Ask the Librarian about Library Meeting Space
Q. My community group needs a regular place to meet. Do libraries allow outside groups to meet in them?
A. The nation's roughly 9,000 public libraries are separately administered, with no central mechanism for knowing which libraries have community rooms or other meeting space for use by the public, the size of those community rooms, or the regulations for using those rooms.
The American Library Association (ALA) has prepared guidelines for use of library meeting space, and a number of libraries have developed their own policies, sometimes in conjunction with the larger municipality. The ALA statement derives from the Library Bill of Rights which states that such facilities should be made available to the public served by the given library “on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.” The interpretive statement, “Meeting Rooms,” adds that guidelines “can properly define time, place, or manner of use; such qualifications should not pertain to the content of a meeting or to the beliefs or affiliations of the sponsors.”
Your best bet is to call the library and ask! If your library does not yet have a policy statement, you might want to work with the library administration or board of trustees to develop one. Many libraries have published their policies on the web, and these may be used as examples.
Return to the list of "Ask the Librarian" questions...
