New Jersey State Library

Authority
N.J.S.A. 18A:2-2, 18A:4-15, 18A:74-3.3, 18A:74-6, 18A:74-10 and 18A:74-14.

Source and Effective Date
R.2005 d.226, effective June 15, 2005, readoption
See: 37 N.J.R. 723(a), 37 N.J.R. 2697(b)

Chapter Expiration Date
Chapter 21, State Library Aid and Grants, expires on June 15, 2010

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the library grant programs available from State funds and to establish general rules for the application process.

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.2 Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Academic library" means a library within a publicly or privately supported institution of higher education.

"Access" means accessibility of materials on site or online, interlibrary loan of materials, citation/location of materials on databases and cataloging of materials.

"Associate librarian" means a person who holds an associate educational media specialist certificate in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6:11-12.22.

"Association library" means a library established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 15A:1-1 et seq. and receiving public funds pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:54-35.

"Audio-visual" means communications resources which rely on a device for transmission, reproduction, or enlargement to be effectively utilized or understood. Also included are other non-print resources such as art works and objects.

"Branch library" means an auxiliary public library (county or municipal) which has all of the following, but which is administered from a central unit:

1. Separate quarters from the central unit;
2. A permanent basic collection of library materials;
3. A permanent paid staff; and
4. A regular schedule for opening to the public.

"Central library" means the main library building of a municipality, county or other type of public library or those facilities which house the administrative headquarters of a public library system, including system-wide services provided from a single location.

"Collection development" means activities relating to the development of a library collection, including but not limited to the determination and coordination of selection policies, assessment of needs of users and potential users, collection use studies, collection evaluation, identification of collection needs, selection of materials, planning for resource sharing, collection maintenance and weeding, and purchase of library materials in any format.

"Collection evaluation" means the process of assessing a library collection in terms of specific objectives or in terms of the needs of the patrons of the particular collection.

"Collection maintenance" means activities to preserve the materials in a collection, including care and handling, binding, mending, repairing, marking and shelving.

"Collection of historical or special interest" means all or part of a group of materials with permanent significance to New Jersey's documentary heritage or with general research value and uniqueness.

"Collection" means library materials in any format.

"Coordinated collection development plan" means an agreement extended by a group of libraries to take responsibility for building and maintaining collections in specific subject areas to increase the resource sharing capabilities of the libraries.

"County library" means a public library established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:33-1 to 13 and 40:33-15 to 23.

"Evening hours" means any two hours the library is open after 6:00 P.M.

"Expanded programs of library services" means new services, changes in or expansion of services already offered.

"Extended long-term loan" means a loan of 12 months or more.

"In kind" means the current and recurring costs of the operation of the library and its programs/services that were present before the development and implementation of the grant program.

"Institution" means an adult or juvenile health, mental health, mental retardation, veterans, residential, correctional and other similar facility other than a public school, which is operated by or under contract to the State or to county or municipal governments to carry out health, welfare, educational and correctional programs. Excluded are general hospitals, nursing homes and boarding homes.

"Institutional library" means any library within an institution directly serving the institutional client group.

"Interlibrary loan" means a transaction between libraries, a form of resource sharing by which one library's collection is utilized by another library in response to a request for a specific item on behalf of its users. The original or a copy of the item may be provided.

"Joint library" means a library established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:54-29.3 to 29.26.

"Librarian" means a professional librarian, an educational media specialist or an associate educational media specialist who holds, or is eligible to hold, a certificate in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6:11-12.7 Professional librarian; N.J.A.C. 6:11-12.21, Educational media specialist; or N.J.A.C. 6:11-12.22, Associate educational media specialist.

"Library" means an organized collection of accessible print and/or non-print materials with appropriate staff to maintain such materials and to provide reference, research and other services to the public.

"Library assistant" means a person employed in a library who performs clerical or support functions.

"Library materials" means print, non-print items and electronic resources.

"Library-related agency" means a county audio-visual aids commission established under N.J.S.A. 18A:51; a learning resource center; a regional curriculum services unit; or any other nonprofit organization meeting the criteria for membership in a regional library cooperative in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6:70-1.5(b).

