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Policies - General

Food & Drink
Bulletin Board
Unattended Children

Food & Drink

The Library Board of Trustees hereby confirms the long-standing policy that no food, chewing gum,
or beverages are to be consumed in Linden Library buildings with the following exceptions:

Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees, October 25, 1993

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Bulletin Board

Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees, April 28, 1997

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Unattended Children

The Linden Free Public Library encourages children of all ages to visit the library to take advantage of the resources available for them to meet their informational, recreational, and educational needs.

The services and collections of the Children's Department are open to all children, either accompanied by an adult or alone if they are in the fourth grade or above.

Everyone under the age of 18 must sign in upon entering the library, providing a Library Card or School ID. (Adopted by the Library Board, March 2, 2005)

It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to insure the appropriate behavior of their children in the library.

The library is not a childcare facility and staff is not responsible for children left without supervision.

Children judged by staff to be too young to be without supervision, must be accompanied by someone who has the authority and responsibility for their welfare.

If a child is left unattended, the following procedure will be followed by staff members:

  1. An unattended child found frightened or crying in the building should be comforted and reassured by the staff.
  2. The child should be brought to the children's librarian, or in her absence, to the librarian at the reference desk.
  3. The librarian should try to identify the child and locate the parent/ guardian by searching the library with the child and/or paging the parent/guardian. (If no name is available, describe the child's physical appearance).
  4. If the parent/guardian is not located within fifteen minutes, library staff will attempt to locate the parent/guardian by phone, using library records, phone books, or other available source.
  5. When the parent/guardian is located, the person should be informed of the library's policy and asked to pick up the child immediately.
  6. If the parent/guardian is not located within an hour, or if the library is closing, the police may be called at the discretion of the librarian in charge.
  7. If the parent/guardian has been contacted and is on the way, the librarian in charge will remain with the child for at least fifteen minutes after the library closes. If the responsible person does not arrive to claim the child in that time, the police may be called at the discretion of the librarian.
  8. Under no circumstances should a staff member take a child out of the building or transport the child to another location.

Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees, January 23, 1989

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Last Updated: 22-Mar-2005 11:14 AM