§ 8731 — Division of Libraries

(a) In addition to any other power granted or duties imposed under this title, the Division of Libraries shall exercise general direction and control over the furnishing of library services within this State. The Director of the Division shall be the State Librarian, who shall be a graduate of a school accredited by the American Library Association. The Division of Libraries shall have the following functions and duties:

(1) To provide information, resource materials and library services to state agencies, state and local governmental units and their subdivisions and, in the Department’s discretion, to organizations in need of library services;

(2) To coordinate library services statewide in order to assure to every Delaware citizen free and equal access to services, resources and guidance in the use of such for lifelong learning, continuing self-educational, political, cultural, economic, recreational and intellectual enrichment;

(3) To receive, accept, administer and expend any money, materials or other aid granted, appropriated or otherwise provided by local, state or federal governments, or by any source, public or private, in accordance with the terms thereof, and for the purposes provided hereinafter;

(4) To foster the recruitment, development and maximum utilization of library personnel throughout the State;

(5) To encourage broad community participation in library development, program planning and the implementation of such plans;

(6) To establish and promote cooperation among all types of libraries (including but not limited to public, academic, school, and special) at all service levels;

(7) To ensure the State’s compatibility to and reciprocity within an international information resources network;

(8) To administer the Statewide Delaware Library Network and the Statewide Delaware Library Consortium;

(9) To provide online access at each public library in state government to local, state, and federal documents and resources;

(10) To coordinate the provision of accessible library and information services for individuals with disabilities and to serve as the Delaware Regional Library for the Library of Congress Network of Libraries for the Blind and Physically Handicapped;

(11) To stimulate every Delaware library patron to fully utilize the State’s cultural resource materials and technologies, and to maintain the individual’s privacy, acceptable use, and right of access to those materials, and technologies;

(12) To offer resources which supplement and reinforce local libraries;

(13) To collect, compile, research, publish and disseminate information, including statistics, affecting the efficient operation of the State’s library system;

(14) To recommend legislation to achieve meaningful statewide library development and use;

(15) To establish, interpret and administer standards of effective library services;

(16) To enter into contracts and agreements to provide or to obtain library services and materials; and

(17) To perform all other activities pertinent to the organizational function of library services.

(18) To create a Delaware model public library collection development policy, in cooperation with the Library Consortium, as required by § 8734 of this title.

(19) To create a Delaware model school library collection development policy, in cooperation with the Library Consortium, as required by § 7201 of Title 14.

(b) Every state agency shall provide the Department with access to electronic copies of all publications issued by such agencies for the purpose of making accessible to Delaware and other citizens resource materials published at the expense of the State.

Legislative History

29 Del. C. 1953, § 8610; 57 Del. Laws, c. 583, § 1 ; 59 Del. Laws, c. 480, § 4 ; 65 Del. Laws, c. 290, § 1 ; 68 Del. Laws, c. 149, § 6 ; 69 Del. Laws, c. 346, § 1 ; 81 Del. Laws, c. 81, § 1 ; 85 Del. Laws, c. 218, § 1