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In December of 2004, the Advisory Council on Library Planning and Development (ACLPD) formed a Task Force for the Review of the Public Library Statutes.  The charge of the Task Force was to review applicable Connecticut General Statutes, including, but not limited to C. G. S. Chapter 190, in order to make recommendations to ACLPD for revisions or additions. The Task Force will examine current statutes and gather input from library and user communities.  Members of the Task Force are:

Representing ACLPD:  Vicki Baker (Chair), Three Rivers Community College and Otis (Norwich) Library Board; Henry Dutcher, Enfield Public Library; and Richard Schreiber, Branford.  Representing the Connecticut Library Association:  Theresa Conley, Lyme Public Library; Laurel Goodgion, Wethersfield Public Library; and Mike Moran, Asnuntuck Community College and CLA Legislative Chair.  Representing libraries at large: Luva Mead Hoar, formerly of the Portland Public Library Board of Trustees, and Louise Brundage, Friends of the Library, Hamden and FOCL.  From the State Library:  Kendall Wiggin, Sharon Brettschneider and Joanne Turschman.

Process

The Task Force reviewed the Connecticut General Statutes Revised to January 1, 2005.  Amendments to existing statutes, deletion of obsolete language, and new language were proposed.  The Task Force then sought input from the library community at three forums around the state.  Preliminary findings were compiled into this report.  This preliminary findings report was distributed to Task Force members for review in May 2005.  Comments from this review have been incorporated into the final revision of the report to ACLPD.  This revisions were presented at the June meeting of ACLPD.  After a lengthy discussion the motion to accept them was tabled until the August 2005 meeting.  After receiving further comments on the revisions, the Task Force met on August 12th to consider further changes.  Their recommendations are included in the following document.  The changes include keeping section 11-24a definitions as they currently exist and adding language to restrict ability of libraries to charge fees to section 11-24b.  They also recommended other minor clean-up revisions to 11-24b.

ACLPD presented the recommendations to the State Library Board in September.