20. Constitution of Committees.—The portions of the Acts already quoted make it plain that in Scotland the library committees shall be independent bodies, with power to provide everything necessary, without requiring the sanction of the local authorities, or doing more than from time to time reporting their proceedings. In Ireland, under Section 12 of the principal Act, “the general management, regulation and control of such libraries and museums, etc., shall be, as to any borough, vested in and exercised by the council or board, and as to any town, in and by the town commissioners, or such committee as they respectively may from time to time appoint, who may from time to time purchase and provide the necessary fuel, books, appoint and dismiss officers, make rules,” etc. This approximates closely to the English law, which differs from that of the Scottish in leaving the power of appointing an independent or semi-independent library committee in the discretion of the local authority. The English Act has already been quoted in the previous section, and it now remains to give reasons why every Public Library Committee should be independent of the control of the local authority, save for certain purposes. The fact that, in Scotland, the hybrid composition of the committee is regarded as a reason for making it practically independent of the local authority offers a strong argument in favour of a similar course being pursued in England and Ireland. A mixed committee is entitled to act without the special sanction of the local authority, if only for the reason that all its members cannot take part in the ratifying proceedings of the council or board. It seems illogical to invite capable citizens who are not members of the council to pass certain resolutions and then submit them for confirmation to a council on which they have no vote or voice. Furthermore, a committee of any kind appointed to administer an Act, like the Public Libraries Act, which lays down clearly what may be done and how much may be expended, does not require the same kind of oversight and control as an ordinary committee appointed for some municipal purpose with comparatively unlimited powers of expenditure. No committee appointed for an educational purpose should be subject to the delays and difficulties caused by having to submit all its proceedings for confirmation by a superior authority. All these arguments furnish reasons why local authorities in England and Ireland should follow Scotland in giving Public Library Committees a complete or partial delegation of powers under the Public Libraries Acts.
21. Delegation of Powers.
21. Delegation of Powers.—A delegation of powers under the various sections of the Acts quoted should provide for a fair measure of independence for the committee, with a fair share of general control on the part of the local authority. As a matter of policy, as well as in the public interest, it is very desirable to maintain harmonious relations between a central board and its acting committees, and for these reasons information as to the proceedings of a committee should always be available, if required. But, for the reasons already set forth, a Public Library Committee should be a reporting and not merely a recommending body. With the exception of public libraries in the Metropolitan Boroughs, which are compelled by Section 8 (3) of the “London Government Act, 1899,” to receive the sanction of the Borough Council and its Finance Committee for expenditures over £50, every Public Library Committee in England and Ireland should be constituted under a special delegation of powers, such as was contemplated and authorized by the Acts already quoted. A fair and workable form of delegation of powers, which has been adopted with good results, is as follows:
That the [name of authority] hereby delegates to the Public Library Committee all the powers and duties vested in it as the Library Authority under the Public Libraries Acts, 1892, and all subsequent amendments, with the following reservations:—
- 1. The sanction and raising of loans for new buildings or other purposes.
- 2. The making and collection of the annual library rate.
- 3. The confirmation of agreements with adjoining library authorities for the joint use of libraries.
- 4. The confirmation of the appointment or dismissal of the librarian.
- 5. The sanction of any scheme for the formation of branch libraries.
- 6. The proceedings of the Public Library Committee to be reported monthly to the [name of authority], but only for confirmation and sanction as regards Clauses 1 to 5 of this constitution.
- 7. The librarian to act as clerk to the Public Library Committee.
As regards Metropolitan Borough Councils, it may be desirable to add a clause to the effect that no expenditure exceeding £50 be incurred without an estimate being first obtained by the Finance Committee of the Borough Council. But it is doubtful, if even this restriction is necessary, if, when the rate is made, the Borough Finance Committee passes an estimate for the whole amount of the public library rate, to be expended on general library purposes according to a budget or scheme prepared by the Public Library Committee. This will get over the difficulty of having to obtain fresh estimates every time £50 worth of books is ordered. The “Public Libraries Act (Amendments) Act, 1901,” contains a clause making it quite clear that for library purposes a Metropolitan Borough is an urban district.
22. Standing Orders.
22. Standing Orders.—The standing orders or bye-laws regulating Public Library Committees need not be very elaborate. Generally, they should be the same as those governing other committees of the local authority, with the exceptions as to powers. The committee should be elected annually by the local authority, and the number of members should be small rather than large. The needs of districts differ, but a Public Library Committee of over twelve may be an encumbrance rather than a help to the institution. At the same time a larger committee means a larger representation on the Council, and help from more people who are actually or nominally interested in the library service. Probably the largest committee in England is that at Wallasey, which has thirty members, of whom thirteen are Council members. Where such large committees exist it is usually found that the actual executive work devolves upon a sub-committee, such as the Book Sub-Committee. Meetings are generally held once a month; certainly there is ordinarily no occasion for the committee to be called more often, and in some towns a quarterly meeting is found to be sufficient. A chairman should be elected annually by the committee; he should invariably be a Council member, as he is the natural representative of the committee on the Council; but the vice-chairman may fittingly be a co-opted member. The principle of a constant change of chairmen, adopted in some Councils, is a bad one on a Library Committee, as the work is quite different, in many respects, from other departments of the public service, and knowledge and experience are required if a sound and consistent library policy is to be pursued. This is impossible under a system in which chairmen come and go annually. The same remarks apply to the committee as a whole; its personnel should remain reasonably stable. Three members should form a quorum. The committee should control its own clerk, who ought to be the librarian, although, as we have implied, this is by no means generally the case, and, indeed, is sometimes impossible under the standing orders of the Council. The Public Libraries Acts require that a separate account be kept of receipts and expenditure from the library rate, and library committees should see that this is done in all cases where the accounts are kept and payments made by the Council officials.
23. Duties of Committees.
23. Duties of Committees.—To a considerable extent these are fixed by the delegation of powers granted and the standing orders adopted. But there are certain broad principles which should be observed by library committees in the ultimate interest of their work. The chief of these is that the committee is concerned rather with library policy than with library administration; with what shall be done rather than with how it shall be done. The administration, planning, arrangement, methods, etc., of a library are technical matters purely appertaining to the librarian; and many libraries are stultified by well-meant and conscientious interference in details of this character by library committees. The committee has the right, and it is its duty, to expect the results of its policy to be visibly effective in the library service, but it should confide the means of obtaining those results to its librarian; only in this way can the special training which librarians now bring to their work be made of maximum use to the community. With the modifications implied in these principles the duties of the committee cover: