ARTICLE XXII.

LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS.

An act in reference to library associations.

[Approved April 27, 1863; Stats. 1863, p. 624.]

Section 1. That from and after the passage of this act it shall and may be lawful for any number of persons not less than twenty, in any county, city, town, village, or neighborhood of this state, who shall determine and desire to associate themselves together for the purpose of erecting, procuring, and using a public library, to assemble at a day, time, and place to be appointed, to elect and appoint not less than five of their number as trustees, ta take charge of the property, both real and personal, and moneys belonging to the corporation thereby erected, and to transact all affairs relating to the same. [Amendment, approved March 24, 1870, p. 366.]

Sec. 2. That the said election, to be held as aforesaid, shall be conducted in the following manner, to wit: that whenever two-thirds of the number of persons so desiring to form said library association shall assemble at the time and place previously appointed, they shall proceed to choose a chairman from among themselves, who shall preside at such election, receive the votes of the members present, and be the officer to return the names of those who, by plurality of votes, shall be elected to serve as trustees for the said corporation; that the said returning officer shall, within ten days after such election, certify, under his hand and seal, the names of the persons elected to serve as trustees for said library, in which certificate the style, name, or title of the said corporation (which shall forever thereafter be the style, name, or title by which the said corporation shall be distinguished and known), shall be particularly mentioned and described, which said certificate, being first duly acknowledged or proved by a subscribing witness thereto, in the same manner in which deeds are acknowledged or proved before any notary public of this state, or a judge or clerk of a court, having a seal within the county in which said association is to be located, shall be forthwith, and within said ten days, filed with the county clerk of said county, and recorded in a book to be kept by him for the recording of certificates of incorporation, for which filing and recording he shall receive a fee of two dollars, and no more.

Sec. 3. That the persons so elected, returned, and registered, shall be and hereby are declared to be trustees for said library, and that the said trustees, from the time of the filing of said certificate and their successors in office, and such other persons as shall, from time to time, become members of the corporation hereby authorized to be erected, shall be and hereby are ordained, constituted, and appointed, and declared to be one body corporate and politic, in fact and in name, by the name, style, or title mentioned and described in the said certificate so to be recorded as aforesaid, and by that name shall have succession; and they and their successors shall and may forever thereafter, by the same name, be able and capable in law to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in all courts of common law or equity whatsoever, in all manner of actions, suits, causes, controversies, matters, and things whatsoever and that they and their successors shall have a common seal and may break, alter, and change the

same at their discretion, and also, that the said trustees and their successors, by the same name and title described in said certificate, from the time of the filing of said certificate, shall be capable in law of purchasing, holding, and conveying any estate, real or personal, for the use of said corporation; provided, such real estate so purchased and held by said trustees in trust for such corporation shall in no case exceed six whole lots in a town or city, or twenty acres in the country, nor shall the annual income of such real estate held in trust by them exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

Sec. 4. That forever hereafter there shall not be less than five trustees for every library so incorporated as aforesaid, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others be elected in their places, and shall manage the business of the said corporation; and that there shall forever hereafter be one president of the said trustees, one vice-president, one treasurer, one recording secretary; and one corresponding secretary, who, with the trustees, elected as such, shall constitute the board of trustees, to be elected in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and that it shall be lawful for the said trustees, in their discretion, whenever they conceive it necessary, to appoint a suitable person as librarian, and as many assistants as they shall deem necessary, but said librarian and assistants shall not be chosen from the board of trustees. [Amendment, approved March 24, 1870; Stats. 1869-70, p. 366.]

Sec. 5. That the officers of the said first trustees shall determine on the third Monday in the same month in which said certificate was filed, and that on the third Monday in the same month in which the said certificate was filed, in every year forever thereafter, there shall be a general meeting of the members of the corporation at some convenient place, to be from time to time ascertained and fixed by the by-laws of the said corporation, and that then and there, by plurality of votes of such members as shall so meet, the same number of trustees shall be elected by ballot to serve the ensuing year; one of said trustees shall be elected as president, one as vicepresident, one as treasurer, one as recording secretary, and one as corresponding secretary, and the balance, if any, as trustees; but at said elections no member shall be allowed more than one vote, and no voting shall be by proxy; that in case of the death or removal, refusal or neglect to serve, of either of said officers or of said trustees, during their said term, or during the interval occasioned by the nonelection of successors, the said board of trustees may elect, by a majority vote of the members of said board present at any regular meeting of said board, a member or members of said board to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death or removal, refusal or neglect to serve, of one of the above specified officers, or may elect in the manner aforesaid, a member or members of said association to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death or removal, refusal or neglect to serve, of a trustee or trustees, and such persons so elected as last aforesaid, shall respectively remain in office during such time as the person in whose stead such trustee shall be chosen would have done in case such death, removal, or refusal, had not happened, and no longer; and that the president, treasurer and librarian shall, at an annual meeting of the members, to be held within one month after such annual election in a suitable place to be designated in the by-laws of said corporation, exhibit to the members of the said corporation the state of the library, a summary of the general operations of the board of trustees, the condition of the treasury, and the receipts and expenditures during the preceding

