PLAN OF
SERVICE
AND BY-LAWS
OF THE
LIBRARY
COOPERATIVE
May 2006
The name of this
Library Cooperative is the Southwest
Michigan Library Cooperative, composed of one or more local public libraries
whose boards agree to implement this Plan of Service. The Plan of Service has been developed and
approved by the libraries listed in Attachment A.
I. AUTHORITY
Southwest
Michigan Library Cooperative is established under authority and
provisions
of Public Act 89, 1977 (Section 4).
II. COOPERATIVE BOARD AND ADVISORY
COUNCIL
A. SELECTION
1. Cooperative Board
a. The Cooperative Board shall consist of eleven
(11)
members who are selected from members of the
Advisory Council. No members of the Board are paid except for
expenses incurred in the fulfillment of
their duties. Terms shall be two years.
b. The Board shall be selected from the Council
members
in the following manner:
(1)
One member representing libraries from Class VI*
(2)
Two members representing libraries from Class V*
(3)
Two members representing libraries from Class IV*
(4)
Two members representing libraries from Class III*
(5)
Two members representing libraries from Class I and II*
(6)
If there are less than two Class V member libraries:
a)
One member representing libraries from Class V,
b)
Two members representing libraries from Class IV,
c)
Two members representing libraries from Class III, except in alternate terms
when three members will represent libraries Class III.
(7) One member representing School Libraries
(8) One member representing Academic and Special
Libraries
c. Local library boards in the five population
categories shall be
represented
on the Cooperative Board alphabetically (beginning with A) by the name of the
local area served. Local boards eligible for members shall designate in advance
which of their representatives is to
represent them on the Cooperative Board.
d. Vacancies will be filled by appointment of
the local board which is
entitled
to representation for unexpired term.
e. Libraries with membership on the Cooperative
Board which are not
represented
at three (3) consecutive Board meetings shall lose their
membership
on the Cooperative Board. The next
library on the rotation
list
shall fulfill the remainder of the term in addition to its regularly
scheduled
term.
*See Attachment A
Basic
Plan
1. A. 1. f. As additional libraries join the southwest
Michigan Library
Cooperative,
their names shall be added to the
alphabet
rotation in alphabetical sequence within their groupings. New
members
become eligible for the Board after two consecutive years of
membership. In the case of Multitype
Libraries, School Libraries and
Academic/Special Libraries membership shall be
immediate and they shall
be
appointed using the same process as articulated in Section II. A. 1. c.
2. Advisory Council
a The Council shall consist of one (1)
librarian and one (1) board member
from
each public library (appointed by the local board.) Each Council
member
shall have one vote.
B. The Council shall provide officers and such
committees as directed in
the Bylaws.
Membership on committees may be composed of Council,
local
board or staff members of the local library.
C. Each multitype
member library shall be represented on the Council by
its
director or designate. Each multitype member library shall have one
vote.
B. MEETING DATES (Sec. 9)
1. The Cooperative
Board and Council shall meet on a day specified in the Bylaws.
Cooperative Board and Council shall adhere to
all provision of the Open
Meeting
Act 267, 1977.
2. The annual meeting shall be held as
specified in the Bylaws.
3. The Cooperative Board and Advisory Council
are specifically
prohibited
from interference in the operation and control of
member
public libraries.
4. Meeting agendas and packets will be
made available to appropriate members a week in advance of the meeting date.
C. DUTIES &
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
COOPERATIVE BOARD (Sec. 8)
1. As the governing authority of the
Cooperative, the Board shall
have
the following duties:
a. Have powers which relate to the functioning
of the Cooperative and the
management
and control of the Cooperative’s funds and property.
b. Nominate officers for election by the
Council.
c. Be a body corporate and a juristic entity for
social security and legal
identity
purposes.
d. Establish, maintain and operate Cooperative
services for
public
libraries in the Cooperative’s area.
e. Appoint a director to administer the
Cooperative, fix that person’s
compensation,
and delegate those powers to that person as are in the
best
interest of the Cooperative, including the power to hire necessary
employees.
f. Purchase or contract for books, periodicals,
library materials,
equipment,
and supplies for the Cooperative services.
g. Purchase sites, erect buildings, and/or lease
suitable quarters, and have
supervision
and control of property of the Library Cooperative.
Basic
Plan
II. C. 1.
h. Enter into contracts to receive service from,
or give service to, libraries
in
the state, including public, school,
academic or special libraries, other
cooperative libraries, political subdivisions
of the state, commercial
organizations
and individuals.
i. Have
exclusive control of expenditures including adoption of an annual
budget
recommended by the Council. The Board
may override the
recommended
budget by a vote of a simple majority.
The Board shall not make changes in the mission statement.
j. Accept gifts and donations of property, real
and personal, for the
benefit
of the Library Cooperative and for the purposes for which
donated.
k. Adopt bylaws and rules not inconsistent with
this act for its own
government
and do those things necessary to carry out the purpose of
this
act.
