[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:
As defined in the Library Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
24 P.S. § 4101 et seq., as the same may be amended.[1]
The members of the Board of Supervisors of Upper Merion Township.
Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Includes individuals, corporations, firms, associations and their
servants, agents or employees.
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.
