Chap. 183.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 363 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to composition and appointment of the State Board for the Certifica-
tion of Librarians. [H 274]

Approved March 11, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section three hundred sixty-three of the Code of Virginia,
be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 363. Establishment of a State Board for the Certification of
Librarians.—(a) The State Board for the Certification of Librarians
is continued and shall consist of two librarians to be appointed by the
Governor and the State Librarian who shall serve as Secretary of the
Board and all vacancies occurring on the Board among appointive mem-
bers shall be filled by the Governor.

(b) The terms of appointive members shall expire on June thirty,
nineteen hundred forty-four; their successors shall be appointed by the
Governor, as follows: one for a term to expire five years and one for a
term to expire four years, from June thirty, nineteen hundred forty-four.

(c) Thereafter as the terms of office respectively of the members ex-
pire by limitation the Governor shall appoint, to fill the vacancies so oc-
casioned, qualified persons whose terms shall be for five years from the
day on which that of their immediate predecessors expired.

(d) Each appointment on the Board may be made from a list of at
least five names for each vacancy sent to the Governor, or to the Gov-
ernor-elect, by the executive committee of the Virginia Library Asso-
ciation.

(e) The Governor shall notify the association promptly of any
vacancy other than by expiration and like nominations may be made
for the filling of the vacancy.

({) In no case shall the Governor be bound to make any appoint-
ment from among the nominees of the association.

(g) No person shall be eligible to serve for or during more than
two successive terms, and incumbency during the current term when
this amendment takes effect constitutes the first of the two successive
terms with respect to eligibility for appointment.

(h) The Governor may remove any member of the Board for mis-
conduct, incapacity, or neglect of duty and he shall be the sole judge of
the sufficiency of the cause for removal. He shall report every such
removal at once to the General Assembly if it is in session, and if not at
the beginning of the next session.

(i) The members of the Board shall serve without salary and are
empowered to (1) establish rules and regulations for their own govern-
ment and procedure, (2) establish grades of certificates, (3) prescribe
and hold examinations, or require submission of credentials, to establish
the qualifications of those seeking certificates as librarians.

(j) The Board shall grant librarians’ certificates ot appropriate
grades without examination to applicants who are graduates of library
schools accredited by the American Library Association for general lhi-
brary training, and shall grant certificates of appropriate grades to other
applicants when it has satisfied itself by examination or credentials that
the applicant has attainments and abilities equivalent to those of a library
school graduate and is qualified to carry on library work ably and eff-
ciently. ,

(k) Any person not a graduate of a library school accredited by
the American Library Association, but who has served as a librarian or
a full-time professional assistant in any library in this State for at least
one year's continuous service or the equivalent thereof prior to July one,
nineteen hundred thirty-seven, shall be granted a librarian’s certificate
of appropriate grade without examination.

(1) The Board shall require a fee of one dollar to be paid by each
applicant for a librarian’s certificate. Money paid as fees shall be de-
posited with the State Treasurer. All necessary expenses of the Board
shall be paid from the funds appropriated by the legislature to the State
Library upon warrants drawn by the State Comptroller upon the presen-
tation of proper vouchers approved by the State Librarian.

(m) After July first, nineteen hundred thirty-seven, no public library
serving a political sub-division or sub-divisions having over five thou-
sand (5,000) population and no library operated by the State or under
its authority, including libraries of institutions of higher learning, shall
have in its employ, in the position of librarian or in any other full-time
professional library position, a person who does not hold a librarian’s
certificate issued by the Board.

(n) A professional library position as used 1n this section is one
that requires a knowledge of books and of library technique equivalent to
that required for graduation from any accredited library school.

(o) Nothing in this section shall apply to the State Law Library
or law libraries of counties and cities, or to libraries of public, elementary
and high schools.

(p) No public fund shall be paid to any library failing to comply
with this section.