Hello!
While it is true you cannot prohibit meeting use based on content of speech, you can regulate usage based on type of usage, – for example, a library can restrict the use of the room for activities that involve behaviors that could interfere
with the operations or use of the library , such as petitioning or active campaigning.
The caution here is that no matter the rules that are decided upon, the requirements have to apply to everyone – regardless of viewpoint or speech. Therefore, if the library permits use of the room by political groups, then groups representing all sides
of an issue or party must be permitted equal opportunity, so yes, if a left-leaning group used the space, a right-leaning group must be afforded the same opportunity. The library also cannot regulate the speech of any of the groups permitted to use the room.
The library can regulate volume, the presence of signage, banners and other decorations, and behavior, but not speech.
There is no inherent right for anyone to use the library meeting room –as a limited public forum, the library board has the authority to determine how the space is used in conjunction with considerations such as any stipulations imposed
by any lease or agreement or donation condition as well as the library’s mission and purpose, and applicable local and state laws that cover facilities and public buildings. Any restrictions or regulations have to be viewpoint neutral and evenly applied to
everyone.
No matter what policy is decided upon, a library will want to ensure the policy is clearly written with ambiguous terms (such as “political activity,” “appropriate” “inappropriate,” “offensive,” etc.) clearly defined.
It is strongly encouraged for libraries to consult their legal counsel since individual library establishment, history and building ownership can also impact these policies . A library in a building owned by the municipality (or
school district) with meeting rooms that are shared municipal / library meeting rooms will have different considerations than a library that owns it’s own buildings and has dedicated meeting and event rooms.
Thanks!
Clare
Clare D. Membiela, MLS, J.D.
Library Law Consultant
Library of Michigan
517-335-8132
The research and resources above are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice
with respect to any particular issue or problem.
“the State may not, consistently with the spirit of the First Amendment, contract the spectrum of available knowledge.”
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 482 (1965).
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Seek the Michigan
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Get personalized voter information on early voting and other topics at
Michigan.gov/Vote.
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From: Deb Hemmye via Michlib-l <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 10:43 AM
To: Andrea Ingmire <aing@pwpl.info>
Cc: Michlib <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Subject: [Michlib-l] Re: Meeting Room Policies
CAUTION: This is an External email. Please report suspicious emails via the "Report to Abuse" button in Outlook
Our city has been through the wringer with room rentals, specifically whether to allow "political" activities to take place during a room rental. According to our city's lawyers,
it is unconstitutional for us to deny a rental because of the content of their activity. Obv if they are literally building bombs or doing something else illegal, that's in a different, criminal category. In our case, I wasn't the one who disagreed with
what was being presented, it was other residents of our city who vehemently disagreed with the presentations of other room renters.
Having had more than a year and a half to mull this over, and having been asked what felt like hundreds of times "Well, would you allow Nazis to hold a meeting in our rooms?" And
the frustrating, but solid, answer I would give is "yes, I would." Besides the Free Speech constitutional issues, think about what it would truly mean for me to not allow Nazis to rent our rooms. First, I would have to know they are Nazis and, as you mentioned,
they are not likely to honestly identify themselves if they think they might be denied the rental. Second, is it on me to attend every room rental to be sure the group isn't actually a Nazi organization or that their presentations/conversations/activities
don't veer into "political" territory? Or, what if it is truly a "regular" group but one of the attendees turns out to be a Nazi and takes the otherwise perfectly okay conversation into a pro-Nazi direction? Even if I did attend all room rentals, what am
I going to do? Stand up and order them out of the room? Call the police because they're saying something I find offensive? Who defines what is "political?" These days there is almost nothing that
isn't political. For me, I don't want any of that on my shoulders.
What you can do is monitor your fire code capacities closely and turn people away when the room is full - an overcrowded
room is more likely to stoke anger among its attendees. Listen closely to the noise level - not only is a loud room more likely to get out of control, but excessive noise is a violation of our library behavior policy and rentals can be denied to people who
violate those policies. Take careful note of the condition of the room after groups leave because rentals can be denied to people who have damaged library property. Do you allow alcohol? If not, take a quick peek and see if anyone is drinking or serving
alcohol - another valid reason to ask them to leave immediately and also to deny a future rental. Last, our previous policy required anyone who was marketing their event to make it clear that this was not a library event even though it was being held at the
library. We had verbiage for them to use on flyer - and they did and it helped - but this was all taken out of the final lawyer-created policy.
As far as having a rule saying you don't allow private parties, maybe that falls into a different category? We allowed them before all of this so it wasn't an issue for us. I've
attached both our previous (perfectly good, IMHO) rental policy and the new one our legal counsel wrote (and the one we now use).
This is a difficult area and at the very least, I would suggest you consult your lawyer before denying any rentals or you could find yourself with an even more costly lawsuit. Good
luck and don't hesitate to reach out if you want more info about our policy or what led to it or anything else. :)
Deb Hemmye
Library Director
Huntington Woods Public Library
26415 Scotia Road
Huntington Woods, MI 48070
248-543-9720, ext. 686
Currently listening to When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan.
From:
"Michlib" <michlib-l@liblists.org>
To: "Michlib" <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 8:58:39 AM
Subject: [Michlib-l] Meeting Room Policies
Happy Tuesday Library Land!
For those of you who have public meeting rooms that you manage in your buildings. I'd love to see your room use policy, especially if you have guidelines for
political use. We've got a room reservation coming up next weekend that isn't in conflict with our current policy, but IMHO it's borderline with regard to what is acceptable from a politicizing standpoint. What's more interesting is that the reservation
was made with general language "educational event," but the posters we're seeing for this event around town, paint a very different picture.
This seems to be happening more and more - where a group changes what their event is between the time of reservation and the event. I'll give some grace, as this happens with library programming too - you start
with an idea, and it changes. BUT, it also has the feel of subversion, and that's what is unsettling.
We get this every so often with birthday parties, we don't allow birthday parties in our rooms (no thanks to the clean up there...) but folks will reserve the room for a 'meeting' and then bring out the cake and
balloons. Really looks like a birthday party to me... This is similar, but I don't think there will be cake.
At this point, canceling will probably cause more problems than allowing the event to just proceed. But I do think our policy needs some tightening up. I'm looking for language that you have found helpful in terms
of conveying a clear message to those using your rooms.
Many thanks!
Andrea
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrea Ingmire
Library Director
Peter White Public Library
217 North Front Street
Marquette, MI 49855
906-226-4303 Office
906-228-9510 Library Main Number
906-226-1783 Library Fax
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