NMRLS Membership Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility Requirements

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
Eligibility Requirements for Participation as a
Member of a Regional Library System

Any public, academic, school and special library within a region will be eligible to participate as a member of a Regional Library System upon meeting certain requirements. These requirements are that the participating library shall:

be part of an organization or institution that has a legal basis for operation;

have an organized collection of information and material accessible for use by its designated clientele;

have a fixed location;

have established and posted hours of service;

on-site, paid librarian-in-charge who meets Massachusetts education and certification requirements in effect for that type of library (For public schools, each secondary school* library member must be staffed by a full time certified school library media specialist, and each non-secondary school library member must be staffed by either a full for part time certified media specialist. For each non-public school and each charter school, a Master’s of Library Science degree shall be considered equivalent to school library media specialist certification for the purposes of meeting this requirement). A certified librarian who travels between non-secondary schools can serve no more than five schools (one day a week per school). Secondary Schools must have a full-time certified librarian; that librarian cannot qualify other libraries in the school district for Regional membership;

have a written mission statement and services objectives, which the library reviews and evaluates annually;

have an established funding base and an annual budget;

be authorized to participate by its appropriate administrative authority;

agree to the terms and conditions of the Regional Library System membership agreement as established by the Board of Library Commissioners. This agreement shall include certification by each member library that it meets the minimum eligibility requirements for participation, agrees to participate in interlibrary loan activities within the Commonwealth in accordance with the National Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States and agrees to provide data on the use of regional and statewide library materials and services.

Every public library shall automatically be a member of a regional library system.

*Definition: The term “secondary school” shall mean any school that is authorized to grant a high school diploma.

Clarifications

Public Library Branches

Public Library branches are not eligible to participate as individual members of a regional library system. Those libraries which are defined as "multiple independent institutions" under M.G.L. 78:19 A & B are members and have a voting representative on the Regional Council of Members. Regional protocols for particular services, however, may provide services to individual branches (as in the case of supplemental reference) or may provide for a single access point for all public libraries within a municipality (as in the case of delivery service).

Public School Libraries

Effective October 6, 1997, all public school library applications must be signed by the district superintendent and principal. In reviewing applications for compliance with the guidelines, you may apply the guideline that a certified librarian who travels between schools can serve no more than five schools (one day a week at each school). "Budget" must include an annual budget for books and other library materials.

Charter schools are considered a single member within a public school district. Each public school district has one voting representative to the regional Council of Members.

Multiple Libraries Within a Campus and Multicampus Institutions

Individual libraries within an institution (such as a college, corporation, trial court law library or Department of Correction library) which are located in separate municipalities will have separate voting representatives to the regional Council of Members in that region. Multiple libraries within a single institution on a single campus that do not share staff are eligible to become individual members but will share a one voting representative to the regional Council of Members.

Private schools within each municipality must select a single voting representative to the Council of Members. This representative should be selected by these libraries on an annual basis.

April 24, 1997 - Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (clarified Oct. 3, 1997)

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