Request By:
Lyn Strange
Librarian, Interlibrary Cooperation
Department of Library and Archives
P.O. Box 537
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Mark F. Armstrong, Assistant Attorney General
I am in receipt of your letter in which you ask our opinion of the means whereby libraries without the Commonwealth may participate in the Kentucky Union List of Serials. Through your letter and subsequent conversations, the facts underlying your question are as follows.
The Kentucky Union List of Serials (hereinafter, "KULS") is a list of the periodical magazines held by participating libraries. This list is entered in a computer from which is generated a printed compilation of each periodical and the library where it may be found. This printed compilation is reproduced on a microfiche which is supplied to participating libraries for their use in locating a particular periodical.
The processing of KULS is done by the Louisville Information Referral Center (hereinafter, "Center") at the University of Louisville. Funds are provided by the Department of Library and Archives (hereinafter "Department") through a discretionary grant. Hithertofore, participants in KULS has been limited to libraries within the Commonwealth. Now, however, libraries without the Commonwealth desire to participate in KULS. The Department is willing to admit them into participation; however, it desires that use of the funds granted to the Center be limited to processing the periodical holdings of libraries within the Commonwealth. From our conversations, participation by libraries without the Commonwealth in KULS will enhance its quality; however, the Department desires that these other libraries should bear the cost of the participation from their resources.
Funds are made available to the Department from a grant made by the Commissioner of Education under the Library Construction and Services Act, 20 U.S.C.A. § 351 et seq. Specifically, funds appropriated pursuant to 20 U.S.C.A. § 351b(a) and allotted to the several States pursuant to 20 U.S.C.A. § 351c(a)(1) and (3) shall be used:
". . . (1) for planning for, and taking other steps leading to the development of, cooperative library networks; and (2) for establishing, expanding, and operating local, regional, and interstate cooperative networks of libraries, which provide for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of school, public, academic, and special libraries and information centers for improved supplementary services for the special clientele served by each type of library or center." 20 U.S.C.A. § 355e-1(a)
Certainly, therefore, the federal statute presents no impediment to permitting of libraries without the Commonwealth to participate in KULS. On the contrary, the federal statute encourages such interstate cooperation.
Under KRS 171.150, in addition to appropriations from the general fund, the Department is also authorized to accept and administer money appropriated or granted to it for the purpose of providing and improving cooperative systems of library service. Under KRS 171.170, the Department is directed to cooperate with the Commissioner of Education in the administration of federal grant money. Finally, under KRS 171.221, the Department is authorized to enter into interstate agreements for cooperative library services.
Reading those statutes as a whole, cf. Bischoff v. Hennessy, Ky., 251 S.W.2d 582 (1952), we are of the opinion that state law also encourages the Department to promote interstate library cooperation. Therefore, participation in KULS by libraries without the State is legally permissible.
Previously, the Department has been supplied with a form for making grants to the Center for the processing of KULS. In this form, the award of the grant to the Center was made on condition that the Center meet certain requirements in its use of the money. Among these requirements were that the Center would execute a contract with the libraries without the Commonwealth which desire to participate in KULS. Under this contract, the libraries would be required to bear the cost of their participation.
The grant award form supplied to the Department sets forth an acceptable means of arranging for interstate library participation in KULS. Because the grant is in the nature of a conditional gift rather than a contractual arrangement with the Center, an Interlocal Agreement pursuant to KRS 65.210 et seq. is unnecessary.
In summary, therefore, both federal and state law permit interstate library participation in KULS. The award of the grant should stipulate as a condition of its acceptance by the Center that libraries without the Commonwealth bear the cost of their participation. The grant award form is a legally sufficient means to limit the use of the Department's grant to processing of libraries within the Commonwealth.