“Library-related education” means a program or programs designed to educate participant(s) in the activities and knowledge necessary to provide library service and to support management activities including governance and legal information.

"Library services" means all activities rendered by the library to its users.

"Municipal library" means a library established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:54-1 to 29.2.

"Non-print materials" means materials in audio and visual formats which convey information primarily by sound and image rather than by text and which rely on a device for transmission, reproduction or enlargement to be effectively utilized or understood. Excluded are print and print substitutes such as microform, but included are computer software, art works and objects and electronic resources.

"Non-print public library services" means provision of access to non-print materials to clientele of a public library.

"Overhead" means current or recurring expenses such as rent, insurance, lighting, heating, accounting or office expenses.

"Part-time employee" means an employee whose regular hours of duty are less than the normal work week for that class or agency in accordance with Civil Service Rule N.J.A.C. 4:1-2.1.

"Periodical" means a serial publication which is issued in a continuous series under the same title, usually published at regular intervals, more frequently than annually, over an indefinite period, individual issues in the series being numbered consecutively or each issue being dated.

"Periodical indexes" means subject indexes to a newspaper or to a group of periodicals which are provided for patron and staff use whether in print, microform or electronic format.

"Privately supported library" means a library whose parent agency receives less than 50 percent of its annual funding support from governmental sources.

"Public library" means a municipal, county, association or joint library, which receives public funding.

"Publicly supported library" means a library whose agency receives 50 percent or more of its regular annual funding support from governmental sources.

"Regional library" means a library established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:33-13.3 et seq.

“Regional library cooperative” means a membership organization of libraries and library-related agencies within a library region organized as a non-profit corporation pursuant to N.J.S.A. 15A:1-1 et seq. which has agreed to provide and receive cooperative service and which has been designated a regional library cooperative by the State Librarian.

"School library" means a library/media center within any publicly or privately supported elementary or secondary school, or in any post-secondary vocational or technical school.

"Special census" means a census conducted by the United States Secretary of Commerce pursuant to 13 U.S.C. 196.

"Special library" means a library/information center of a business, a professional, scientific, or trade association, a government, hospital or other for-profit or nonprofit institution or organization which provides that organization with information, library materials, and technical bibliographic and research services.

"User studies" means a method of determining the information needs of current library patrons or potential library patrons.

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.3 Grant application procedures

(a) The State Library requires the use of a standard application for the grant programs unless otherwise specified. Application forms, unless otherwise specified, may be obtained from:

New Jersey State Library
Grant Applications
185 West State Street
POB 520
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0520.

(b) Applications must conform to the requirements for completion and the deadline dates as specified by the State Librarian in the "Grants Bulletin."

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.4 Criteria for approval

(a) Evaluation of the applications may be based on the following criteria, with additional criteria provided depending on the individual grant :

1. A statement of the applicant's need as it relates to the stated purpose of the grant;
2. A rationale providing a description of the potential project and the basis for the selection of a particular solution or method for the project;
3. Goals and objectives describing the outcomes or results expected from the project;
4. An action plan describing the activities and resources needed to reach the stated objectives of the project;
5. An evaluation plan describing the applicant's proposed method to evaluate the progress and outcomes of the project; and
6. A budget listing how requested funds will be used to support the action plan.

Appropriate budget forms are supplied with application forms.

(b) Each application will contain specific, expanded definitions of these criteria to assist applicants to develop appropriate information for the grant application.

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.5 Reports and audits

Grant recipients shall be required to submit reports and financial audits as specified by the State Librarian in the grant announcement.

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.6 Notification of applicants

Applicants will be informed of the State Librarian's recommendations of approval or rejection within 90 days of application deadline.

N.J.A.C.
15:21-1.7 Appeal procedure

Appeals from any action of the State Librarian regarding the rules in this subchapter may be requested, and opportunity given for an informal fair hearing before the State Librarian. In the event of an adverse decision after such informal hearing, applicants may request a formal hearing pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:6-9 et seq., 18A:6-24, 18A:6-27 and Reorganization Plan 002-1996. Such hearing shall be governed by the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (see N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq. and 52:14F et seq., as implemented by the Uniform Administrative Procedure Rules, N.J.A.C. 1:1).