Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964

General

16 Inquiries

The Secretary of State may hold an inquiry into any matter relating to the functions of a local authority under this Act.

17 Annual report

The Secretary of State shall annually lay before each House of Parliament a report on the exercise of his functions under this Act.

18 Compulsory acquisition of land

(1) The Secretary of State may authorise any local authority being a library authority to purchase compulsorily any land which it requires for the purposes of its functions under this Act, and the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act 1946 shall apply as if this Act had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act.

(2) In subsection (1) above " land " includes any interest in or right over land.

19 Byelaws

(1) A local authority may make byelaws regulating the use of facilities provided by the authority under this Act and the conduct of persons in premises where those facilities are provided, and the Secretary of State shall be the person by whom byelaws so made are to be confirmed.

(2) Without prejudice to section 251 of the Local Government Act 1933 (under which byelaws may include provisions for imposing fines), byelaws made under this section may include provisions for enabling officers of the local authority to exclude or remove from premises maintained by the authority under this Act any person who contravenes the byelaws.

(3) As well as complying with section 250(7) of the said Act of 1933 (which requires byelaws, when confirmed, to be made available to the public), a local authority shall cause a copy of byelaws made by it and in force under this section to be displayed in any premises maintained by the authority under this Act to which the public have access.

20 Use of premises for educational or cultural events

A local authority maintaining premises under this Act may use the premises, or allow them to be used (whether in return for payment or not), for the holding of meetings and exhibitions, the showing of films and slides, the giving of musical performances, and the holding of other events of an educational or cultural nature, and in connection therewith may, notwithstanding anything in section 8 above, make or authorise the making of a charge for admission.

21 Expenses of county councils

(1) Expenses of a county council under this Act in respect of the public library service shall not be charged on any non-county borough or urban district outside the library area of the county council; and expenses of a county council relating to the provision or maintenance of a museum or art gallery under this Act or in respect of contributions by the council under section 14 above shall be charged on the administrative area of any local authority maintaining a museum or art gallery under section 12 above only with the consent of that local authority.

(2) A condition imposed in relation to a local authority under the proviso to section 12(1) above may require the authority to give consent under the preceding subsection.

(3) Where a county council is comprised in a joint board established under section 5 of this Act—

(a) references in subsection (1) above to the library area of the council shall be construed as references to the area which would be its library area if the joint board did not exist and each authority comprised in it were a library authority; and

(b) references therein to a local authority maintaining a museum or art gallery under section 12 above shall not include the county council.

22 Expenses of Secretary of State, etc.

There shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Act and any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable out of moneys so provided by way of Rate-deficiency Grant or Exchequer Equalisation Grant under the enactments relating to local government in England and Wales or in Scotland.

23 Local Acts

The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding any inconsistent provision in a local Act, and any public library maintained by a library authority at the commencement of this Act under a power conferred by a local Act shall thereafter be treated as maintained under this Act and not under that power; but save as aforesaid nothing in this Act shall be taken to derogate from the provisions of any local Act.

24 Isles of Scilly

(1) The Secretary of State may, after consultation with the Council of the Isles of Scilly, by order made by statutory instrument provide that this Act shall apply to those Isles, subject to such modifications as may be specified in the order, as if the Isles were a county and the Council thereof were the county council.

(2) An order under this section may contain such transitional provisions as may appear to the Secretary of State, after such consultation as aforesaid, to be expedient; and may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order thereunder.

25 Interpretation

In this Act—

• " library area " has the meaning assigned to it by section 4(2) of this Act;

• " library assets and liabilities " means property held by a local authority solely or mainly for the purposes of any functions exercisable by it in relation to the public library service and rights and liabilities to which the authority is entitled or subject by reason of the exercise of such functions;

• " library authority " means a library authority under this Act or, in relation to a time before the commencement of this Act, under the Public Libraries Acts 1892 to 1919;

• " library officer " means an officer of a local authority employed by the authority solely or mainly for the purposes of any functions exercisable by it in relation to the public library service ;

• " local authority " means the council of a county, county borough, London borough, county district or parish, or the Common Council of the City of London, or the council of a borough included in a rural district, or a joint board established under section 5 of this Act;

• " officer " includes a servant;

• " population " means population as estimated in the latest estimate published by the Registrar General for England and Wales.

26 Short title, repeals etc., commencement and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

(2) The enactments specified in the first and second columns of Schedule 3 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(3) In the proviso to section 94 of the Local Government Act 1933 inserted by section 10(1) of the Education Act 1946 (by virtue of which teachers in institutions maintained or assisted by a local education authority are excepted from disqualification from membership of local authority committees appointed for certain purposes), the following shall be substituted for paragraph (c):—

“(c) appointed under this Act for purposes connected with the execution of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964;”.

(4) In section 193(5) of the Local Government Act 1933 (which restricts the sums which can be required to be raised in any financial year to meet the expenses of a parish meeting), after the words " the adoptive Acts " there shall be inserted the words " or the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 " ; and in Schedule 1 to the Parish Councils Act 1957 (which specifies expenses of a parish council which are to be disregarded for the purposes of section 193(3) of the Local Government Act 1933), the following shall be substituted for paragraph 2:—

“2 Any expenditure under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964”.

(5) Byelaws in force immediately before the commencement of this Act under section 7 of the Museums and Gymnasiums Act 1891 or section 3 of the Public Libraries Act 1901 shall not be invalidated by the repeal of those Acts but shall have effect as if they had been made, and confirmed by the Secretary of State, under section 19 of this Act

(6) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 6(6) of this Act shall apply in relation to a parish council which at the commencement of this Act ceases to be a library authority as they apply in relation to the council of a non-county borough or urban district which at any time ceases to be a library authority.

(7) This Act shall come into force on 1st April 1965.

(8) This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland.