HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 711

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That Section 170 of
Article 77 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1924
Edition, title "Public Education", sub-title "Public
Libraries" be and the same is hereby repealed and re-
enacted with amendments to read as follows:

170. Said commission shall give advice and counsel to
all public libraries and public school libraries in the State
and to all persons proposing to establish them, as to the
best means of their establishment and maintenance, the
selection of books, cataloguing and other details of man-
agement. Said commission shall annually report to the
governor in the month of November, a full and complete
account of its doings and of its receipts and expenditures.
Said commission is hereby granted power and authority to
accept on behalf of the State appropriations of money from
the Federal Government, or any agency thereof, made pur-
suant to the provisions and purposes of any Act of Con-
gress heretofore or hereafter enacted, and especially from
an Act of the Seventy-six Congress enacting the provi-
sions of H R 3517 or S. 1305, known as the "Federal Aid
to Education Act of 1939"; and the State of Maryland
hereby expressly accepts the provisions of Title III of said
Act as provided in Section 301 hereof. Said commission is
hereby vested with the power and authority to make and
administer plans for carrying out the purposes of said Title
insofar as the same may be applicable to the State of Mary-
land. Said commission is hereby authorized and directed to
make any and all appointments of personnel on the basis
of merit and efficiency and without regard to political con-
siderations, under the provisions of the State Merit System
Law, provided, that this provision shall not apply to the
members of the Maryland Public Library Advisory Com-
mission, but only to employees thereof. The State Treas-
urer is hereby designated as the recipient of arid trustee for
funds apportioned to this State by the Federal Government
under the provisions of said Title. The State Auditor shall
provide an adequate system of auditing the accounts of the
said commission and shall audit the expenditure of funds
received through the provisions of said Title and appor-
tioned to libraries and library services. The said commis-
sion is further authorized and directed to devise and put
into operation an adequate system of reports from libraries
and library services, to said commission relative to the use
of the funds so apportioned. The said commission shall
make such reports to the United States Commissioner of
Education with respect to the expenditure of funds received
through said Title and the progress of library service in