Table 6.-Laws affecting relationship of State library extension agencies to school libraries-Continued 1 Public library service division shall not affect administration and supervision of school libraries as carried on by State Department of Education or county and city boards of education, except by agreement. School district controlled libraries over which commission has general supervision. Public documents and records. 7 Secretary ex officio. 8 Cooperate with "management of public schools." "" Books and other reading materials. 10 Assist in planning programs for rural school library service. 11 Rules made by library commission must be promulgated through State superintendent. 12 In preparation of book lists. 13 Books or other property. 14 Presiding officer. 15 State Law Library Board. 16 Render aid to libraries which establish branch or visiting libraries in schools. 17 Ex officio member and recommends appointment of all members. 18 Supervision of libraries is one of the functions of the division of libraries in the State Department of Education. 19 Hold institutes. 20 In West Virginia, the State Library Commission shall give assistance, advice, and counsel to schools; types of services not specified. 21 A State library board is created in the department of education. 22 State board of education appoints the governing board of the State library. Relationships Between Schools and Public Libraries The relationship between schools and the public libraries has been the subject of much discussion. In the recently published Social Services and the Schools by the Educational Policies Commission, this problem is considered at some length, and it has been treated also in other current literature. Table 7, with 37 States listed, shows the extent to which this relationship has been dealt with in express legislation. The headings of the various columns and the footnotes, it is hoped, are self-explanatory, but there are some points to which attention might be called. One is, as shown in column 2, that school districts in 20 States are permitted to establish a public library and that in 4 others, some of which are included in the preceding figure, they may maintain a public library already established. The matter of contractual relations, one of increasing importance, is indicated in columns 3 and 4. According to table 7, school districts in 19 States may contract with the county library for service; in 17 States, among which are some in the preceding figure, they may contract with other public libraries for service. It is interesting to note further that the lawmakers have specified in the case of 24 States the financial arrangements for the relationships (column 5). In 6 States California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, and Wisconsin-the districts may transfer funds and books to the public library in return for service. Since the membership of the governing body which formulates policies for joint services is a matter of importance, the extent to which the schools are represented on it has been analyzed in columns 6, 7, and 8 of table 7. In 6 instances, qualified as indicated by the footnotes, the local school board is legally designated as this governing body for joint service; in 7 others, the chief county school officer is a member of this governing board; and according to column 8, in 8 instances, either a school official or officials make appointments to the board. Column 9 shows that 7 States have express legislation making it permissible to have the public library housed in the school building. It might be well to observe that as shown by the large number of footnotes to table 7, it is evident that no general pattern is being followed by the States in their legislation on the relationships between schools and public libraries. |