A. Introduction

Factors such as planning, growth, changes in technology, and community needs, require a review and/or revision of library policy on a regular basis. The Library Board of Trustees is responsible for the currency and efficacy of the Library’s policy. It is one of the primary functions of the Standards and Development Committee to review library policy on a regular basis and to revise library policy as needed. The Standards and Development Committee is to report to the Library Board on its regular review of policy, and is to recommend to the Library Board approval of needed revisions and changes to library policy.

Please consult the section “Library Policies” in the Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State, Millennium Edition (c. 2000) for essential information on library policy.

B. Review of the Policy

The guideline set by the New York State Library Division of Library Development is to review a library’s entire policy within a 5-year period. This is necessary given that policy is the blueprint for library operations, an administrative guide for the Director, a rulebook for the staff, and a bill of rights for the public.

The Standards and Development Committee is to set a yearly schedule, based upon the calendar year, of what areas of the policy are to be reviewed in a given calendar year. When the Standards and Development Committee reviews portions of the policy, this is to be documented by the Committee in its report to the Library Board. Also, the Committee is to record when a particular portion of policy was reviewed by specifying the date of review in the Table of Contents page(s) of the policy. For areas of the policy that are specific and require ongoing review, such as the Internet Policy, the Committee is to place the date of review in the footer of the policy (these policies usually have a separate document as well as statement in the library policy proper) and in the Table of Contents page(s). It should be strongly noted that the Committee is to report regularly to the Library Board on its ongoing review of policy.

C. Revision of the Policy

When the Standards and Development Committee recommends a revision of a portion of library policy, the Committee is required to use the Proposed Revision of Library Policy Form [Exhibit H]. The Form sets the sequence of events required for the revision of policy. And, in particular the Form states the text of what the current policy is and the text of the proposed (new) revision. This provides a comparison and contrast of old and proposed (new) policy that is necessary in order to revise a portion of policy. The Standards and Development submits the Form as documentation in its report to the Library Board when requesting approval of a policy revision by the Library Board.

Once the Library Board approves a library policy revision, then that particular revision of the policy is to be immediately recorded into the Library’s policy. The Library’s official and extant version of library policy is on the Library’s Web site effective January 20, 2005 and will be found under the Programs and Services tab contained on the left side of the Library’s Home Page. Trustees should print out on a regular basis the revised pages of library policy from the Library’s Web site in order to update their own printed versions of the Library’s policy.