Meeting Room Use Policy
The following rules apply to public use of all library meeting rooms. Please read the terms of use before requesting a room reservation. It is important that you follow the terms of use so that you will be able to reserve our meeting rooms now and in the future.
Purpose
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civic,
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cultural,
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educational,
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and/or of community interest.
Priority of Use
- Groups may reserve a meeting room no more than once a month.
- We may limit the number of times similar types of groups can use rooms.
We may also limit a group's room use if the group abuses or does not comply with our room use policy.
Requesting a Reservation
You may request a reservation up to 4 weeks in advance. Rooms at co-owned libraries may have additional guidelines. (We co-own some library buildings with another entity. For example, we co-own the Burien Library building with City Hall.)
We review all reservation applications to make sure they follow our policy. We reserve the right to reject reservation requests.
If you need to cancel your reservation, you must notify the library at least 24 hours before your meeting.
Using the Room
- Your activities in the space must be open to all. You may not limit attendance to any particular group.
- You may not collect fees. An exception may be made for nonprofit and government organizations. Such groups may be able to collect fees to cover the cost of study materials used during an event. (For example, a class, workshop, conference, or similar event.) You must get permission from local library management in advance. You may not require people to buy anything to attend and/or register.
- You may not sell or advertise products or services.
- You may not hold fundraising activities.
- You may only use meeting rooms during open hours, including Service Center. Elections events are exempt from this rule.
- Reservations will be cancelled if you are more than 30 minutes late.
- You may not store items at the library.
- You're responsible for taking care of the meeting room. You'll be held responsible for any damages to the room or to library property due to your room use. Stack chairs used during your meeting. Wash utensils if you used them. Clean the kitchenette if you used it. Dispose of garbage from your meeting.
- You may not cook or heat up food.
- You may not serve or consume alcoholic beverages or recreational drugs on library property.
- The set-up and use of recreational equipment is not allowed. (e.g. portable bouncy houses, mini trampolines, tents, etc.)
- You must provide any meeting equipment that isn't available at the library. (We provide access to Wi-Fi, which you can use on your own device.)
- Attendance must not exceed the posted capacity of the meeting room. We may ask small groups to move to a smaller room if one is available.
- Your large group should park off-site when space is limited in the library parking lot.
- You must provide Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations when requested.
- You may not use the meeting room in any way that disturbs regular library operations.
Everyone using the meeting room is also expected to follow these policies:
Library-sponsored events are exempt from some of the rules for general public use.
Appeals
If your reservation request was denied:
You can appeal to the Director of Public Services — Operations.
If your appeal was denied and you're not satisfied with the reasons why:
You can appeal to the Executive Director.
Definitions
Sales: Any wholesale, retail, service or similar activity that could:
- result in the exchange of money or
- offer monetary gain
to the person(s) distributing the product or service.
Solicitation: The act of requesting money, credit, goods or merchandise for any purposes.
Policy Owner(s): Executive Director
Last revised: May 2024
