Chapter 7 - Libraries
CHAPTER 7 - Libraries
ARTICLE 1 - IN GENERAL
18-7-101. Prerequisites to appropriate money for establishment andmaintenance of library; payment of expenses.
Whenthe board of county commissioners has received sufficient guarantees whether inthe forms of conveyances or bonds of citizens, associations or corporationsthat a suitable place will be permanently furnished for the operation and useof a public library, it shall annually provide through property tax orotherwise for the establishment and maintenance of a public library at the countyseat of the county. Whenever suitable library quarters are acquired, the countylibrary board of directors may expend the revenue budgeted for the maintenanceand operation of the county library and the county library system.
18-7-102. Manner of levying and collecting tax; library fund.
Thecounty library tax shall be levied and collected as other county taxes and themoney collected shall be set apart as the county library fund. Nothing hereinshall be construed to authorize any levy in excess of those authorized by law.
18-7-103. Library fund under control of board of directors;appointment, powers, duties, terms of directors; manner of filling vacancies onboard.
(a) The control, use and disposition of the county library fundis entrusted to the county library board of directors which shall budget andexpend the fund for the maintenance, operation and promotion of the countylibrary and county library system in order to carry out the informational,educational, cultural and recreational role of the county library.
(b) The county library board of directors shall be appointed bythe county commissioners and shall be composed of not less than three (3) andnot more than five (5) competent and responsible residents who arerepresentative of the entire county and who shall serve without compensation.Before entering upon his duties the treasurer of the county library board shallexecute and deposit with the county commissioners a good and sufficient bondfor the faithful performance of his duties in an amount required by the countycommissioners. The bond shall be payable to the people of the state of Wyomingand be approved by the county commissioners. One (1) director shall beappointed for one (1) year, one (1) director (or two (2) if the board consistsof four (4) or five (5) members) shall be appointed for two (2) years, and one(1) director (or two (2), if the board consists of five (5) directors) shall beappointed for three (3) years, each term to commence on July 1 following theappointment. Thereafter the county commissioners shall before July 1 of eachyear appoint a director or directors to replace the retiring director ordirectors for a term of three (3) years and until a successor is appointed. Adirector may be appointed for two (2) consecutive terms and shall not beeligible for reappointment until two (2) years after the expiration of hissecond term.
(c) The county commissioners may remove any director formisconduct or neglect of duty. Vacancies on the board of directors shall befilled by the county commissioners for the balance of the unexpired termcreated by the vacancy.
18-7-104. Authority of board to receive and dispose of property;appointment of librarian; library staff.
Thelibrary board of directors may receive and be responsible for real estate,money or other property to aid the establishment, maintenance or operation ofthe county library system. If received as a donation, they shall carefullyobserve as the trustee the conditions accompanying every such gift. When theboard of directors determines it is in the best interests of the county libraryand in keeping with the purpose of the donor, it may with the approval of theboard of county commissioners sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of such realestate or other property. The board of directors shall appoint a competentlibrarian who with the approval of the board of directors shall appoint alibrary staff. The duties and compensation of the staff shall be determined bythe board.
18-7-105. Organization of board; rules and regulations; filing ofcertificate of organization; incorporation; recovery of library materials;establishment of branch libraries; cooperative library service.
(a) Every library board of directors shall elect a chairman andother officers as necessary and shall prescribe rules and regulations for theestablishment, organization, operation and use of the county library andlibrary system. The board shall enforce such rules and regulations in any courtof competent jurisdiction. As soon as the board is organized they shall filewith the county clerk and with the secretary of state a certificate showingtheir organization, for which no filing fee or charge shall be paid.
(b) Upon filing of the certificate the board of directors is abody corporate, with power to sue and be sued under the name on file with thesecretary of state.
(c) No member of the board of directors is personally liablefor any action or procedure of the board. The corporation has perpetualexistence and it is not necessary to file any other or further certificate thanthat filed upon the original organization of the board of directors. Everylibrary established and maintained under the provisions of W.S. 18-7-101through 18-7-106 is free to all residents of the county on the condition thatsuch persons comply with rules and regulations of the library as prescribed bythe board of directors. Holders of library cards are responsible for alllibrary materials borrowed on such cards. Whenever library materials are lost, destroyedor taken from the library and not returned the library board may instituteproceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover the materials orthe value thereof. The library board may establish and maintain branchlibraries, stations and other library services and facilities.
(d) Two (2) or more county library boards may contract toestablish a federation of the libraries under their jurisdiction for thepurpose of providing cooperative library services. Contracts shall be written,signed by the members of the contracting library boards and are binding uponthe contracting library boards and their successors. The participatinglibraries may reserve the right to terminate the contracts by mutual agreementupon ninety (90) days written notice given to each contracting library board.
18-7-106. Directors to keep records and make annual report.
Eachlibrary board of directors shall keep a record of all its proceedings, file inthe library all vouchers for expenditures, and after the close of the fiscalyear submit an annual financial, statistical and operational report to thecounty commissioners and to the Wyoming state library. Whenever practical theannual report shall contain information and data requested or required by thecounty commissioners and the Wyoming state library.
ARTICLE 2 - WYOMING PUBLIC LIBRARY ENDOWMENT CHALLENGE PROGRAM
18-7-201. Wyoming public library endowment challenge program.
The Wyoming public library endowmentchallenge program is created.
