Public Libraries Law, 5784-2024

This Law comes to regulate the activities of public libraries for the benefit of the public, with the aim of promoting education and culture in Israel, encouraging reading, the consumption of knowledge and leisure culture among the public, and ensuring the provision of advanced, accessible, available and quality public library services, alongside ensuring the sources of funding for the realisation of this purpose.

In this Law –

"Budget Foundations Law" – the Budget Foundations Law, 5745-1985;

"the socio-economic index" – the characterisation and ranking of local authorities according to the socio-economic level of the population therein, as published by the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"the peripherality index" – the characterisation and ranking of local authorities according to their geographical location in relation to population concentrations in Israel, as published by the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"the Council" – the Council for Public Libraries appointed pursuant to Section 3;

"the Ministry" – the Ministry of Culture and Sport;

"book" – a book, periodical, newspaper or other printed matter, film, compact disc, courseware, database and any other graphic, audio or audiovisual material, all in any form or technology in which they are stored, retrieved or distributed, including in Braille or by any other means of accessibility;

"public library" – a library intended for the general public that is open to all and is managed by a local authority or a person on its behalf, including in partnership with other bodies as referred to in Section 13;

"local authority" – a municipality, local council or municipal association as defined in the Municipal Associations Law, 5715-1955;

"the Minister" – the Minister of Culture and Sport.

The existence of the Council, its powers and the validity of its decisions shall not be affected by the cessation of office of a member of the Council, or by reason of a defect in the appointment of a member or in the continuation of their service, provided that a majority of its members are serving.

A member of the Council who is not a State employee, an employee of a budgeted body or an employee of a supported body shall be entitled to payment from the Ministry for participation in meetings of the Council, in accordance with the instructions of the Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance applicable with respect to members of public committees; in this Section, "State employee", "employee of a budgeted body" and "employee of a supported body" – as defined in Section 32 of the Budget Foundations Law.

Members of the Council who are not State employees shall, in their capacity as members of the Council, be treated as State employees for the purposes of the following enactments and with respect to their acts on the Council:

"family member" – a spouse, parent, grandparent, son or daughter and their spouses, brother or sister and their children, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, uncle or aunt and their children, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandson or granddaughter, including a relative as aforesaid who is a step-relative;

"interested party" – as defined in the Securities Law, 5728-1968;

"handling" – including making a decision, raising a matter for discussion, being present at a discussion, participating in a discussion or vote, or dealing with a matter outside a discussion;

"conflict of interests", of a member of the Council – a conflict of interests between the performance of the member's function on the Council and a personal interest or another function, of that member or of that member's relative;

"relative", of a member of the Council – any of the following:

A local authority may partner with other institutions and bodies in the establishment, maintenance and management of a public library, provided that this shall not derogate from the responsibility of the local authority pursuant to this Law; the Minister, after consultation with the Council, may prescribe in Regulations conditions with respect to such partnership.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16(a), a public library may charge payments for the late return of a book, for the failure to return it or for its damage, all as the Minister shall prescribe in Regulations, after consultation with the Council; without derogating from the generality of the foregoing, a public library may require, as a condition for the loan of a book, a deposit to serve as security for the guarantee of payment for the late return, failure to return or damage of a book, provided that the deposit shall not be forfeited prior to the occurrence of one of those events and that its amount shall not exceed the payments prescribed in such Regulations.

The Minister is responsible for the implementation of this Law and may, after consultation with the Council, make Regulations on any matter relating to its implementation.

The Public Libraries Law, 5735-1975 (hereinafter – the previous Law) – is repealed.

The Minister shall report to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee of the Knesset, once a year, on the implementation of the provisions of this Law in the year preceding the date of the report, including, inter alia, on the establishment of new public libraries and the implementation of the provisions of section 14(c), including support criteria that were determined, support applications that were submitted and their implementation.