Service Area and Governance
Shaker Heights Public Library is an independent school district library whose legal service area is the Shaker Heights City School District, which includes the City of Shaker Heights and a portion of the City of Cleveland at Shaker Square. The library is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees appointed by the Shaker Heights Board of Education with members serving staggered seven-year terms. The Board’s operating policies are described in its bylaws (see Board Bylaws).
The library is a community gathering place providing comprehensive library resources, services and programming to the district throughout the community, including the Main Library, the Bertram Woods Branch Library, and the library web site, funded primarily through a property tax. As a recipient of monies from the State of Ohio Public Library Fund, the library extends its services to other residents of the State of Ohio.
The library provides popular circulating collections as well as access to library resources outside the Shaker Library system via the CLEVNET consortium, as well as membership in OHIONET and OCLC.
To develop and increase effective library service, and to strengthen resources, the library will cooperate with other libraries and institutions in the area and state, through membership in the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System (NEO-RLS), through participation in the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN), and through services offered by the State Library of Ohio.
Generally, the library will not duplicate special services being furnished to agencies or individuals in the community by another library system or agency, such as the Ohio Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, but may promote and advertise the availability of these services.
Approved by the Shaker Heights Public Library Board of Trustees 5/11/2010, 5/15/2023, 4/15/2024
