Recently Asked Questions

The NYS law requiring people to demonstrate a reason to conceal carry a weapon has been overturned by the Supreme Court. What this means for libraries. Is there anything we can do to prevent guns in the library?

There are reports of first amendment audits happening in rural towns and villages. Public libraries are limited public forums - how can we stop the filming, as quietly as possible without causing a social media frenzy.

My library (municipal public library) is working on updating the meeting room policy for a number of reasons. Two major pieces of focus are what types of groups/organizations are able to request use of the meeting rooms. The other piece is requiring all meetings to be open to the public.

Currently the policy indicates that the primary use of meeting rooms are for library-sponsored activities. Any remaining time may be scheduled by nonprofit organizations for educational, cultural, or civic activities on a first-come basis. Use of this room does not constitute endorsement by the Library and must not interfere with or be disruptive to other library users.

Questions #1 - Is there a legal requirement for public libraries to limit to non-profit organizations? If not, what is the basis for limitations?

I am leaning towards shifting the mindset from limiting meeting room use to the above mentioned non-profit organizations (education, civic, cultural, etc.) and to advance public libraries in supporting local businesses and economic development in our communities.

Question #2 - Is it a legal requirement for all meetings to be open to the public?

Question #3 - Is there any benefit for the different type of meeting rooms to have different policies? Why should Large Study Rooms, Conference Rooms, and/or Meeting Rooms policies differ?

The library's podcast (Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarians), hosted by two librarians here, recently started interviewing guests from outside the organization. We are concerned about a few things: what the ramifications are if a guest does not like the way their interview was edited and whether the library owns the rights to the interview and recording. We only edit for clarity and length, and haven't done anything in regards to copyright. Additionally, any advice on whether we should be using some sort of contract or agreement with guests would be helpful. We don't have any sort of agreement in place at present, and are mostly interviewing people who are somewhat library-related. Thank you for your help!

We were asked about signage to post over the public copier at a libraries open to the public. Below is some template language with footnotes explaining why they say what they do.  Of course, before posting in your school or library, check with your lawyer!