AUGUSTA — The Maine Library Commission voted unanimously Monday to adopt new standards that redraw the geographic boundaries of the Maine Regional Library System and set eligibility requirements for libraries seeking Maine State Library services.

The vote comes eight months after the commission withdrew an earlier set of standards it unveiled late last year.

In November, the commission planned to adopt new standards that would require public libraries to pay their directors and stay open to patrons at least 12 hours per week or risk losing access to interlibrary loan services and internet connectivity.

Librarians and patrons from some of Maine’s smallest libraries pushed back, saying they lacked the resources to meet those requirements and could be forced to close.

The pushback prompted the commission to abandon its proposal in January.

Under guidance from the Office of the Maine Attorney General, the commission then began the state-mandated rulemaking process to establish library standards.

In March, the commission released a new set of rules, which small libraries again opposed.

Their objections launched months of discussion that culminated in the final proposal the commission approved Monday.

One of the strongest objections to the original proposal was its requirement that all library directors be paid, a provision the commission kept in the revised draft.

Maine has 257 public libraries. A 2023 database of Salary and Benefit Statistics for all Maine Libraries shows 20 operate with unpaid directors, while others provide small stipends — some as little as $1 a year.

If the proposal is ultimately approved, those libraries would have to start paying their directors or risk losing services.

One of the biggest differences between the original proposal and the version the commission now supports is the removal of a requirement that libraries have at least two staff members present during open hours. That rule would have affected 86 libraries and carried significant costs depending on their operating schedules.

The commission revisited the requirement several times but ultimately decided it was too burdensome.

The commission also dropped a requirement that libraries receive municipal funding to qualify for services, a rule that could have affected nonprofit libraries.

Under the new proposal, libraries must meet several standards to receive Maine State Library services, including grants, van delivery for interlibrary loans, internet connections, content filtering, email, web hosting, technology support and discounted membership in the Maine Association of Nonprofits.

The standards include:

• Professional development: Library directors engage in at least eight hours of professional development annually.
• Board training: All members of the governing board must attend at least one professional development training annually.
• Policy maintenance: Libraries must regularly review and maintain policies, including confidentiality of patron records, circulation, collection development, reconsideration of materials and programs, safety and security, patron behavior and meeting space use.
• Strategic planning: Libraries must maintain a publicly available strategic plan and review it at least every three to five years.
• Paid director: Libraries must employ a designated, paid director responsible for day-to-day operations. The director may not serve on the governing body or board of trustees. 
• Hours and access: Libraries must be staffed and open to the public an average of 12 hours per week year-round, provide at least one dedicated public internet computer and printer, and not charge membership fees to residents in their geographic service area.

The requirement that library directors be paid would affect 28 libraries that now operate with all-volunteer staff, and the mandate to have a designated director overseeing day-to-day operations could limit access to state services for five libraries with no dedicated librarian: Louise Clements Library in Cutler, Cole Memorial Library in Enfield, Frenchboro Public Library, Hope Library, Harvey Memorial Library in Parkman and Gary W. Woolson Community Library in Newburgh.

According to an impact assessment conducted by the Maine State Library, the ban on trustees serving as directors could affect 21 or more libraries, and the requirement that libraries be open at least 12 hours a week on average could affect more than 30 libraries that are not open year‑round, including Livermore Public Library, Pembroke Library, Woodland Public Library in Baileyville, Bethel Library Association, Cherryfield Public Library, Goodall Memorial Library and Rockport Public Library.

The original proposal required libraries to be open 12 hours per week, but the commission softened that standard to an average of 12 hours per week, noting that some libraries may offer more seasonal hours to serve visitors and could still meet the requirement over the course of a year.

The commission also found that requiring libraries to have dedicated email addresses and telephone numbers would affect three libraries that rely on town office email or personal cell phones: Bolsters Mills, Frenchboro and Cliff Island.

Member libraries must also submit responses each year to the Public Libraries Survey, also known as the Public Library Annual Report, to the Maine State Library by April 1, and must sign Maine Regional Library System agreements every three years to certify compliance with standards.

Under the proposal, libraries will have one year to craft a strategic plan. They will have two years to meet the requirement to be open an average of 12 hours a week and to designate a paid director responsible for day-to-day operations.

All other requirements would take effect immediately after the commission adopts the final version, which would not happen until early next year at the earliest.

The proposal also outlines how the Maine State Library will ensure compliance with the standards and what process it would use to remove libraries from the Maine Regional Library System for noncompliance.

Now that the commission has voted to adopt its proposed rule, the document will go to the Office of the Maine Attorney General for legal review. After that, it will move to the Department of the Secretary of State for official review before opening for public comment through steps outlined in the state’s Administrative Procedure Act.

Maine State Librarian Lori Stockman said she expects the document to reach the secretary of state by Oct. 1, with a 45-day comment period beginning Oct. 8 and closing Nov. 22.

Rulemaking requires a 30-day comment period, but Chairman Bryce Cundick, director of Mantor Library at the University of Maine at Farmington, said he wanted to “open the floodgates for the public comments we’re going to get.”

“I want to get every shred of it” for consideration during the commission’s final deliberations, he said.

The commission also plans to hold a public hearing Oct. 29, even though one is not required.

Library staff members will then work with Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster to review all comments, to which the commission is required to respond, and draft responses for the commission to consider at its January meeting.

At that point, the commission can decide whether to incorporate suggestions made in comments into the proposed rule. But if any of those suggestions involve substantive changes, the proposal would have to go back out for a second comment period.

After voting unanimously to accept the proposal, commissioners then took up an alternative draft rule submitted last month by York lawyer Sarah Redfield on behalf of an ad hoc group of library directors, supporters and patrons.

Heidi Grimm, vice chair of the commission and director of Merrill Memorial Library in Yarmouth, made a motion to “deny the alternate rule that’s been proposed because we have our own draft rule,” but also suggested that petitioners of the alternate rule “resubmit whatever their ideas are during the open public comment” period.

There was no discussion on the motion before it was unanimously adopted by the eight voting members present.

Contacted after the meeting, Redfield said she was not surprised the commission denied the alternate petition.

“The petition route was not something I wanted to do for its own sake, but a way I hoped would focus attention on the content of the alternative proposed rule — that is, it’s written from the perspective that the 257 public libraries are qualified and should be recognized and grandparented into that status,” Redfield said.

She suggested that “if some libraries are questioned or questionable, then there should be a specific approach for helping them, and, only failing that would they be denied (Maine Regional Library System) membership and its benefits. Perhaps it’s still a perspective the commission could consider instead of building a whole enforcement mechanism around what seems to be just a few.”

The Maine Library Commission has 17 seats. Of those, six are vacant, five are filled by members whose terms have expired and two are nonvoting members.

The vacant seats include a liaison to the Maine Library Advisory Council, a representative of people with disabilities, a representative of the Wabanaki Nations, an at-large public representative and both seats representing K-12 public school libraries.

In addition to new library requirements, the proposed rule also consolidates the Maine Regional Library System into three regions, which are:

• Northeastern: Aroostook, Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties.
• Central: Androscoggin, Franklin, Kennebec, Lincoln, Oxford, Sagadahoc and Somerset counties.
• Southern: Cumberland and York counties.

Each region is assigned an area reference and resource center: Bangor Public Library for the Northeastern region, the Maine State Library for the Central region and Portland Public Library for the Southern region.

The full proposed rule is available online.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.