[Publib] Re: Church groups and library meeting rooms...

[Andrea Berstler]

Being in a small town, we oversee the use of our town's "Community Room".
The library and community room are housed in a building owned by the local
municipality. It is available for use by any and all non-profit
organizations for free. (we can ask for donations to cover expenses).
Library events take precedence over any and all other programs. We do the
scheduling, collect fees from profit/private uses and keep the room neat.

Every week, we have library programs, senior citizens groups, local sports
organizations, community organizations (lions, scouts, etc),condo groups and
a church that meet in our community room. Of all the groups who have used
this space during the last 2 years, the group that has by far been the least
amount of work for us, done the most to straighten the room when done and
contributed the most financially to the library, even though they do not
have to do so - - - is the church group. They meet for worship in this room
every Sunday, and have had additional special meetings to boot.

Not only do I believe that they have as much right as any other non-profit
group to use this room for whatever kind of meeting they wish to have
(educational, worship, social, etc)  - - - but they have earned the respect
of our staff for being conscientious users of community property.

IMHO - I think the question here may be - whatever outside group uses space
in your library, are they distrubing the normal course of the library's main
purpose? Do they (by group size, noise levels, etc) keep you and your
patrons from accomplishing whatever needs to be accomplished? Are they
diverting you from your mission statement?  If not, then why would you
censure any single group, no matter what their purpose. (unless it's to
close down all public libraries in the US :o)

But that's just my opinion - - -

Andrea
  _____

The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it
distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of
a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.  - Elizabeth Hardwick





-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Kate Wolicki
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 11:22 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Re: Church groups and library meeting rooms...


I would think that the biggest problem with allowing worship services in
library meeting rooms might be the weekly use by an outside group.

Librarians who schedule programs in our scarce meeting room space are
already grumpy about the local literacy program that takes up the main
room every Saturday morning.  Even monthly meetings are troublesome when
a group comes to think of a certain block of time as "theirs" but
doesn't always reserve it before another program is scheduled.  I can
only imagine what it would be like for every Sunday afternoon to be
blocked out year round.

The Contra Costa decision puts me in a ponder-y mood.  Are books about
how to perform worship services and materials that support private
religious school curriculum subsidizing religious exercises?  I say our
job is to use tax money to provide materials and programs of interest to
the community, and some of our community are ministers or religious
school attendees (or foreign language speakers or gay people or condo
owners.)  Are meetings and programs different from materials?  Are
outside programs different from those presented by the library?  Private
meetings vs public?  Things advertised as open to the public vs
unadvertised?   What's your opinion?  Is there an ALA statement on
meeting room issues (asks she who is too lazy to look when there are so
many Publibbers who have encyclopedic ALA policy knowledge)?

Kate Wolicki
Niles Public Library District
Niles, IL
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