2. In pursuing these duties, it will take
into due consideration the recommendations of the Council.
3.
The role of the Cooperative Board
is to fulfill the requirements of Public Act 89,
Section 8 (being a body corporate and juristic entity).
D. DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
ADVISORY COUNCIL
A
Council shall be established representing all member libraries to
recommend
mission statement, policy, program of service, and annual budget to the
Cooperative
Board. The Advisory Council shall make
changes in the mission statement.
III. COOPERATIVE LIBRARY
A. ELIGIBILITY TO BE A LIBRARY
COOPERATIVE
1. The area to be included in the library
cooperative consists of
one
county plus portions of other counties with a population of
a
least 100,000. (Sec. 6-b)
2. Cooperative offices shall be located in
a space specifically
designated
for its operation.
B. MEMBERSHIP
1. Eligibility: Any public library which qualifies for State Aid
under
Act 265, 1966, or qualifies under Public Act 89, 1977, is eligible for
membership after passage of a resolution requesting membership by its governing
board or body. Membership is conferred
on the requesting public library upon approval of the Library Cooperative Board
and the Library of Michigan. The
Southwest Michigan Library Cooperative Board is open to requests for membership
by any public library or any other library cooperative.
2. New Members: The Cooperative
encourages new membership. All new
members’ expenses and benefits shall be pro-rated over the months remaining to the
end of the Cooperative’s fiscal year.
Basic
Plan
1. B. 3. Multitype Membership: Membership in the Cooperative is
encouraged.
Membership
can be conferred by the Cooperative Board upon written request
from
a library by an authorized official or resolution of its governing board.
School,
university, college, Basic Plan and special (profit and non-profit)
libraries
may seek membership in the Cooperative. Services to or from members are based
on actual cost or a quid pro quo arrangement.
Cooperation between differing types of libraries particularly
encouraged.
4. Membership Withdrawal: Any member of this Library Cooperative may
withdraw
by giving a written resolution of its local board to the Cooperative
Board,
ninety (90) days prior to October 1st.
The Cooperative Board shall honor
all
requests for withdrawal, reserving the right to dispute listed reasons.
Termination
is as of October 1st each year, contingent upon settlement of
financial obligations. As a component of withdrawal, each library is entitled to receive an electronic copy of its holdings records upon payment of production costs as incurred.
5. Methodology: The Board of each local library shall adopt a
resolution
requesting the local library become a
participating library in the Library
Cooperative.
Duplicate copies of the resolution, certified by the clerk of each
local
board, shall be filed with the Cooperative Board. the Cooperative Board
shall
accept or show reason for denial of the request for membership within
sixty
(60) days after filing. When the
Cooperative Board has accepted the
resolution,
the resolution and the acceptance shall be endorsed and a copy filed
with
the Library of
duties
and privileges as other libraries participating in the Library Cooperative.
(Sec.
12)
C. STANDARDS (Sec. 17)
1. Public libraries shall
conform to certification requirements for personnel as
required
by Public Act 89 or 1977, Section 17.
a. Public libraries that fail to meet
certification requirements, and are
hence refused
state aid, shall no longer be eligible for membership in the Library
Cooperative. These libraries will be
given one year in which
to reach the certification requirements before any further action
is taken by the Library Cooperative.
b. After one year’s probation, a public library
that fails to meet such
certification requirements may continue
to receive minimal service, at
the discretion of the Advisory Council,
but will be denied
representation on the Library
Cooperative Board and voting rights on
the Advisory Council.
2. The Library Cooperative shall conform to
certification requirements as required
by the State of
D. FUNDING
1. The fiscal year of the Southwest
Michigan Library cooperative
shall
be October 1st to September 30th (Sec. 10).
Basic
Plan
III. D.
2.
a. Direct state aid, granted by the State
of
library
cooperatives, as authorized by Public Act 89,
1977,
Section 13, and paid to the Library Cooperative
will
be used for any library purpose recommended by
the
Advisory Council and approved by the Library
Cooperative
Board. (Sec. 13)
b. Library Cooperative service charges
and charges for contracted services may be paid from local funds or funds
coming to the member library from the State as authorized by Public Act 89,
1977, Section 16 (3) or (4). Any portion
of the grant remaining after charges have been paid, may be applied by the member library
to local services. (Sec. 16)
c.
Supplemental funding may be
approved by the Advisory Council.
3. Additional Fees (Sec. 15)
a.
No additional fees shall be levied
from member libraries
without
approval of the Council.
b. Services to or from multitype members shall be based on actual cost or a quid pro quo arrangement.
4. Application (Sec. 18): The Library Cooperative shall apply
before
February 1st of each year for State Aid.
The Library
Cooperative
shall certify to the Library of Michigan the
amount
of money received from each source during the last
completed
fiscal year before October 1st.
