(A) City library; Library Board; members; elected or appointed; terms; vacancies, how filled.
(1) When the City Council decides by ordinance to establish and maintain a public library and reading room under Neb. RS 51-201 to 51-219, the City Council shall establish a Library Board. The Library Board shall have at least five members. Neither the Mayor nor any member of the City Council shall be a member of the Library Board. Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(2) below, the City Council shall by ordinance determine the number of members, whether the members are elected or appointed, and the length of the terms of the members. The terms of members serving on the effective date of a change in the number of members shall not be shortened, and the City Council shall provide for the appointment or election of their successors. In cases of vacancies by resignation, removal, or otherwise, the City Council shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. No member shall receive any pay or compensation for any services rendered as a member of the Board.
(2) If the City Council by ordinance provides for appointment of the members to the Library Board, the Library Board members shall be appointed by a majority vote of the members of the City Council. If an interlocal agreement, a memorandum of understanding, or any other contractual agreement between the city and another political subdivision providing for library services allows representation from the other political subdivision on the Library Board from outside the city or village, the governing board of the other political subdivision may appoint one or more members to the Library Board as provided in the interlocal agreement, memorandum of understanding, or other contractual agreement.
(3) If the City Council adopts an ordinance to provide for the election of Library Board members at municipal elections in April, it shall follow the statutes governing municipal elections. If the municipal election is to be held in conjunction with the statewide primary election, the election shall be held as provided in the Election Act. If the board members are to be elected, the City Council shall give public notice of the election after the adoption of the ordinance naming the offices to be filled, the length of terms, and the filing deadline for the placing of names of candidates on the ballot.
(Neb. RS 51-202)
(B) Library Board; organization; officers; quorum. The members of the City Library Board shall immediately after their appointment meet and organize by electing from their number a president, secretary, and the other officers as may be necessary. A majority of the members of a City Library Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
(Neb. RS 51-204)
(C) Library Board; bylaws, rules, and regulations. The Library Board shall have the power to make and adopt such bylaws, rules, and regulations for its own guidance and for the government of the library and reading room as it may deem expedient, not inconsistent with Neb. RS 51-201 to 51-219.
(Neb. RS 51-205)
(D) Library Board; mortgages; release or renewal. The President shall have the power to release, upon full payment, any mortgage constituting a credit to the library fund and standing in the name of the Library Board. The signature of the President on any such release shall be authenticated by the Secretary of the Board. The President and Secretary in like manner, upon resolution duly passed and adopted by the Board, may renew any such mortgage.
(Neb. RS 51-206)
(E) Library Board; funds; buildings; custody and control. The Library Board shall have exclusive control of expenditures, of all money collected or donated to the credit of the library fund, of the renting and construction of any library building, and the supervision, care and custody of the grounds, rooms or buildings constructed, leased or set apart for that purpose.
(Neb. RS 51-207)
(F) Library Board; use of library for city or school purposes; contracts. The Library Board of any public library may contract with the city council of any city, with the trustees of any incorporated village, with the county board of the county in which the library is located or of any adjacent county, or with the directors of any school district, to furnish the use and privilege of its library to the inhabitants of such city, village, county, township or school district, to the extent and upon such terms as may be agreed upon.
(Neb. RS 51-208)
(G) Public library; funds; disbursements; sinking fund; bonds.
(1) All taxes levied or collected and all funds donated or in any way acquired for the erection, maintenance, or support of any public library shall be kept for the use of the library separate and apart from all other funds of the city shall be drawn upon and paid out by the Clerk/Treasurer upon vouchers signed by the President of the Library Board and authenticated by the Secretary of the Board, and shall not be used or disbursed for any other purpose or in any other manner.
(2) The city may establish a Public Library Sinking Fund for major capital expenditures.
(3) The county may issue bonds for library purposes pursuant to Neb. Ch. 10.
(Neb. RS 51-209)
(H) Library Board; building sites; acquisition; procedure. Every library board created under Neb. RS 51-201 to 51-219 shall have power to purchase or lease grounds, to exercise the power of eminent domain, and to condemn real estate for the purpose of securing a site for a library building. The procedure to condemn property shall be exercised in the manner set forth in Neb. RS 76-704 to 76-724.
(Neb RS 51-210)
(I) Library Board; general powers and duties; discrimination prohibited.
(1) The Library Board shall have the power to erect, lease, or occupy an appropriate building for the use of the library and to appoint a suitable librarian and assistants, to fix their compensation, and to remove the appointees at pleasure. It shall have the power to establish rules and regulations for the government of the library as may be deemed necessary for its preservation and to maintain its usefulness and efficiency. It shall have the power to fix and impose, by general rules, penalties and forfeitures for trespasses upon or injury to the library grounds, rooms, books, or other property, for failure to return any book, or for violation of any bylaw, rule, or regulation and to fix and impose reasonable fees, not to exceed the library's actual cost, for nonbasic services. The Board shall have and exercise the power as may be necessary to carry out the spirit and intent of Neb RS 51-201 to 51-219 in establishing and maintaining a public library and reading room.
