[Libs-Or] Restrooms in multifloor libraries

[Rhonda Alderman]

I really don't know how 'weird' that is, but here's our situation, for
comparison:

Our mid-80s library building has three floors: 1 is admin offices, 2 is
library main, 3 is computer lab and learning commons.  We previously had 2
public restrooms on the library main floor - a women's room with 2 stalls
and a men's room with 1 stall and an open urinal.  We have no staff
restrooms.  The restrooms are near the circ desk, so I see the related
activity all day long.

In September, both our restrooms were designated unisex and bolts were put
on the entry doors (not the stalls, the doors) to lock from the inside.
This effectively cut our restroom capacity in half.  We now have people
regularly waiting for the restrooms, which almost never happened before.
In addition, the pipes are old and the toilets occasionally get stopped up
and we have to wait for facilities to come clear the blockage.

It has happened numerous times that a man will use the urinal without
locking the door, and a woman will walk in on him.  For most of us it's not
really a big deal, but it does create a very awkward situation for some
people.  We're very happy that the campus is taking steps to accommodate
our diverse student and patron population, but we're not entirely happy
that it's our restrooms that were converted, though there wasn't much
choice because they are the smallest restrooms on campus.  We've
complained, but to no avail, as yet.  Some of the people who work in our
building just go to use the restrooms in a different building.

I'm not sure this even meets code, we'll have to look into the occupancy
limit, etc. for our building.  In the meantime, we laugh... what else can
you do?

Cheers!

Rhonda Alderman
Lead Circulation/ILL
Dora Badollet Library
Clatsop Community College
503-338-2462

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 2:59 PM, Leah Griffith <
leah.griffith at newbergoregon.gov> wrote:

> It's become a question of our strategic planning committee regarding the
> fact that we have two floors, but the public restrooms are only on the main
> floor.   Our building was built in 1985 and perhaps that was normal then.
>
> I'm just curious for those public libraries with two or more floors; do
> you have public restrooms on each floor?   This is more of a curiosity as
> we won't likely be turning our staff restroom on the 2nd floor into a
> public restroom anytime soon and I'm not seeing a remodel in our near
> future, but I'm just wondering if our library is "weird" in not having
> public restrooms on each floor.
>
> Thanks
>
> Leah
>
> **********************************
> Leah M. Griffith, Director
> Newberg Public Library
> 503 E. Hancock Street     Newberg, OR   97132
> P 503-537-1256
> _____________________________________________________
> Libs-Or mailing list
> Libs-Or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
> http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/libs-or
> Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for
> content.
> Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s)
> or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
> Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20150320/4aa4e38e/attachment.html>