year.

Sec. 6. That the said trustees shall have stated meetings, at such time and place as shall be appointed for that purpose in the by-laws of said corporation, and special meetings at such time and place, and to be called in such manner as the said by-laws shall define; that the president, at such meetings of said board, shall have a casting vote, and no other; that the president, and a majority of the trustees so met, shall have full power and authority to adjourn from day to day, or for such other time as the business of said corporation may require, and from time to time appoint and at their pleasure to displace the librarian, or his assistants, or a janitor, or janitors, or either of them, and to appoint other or others in their stead and place; to ascertain the compensation to be allowed the librarian and assistants, or the janitor or janitors, for their services in their stations, respectively, and to regulate and appoint to them, the said librarian, his assistants and janitors, or either of them, their respective powers, trusts, and duties; to direct the application of moneys belonging to said corporation to the purchase of such books, cabinets, pictures, statuary, and apparatus, of every kind pertaining to a library association, as they shall think proper for the promotion of knowledge, or the recreation of the members of said association; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to permit the sale of any spirituous or malt liquors, or the playing of any game, or the use of any device, by means whereof money or property of any kind may be won or lost, or any game or device for which a charge shall be made for the playing thereof, nor shall any such game or device, or the sale of such liquor, be permitted under the auspices or control or sanction of said association; to the building or providing of a house or room for the safekeeping of the books of said library or the property as aforesaid; to prescribe the terms of admission to membership, and the privileges of life and honorary members, and to transact, do, manage, and perform, and to enact laws for the transacting, managing, and performing of, in the name of the said corporation, all and every act and acts, thing and things whatsoever, which shall be necessary to be done, and which shall be prescribed in the Constitution and by-laws of said corporation, which the trustees of said library are by this law authorized to do; provided, such acts or things, or the regulations, laws, constitutions, or ordinances, providing for the same, be not repugnant to the laws of this state.

Sec. 7. That it shall not be lawful for any of the members of said corporation, or his or her executors, administrators, or assigns, to give, sell, alien, assign, devise, or dispose, either in whole or in part, of their respective rights in the said library so as to give to their donees, grantees, or devisees, any rights or privileges in said library or corporation.

Sec. 8. That it shall and may be lawful, at such meetings of a majority or more of the said trustees of the library for the time being, to make any by-laws constitutions, or ordinances of the said corporation, prescribing the terms of admission to membership, and altering the same at pleasure; and said members so admitted shall be entitled to have, hold, and enjoy all and every the same rights and privileges as the original members are entitled to by this act.

Sec. 9. That each and every member of the said corporation for the time being shall, at such times as shall be prescribed by the Constitution and by-laws of said corporation, pay to the treasurer of said corporation the dues required of him by said Constitution and by-laws, and in the manner prescribed therein, and that whatever any of the members of the said corporation shall neglect to Corporation Laws-60

pay the said dues in the manner prescribed as aforesaid, or any other sum which of right shall become due to the corporation, for the space of three months next after the day on which the same ought to have been paid, that then the person or persons from whom the same shall be due shall be precluded from exercising any of the privileges to which he became entitled by virtue of his being or becoming a member of the said corporation until such sums shall be fully satisfied; and if such sums shall not be paid within one year after any such sums shall become due as aforesaid; that then, and after the expiration of one year from the time such payment shall become due, that the person or persons from whom the same shall become due shall thereupon forfeit and be utterly excluded from all his, her, or their rights and privileges in the said library and corporation. Sec. 10. That in case it should happen that an election of trus tees should not be made on any day when, pursuant to this act, it ought to have been made, the said corporation shall not for that cause be deemed to be dissolved, but that it shall and may be lawful on any other day to hold and make an election of trustees in such manner as shall have been regulated by the laws and ordinances of the said corporation; provided, always, that nothing in this act shall be construed as to authorize any person or persons whatsoever, under color or by virtue of any incorporation authorized by this act, to do or transact any business, matter, or thing, save what appertains to a library, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, except the renting or leasing of lands or stores, public halls, or offices, in any building owned or leased by the said association, which said renting or leasing are hereby expressly authorized under the restrictions imposed in section six of this act.

