John Harvard Library Meeting Room

Terms and conditions for room and hall hire

General information

1. All room bookings/catering requests are at the discretion of Southwark Libraries.
2. You must not bring hot food into the meeting space; cold and hot drinks, snacks, and finger foods, i.e. sandwiches, are accepted with prior agreement.
3. You cannot consume alcohol on the premises and you cannot bring alcohol onto the premises. 
4. Smoking is not permitted in the building.
5. We accept no responsibility for publicity produced by the hirer before a booking is confirmed.
6. No animals on the premises, with the exception of guide and assistance dogs.
7. Any filming must be declared upon booking and can only be authorised by the booking staff.
8. In line with our statutory obligations, no booking will be accepted for use of a room/space by any individual or group for the purposes of promoting extremism, criminality, or violence of any kind. All bookings will be subject to due-diligence to ensure that they do not pose a risk to public-safety or community-cohesion.

Room booking procedure

1. Bookings are made on a first come first served basis.
2. You will not be given access to your room before your booking time and you are expected to leave the room at the agreed time.
3. An overstay charge of double the published rate will be charged for any hour or part of an hour beyond the agreed finishing time.
4. Bookings will usually be made within the opening hours of the library. Bookings that extend beyond this period will be by arrangement and will incur additional charges to cover staff costs.
5. A community rate will be offered to registered charities (charity registration number must be provided at time of booking) or Southwark based community groups / voluntary organisations who are non profit making. Rooms booked at the community rate cannot host events where the public will be charged a fee to attend or for services offered. 
6. If the noise level you create disturbs other bookers and/or residents, you will be asked to reduce this noise. Failure to act upon this request promptly will result in the termination of your booking without right to a refund.
7. There must be a named individual on the booking form who will take the responsibility for the observance of terms and conditions.
8. Your booking is not confirmed until payment in full is made and we have sent you a booking/payment confirmation.
9. If the room that is booked is unavailable due to any unforseen circumstances then we will offer an alternative location where possible or a free rescheduled booking.
10. Rooms will not be available on Bank Holidays/Public Holidays.

Equal opportunities, inclusion and appropriate use of premises

1. In line with Southwark Council's commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, hirers and attendees must not engage in discriminatory, harassing, sexually harassing, abusive, threatening or offensive behaviour.
2. The premises must not be used for the promotion of hate speech, discrimination, religious extremism, radicalisation, or party-political campaigning.
3. Southwark Council reserves the right to refuse, cancel or terminate any booking without refund where it reasonably believes these conditions have been breached.     

Safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults

1. If your booking involves children or vulnerable adults, you must make sure that they are supervised at all times while on the premises and that the supervisor has the appropriate CRB check and follows best practice. We expect you to safeguard children and vulnerable persons in line with all Health and Safety Regulations and Legal requirements and with Southwark Council's Safeguarding Policies.

Use of premises and insurance

1. You are responsible for setting up the room layout, tables and chairs, and must ensure that you leave the room as you found it, removing all of your equipment and putting all rubbish in the bin and washing any crockery or cutlery that belongs to the library.
2. You can only have access to the particular room you have booked shown on your invoice plus use of the public toilets and other common areas, and you can only use the room/s for the purpose stipulated on your booking request form.
3. Depending on the nature of your booking and in order to comply with our Public Entertainment Licence and Health and Safety Regulations, it may be necessary to have library staff present in any space with public access. If this is necessary you will be charged for this staffing.
4. You are responsible for any damage or harm done to persons, building or property arising from your actions or omissions or those of your members or group. You must ensure that you have insurance policies to cover your activities; in particular that you and anyone engaged on your behalf is covered by public and employers' liability insurances.
5. You are responsible for ensuring that no activity takes place that might endanger the general health and safety of any person present in the building. If you are involved in activities on the premises where injury or damage may be possible you must provide us with a Risk Assessment, method statement and appropriate liability insurance in advance.
6. You are responsible for familiarising yourself with the fire evacuation procedures of the premises, and for passing this information onto anyone using the room you have booked. You should ensure that you have sufficient staff/supervisors to oversee the evacuation of all room users in case of emergency.
7. You must have permission from us to bring any equipment onto our premises. Any equipment you bring onto the premises is done so at your own risk and any loss or damage to your property is your responsibility. You must advise us in advance of any electrical equipment you plan to bring onto the premises. Such equipment must be fit for use and display a current PAT test label. If we see you using equipment without a PAT test label that we deem unsafe we can ask you to stop using it. If you refuse to stop using your equipment any future bookings you have with us, confirmed or otherwise may be subject to cancellation..
8. If you damage any equipment, furniture or any other items belonging to the library whilst on the premises we will charge you for repairs or replacement of the item or items.
9. If you hire Southwark IT equipment (laptop/projector) it is your responsibility to check that the equipment is compatible with any other software or hardware that you would like to use. We will provide IT support only where staff are available to assist.

Room cancellation charges

The cancellation of a booking shall be subject to the following cancellation charges:

• more than two month's notice - a full refund will be given
• less than 2 months notice - no refund

Data protection statement

Southwark Council uses your personal data so you can book a meeting room.  We require some of your personal data (name and contact details) to administer your room booking and request feedback. The council requires your permission to process this data.

Your personal information will only be used by our library services team, and will be reviewed or destroyed after 2 years.  You have the right to ask for any of your details to be removed at any point in time for our records however please note that by removing your contact details, you may not be able to book a room.

If you are concerned about how the council is using your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer via dpo@southwark.gov.uk or on 020 7525 5000.  More information about your rights is available on our website, or via the Information Commissioner (www.ico.org.uk).