18-7-202. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Challenge fund" means the public libraryendowment challenge fund created under this article;
(ii) "Endowment gift" means an irrevocable gift ortransfer to a Wyoming public library foundation of money or other property,whether real, personal, tangible or intangible, and whether or not the donor ortransferor retains an interest in the property, where the gift of thefoundation's interest in the property is required to be used by the foundationexclusively for endowment purposes, where:
(A) The gift was received or the transfer occurred during theperiod July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2013; or
(B) A commitment to make the gift or transfer was made inwriting to the respective public library foundation, which commitment wasreceived during the period July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2013, and the giftwas received or the transfer occurred not later than December 31, 2014.
(iii) "Foundation" means an organization establishedfor each public library that among other purposes, exists to generateadditional revenues for public library programs and activities;
(iv) "Match" means the level of funds the statetreasurer will provide to each public library foundation, where:
(A) The amount disbursed by the state treasurer will be three(3) times the amount raised by the library foundation of any of the followingcounties: Albany, Big Horn, Hot Springs, Platte, Crook, Weston, Washakie,Goshen and Niobrara;
(B) The amount disbursed by the state treasurer will be two (2)times the amount raised by the library foundation of any of the followingcounties: Johnson, Lincoln, Carbon, Uinta, Laramie, Park, Sheridan andConverse;
(C) The amount disbursed by the state treasurer will be equalto the amount raised by the library foundation of any of the followingcounties: Campbell, Sublette, Sweetwater, Fremont, Natrona and Teton.
(v) "Permanent endowment funds managed by a Wyoming publiclibrary foundation" means the endowment funds that are invested by therespective Wyoming public library foundation on a permanent basis and theearnings on those investments are dedicated to be expended exclusively tobenefit and promote the mission, operation or any program or activity of therespective public library, including but not limited to augmentation ofcollections, programs and projects, capital improvements, increases to thecorpus of the endowment and defraying reasonable costs of endowmentadministration.
18-7-203. Wyoming public library endowment challenge fund.
(a) The Wyoming public library endowment challenge fund iscreated and shall consist of twenty-three (23) separate accounts, one (1)account for each Wyoming public library established pursuant to W.S. 18-7-101.
(b) The state treasurer shall invest funds within the fundcreated under subsection (a) of this section and shall deposit the earningsfrom fund investments to the general fund.
18-7-204. Endowment challenge fund matching program; matchingpayments; agreements with foundations; annual reports.
(a) To the extent funds are available in the separate accountof any public library within the endowment challenge fund, the state treasurershall match endowment gifts actually received by that public library'sfoundation. A match shall be paid under this subsection by the state treasurerat the time any accumulated amounts actually received by a public libraryfoundation total ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) or more. The match shall bemade by transferring from the separate challenge fund account to the appropriatepublic library a match amount calculated as provided by W.S. 18-7-202(a)(iv). The recipient public library shall immediately transfer matching funds receivedunder this subsection to the public library foundation.
(b) Each public library shall enter into an agreement with itsfoundation under which the foundation shall manage the matching funds receivedunder subsection (a) of this section and under W.S. 18-7-205 in the same manneras other permanent endowment funds are managed by its foundation, including thepermanent investment of funds, maintenance of the fund corpus as inviolate andthe expenditure of fund earnings for endowment purposes only.
(c) Earnings from endowment funds established with matchingfunds under this section, and funds received under W.S. 18-7-205, shall beexpended only for the purpose of the endowment, including increasing thebalance in the fund corpus and reasonable costs of administration.
(d) The state treasurer shall make transfers to the appropriatepublic library under this section not later than the end of the calendarquarter following the quarter during which foundation gifts total at least tenthousand dollars ($10,000.00). If gifts are made through a series of paymentsor transfers, no matching funds shall be transferred under this section untilthe total value of all payments or transfers actually received totals at leastten thousand dollars ($10,000.00).
(e) Matching funds transferred under this article shall not bedistributed to or encumbered by any public library foundation in excess of theamount in the challenge fund account for that library. Matching funds shallnot be transferred to any public library by the state treasurer except to matchgifts actually received by its foundation.
(f) If any public library board determines that the purpose ofan endowment gift to the public library's foundation is not consistent with themission or capability of that library, the gift shall not qualify for matchingfunds under this section.
(g) For the purpose of computing the matching amount, the statetreasurer shall use the value of an endowment gift based upon its fair marketvalue at the time the gift is received by the public library foundation. Thepublic library shall provide evidence of fair market value for any gift ifrequested by the state treasurer and shall fund the cost of providing anyrequested evidence.
(h) Each public library shall on or before October 1 of eachyear, submit a report to the state treasurer from its foundation on the endowmentmatching program under this section for the preceding fiscal year. The reportshall include a summary of funds raised under this program and the expenditureof endowment earnings. The report required under this subsection shall be foreach applicable fiscal year through June 30, 2015.
18-7-205. Additional transfer of funds.
(a) In addition to the transfer of matching funds authorizedunder W.S. 18-7-204, when the state treasurer determines that the cumulativeamount of endowment gifts received by all twenty-three (23) of the publiclibrary foundations has reached two million three hundred thousand dollars($2,300,000.00), the treasurer shall transfer to each of the public libraries,from its separate challenge fund account, the amount of one hundred thousanddollars ($100,000.00) or the amount of the balance remaining in the library'schallenge fund account, whichever is less.
(b) A library receiving funds under this section shallimmediately transfer the funds to its public library foundation.