[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Upper Merion Township 7-19-1961 as Ord. No. 106. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
LIBRARY
As defined in the Library Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 24 P.S. § 4101 et seq., as the same may be amended.[1]
MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES
The members of the Board of Supervisors of Upper Merion Township.
MUNICIPALITY
Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
PERSON
Includes individuals, corporations, firms, associations and their servants, agents or employees.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1. General Provisions, Art. I.
There is hereby created a Board of Library Directors consisting of citizens of Upper Merion Township to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors, to be known as the "Library Board of Directors," which Board shall have the authority to adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying out the intent of this chapter. Such regulations for the planning, conducting and maintaining of a free, public, nonsectarian library for the use of the residents of Upper Merion Township shall be vested in the members of said Board of Directors. In carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the members of said Board of Directors may be guided by the standards laid down by the Department of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other similar body or organization which promulgates standards which would carry out the intent of this chapter. Said Board of Directors shall have the authority to prepare and adopt rules and regulations which, in its opinion, shall effectuate the provisions of this chapter, provided that such rules and regulations shall not become effective until approved by the Board of Supervisors.
The affairs of said public libraries in Upper Merion Township established by this chapter or any amendments thereto, or both, shall be under the control of said Board of Directors. The Board of Supervisors of the township shall appoint the members and fill any vacancies occurring from any cause. The first appointees shall be appointed, as nearly as is possible, as follows: one-third (1/3) for one (1) year, one-third (1/3) for two (2) years and one-third (1/3) for three (3) years. All appointments to fill the places of those whose terms expire shall be for a term of three (3) years. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term. No member of this Board shall receive any salary for his services as such.
The Board of Library Directors shall organize as soon as may be after appointment by the election of a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer from its membership and such other officers and agents as the Board may deem necessary. The Treasurer shall give bond to the municipality, with satisfactory surety, in such amount as the Board of Supervisors may determine.
All moneys appropriated for the establishment or maintenance, or both, of a free, public, nonsectarian library, as established by this chapter, and all moneys, if any, received from other sources for its use, shall be under the exclusive control and shall be disbursed under the direction of the Board of Library Directors, who shall make an annual report to the proper municipal authorities. The accounts of the Treasurer of the said Board of Library Directors shall be audited as in the case of other municipal expenditures. The Board shall make a report annually to the proper municipal authorities of the moneys received by such library from the municipality and the disposition made thereof, and the accounts of the Treasurer of said Board shall be audited by the appropriate township auditors.
A. 
The annual report to be submitted to the Supervisors shall cover the calendar year and contain:
(1) 
An itemized statement of all receipts and expenditures.
(2) 
The condition of the library.
(3) 
The number of volumes, maps, pamphlets and other material.
(4) 
The number of volumes acquired by purchase, gift or otherwise.
(5) 
The number of items lost or withdrawn.
(6) 
The number of registered borrowers and readers.
(7) 
A classified statement of the circulation of materials, with such other information and suggestions as may seem desirable.
B. 
A copy of such annual report shall be sent to the State Library at Harrisburg.
The library and/or libraries so ordained and authorized by virtue of this chapter shall be free to the use of all residents of Upper Merion Township, subject to such reasonable rules and regulations as the Board of Library Directors may adopt, and the Board may exclude from the use of the library any person or persons who may willfully violate such rules. The Board of Directors may extend the privileges of such library to persons residing outside the township upon such terms and conditions as the Board of Directors may prescribe.
The real and equitable title to all the real and personal property which may be acquired by said Board of Directors, either by gift or purchase, shall be vested in Upper Merion Township. but the Board of Directors of said library shall and will be the administrators of such real and personal property.
The Board of Library Directors may establish branches, deposit stations, traveling libraries and such other agencies as it may deem necessary to bring the books within convenient reach of all the residents, subject to the approval of said Board of Supervisors.
[Amended 12-31-1991 by Ord. No. 91-953]
Anyone who shall willfully cut, mutilate, mark or otherwise injure any book, volume, map, chart, magazine, newspaper, painting, engraving or other property of or deposited in any free library, so established by reason of this chapter, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be prosecuted for said offense before any court of competent jurisdiction and, upon conviction thereof, shall be liable to a fine or penalty as set forth in Art. III, General Penalty Provisions, of Ch. 1, General Provisions, and costs of prosecution or to imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding fifteen (15) days, or both, at the discretion of the court; said fine, when collected, shall be for the use of said library against which the aforesaid offense was committed.