The remaining statutes which in any way deal with public or private libraries will be noticed in connexion with the departments of library administration, to which they specially refer, such as loans, rating, etc.
The only other Acts of Parliament which may in the future influence public libraries are the Education Acts passed since 1902. Under these Acts local Education Boards are empowered to “promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education,” and in many districts the education and library authorities are amalgamated for common purposes. It remains to be seen what further extensions will take place.
4. Main Provisions of the Municipal Libraries Acts.
4. Main Provisions of the Municipal Libraries Acts.—A brief summary of the leading practical points of the various Acts will serve to give an idea of the powers which are conferred upon municipal authorities in regard to libraries:
(a) Adoption of Acts in Towns.—The Acts may be adopted in any city, county borough, burgh or urban district by a resolution passed by the council, at a special meeting of which a month’s notice shall have been given, and the resolution must be advertised publicly in the usual way, and a copy sent to the Local Government Board, if the adoption is in England or Ireland; while a notice of the fact of adoption must also be sent.
(b) Adoption of Acts in Parishes.—In parishes in England and Scotland the Acts can only be adopted by a majority vote of the householders or voters.
(c) Library Rate.—A rate of one penny in the £ on the rateable value of an administrative area is the limit fixed by the Act, but power is given parishes to fix a smaller sum by a popular vote, and urban districts of all kinds to remove or fix any rate within the limit of one penny by resolution of the council.
(d) Powers.—The Library Authority may provide public libraries, museums, schools for science, art galleries and schools for art, and for that purpose may purchase and hire land, and erect, take down, rebuild, alter, repair and extend buildings, and fit up, furnish and supply the same with all requisite furniture, fittings and conveniences. The Library Authority shall exercise the general management, regulation and control of every department established under the provisions of the Acts, and may provide books, newspapers, maps and specimens of art and science, and cause the same to be bound and repaired when necessary. Also appoint salaried officers and servants, and dismiss them, and make regulations for the safety and use of every library, museum, gallery and school under its control, and for admission of the public thereto. Power is also given to make agreements with other library authorities for the joint use of library or other buildings; and to borrow money, with the sanction of[22] the central authorities, for the purpose of buying sites, erecting buildings and furnishing them. The Irish Act of 1877 also gives power to establish schools of music as part of a library scheme.
5. Non-Municipal Libraries: Acts of Parliament.
5. Non-Municipal Libraries: Acts of Parliament.—The legislation affecting the large number of British libraries which are not supported out of the rates is neither extensive nor satisfactory. The chief feature of most of the Acts of Parliament which have been passed seems to be the benevolent one of granting certain facilities to various kinds of landowners to divest themselves of their property in order to provide sites for literary and scientific institutions. There are similar clauses in the Public Libraries Acts, and, of course, most of the Acts named apply to municipal libraries; but in reality this kind of legislation is not particularly valuable. To make the transfer of land for public purposes more easy is quite laudable, but it has not yet had the effect of inducing landowners to part with free plots of land as building sites, either to public library authorities or literary institutions.