[Libs-Or] IFC Tuesday Topic: Meeting Rooms and Who Uses Them

[Heather Hornor]

Meeting Rooms and Who Uses Them

The public library is a space that our community uses and our meeting rooms
are often an example of one of the services our libraries provide for the
community. As such, there can often be pressure from the community or from
leadership about how that meeting space is utilized and by who.

ALA Policy

In 2018, ALA adopted a stance on meeting room policy
<https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/meetingrooms>,
which has since been updated twice. ALA firmly states that if your policy
has decided that your meeting rooms are designated public forums, meaning
open to the public, then no group can be discriminated against based on
“origin, age, background or views” per Article V of the ALA Library Bill of
Rights <https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill>. That said,
ALA also states that meeting rooms do not have to be open to the public,
which in that case would make your meeting rooms a limited public forum,
meaning closed to the public.

Legal Precedence

There are several court cases that have shown that when meeting rooms are
designated public forums and a group is excluded, it is a First Amendment
violation of that group.

Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights
<https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/418/298/> (1974)

Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Def. & Educ. Fund, 473 U.S. 788
<https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/473/788/> (1985)

Concerned Women for America Inc. v Lafayette
<https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/883/32/350358/>
(1989)

Kreimer v. Bureau of Police for Morristown
<https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/958/1242/371694/>
(1992)

Pfeifer v. City of West Allis, 91 F. Supp. 2d 1253
<https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/91/1253/2510883/>
(E.D. Wis. 2000)

Hopper v. City of Pasco
<https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-9th-circuit/1453960.html> (2001)

Case Study: Faith Center Church v. Glover
<https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-9th-circuit/1461135.html> (2005)

Citizens for Community Values, Inc. v. Upper Arlington Public Library
<https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/ohio/ohsdce/2:2008cv00223/121378/20/>
(2008)

Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries v. Glover
<https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/14/faithcenter.pdf>
(2009)

Liberty Council v. City of Seaside
<https://dockets.justia.com/docket/oregon/ordce/3:2012cv00329/106247> (2012)

While librarians would most likely not exclude purposefully, it is
important to know another key legal fact that prevents excluding a specific
group from using a meeting space in the library and  that is hate speech.
The term “hate speech” is not a legal term and does not have a legal
definition. Thus you cannot deny one group from using your meeting room
just because they have been accused of hate speech.

Per Theresa Chamara <https://alastore.ala.org/content/theresa-chmara>, a
first amendment attorney, she states the following:

The term “hate speech” is not a legal term. Generally considered to be

speech that is offensive, demeaning, or disparaging.Banning a group from a

meeting room on the basis that it is engaged in hate speech is a ban based

on content and would place the library at a high risk of litigation. Courts
have

upheld convictions under “hate crime” statutes because the underlying

violation is for conduct, not speech. Penalty enhancements [are] permitted
for

bias-motivated crimes. (Chamara 23)

Therefore, when our patrons and community members request to use our
meeting rooms, we must let them, even if the group and the group’s
messaging is offensive to us and other members of society.

Display Cases

This also extends to display cases. If your policy allows for community
members to use your display cases, this creates a designated public forum
in the display cases and the same policy thus applies. In both cases,
whether it is a meeting room or a display case, you can post signage
indicating that the messaging and content of what is being presented or
discussed is not endorsed by the library.

Library Policy

When reviewing and updating your policies in regards to establishing
designated public forums vs. limited public forums, know that you can have
both. Limited public forum spaces can limit access to the community, like
staff offices and storage rooms. When you write your policy on areas that
the public can use, remember those areas fall under the designated public
forum definition where you cannot restrict usage based on content and
viewpoint. That said, you can have time, place, and manner restrictions.
Some of these guidelines may take the form of  food restrictions, time
limits, etc.

Another thing to consider when reviewing and updating your library policy
is educating your Board of Trustees, your County Commissioner, and/or other
city officials. This is an excellent time to talk about the purpose of
designated public forums in public libraries as well as the copious laws
that protect the First Amendment rights of the community when using space
in the library. Ideally, you would also partner with any legal counsel that
represents the community you serve if you have one for your system.

School and Academic Libraries

Does the idea of designated public forums and limited public forums extend
to school and academic libraries? This is something to discuss with your
legal counsel. If your school district or academic system does open up
spaces to the public, you may want to consider a policy that addresses how
the public may or may not use your library. For school districts, this
could already exist in board policy or district/campus procedure. Academic
libraries may also have their own policies on how its public spaces are
utilized if open to the public. Please seek out the guidance of
administration and legal counsel to determine what a policy may look like
if you do not already have one.

Conclusion

The IFC Committee is here to support you as you and your library staff and
administration takes on these discussions in your system. For your
convenience, we also offer three articles that cover this Tuesday Topic
more in depth.

Categories of Free Speech
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n5nK4q2g0QD8Ceamaj99kz-nK00ASp30/view?usp=drive_link>

Limits on Regulating Free Speech
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iMj5QeNlDa1JgqM6MjTG9Zzju-1FriPt/view?usp=drive_link>

The Law Regarding Access to Meeting Rooms, Exhibit Spaces, and Social Media
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NDVgdfcSTHgP_Dy4GGZKhaHJCBebnfAZ/view?usp=sharing>


Heather Hornor,

OLA IFC Committee Member


Chmara, T. (n.d.). ALA Law 4 Librarians. In First Amendment and Libraries
(pp. 1–52). Rosemont, IL.

Slide 23  from First Amendment Lawyer, Theresa Chmara, was used from her
First Amendment presentation.
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