How does your library deal with Authors who request a venue?

2008-08-14T17:11:54Z

Our administrative secretary has asked for advice and I thought this might be a good place to post her question:

"Our problem is that we do not have a system for working with writers who knock on our door to present an author program. We have an application form for them to complete which allows us to learn about the book and who might be interested, but this is becoming too timid an approach when we have people calling in to say they will be in Huntsville in two days and have several hours available on a particular afternoon, etc., etc. They are organized and we are not!

We considered allowing them to use our conference rooms; to book it as though they were a community group who meets our criteria, filling out an application form, paying for the room and being responsible for all aspects of the event. The challenging part of this picture is do we allow the writer to sell their books? It seems likely that this is the expectation. Do they contribute a percentage of their sales to the library so that we can view this operation as a partnership? At present we do not allow a "for profit" group to use our meeting rooms. We do invite writers to come to speak by invitation ("Brown Bag Lunches" for example). They are allowed to sell their books and we do not receive any proceeds.

I may not have asked all the right questions. Hopefully, this might be a starting point."

Any thoughts on this?