DeMetz, 012577 MSAGO, 1977-0032

• Case Date: January 25, 1977
• Court: Mississippi

Honorable Harold DeMetz No. 1977-0032 Mississippi Attorney General Opinions January 25, 1977          Honorable Harold DeMetz          Long Beach City Attorney          1214 24th Avenue          Gulfport, Mississippi 39501          County Unit Library System           Dear Sir:          Attorney General Summer has received your letter of request dated November 4, 1975, and has assigned it to the undersigned for research and reply.          You state that the municipalities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, together with the unincorporated rural areas of Harrison County, through action by the county board of supervisors, have decided to establish a Harrison County Unit Library System, despite the fact that the municipality of Long Beach, Mississippi, has declined to join or participate in said system. You also state that the Mississippi Library System has indicated its intention to recognize this county system and to delete from Long Beach their personnel grants and funds presently allocated for their respective libraries.          As attorney for the city of Long Beach, you ask for an opinion concerning the propriety of the State Library Commission recognizing a “county library system” for Harrison County, Mississippi, when less than all the governmental subdivisions in the county join or participate in said system; and the propriety of the State Library Commission withholding library personnel grants and library monies heretofore allocated to the library in the city of Long Beach, as a result of Long Beach declining to join the proposed system.          Inasmuch as the “propriety” of an action involves more than legal aspects and would be beyond the scope of the Attorney General to evaluate by way of opinion, we will address this opinion to the question of the Library Commission's statutory powers. Also, the funds involved are State Trust Funds for Federal Revenue Sharing in the State Treasury.          Under Section 39-3-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, some of the powers and duties of the Mississippi Library Commission are stated as to:

. . . establish county and regional libraries and use any funds, separate and apart from the general library commission funds, which might come into its custody from any source, for such purpose, and for the purpose of establishing, stimulating, increasing, improving and equalizing library service in the various counties within the state, under such rules for safekeeping, preservation, care, handling of the books

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