(2) The public library shall make its basic services available without charge to all residents of the political subdivision which supplies its tax support.
(3) No service shall be denied to any person because of race, sex, religion, age, color, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, or marital status.
(Neb RS 51-211)
(J) Public library; use and purpose. Except as provided in Neb RS 51-211, every library and reading room supported by public tax shall be forever free to the use of the inhabitants of the city maintaining the library, subject always to the reasonable regulations as the Library Board may adopt to render the library of the greatest use to the inhabitants of the city. The Board may exclude from the use of the library and reading rooms any person who willfully violates or refuses to comply with rules and regulations established for the government thereof.
(Neb RS 51-212)
(K) Library Board; annual report; contents. The Library Board shall, on or before the second Monday in February in each year, make a report to the City Council of the condition of its trust on the last day of the prior fiscal year. The report shall show all money received and credited or expended; the number of materials held, including books, video and audio materials, software programs, and materials in other formats; the number of periodical subscriptions on record, including newspapers; the number of materials added and the number withdrawn from the collection during the year; the number of materials circulated during the year; and other statistics, information, and suggestions as the Library Board may deem of general interest or as the City Council may require. The report shall be verified by affidavit of the proper officers of the Library Board.
(Neb RS 51-213)
(L) Penalties; action to recover; disposition of funds collected. Penalties imposed or accruing by any bylaw or regulation of the Library Board and any court costs and attorney's fees may be recovered in a civil action before any court having jurisdiction, the action to be instituted in the name of the Library Board of the city. Money, other than any court costs and attorney's fees, collected in the actions shall be forthwith placed in the treasury of the city to the credit of the city library fund. Attorney's fees collected pursuant to this division shall be placed in the treasury of the city and credited to the budget of the city.
(Neb RS 51-214)
(M) Public library; donations; Library Board may accept. Any person may make donation of money, lands or other property for the benefit of any public library. The title to property so donated may be made to and shall vest in the Library Board of the library and their successors in office, and the board shall thereby become the owners thereof in trust to the uses of the public library of the city.
(Neb RS 51-215)
(N) Real estate; sale and conveyance; conditions; remonstrance; procedure. The Library Board may, by resolution, direct the sale and conveyance of any real estate owned by the Library Board or by the public library, which is not used for library purposes, or of any real estate so donated or devised to the Library Board or to the public library upon the terms as the Library Board may deem best. Before any such sale is made the Library Board shall advertise the sale once each week for three consecutive weeks in a legal newspaper published or, if none is published, of general circulation in the city in which the public library is situated, and the notice shall set out the time, place, terms, manner of sale, legal description of the real estate, and the right to reject any and all bids. If the bid or bids have not been rejected, then the real estate shall be sold to the highest bidder for cash, and the Chairperson of the Library Board, upon resolution of the Library Board directing him or her so to do, shall convey the real estate to the purchaser of the real estate upon his or her payment of his or her bid. If within 30 days after the third publication of the notice a remonstrance against the sale is signed by 30% of the registered voters of the city voting at the last regular city election and is filed with the City Council of the city, the property shall not then, nor within one year thereafter, be sold. If the date for filing the remonstrance falls upon a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the signatures shall be collected within the 30-day period, but the filing shall be considered timely if filed or postmarked on or before the next business day.
(Neb RS 51-216)
(O) Public library; use by school districts. Any school district may in its discretion at its annual meeting, by a majority vote, authorize the school board to contract for the use of a public library by the inhabitants of the district.
(Neb RS 51-217)
(P) Public library; property; exemption from execution and taxation; when. The property of any public library shall be exempt from execution and shall be exempt from taxation to the extent it is used for a public purpose.
(Neb RS 51-218)
(Q) Private and associate libraries; deposit and use; authorized; requirements. The Library Board shall have power to authorize any circulating library, reading matter, or work of art belonging to any private person, association or corporation, to be deposited in the public library rooms, to be drawn or used outside of the rooms only on payment of the fee or membership as the person, corporation or association owning the same may require. Deposits may be removed by the owner thereof at pleasure, but the books or other reading matter so deposited in the rooms of any such public library shall be separately and distinctly marked and kept upon shelves apart from the books of the public city library. Every such private or associate library or other property so deposited in any public library, while so placed or remaining, shall, without charge, be subject to use and reading within the library room by any person who is an inhabitant of the city and entitled to the use of the free library.
(Neb RS 51-219)
(R) Law library; establishment; maintenance; supervision. The county board may, when in its discretion it shall deem it advisable, provide by purchase or otherwise for the procuring and maintaining of a suitable law library for the use of the public. The library shall be under the supervision of the judges of the district court of the county wherein the same is located.
(Neb RS 51-220)