Maine library proposal sets service standards and three regions

A proposed Maine rule would create three regions for the Maine Regional Library System and condition access to specified services on operating standards for public libraries. The standards include a paid director, an average of 12 hours a week open to the public year-round, and annual reporting. The proposal is not adopted or in effect.

The Maine Library Commission opened public comment on Oct. 7 on Rule 94-075, Chapter 1. The Legislature’s rulemaking page lists the proposal as filed Sept. 25, 2026. Its comment period runs through Nov. 20.

Three regions, with different rules for membership and services

The proposal would establish Northeastern, Central and Southern Maine regions, with Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library and Portland Public Library as their respective regional centers. Participating libraries would be assigned according to the county where each is physically located. Proposed boundaries would consider county population, the number of public libraries and each center’s service area, with county populations divided as evenly as feasible.

The proposal’s membership provisions cover Maine public, school, academic and special libraries seeking to participate in the system. The minimum standards for the services specified in Section 4.3, however, are framed for public libraries seeking those services—not as requirements for every library type or every service.

For those public libraries, the proposed standards include having a designated, paid director and being open to the public an average of at least 12 hours a week throughout the year. The director would also need at least eight hours of professional development annually. A library would submit the IMLS Public Library Survey for Maine libraries by April 1 each year and certify compliance through that survey.

All member libraries would keep a signed system agreement on file and resubmit it every three years. The proposal also sets implementation deadlines and a process for reviewing noncompliance. It allows a library to request a six-month extension in writing for certain deadlines, with additional six-month extensions possible in specified cases. The commission could remove a library from the system in certain circumstances, but the proposal does not establish that any library has been removed or lost services.

Hearing scheduled for Oct. 27

The commission scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 27, 2026, from 9 to 11 a.m. Eastern at the Deering Building in Augusta and online. Written comments are due by 5 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 20. The commission’s notice gives no final adoption date or later decision schedule.

The commission says the existing system agreement is not legally enforceable and attributes to the Attorney General’s office the advice that a rule is needed to make it enforceable. That is the commission’s stated rationale. Its notice cites 27 M.R.S. § 111(2) as rulemaking authority and identifies 27 M.R.S. §§ 112(2), 113 and 115 as laws the proposal would implement.

Two mailed comments listed by the commission were submitted Oct. 8 by Susie Morissette and Lee Johnson, associated with Laura E. Richards Library. They raise concerns about applying the proposed standards to a small, seasonal library staffed by volunteers. The submissions reflect those commenters’ concerns, not the views of Maine libraries generally.

No library’s regional assignment, eligibility or access to services has been shown to change under the proposal. Any new standards or compliance steps would depend on adoption and subsequent application of the rule.