.. 599
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable hanoia H. fienahaw
Sts te Librarian
Austin, Texas
Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-7132
Your rsquest r
raoeived and considered
reads as follows:
torlaal~ com-
o *discontinue
ich microrilm
five to thirty-five years and become unusufrble
and irmplaoeable.
Honorable Franois 8. HenshaW, Page 2
“3. Microfilm saves more than nlnetg
percept storage apaoe and is easily and fnex-
pensively maintained and used -- bound newa-
papers require large areas for storage and
are e~~peneive to maintain and ditfioultto use.
“4. :.fiororilming is lea8 expensive, oon-
sidering total coats, than binding.
“In other words, mlorofilming and binding
are essentially the same in purpose -- preser-
vation of valuable material -- but mlarofihing
is the uore desirable process.
Tunds to oarry out the authorizstlon
should some fro@ either or both of the two
f ollowlng socounts :
-1. Our aocount titled fBd.nding,repairs,
preparation for binding’. Beside payment for
actual binding, this fund has been and ia being
used for payment of salary of a book repairer
who also prepares newspapers for binding.
“2. Our account titled ‘Gathering his-
torioal data’. Besides payment ror historlaal
material inoluding nlcrofilm, this fund has
been and is being use& to purohase equipment
neceaeaaary to uae said miorotilm.
“Would It be permissible to use either or
‘both of the above funds for the following
purposes :
“1. Furchase or miOr0rih oopies 0P news-
pa,pers from publishers now microfilming their
own lssuaa.
“2. Purohase’ of equ.ipment neoessary to
nlaror.1l.m newspapers not now filmed by their
pub.llshers.
“3. Salary of an operator to do suoh
tiltnlng.
F&norable Pranals II. Henehaw, Peg 3
84ror0we oaq anhwer your epsairla queetlone,
It 1s neceasery firet. tc ooneider tha authcrity of the
Teres Library eEd HlatcXifM bumiaeloo. 'ha Com$asfon
Is oreated and its owdrs rnd dutlre dCi.wd b Title
89 of the Statutes P Actloles 54% - 5U6, ina. r The
purpose df tha Couualssion Is stntrd la Art&lo 5435. to
be to Vcntrol end ad~~ialotsr the State Library, adopt
end rnfcroe roaeonabls rulss end reffulatione govnrning
its adninintratlon and control, . . . pruaarve, olaas-
ify and ,publish the ~mmtm~ript arohivsa and such other
;latters a8 it may desn prop8r." ;Irtlals 5440 author-
lzss the Ucmisalon Co sleet a State Librarian, whom
dutlss are defined by ArtLots $Ul. Those duties,
aacordiJi& to the statut*, are 60 be exesoined *under
the direatlon ot said &l?adsaiOA1'~. &I addition to the
entsxerebad d!tlss, he la rrqulrsd to parfom *mbh
other dn.ties 45 add Commission tray aeoign hlmwr ;Seo-
tlcxi 3 of this statute &mvldsfi ins part as follcwrst
"3. EM shall endeavor to oolleat all
msmscript rsoords'ralati?lgto @ha history
or. Textw. . . . He shall andsavor to COP-
pleta the tilea of the early Texas ,newi3-
paperst~~h;~tsta Library;
OaUSB nt$+the ourrent 4nd
flies-P 0 not
hss I&n ten or
the leadl.7e. ztewegap%rs or the
State and the current files of not lass than
four lending nmapapem of other atetee, and
of aa many county pepers, grofesslonal journals,
denominational papers, e6riaultural. papas,
trade jcurrmle and other gubliaetlons of thle
Stete a5 my seaa neoosoary to preaerva in
the ::tattJ ~Llbrarp ,on accurate record of t&a
history ~of Texas.** (Sphaais ouru).
It is ths optnion of this EaFRrtnent that tha
words %IUD~ to be bound” rneen “bind&q,* in the aonven-
tions1 SsRno, snd will not p3mit the eubot:tution or
alorofltalng. Seation 3 of Artlole 5Ul was enscted in
Honorable Franois H. Iienshaw, Page 4
1909 (Aots 1909, p. 122, Ch. 70) and the words used
muat.be given the meaning as then used an8 understood.
bdi0r0rilmin~ ia a prooess of most reoent origin and
obviously oould not have besn oontemplated by the
Legislature at the time of enaotlng this seotion.
Furthermore, the Commission, sin06 the time of enaot-
msnt, has oonstrued this provision to ,mean binding
in book Sorm, and under the familiar rule of' law,
long-oontinued contemporaneous and practioal lnter-
pretatlon of a statute by the offloers oharged with
its adminletration will be given great weight in da-
tsrminincJ the meaning of a statute. 2 Horack's
Sutherland Statutory Construotion 512, Sea, 5103.
This opinion is strengthsned by the faot
that the Legielature has oonsidared legislation neoes-
sary~ to permit microfilming as a substitute for the
maintananoa of the originals of oartaln reoords of
the State Highway Department. (Acts 3.945, p. 57, Ch.39)
For ths reasons stated, it is our opinion
that ths Commission has ex&eded its rule-making power
in direotine, the disoontinuanoa of "binding" of the
nswspapers required by Article 5441 to be kept and
bound. The rule-making power does not include the
making of rules In direot contravention of a statute.
It is our further opinion thst neither your
account entitled nBinding,,repairs, preparation for
binding" nor the one entitled "Gathering hlstorioal
data" oan be used ror any of the purposes Inquired
about.
Yours vsry' truly
Assiatent
AL&films