Policy on Lending to Residents of Decertified Libraries
The Richard Salter Storrs Library supports the importance of maintaining the minimum standards of public library service required for a community to be certified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). If a public library does not meet these standards they become decertified. Massachusetts General Law (605 CMR 4.01) states that certified public libraries are not required to lend materials to residents of municipalities with decertified libraries. Also stated in Massachusetts General Law (605 CMR 4.01) is that “all residents of the Commonwealth shall have access to reading and reference rooms under the same conditions as residents of the community”.
Although all residents of the Commonwealth are welcome to use the resources within the Storrs Library, only residents of communities with libraries certified by the MBLC will be allowed to borrow materials from the Storrs Library. Full use by residents of decertified communities would be an inappropriate reliance on the Storrs Library. Permitting such use would subsidize library services to a community unwilling to support its own public library at the expense of Longmeadow taxpayers. Therefore, the Storrs Library will not lend library materials to residents of decertified communities, either through direct reciprocal borrowing or through inter-library loan and network transfers.
The Library Board of Trustees reserves the right to amend this policy, and to rule on situations not specifically covered herein.
Revised and approved by the Board of Directors of the Richard Salter Storrs Library, 12/13/18