Use of the Law Library Reading Room for Special Events:
Information for Event Planners
The Law Library Reading Room has been used occasionally throughout its history as a venue for Law School events. During the 1990s, it was used at least once for a noon hour town meeting with Dean Gann, and on several occasions to host Saturday morning breakfasts during Alumni weekends. Since April 2001, following its use for Herbert Bernstein’s memorial service, the Reading Room has been used more frequently for major Law School lectures and other events.
Among the benefits of the space are its general openness and ambiance, the physical and emotional centrality of the library to the Law School and its large seating capacity (estimated at 180) when furniture is moved and rearranged for lectures. Our newest large classroom (3043) has an official capacity of 107; our other (less elegant) large classrooms seat 137 (3041) and 117 (3037).*
The benefits of using the Reading Room for major events must be considered against the costs, especially the impacts on library use during the day of the event. For the typical mid-day event, the Reading Room’s availability for student study is compromised for the entire morning prior to the event and at least half of the afternoon while furniture is moved, temporary seating is set up, and AV equipment is installed and tested, and then taken down. Because of the library’s configuration, it is often difficult during the set-up period for students and other users to get to interior stairs or to the elevator to reach other floors. The set-up and take-down periods are also disruptive to the provision of reference and circulation services, as well as to the work of staff members in the library offices that ring the Reading Room space.
During the event itself, it is difficult for students and other library users to enter the library without disrupting the event. Although alternative entrances and exits are opened, many students congregate outside the main library doors or within the entryway waiting for the event to be over. The result is a lot of background noise during the event, which can be difficult to manage. In addition, all library services must be curtailed during the event; phones are turned off, and staff normally housed in the Reading Room offices must be moved from their desks to other spaces to work.
It is also problematic for the Educational Technologies staff to provide their usual range of services and support for Reading Room events. The room has not been retrofitted with current technology, which tests the limits of our present portable public address system and portable podiums, and creates difficulties for video recording or web casting events.