Recently Asked Questions

Hello,

At [our] Public Library, we don't allow patrons to bring their bikes into the library. Our Teen Services Librarian suggested we purchase bike locks to loan patrons because often patrons, especially the teens/tweens, don't have bike locks and are nervous about leaving them outside unattended. We rent our space, so the park outside our Main Street entrance and the nearby bike "rack" (more of a giant U-bolt) is not ours.

So, I have a couple concerns:
*What is our liability if we provide a bike lock that fails or the bike rack fails?
*How do we ensure that our bike lock is accessible to those who have disability, from limited vision to fine motor skills impairment.

A local artist has asked for us to become a fiscal sponsor (act as a “pass-through” organization). Is this something a public library can do?

Politics are impacting libraries more than ever, and our library organization is considering hiring a lobbyist to represent our interests in Albany.  We know that as a non-profit we can't engage in "political activity", but can we hire a lobbyist?  And if we can, what do we need to be thinking about, legally?

[This question is a quasi-fictional mash-up of some questions we got from some town libraries and a cooperative library system.]

We are a town public library, so our town board appoints our trustees.  We know New York's Public Officers Law Section 3 requires that the appointed trustees be residents of the town, but recently, our town attorney said our town adopted a local law to exempt appointments from the Public Officers Law's residency requirements.  Can a town do that?  And if so, can that be a way to address a shortage of trustees who reside within the Town limits?

A school district public library is considering installing closed-circuit cameras and thinking of enabling sound recordings, too. Is it legal to record sound, thinking it is a violation of patron privacy? Can board members review the tapes?