Natalie,

By state law, any person who serves as an elected or appointed official in local government including district libraries is considered a “public officer”. Under the State Constitution, public officers are required to take an oath of office that includes the statement that they will “…solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this state”.

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-constitution-xi.pdf

Whatever this person’s objection is to making that statement, it does not appear that library board members have the option of not taking the oath of office. Also, you can check with your local state legislator to see if they will contact the Attorney General’s office to see if there are any existing AG opinions that address this particular question. This question may have already been raised and answered by the AG’s office. As always, that’s my “I’m not an attorney” take on the question.

Andrew Mutch

From: michlib-l-bounces@mcls.org [mailto:michlib-l-bounces@mcls.org] On Behalf Of natalie bazan
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 1:49 PM
To: Michlib-L <michlib-l@mail2.mcls.org>
Subject: [Michlib-l] Oaths for Library Board Members

Hi Everyone, 

I have a question about library board members and oaths. We have a library board member for our township library who objects to the township forcing library board members to take an oath to uphold the constitution. Does anyone know if library board members are required by Michigan law to take an oath to serve as an elected board member?

Thanks,

Natalie Bazan MA, MLIS
Library Director
Hopkins District Library                       Dorr Township Library
118 E. Main St.                                     1804 Sunset Dr
Hopkins, MI 49328                              Dorr, MI 49323
269-793-7516                                      616-681-9678
http://hopkins.llcoop.org http://dorrlibrary.michlibrary.org
http://sharing.michlibrary.org