12-5-1989; 4-23-2019]
D. 
The members of the Board shall meet for organization on the second Monday in January in each year. A quorum shall be satisfied when a majority of those holding filled positions appear for a meeting. They shall have the general care and control of the Library and the expenditure of the moneys appropriated therefor and may make rules and regulations relating to the Library, its officers and servants and fix and enforce penalties for the violation of the same.
[Amended 4-23-2019]
E. 
The Trustees shall, whenever there are vacancies, appoint a Librarian and such assistants as they may deem necessary and may remove them and fix their compensation.
F. 
The Trustees shall report to the City Council annually, in the month of December, the receipts and expenditures on account of the Library, the number of volumes purchased during the year, the total number of volumes in the Library, the number of volumes used during the year, the number of borrowers registered during the year, and the number of persons entitled to draw books for home use, with such other information as they may deem desirable to communicate.
G. 
The Trustees of the City Library shall have the general care and superintendence of the Library and reading room; they shall make all purchases and exchange of books and cause the same to be kept in repair; they shall procure suitable rooms for the reading room and furnish the proper papers, periodicals and other matter that may be necessary for the same and shall choose such assistants as may be needed in the Library and reading room; and they shall prescribe the duties of the Librarian and shall establish convenient and necessary bylaws and regulations to be observed in the use of books, papers and periodicals in the Library and reading room and determine the fines and penalties to be incurred for any violation of the same. They shall also have the power to establish and amend bylaws, rules and regulations as may be necessary for the government of the Library, provided that any and all bylaws, rules and regulations comply with the City’s Charter and the Plan E form of government. They shall also report to the City Council annually, in the month of December, the number of volumes purchased during the year, the whole number of volumes belonging to the Library, the number of volumes lost during the year and their estimated value, the number of new subscribers obtained during the year, and the whole number of subscribers belonging to the Library at the time of their report; with such other information as in the opinion of the Directors it may be desirable to communicate to the City Council.
[Amended 4-23-2019]
All funds which may have been or may be obtained by the City under the resolves of the legislature of this commonwealth passed March 3, 1842, March 7, 1843, and March 11, 1844, relating to school libraries, and all sums of money heretofore voted by the City Council, in order to entitle the City to the benefit of such resolves, are hereby appropriated to the Library, and the necessary apparatus for the safekeeping of the same, to be styled the City Library, and to be kept for the common use and benefit of the inhabitants of the City, subject to such limitations and regulations as may from time to time be established.
There shall be established in connection with the City Library a free reading room, to be kept for the common use and benefit of the inhabitants of the City, subject to such limitations and restrictions as may from time to time be established, the expense thereof to be paid from the appropriation for the City Library.
All money which may be chargeable, according to the bylaws and regulations established by the Board of Trustees, and all fines and penalties which may be incurred shall be collected by the Librarian and paid into the City treasury and reported to the Auditor and by the Auditor carried to the credit of the appropriation for the City Library.
Public documents received from the government of the United States, or any department or bureau thereof, or from the government of the commonwealth, or any department or bureau thereof, or from the government of any other state, whether American or foreign, or from any other municipality shall be preserved in the City Library.