State Aid to Public Libraries & ARIS Web Blog

I have heard rumblings that we can purchase and circulate laptops in the library and include the price as part of our materials requirement.  Is this the case?  Also, in the same vein, can eReaders also be included in this if we circulate them to the public?  Any info is appreciated.

Good question.

Materials purchased for circulation to library users count towards the materials expenditure requirement–so laptops that circulate and e-readers that circulate also count.  However, as stated in the definitions for the Financial Report:

” Do not include equipment such as public use computers, copy machines, furniture, artwork that does not circulate, etc”

I am unclear on what, exactly, are considered “services.” Is programming a service? Are libraries allowed to restrict programs such as story hours to residents of their own towns? I have heard conflicting interpretations of this requirement.

This is a good question.

The regulation (605 CMR 4.01 (6)) that defines the statute (MGL, c.78, s.19B(6)), states:

(b) ‘Extend privileges to the holders of cards issued by other public libraries in the Commonwealth on a reciprocal basis’ means that all public libraries participating in the direct state aid program must be willing, on a reciprocal basis, to extend direct access and services to non-residents who are card holders in other libraries participating in the state grant program and on the same basis as accorded to residents of the municipality in which the library is located.

 Since 1972, the interpretation and application of this regulation on the statewide level has been that nonresidents from municipalities certified for state aid to public libraries cannot be charged for direct access and borrowing privileges or other services for which residents are not charged a fee.  In addition, nonresidents from certified communities may not be totally excluded from library programming.  Residents, however, may be given attendance preference.

Please remember, a library should have a Program Registration Policy that is approved by its Board of Trustees.

Question

Here’s the situation:  Our library received a grant to digitize our town’s newspaper; the digitization is from 1935 to 1990.  The digitized newspaper is now a database. The grant paid for the digitization and the installation as a database accessible from our website.  The grant does not cover the ongoing cost of hosting the database.

Therefore, here’s the question: Could the ongoing annual cost of hosting the database be considered part of the cost of materials for the purpose of meeting the materials requirement in our budget?

Answer

There two parts to this question.  The cost of digitizing and the ongoing access (hosting) cost.

As far as the materials expenditure requirement of the State Aid to Public Libraries program is concerned, all expenditures for materials, both physical and e-content, count towards meeting the requirement. Expenditures for access to materials do not count towards the expenditure requirement.

Please remember that expenditures for materials from all sources of income (municipal and other income) to the library can be used to meet this requirement.

For those of you applying for a waiver of the FY2012 MAR:

• The Petition for a Waiver of the MAR is due with a postmark of October 14, 2011.

• The absolute postmark deadline is November 12, 2011 for the remaining four items of your MAR waiver application.

1. Disproportionate Cut Worksheet–to be completed by the town accountant or treasurer.
2. Supporting municipal budget document(s), listing the FY2011 and FY2012 total operating and departmental budgets for the municipality.  This can be a top level summary spreadsheet—it does not have to be the entire budget.  This documentation provides back-up for the numbers reported on the Disproportionate cut Worksheet.
3. Letter from the library describing the budget process. The letter can be from the library director or trustee chair, or both.
4. Letter from the municipality describing the budget process.  The letter can be from any municipal official–finance committee member, select person, etc.

Here are a few key points to remember as you prepare your letters and your in-person presentations for a Waiver of the FY2012 Municipal Appropriation Requirement to the Board of Library Commissioners.  Prior to the Board meeting in January, the Commissioners will receive a packet containing materials that you submitted with your petition.

Your letters/presentations should address the following key questions:

•  How close are you to meeting the FY2012 MAR?
• What efforts were made to meet this requirement?
• Are there any extenuating circumstances about which the Commissioners should be aware?
• Why should your municipality be granted a waiver of the FY2012 MAR?
• How have library services been affected by reductions in the library’s budget?  In particular, hours of service and expenditures for materials.

Regardless of how close you come to meeting the FY2012 MAR, if you are not meeting the FY2012 MAR, by statute you must apply for a waiver of the FY2012 MAR.

Even if the library has not been disproportionately cut, you must still submit a complete MAR waiver application.

Only those waiver applicants where the library’s budget was cut 10 percentage points or more beyond any change in the town’s budget need appear before the Board at its January 5, 2012 meeting.  If the gap is between 5% and 9.99%, the town and the library are not required to appear before the Board of Library Commissioners at its January 2012 meeting.

All waiver applicants will be informed about their status with regards to the 10% threshold when initial review of the applications is complete.

Here is a calendar of events for the FY2012 State Aid to Public Libraries program:

• October 14, 2011         Financial Form pdf, State Aid Application and MAR waiver petitions are due.
• November 3, 2011      First group of municipalities meeting requirements will be presented to the Board and state aid awards will be made.
• November 12, 2011    All submissions to complete FY2012 MAR waiver applications are due.
• December 1, 2011        Second group of municipalities meeting requirements will be presented to the Board and state aid awards will be made.
• January 3, 2012          A list of communities not certified for State Aid is available and updated at the end of the grant round.
• January 5, 2012          All FY2012 MAR waiver applicants will be reviewed by the Board.  In-person presentations (above the 10 % threshold) will be made made.
• February 2, 2012        The Board will act on FY2012 MAR waiver petitions.
• March 1, 2012              The Board hears any appeals of denial of the FY2012 MAR waiver.
• April 5, 2012                The Board acts on any appeals of denial of the FY2012 MAR waiver.
• FY2012 State Aid to Public Libraries program is completed.

Please feel free to contact me or Ned Richards (ned.richards@state.ma.us) if you have any questions.  Also, visit our website http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/index.php