Senate Bill No. 571
(By Senator Bowman)
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[Introduced February 12, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §10-1-18a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to a state agency's obligation to
submit public documents to the state publications
clearinghouse; and clarifying that any document created or
published by a state agency in an electronic or digital format
is a "public document".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §10-1-18a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
§10-1-18a. Establishment of state publications clearinghouse;
definitions; powers of West Virginia library
commission; designations by state agencies.
(a) There is hereby established the state depository library
clearinghouse which shall be under the direction of the State Library Commission.
(b) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Public document" means any document, report, directive,
bibliography, rule, newsletter, pamphlet, brochure, periodical,
request for proposal, or other publication, whether in print or an
unprinted format,
and includes any document created or published in
an electronic or digital format, that is paid for, in whole or in
part, by funds appropriated by the Legislature and may be subject
to distribution to the public;
(2) "Depository library" means a library designated to
collect, catalog, maintain and make available all or particular
selected state publications to the general public; and
(3) "State agency" means any state office, whether
legislative, executive or judicial, including, but not limited to,
any Constitutional officer, department, division, bureau, board,
commission or other agency which expends state appropriated funds.
(c) The State Library Commission shall establish a state
depository library clearinghouse to receive and distribute all
state public documents to the depository libraries around the
state.
(d) The commission shall designate a state library staff
member as director of the state publications clearinghouse for
librarians. The director shall hold a graduate degree in library
science from an accredited institution of higher learning. The clearinghouse shall establish requirements for eligibility to
become and remain a depository library.
(e) In designating a library as a depository library the
clearinghouse shall consider the geography of the state and the
existing federal depository libraries. West Virginia University
Library, Marshall University Library and the State Department of
Archives shall be designated as complete depository libraries that
shall receive two copies of all public documents. The
clearinghouse shall also, pursuant to the requirements it
establishes hereunder, designate other libraries around the state
as depository libraries, upon request from a library.
(f) Each state agency shall designate one person as its
documents officer while notifying the clearinghouse of his or her
identity. The documents officer shall, prior to the public release
of any state public document, deposit with the clearinghouse a
minimum of fifteen copies as required to meet the needs of the
depository library system. If fewer than forty copies of a public
document are produced, no more than two such copies are required to
be deposited with the clearinghouse.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that any document
created or published by a state agency in an electronic or digital
format is a "public document" as it relates to a state agency's
obligation to submit public documents to the state publications
clearinghouse.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.