Policy 401: Public Notice Bulletin Boards and Handouts


Section 1: Introduction
As a community service, The Brookfield Library provides bulletin board space for posting notices that publicize services, programs, and events of interest to the Brookfield community. The library’s bulletin boards are reserved for materials submitted by nonprofit organizations for civic, educational, or cultural purposes.


Section 2: Location
The Brookfield Library has one bulletin board available for public notices, located in the main entrance lobby of the library.


Section 3: Approval, Posting, And Removal
All notices are subject to prior approval by the Library Director or the Office Manager. Appeals regarding the refusal of permission to post may be made to the Library Board of Trustees at its next regular meeting.

Notices posted without library approval will be removed.

Approval for displaying notices will be based in part upon compliance with the terms of this policy, and in part upon the amount of bulletin board space available at the time.

Notices will be initialed and dated by the approving library official and will be posted and removed by library staff only.


Section 4: Guidelines For Bulletin Board Notices
A. The bulletin board will display posters and other material from the Library itself, the Friends of The Brookfield Library, Town of Brookfield government agencies, and other Brookfield non-profit organizations.
B. Space permitting, material providing information from the Brookfield school system, other Connecticut libraries, and state and federal agencies will be posted.
C. Items to be posted should be of a reasonable size, preferably no larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches, unless a larger size is required by other regulations or for some other compelling reason.
D. Preference in posting will be given to notices of dated materials. Activities having no specific date will be displayed for a reasonable length of time, as determined by the library, and then removed.
E. Handwritten or drawn posters or artwork must meet acceptable standards, as determined by the library.
F. Information regarding business enterprises will not be displayed.
G. Organizations that are partisan (political, religious, etc.) may submit notices of services, programs, and events, but these must be civic, educational, or cultural in nature. Also, they must be open to the community at large, and not intended for recruiting new members.
H. No campaign or ballot-related literature will be posted on the bulletin boards.
I. Any exceptions to these guidelines must be approved in advance by the Library Director.

The Library will not display posters or other bulletin board materials that are:
A. Commercial or profit-making in nature (unless of benefit to the community as a whole)
B. Lost-and-found ads
C. Want ads
D. Classified ads
E. Other personal notices
F. Partisan political or religious posters and notices
G. Items judged by the Library Director to be inappropriate


Section 5: Handouts
The Library will display (free) handouts from sources cited in the section above. The Library will accept and display multiple copies of newspapers or magazines of local or general interest, as space allows. Handouts should be placed on the rack next to the entry door, with consideration for others’ handouts. The Library reserves the right to remove items judged inappropriate, and to remove outdated material.


Section 6: Additional Guidelines
The Library may establish additional guidelines on accepting and displaying posters and handouts that supplement this policy.

Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees, October 20, 1997; revised 9/24/03