Last night, the Library Board approved an update to our Meeting Room Policy that changed how far in advance the public can book rooms from 6 months to 3 months. This is effective immediately. I’ve included the rationale presented to the board below.
The current Meeting Room Policy allows the public to make reservations 6 months in advance. Public Services and Youth Services generally plan programs and figure out which meeting rooms they’ll need about 3 months in advance. This has led to a clunky practice where PS and YS staff reserve meeting rooms more than 6 months in advance to prevent public reservations in case they need the rooms for programming. When the public ask to book rooms several months out and a room is reserved by library staff (in case it’s needed for a program), staff often don’t know yet if the room will be needed. Changing the policy to allow the public to book 3 months out instead of 6 will make it much easier for staff to only reserve the rooms they need and less confusing for the public who sometimes can’t make reservations for rooms books by staff that, in the end, may not be needed.