5. Payment (Sec. 19): The Library Cooperative will expect that
the
Library of Michigan shall prepare a statement of the amount to be
distributed
in accordance with this act. Vouchers
for disbursement of
state
aid shall be signed by an authorized agent of the Board and
delivered
to the department of Management and Budget, which shall
draw
up warrants on the Department of Treasury in favor of the fiscal
agent
of the Cooperative or local board. State
aid shall be distributed by
September
30th of the year of distribution.
6. Accounting
a. Money received from state aid will be
deposited in a separate fund.
(Sec.
20)
b. State aid paid to a library cooperative or a
public library may be used
for
any expenditure, including the cost of intersystem or
intrasystem contracts. (Sec. 21).
c. The Cooperative will end the fiscal year
with a fund balance of approximately 13% of the current budget expenditures.
7. Grants
State,
federal and other public and private grants shall be pursued if
they
meet the above-mentioned goals and Bylaws of the Cooperative.
Basic
Plan
E. LIBRARY OF
1. Plan Approval
a. This Basic Plan for library services, setting
forth a statement describing
the
specific services that will be rendered to those libraries participating
in
the Library Cooperative, the means and agencies by which the
services
will be rendered without duplication of existing resources and
expertise,
and the Cooperative Board that will receive funds and
execute
duties, will become effective upon adoption by the participating
library
boards and approval by the Library of Michigan.
(Sec. 4)
b. Said Cooperative Board shall submit to the
Library of Michigan a plan
which
designates and describes the responsibilities of the Library
Cooperative,
provides for future selection of Board membership and
gives
notice of the Cooperative Board’s meeting dates. The original
plan
and any substantial modification shall be approved by the Library
of
has
no jurisdiction over property or management of the local library.
(Sec.
9)
2.
Disputes
When
there is a dispute concerning the library cooperative to which a public
library
shall belong, services rendered to member libraries, or the operation of
the
library cooperative which cannot be resolved on the local level, the state
board
may hear the case. The decision of the state
board shall be final. (Sec. 22)
"State board" means Library of Michigan Board of Trustees. See Attachment B, Policy on Disputes.
F.
ACCESSIBILITY
1. Member libraries will loan materials to other
libraries participating in the
Library Cooperative. (Sec. 5-c)
2. Public libraries will maintain an open
door policy to the
residents
of the state, provided by Section 9 of Article 8 of the
State
Constitution of 1963. (Sec. 5-d)
G. SERVICES
1. Basic Services: The following list of services will be
offered,
as
feasible, to public libraries through direct state aid to
cooperatives,
as stipulated in Public Act 89, Section 13, to the
extent
made possible by the amount of the state aid and with
the
provision that supplemental funding may be approved by
the
Advisory Council. These services are
also available to multitype members on a pay as you
go basis
a. Administration
b. Regularly scheduled delivery service
c. Computerized union catalog of Cooperative
holdings
d.
Interlibrary loan
e. Group discount purchasing
f.
Training
g.
E-Mail
h. Access to Databases (full text)
Basic
Plan
III. G.
2. Optional Services
The
following list of services may be offered to member libraries and paid for with
funds provided under Sections 16 (3) and
(4) in Public Act 89 or from local funds on a pay as you go basis:
a. Communication lines
b. Interlibrary loan out of region (i.e.
OCLC)
c. Additional one or two days of delivery
d. Union List of Serials
e. 16mm films
f. Central video collection
g. Retroconversion
of holdings
h. Upkeep of telecommunication and other
equipment
i. Public
Relations items (printing flyers and bookmarks,
etc.)
j. Bulk purchases (such as balloons and
book bags)
k. Rotating video packets
l. Grant writing assistance
m. Other services as requested from a
sufficient number of
members
to fund the service.
H. REVIEW OF BASIC PLAN
This
Plan of Service shall be reviewed annually by the
Cooperative
Council at the annual meeting.
I. AMENDING THE BASIC PLAN
Any
amendment of the Basic Plan may be proposed in writing
to
the Cooperative Director who will in turn see that it is
received
by the officers and member libraries of the Cooperative at least thirty
(30)
days prior to a regular meeting of the Council.
Adoption must be by a two-
thirds
vote of the Council, a quorum being present.
October
1978
Amended: October, 1980
Amended: January, 1981
Amended: July, 1984
Amended: October, 1990
Amended: July, 1991
Amended: April, 1992
Amended: July, 1997
Amended:
March 2002
SMLC
Plan of Service
ATTACHMENT A
Based
on Library of
Dated
10/1/2004
Library Population
Class
VI 50,000+
Willard 90,804
Class
V 26,000-49,999
Cass 36,026
Portage 49,635
Class
IV 12,000-25,999
Allegan 16,811
Coloma 13,908
Comstock 13,851
Dowagiac 14,183
Otsego