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Smithville Public Library

Library Board Policy

                                                   Guidelines

1. Library Board to be considered an Advisory Board with recommendations made to the Mayor and City Council for approval. (Ordinance 9809-322)

2. The Library Board is to be composed of nine (9) members. The membership shall represent the ethnicity of the community served by the library. Members will be appointed by the Mayor with City Council approval.

3. Library Board members shall be appointed for two-year terms. No member may serve more than two (2) successive terms of office. Five members of the Board will be appointed in odd numbered years and four members in even numbered years. In the event of the death or resignation of any member of the Library Board prior to the expiration of his or her term of service, the Mayor shall nominate, and the City Council confirm a successor who shall serve out the unexpired term and shall enter upon his or her duties at the next regular meeting of the Board.

4. The Board shall meet six (6) times a year. The Chairman of the Board may call special meetings when necessary.

5. The Board shall elect its officers from its membership.

The Officers of the Board shall be a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary. The Treasurer (City Secretary) of the City shall serve as an Ex-Officio member of the Board and any funds collected will promptly be delivered to the Treasurer.

The duties of the Officers shall be:

Chairman: Conduct all meetings and serve as a liaison between the Board and the Mayor and City Council. The Chairman shall work closely with the Mayor, the Council Representative and the Librarian and keep abreast of the workings of the Library.

Vice-Chairman: Shall serve in the absence of the Chairman and shall serve as the Board’s representative to the Friends of the Library.

Secretary: Shall keep permanent records of all meetings and shall file them in the Library.

6. The library board shall report annually to the city council through the library director on the condition of its affairs. Prior to acceptance of the city budget by the city council, the written recommendations and proposed budget shall be submitted to the mayor at the budget workshop by the library director.
                                                               
7. Five (5) voting members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.

8. The Board shall recommend rules and regulations relative to the operation, management and use of the library to the Council for approval. These rules and regulations may be changed from time to time to meet the needs and best interest of the Library, subject to the approval of the City Council.

9. In the event of three (3) consecutive absences by a member from regular meetings of the Board, without leave of absence granted by the Board for good cause, the Secretary of the Board shall notify the Chairman of the Board whose duty it shall be to notify the Mayor. This vacancy shall be treated in the same manner as a vacancy by death or resignation.

10. The Library Board, in the entirety, shall be entrusted with the responsibility to encourage and support a Friends of the Library organization.

11. They shall promote library programs and services.

12. Each member is responsible to head a committee and report at each board meeting.

13. Each member should keep current on library events, both locally and in surrounding communities, as well as state level. All information is valuable for library operations.

CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT

In recognizing the library’s position of special trust with members of the public, the Trustees of the Smithville Public Library wish to clarify their policy and responsibilities with regard to confidential information about patrons (and patrons use of library resources) that comes into the library’s possession.

As the choice of books and other library materials, along with the use of the informational resources of the library is essentially a private endeavor on the part of each individual patron, the library shall make every reasonable and responsible effort to see that information about that patron and his choices remains confidential. For people to make full and effective use of library resources, they must feel unconstrained by the possibility that others may be come aware of the books they read, the materials they use, the questions they ask. The awareness of the existence of such a possibility inhibits free usage of the library, its resources and facilities, and is contrary to the ALA Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement.

Therefore, the Trustees of the Smithville Public Library have adopted the following guidelines concerning the disclosure of information about library patrons:

No information regarding or including:

1. A patron’s name (or whether an individual is a registered borrower or has been a patron.)

2. A patron’s address

3. A patron’s telephone number

4.The library’s circulation records and their contents.

5.The library’s borrowers’ records and their contents.

6.The number or character of questions asked by patrons.

7. The frequency or content of a patron’s lawful visits to the library or any other information supplied to the library (or gathered by it) shall not be given, made available or disclosed to any individual, corporation, institution, government agent or agency with a valid process, order or subpoena. Upon presentation of such a process order or subpoena, the library shall resist its enforcement until such a time as proper showing of good cause has been made in a court of competent jurisdiction.

 All library employees (and those volunteers who work in its behalf) are hereby instructed to comply with these guidelines. The Trustees recognize that it is only through continued public confidence in the fact that these guidelines are indeed being upheld, can the public maintain its confidence in the public library. It is this confidence that is vital to the library’s role in the community and the community’s right to know.

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XI. IMPLEMENTATION AND AMENDMENTS

The policies stated herein are to be implemented by the Librarian and library staff. Specific operating procedures which follow the principles and guidelines set out in the Policy Statement may be drawn up the Librarian to aid in implementing these policies.

Official policies of the Smithville Public Library may be amended or changed upon action and recommendation by the Library Board and approval of the City Council.