Fort Vancouver Regional Library District (FVRL) Board of Trustees (Board) is responsible for providing and maintaining quality public library services for the residents of the regional library district.

To meet this responsibility, the Board selects and appoints a competent, qualified Library Executive Director who shall be the manager of library operations on behalf of the Board and under its review and direction.

The Library Executive Director shall be responsible for the administration of and planning for all library programs in the district. This shall include staff and organizational structure, appropriate collections, operational systems, budget, facilities and equipment, and procedures to assure quality service to the public, excellent community relations and optimum circulation of library materials insofar as possible within budget.

To set direction, monitor and review library performance, and to fulfill the obligations of the public trust, the Board establishes the following personnel policy.

Policy

The Board will determine the establishment of new library locations, as well as significant changes in services, or the closure of library facilities at existing locations. The Executive Director will develop and maintain guidelines for siting libraries in FVRL's service area and will provide recommendations to the FVRL Facilities Committee regarding library locations. The FVRL Facilities Committee will provide recommendations to the Board for their review and consideration.

Properties within District Boundaries

The FVRL Board approves the purchase, lease, exchange, and sale of real property to meet current and future library service needs for the communities the libraries serve. The Board authorizes the Executive Director, or designee, to enter into negotiations of transactions and conclude agreements for such facilities involving real property, subject to Board approval. Transactions involving real property are guided by site selection criteria developed by FVRL. All real property purchases and agreements shall be handled in accordance with FVRL’s Guidelines for Library Facility Siting, Acquisition, and Disposition of Real Property and state laws. FVRL may acquire real property for future use in advance of readiness to fund construction.

Properties Outside of District Boundaries

FVRL shall consider requests to provide library service to Washington residents outside the District’s legal boundaries:

1. By a governmental jurisdiction to contract for services, or
2. As a result of a successful election by a city, partial-county, or county to annex to the district.

When full service is provided, FVRL will charge the jurisdiction or its residents at the same rate that is assessed within the FVRL's boundaries. When partial or specific services are provided, the services shall be provided on the basis of a negotiated contract. Such requests will only be considered when terms of the agreement are favorable to both parties.

Definitions

Real Property: Any land or property that is fixed in location, which may include a building.

Service Area: Clark (excluding the City of Camas), Klickitat, and Skamania Counties and within the city limits of Woodland in Cowlitz County, and incorporated cities and towns within these counties that contract with, or are annexed to, FVRL for service.

Staffed Library: A service outlet where FVRL offers library services, including library materials, employees, and technology that may be housed in a FVRL-owned or leased facility.

Self-Service Library: A service outlet that allows patrons to enter the building with their library cards when FVRL staff are not always present.

Remote Lockers: Library materials pickup locations that may be at a library facility or located elsewhere in the community.

Book Return: A FVRL-identified container where patrons can return library materials that may be at a library facility or located elsewhere in the community.

Deposit Collection: Library materials left at a community partner facility to facilitate access to library materials or equipment.

Administration

The Executive Director is responsible for the administration of this policy, for establishing administrative procedures for its implementation, and for making the policy available for the public at each location and via the FVRL's website.

Severability

The Board hereby declares its intention that the provisions of this policy are declared to be separate and severable. The invalidity of any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, chapter, title, or other portion of this policy, or the invalidity of the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall not affect the validity of the remainder of the policy, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances.

Continuance

The Board hereby declares its intention that the provisions of this policy shall be construed and applied as a continuation of the provisions of the policy, as amended, insofar as applicable, and the repeal of any part of this policy shall not be construed as affecting such continuous application.