Libraries Provide Space and Equipment to Fulfill Your Meeting Needs
February 20, 2014 —
Free meeting room space for groups of four to 70 is often hard to find in our communities. Many clubs and organizations don’t have auditoriums for their conferences or trainings.
But in January alone, 1,849 groups – 8,947 individuals – used the meeting rooms in the Springfield-Greene County Libraries. Groups varied from the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation to a speech and debate squad, to individual tutors and small-business agents meeting with clients.
While early reservations are always recommended to secure a room, the custom is that when the libraries are open, the meeting rooms are available. And the worse the weather, the more important that becomes, as David Burch told us recently. He’s regional vice president for the local nonprofit MBCH Children and Family Ministries.
“At a time one winter when we found our local office to be without power for about 10 days due to an ice storm, we found that having a library card was a real life saver. We were able to conduct meetings in private rooms in a nice, professional setting that could be reserved on our library cards,” David explained.
“We also found that we could check out conference call equipment to utilize for conferencing with peers from around the state,” he added. “While, with technology, we can often work from nearly anywhere, we found that we still needed physical space for certain aspects of our work, and the Springfield-Greene County Library system really came through for us, allowing us to keep appointments and continue working without interruption.”
Ozarks weather being unpredictable in winter or spring months, you never know when the library meeting rooms will come in handy.
Meeting room size, amenities and equipment vary by branch. Most have TVs with DVD/VCR capabilities; some also have mini-kitchen facilities or videoconferencing equipment. Find a space that meets your needs by calling one of the branches, pick up a Meeting Rooms brochure there, or visit the branch or visit http://thelibrary.org/meetingrooms.
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Community members are invited to tell us what they like or want to add at the Midtown Carnegie Branch during a gathering at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the branch, 397 E. Central St. Refreshments will be served. We’re collecting ideas for refreshing services there.