The Maine Library Commission will take public comment Oct. 27 on a proposed rule governing the regional library system and eligibility for state-provided library services.
The hearing is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. in Room 101 of the Deering Building, 90 Blossom Lane in Augusta, with a Zoom option linked on the Maine State Library's rulemaking page.
The proposal would establish regional boundaries, assign libraries and Area Reference and Resource Centers to each region, and specify which requirements libraries must meet to receive different services. The notice also describes compliance dates and a process for addressing libraries that do not comply.
The commission says the proposal would replace the current rule and put longstanding regional-system requirements into an enforceable rule. The commission says the agreement, signed by public libraries for decades, is not legally enforceable, and that the attorney general's office advised a rule is needed to make its requirements enforceable.
Written comments must reach the commission by 5 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 20. They can be submitted through the rulemaking page, by email to state.library@maine.gov, or by mail to the state librarian at 64 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0064.
Libraries and patrons can review the proposed text through the state library's rulemaking page.
Sources: Maine Library Commission Notice of Rulemaking; Maine Government News.