06/12/2026
It’s an exciting time at NOLS with Summer Reading starting today. In addition to encouraging literacy and learning through this uplifting program, staff have been spending time this week to answer a lot of questions about library meeting rooms. This is due to a brief incident with a paid room reservation at the Port Angeles Main Library on Monday, June 8. Since then, NOLS staff have met with and had useful conversations with many of the people involved in order to understand what happened, clarify any misunderstandings, and learn how things could be improved in the future.
The group that reserved the meeting room on Monday evening paid a $50 fee to use the space. That meant the group did not need to meet the policy requirements for groups who want to utilize library meetings rooms for free.
NOLS provides important community meeting spaces at each of its branches, and like all of its services, strives to not charge users any fees for their use. Hundreds of meeting room reservations are made every year utilizing the Library’s policy for free use. To get free use, the group 1) must be a nonprofit or community-based, 2) the use of the room must not be commercial in nature, and 3) the meeting must be open to all who wish to attend. Examples of free use reservations include Beekeepers meetings, a local chess club, and AARP Tax-Aide.
Groups who don’t meet the policy requirements for free use, can pay a fee and still use the meeting rooms. Paying a fee for meeting room use may happen for a number of reasons. For example, a local business can pay to reserve the room for staff meetings, trainings, and job interviews, which allows them to decide who the appropriate meeting attendees are. Another good example is birthday parties. Many families have reserved library meeting rooms for birthday parties and paid the fee so the room is not open to any member of the public during that time.
When the meeting rooms are reserved for events not open to the public, the rest of the library still remains available for everyone to use and there are usually other spaces within the library for multiple groups to meet at the same time.
NOLS ask groups that reserve the meeting room to not state or imply that their event is sponsored, co-sponsored, approved, or endorsed by the Library. Otherwise, the Library has very little control over how a meeting room user advertises its event and cannot monitor advertising for hundreds of non-library sponsored events every year.
We understand that the local blog Clallam County Watchdog published an opinion about this incident with many questions, but NOLS was not contacted by Clallam County Watchdog before the article was published. All community members are encouraged to contact their local Branch Manager or NOLS Administration directly if they have any questions or suggestions about Library policy or services. We welcome conversations about how NOLS can better serve the community. Comment cards are also available in all Library branches and comments can be emailed to the Library Director at [email protected]
If you are interested in reserving a meeting room – for public or private use – you can make a reservation and learn more about the spaces available at www.nols.org/reserve.
