AUGUSTA — The Maine Library Commission reviewed a draft rule last week that would impose new requirements on the state’s libraries, including annual training for library trustees.

The commission considered a different proposal late last year that would have required all libraries to have paid directors or risk losing access to interlibrary loan services and other state support. It abandoned the plan after strong pushback from Maine’s smallest libraries, which said they could not meet that and other requirements.

During its January meeting, the commission directed Maine State Library staff members to draft new rules through the state’s formal rulemaking process — a step the commission had not taken before, even though it was required when setting standards.

Chairman Bryce Cundick, the library director at the University of Maine at Farmington and the commission’s representative for large academic libraries, said at the meeting that after small libraries objected to the earlier proposal, the commission “discovered that many of the actions of the state library that have been happening for decades have been happening under a general understanding approach that’s not really enforceable.”

On the advice of Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster, he said the commission has now begun what could be a yearlong rulemaking process to establish enforceable standards.

“This is increasingly important because we live in a world where services are getting more expensive and resources are getting more spartan,” Cundick said, adding that state library staff members need clear guidance from the commission to make decisions.

He emphasized that there will be “lots and lots and lots of time for public comment” before any rule is adopted.

During the public comment portion at the start of Monday’s meeting, the commission heard from two library supporters, including Sarah Redfield, a lawyer from York.

She urged the commission to do its work with the understanding that “all libraries are not all alike, but they are all still public libraries and entitled to your support. Anything less would be inconsistent with the longstanding legislative intent” behind the creation of Maine’s public libraries.

Casey Martin, the librarian at Southport Memorial Library on Southport Island, asked commissioners to “take a moment, even a physical breath, and remember we are on the same side doing amazing work that can look different from one corner of the state to the other.” She urged state library staff members and commissioners to work more closely with stakeholders and to respect that they are part of the conversation.

A group of library directors, trustees, patrons and other supporters of Maine libraries, including Redfield and Martin, has been working independently of the commission to research the question, “Who defines ‘public library’ in Maine?”

The group shared its findings with the commission and asked commissioners to consider the work. The group’s working paper is here.

Under the rulemaking process, once a rule is adopted, libraries will be strictly held to the standards or risk losing services, including internet support and web hosting, eligibility for Maine Public Library Fund grants and subsidized van delivery through the interlibrary loan program.

In a presentation to the commission, Maine State Librarian Lori Stockman noted that the Maine Regional Library System was created in 1973 and has a longstanding tradition of cooperation and collaboration among libraries to support statewide services and resource sharing. She said the new rule would continue in that tradition.

Under the draft unveiled Monday, a library would need to process more than 100 interlibrary loan materials — books or other items loaned or borrowed — each year to remain eligible for van service.

To receive other state services, public libraries must submit annual reports to the Maine State Library; ensure the library director completes at least four hours of professional development each year in library‑related topics; require all trustees to attend at least one annual professional development session on governance, fundraising, strategic planning or similar subjects; maintain the confidentiality of patron records; and have trustees review library policies at least once every three to five years.

The rule will also require all libraries to have two representatives — either employees or volunteers — on site whenever the library is open to ensure the safety of staff members and the public.

Libraries must also have a strategic plan that is reviewed every three years, receive annual funding from the municipality where the library is located and have a dedicated director of library services responsible for day‑to‑day management. The director may be a volunteer, but the position cannot be held by anyone who also serves on the library’s board of trustees.

To receive state services, a library must be open at least 12 hours a week, provide at least one computer and printer for public use, maintain a dedicated telephone line and email address and offer materials that reflect the diverse needs of the community it serves.

Libraries will also have to sign Maine Regional Library System Agreements every three years. For nonprofit libraries, a trustee may sign the agreement. Agreements for municipal libraries must be signed by the town administrator.

The new draft rule drops the requirement that library directors be paid and that library facilities have on‑site bathrooms.

Krystie Wilfong, an associate librarian at Bates College in Lewiston who represents small college libraries on the commission, said she appreciated the work that went into the draft rule, but added: “The issue still isn’t being addressed. The ‘why’ of doing this has to be more than just that we never had it in place before. I think we need to explain that better to the public.”

Others on the commission agreed, including Joe Houston, director of the Lewiston Public Library.

Houston said he would like state library staff members to elaborate on the rationale behind each section of the rule, although he added, “I think that was more needed when we were considering some of the rules that were more controversial, and it looks like we’ve gotten rid of some of the things that people were really upset about.”

He said Lewiston’s library “would not be compliant under this set of rules” regarding training, the policy revision schedule, the strategic plan “and some of the other things we seem to have added in this round.”

Ben Treat, director of the Bangor Public Library, said the same about his library, which neither has a strategic plan nor provides professional development for trustees. Both directors said they were unsure what the timeline would be for libraries to comply with the new rule.

The commission is expected to set the timeline at a future meeting, a step Cundick said would give libraries time to get organized, particularly to draft strategic plans, which can take considerable time.

“I would not vote for anything that would not include such an on‑ramp for libraries” to comply, he said.

Even with an on‑ramp and support from the Maine State Library, Treat said he worried a library could fall out of compliance.

“Lapse is inevitable, I think,” he said. “That will happen to some library at some point.”

He said the rule should spell out what would happen if a library becomes noncompliant.

At-Large Commissioner Heather Perkinson of Brunswick agreed, saying she would like more clarity in the rule about a remediation process to support libraries if they fall out of compliance.

As the meeting progressed, Heidi Grimm, director of Merrill Memorial Library in Yarmouth and the commission’s vice chair, asked whether the commission was “tap dancing around that we don’t have enough money to give everything to everyone.”

She reminded the other commissioners that part of the reason they are working to define who will be eligible for library services is the reality of limited resources.

Responding to that, Cundick said, “All that we’re trying to do here is rectify the problem that should never have occurred in the first place and do it up in the right way so the (Maine State Library) can do the right things.”

The Maine Library Commission is scheduled to hold a special meeting April 6 to continue work on the draft rule. Commissioner Wynter Giddings, director of the Freeport Community Library, said she would like to have a clearer explanation of why the commission has undertaken this work and to hear from state library staff how many libraries might be at risk of not meeting the draft criteria.

Others agreed, asking that a detailed rationale for each proposal be available at the April meeting, along with a plan for communicating that rationale to the public.

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.