Dear Sharon,
We are a small rural library and we have two separate bulletin boards. The one inside is our library use only. The one in the entry way is for patrons.
For the patron bulletin board, we try to date the flyer they give us and most of them are allowed to stay up for 30 days. Some, like daycares, stay up longer because their services are indefinite. We don’t usually have any tough calls to make regarding our patron board.
Linda
Circulation Desk
White Cloud Community Library
(231) 689-6631
From: Deb Hemmye via Michlib-l <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2025 11:10 AM
To: Sharon Crotser <scrotser@stignacelibrary.org>
Cc: Michlib <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Subject: [Michlib-l] Re: Public Bulletin Boards
Hi Sharon,
We're a small suburban library so this may not apply to your situation, but I allow just about anything on our bulletin board. By that I mean that we don't have a written policy and I allow both non-profit and for-profit postings. Generally, people come to the counter and ask if they can post something rather than just posting it themselves. What I have instead of a policy is that first priority are free community events, followed by community events with an admission fee, then non-profit events, fundraisers for charities, and finally, for-profit events like tutoring. One reason for my "policy" is that we are so geographically small (about one mile square) that limiting us to only our own community events would leave a largely bare bulletin board. The main reason I decided to allow for-profit flyers is that we posted for babysitting and lawn mowing/yard help by neighborhood teens and I didn't want to deny them. We do not promote room rental events in any way so I will not post any of their flyers. Mostly this is because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is personal for many in this community and some room rental events, mostly by the community's Peace Group, have stirred controversy. Five years ago, I probably would have posted room rental events, but not now.
The bigger problem we have is people leaving a stack of business cards, coupons, or flyers on our counter. As an aside, we had an especially diligent businessperson who continually left half-page ads around the library and after recycling stacks and stacks of them, we finally cut them in half and put them face down (blank side up) in our scrap paper holders at our patron catalogs. Haven't seen them since.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I'm very loose about posting events on our community bulletin board and so far (three years) it hasn't been a problem and it's nice to be able to say "yes" to people.
Good luck! (And yes, I'm afraid of what Clare will say. ;) Not that we don't deserve whatever cautions she rightly brings up, but in this case I'm too lazy to create a policy for something that is working. Until it isn't and then I'll be sorry, I know, lol.)
Deb Hemmye
Library Director
Huntington Woods Public Library
26415 Scotia Road
Huntington Woods, MI 48070
248-543-9720, ext. 686
Currently listening to The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See
From: "Michlib" <michlib-l@liblists.org>
To: "Michlib" <michlib-l@liblists.org>
Sent: Friday, November 7, 2025 5:53:22 PM
Subject: [Michlib-l] Public Bulletin Boards
Greetings, everyone!
We are currently revamping our bulletin board policy because what we have would make Clare Membiela cringe.
In order to avoid that unpleasantness, I'm wondering whether or not you allow public contributions to your bulletin boards. If you do, I'd love to see policies you're willing to share.
Thanks so much, as always, Great Minds!
-Sharon
Sharon Crotser
Director
St. Ignace Public Library
110 West Spruce Street
St. Ignace, MI 49781
(906) 643-8318
_______________________________________________
Michlib-l mailing list -- michlib-l@liblists.org
To unsubscribe send an email to michlib-l-leave@liblists.org