Recently Asked Questions (RAQs)

Our library is a school district public library. The associated school district is a central school district. The library does not hold or oversee our own elections. Library trustee elections, yearly levy, and any special ballot initiatives are held by the school district.

Our library trustee elections have become more active recently with a noticeable increase in resources being spent by candidates. Signs, mailings, political consultants, all have become common. With these changes have come more questions from the public about the elections and allowable candidate activities. Greater scrutiny of expense filings, questions about candidates’ signs, etc. have come our way.

If we received questions like these for non-district elections, I would send folks to the County Board of Elections for an authoritative answer. That is not a great resource for district elections like ours.

Is there an entity that has oversight of our elections? Is it the School District Chief Elections Inspector? Does NYSED have a role? Is it different for different types of school districts and associated school district public libraries? Are election rules for a school district public library potentially different than for the associated school district? Where can we direct questions from the public to receive solid answers?

We are a school district public library. We own our property. We recently obtained a construction grant and are eager to get our project moving! We have been told we don’t have to get a building permit from our town because we are a school district public library. Is that true? It would be great to not have to worry about a permit.

Our public library has been told by patrons that another patron is following up on interactions at the library, including at the circulation desk, by showing up at the reporting patrons’ homes. Such behavior, if harassing, is against our Code of Conduct. Does our library risk legal liability for this?

[We got some questions from a library in the midst of revising a policy on recording in the library...]

Are staff required to give their first and last names (or any name) to an auditor or member of the public on demand?
Is photographing and videotaping members of the public in the library without their consent permissible?
Is photographing and videotaping in the library allowed “only when consistent with the nature or purpose of the facility (during programming, etc.) or “at the discretion of the Library Director”? Our current policy language reflects this, and it isn’t clear whether this is legally sound.
What exactly can a 1st Amendment Auditor film or photograph?
Are permissions for these activities different for members of the media; both commercial and independent, self-identifying journalists or media organizations?

In this RAQ’s section 2, “Libraries, Fax Lines, and HIPAA,” you say, there is NO CIRCUMSTANCE under which a public, academic or public library should be engaging in a HIPAA-governed communication.” You also say, “If your library is not transmitting this type of information, you can stop sweating about HIPAA, even if patrons are using your fax to send it.”

Just so that we are crystal clear: this means that if patrons need to use a fax machine to correspond with a doctor’s office, it’s okay as long as they are the ones who physically use the fax machine? If they require help, can staff tell them how to use the machine as long as we don’t handle the physical documents?