Sec. 11. All the property, both real and personal, of said corporation, not exceeding the value prescribed in the third section of this act, shall be forever hereafter exempt from taxation for state, city, or county purposes; provided, however, that if any portion or por tions of any land purchased or building erected by said corporation shall be leased or rented by said corporation, the assessed value of the portion so leased or rented shall be liable to taxation as other property, and said value shall be computed by doubling the amount of rent for which the portion or portions were so leased or rented during the next preceding year; also, provided, however, that the verified statement in writing shall be given by said corporation, or some one on its behalf, to the tax collector as required by the second section of the act to provide for the support of the government of this state, approved April twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and fiftyseven, as amended by the act of this state, entitled an act amendatory and supplementary to an act to provide for the support of the government of this state, approved April nineteenth, eighteen hun dred and fifty-nine, otherwise the entire real property of said corpo ration shall be subject to taxation as other property.

Sec. 12. That all library institutions now incorporated, by whatever name they may be called, that desire to be reincorporated under the provisions of this act, may do so in the following manner: The board of trustees or directors, acting at the time of such desired reincorporation, shall publish a notice for thirty consecutive days, of their intention so to do, in some daily newspaper published in the city or county in which said library is located, or if no daily newspaper is published therein, then by publishing said notice in some weekly newspaper published therein, for four consecutive publications, or if no newspaper is published therein, then by publishing in some daily newspaper, published in the near

est adjacent county, for the period of thirty days, as aforesaid, specifying in said notice the intention of said library institution to reincorporate, and requiring all parties interested, whether shareholders, creditors, members, or others, to file written objections with the secretary or librarian of said association before the expiration of the term of publication of said notice and requiring said objections to state the nature of the objection, the character of the objection, whether shareholder, member, creditor, or otherwise, and to be signed with the name of said objector. If no such written objections are filed within the time aforesaid, or if any are filed and subsequently withdrawn by the persons making the same, all parties interested, whether shareholders, life members, honorary members, subscribing members, creditors, or otherwise, shall be conclusively deemed to assent to such reincorporation and shall be forever thereafter debarred from making any objections thereto. If any such written objections are filed within the time aforesaid, and not subsequently withdrawn, said association may still proceed to reincorporate under the provisions of this act; but said association shall be liable to the party making such objections, for the value of such party's interest in or against said association; provided, suit be commenced thereon within six months after the last publication of said notice, but not after.

Sec. 13. At the expiration of thirty days from the first publication of said notice, the said association shall be deemed to be capable of reincorporation, and within thirty days after the last publication of said notice, shall cause a certificate in writing to be filed with the county clerk, as provided in the second section of this act, which certificate shall be signed by the acting president of said association, or of the board of trustees, or directors, as the case may be, stating the objects of the association, the name by which it shall thereafter be called, the names of the then acting board of trustees, or directors, and of all the officers of said association, and its place of business; said certificate shall be acknowledged by said president, or proved by a subscribing witness, and filed, as required in the second section of this act.

Sec. 14. From the time of filing the said certificate as aforesaid, all the property, real and personal, of every name and description, belonging to said association, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be vested in the said acting board of trustees, or directors, as named in the said certificate, for the benefit of the members of the new incorporation, and said association shall be and the same is hereby declared to be fully reincorporated under the provisions of this act, with all the rights and privileges and subject to all the conditions and liabilities herein specified.

Sec. 15. The acting board of trustees or directors, including the officers of said association enumerated in the fourth section of this act as ex-officio members of said board, shall remain the officers of said association until the term of their office expires, as provided by the constitution of the former association; and at the expiration of their said term, and annually thereafter, the election of officers and trustees shall take place as provided in this act.

Sec. 16. All the former shareholders, life members, honorary members, and subscribing members of said association, shall sign the constitution and by-laws of said reincorporated association before they shall be permitted to vote therein, either for officers or at a general or special meeting of said reincorporated association. Sec. 17. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.