Library Room HirePlease click on the following links to go to a particular section
1. There are set published annual rates for room hire, currently £10 per hour (£5 concessions) with no concessions outside normal working hours.
2. Room hire is purely for the use of the room, and does not include refreshments, photocopying, printing or added services, etc. There is no extra charge for the use of flip charts, moveable tables, chairs, or other items that are normally present in the rooms that are being hired.
3. Groups should check with the actual location as to what is provided on site, and consider whether they wish extra provisions made – are there enough chairs and enough table space? For example: we have a limited number of flip charts in the Library Service, and therefore could not guarantee that one would be available to any group unless we were informed beforehand that it would be required.
4. The charge includes the use of the room hired and the facilities that are normally within it – e.g. computers with the software that is loaded on them, scanners, additional table space, electronic whiteboard, chairs for the number of people we can legally accommodate in that room, broadband connection to the Internet from all PCs. It does not, however, include the use of photocopiers and printers, or the putting out of chairs or other equipment before the event.
5. Library staff will help where they can, but their help is not to be assumed by the course, or its tutor.
6. Library staff on site will always aim to have the hired rooms ready as required, normally at 10.00 a.m., but readiness by a particular time must be agreed beforehand and cannot always be guaranteed if it requires preparation work longer than the time available to staff.
7. Payment rates, the person/body to invoice, when payment is due, and exactly what is included should be agreed before the first session starts.
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1. A higher advertised hourly rate is set for the hire of rooms outside of that building’s usual opening hours. There can be no concessions on this for any group or purpose because the extra staff and running costs of having the building open beyond normal hours must be covered.
2. The lower advertised hourly rate is only available if the following apply:
- The entire duration of the room/premises use is within that building’s normal opening hours;
- The group hiring the room is a charity, school, trust, or some other body that is eligible for VAT exemption.
- The use of the room can be seen to be in line with the general aims and mission statement of the library service and Merthyr Tydfil Council.
- If the room hire overlaps the normal opening times of that building, the time outside of normal open hours will be charged at the higher rate.
- If the service/course being provided by the third party hiring the room is clearly providing a service that the Library Service should provide under its aims but is unable normally to do so, then that course/service will be eligible for the £5 an hour rate, plus an initial two sessions for which no charge is made, to attract users for this course/service in the initial phases. An example would be provision of tuition in use of specialist disability software, where the third party has the expertise that the Library Service does not. This only applies if the use is within the normal open hours of the building.
- Please note that the provision of educational courses does not automatically qualify for this special support.
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1. The Library Service cannot guarantee to meet any booking request and cannot accept responsibilities for problems beyond the Library Service’s control. For example, Internet connectivity failure or unavailability due to power loss, etc. No charges will be made for cancellations due to unforeseeable problems and equivalent alternative options will be offered.
2. Library staff will contact the hirer as soon as any problems are identified, so it is important that we have contact details.
3. If the hirer knows that a booking is not required, or a particular session will not be required, they should contact the location with as much notice as possible.
4. Payment is normally expected for sessions that have been booked and not attended.
5. Failure to attend and pay for two sessions will be seen as cancelling the agreement, and so the Library Service reserves the right to rebook that room to another group.
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Computer suite bookings:
1. The user is responsible for the number of copies they make – staff must be informed of use and must charge for all sheets that are printed/copied, even if more pages than required are printed or prints have been made accidentally.
2. The course tutor is responsible for making sure that all prints are monitored and paid for and should ensure that students inform staff immediately they realise there has been a printing error.
3. Library staff will also assist e.g. in taking batches of prints to the course, but only where it does not detract from their normal library duties.
4. All courses/services must pay for their use of the photocopier and printing facilities (including the Braille printer) at set rates that cover the Library Service’s full costs for those services.
5. Charges are reviewed annually, Current annual charges are:
- Braille printing: 5p a sheet;
- Normal printing:10p a sheet monochrome, £1.00 a sheet for all prints from a colour printer
- Photocopying: 20p a sheet for A4, £0.25 a sheet for A3 (if that provision is on site);
- Purchase of floppy disk: 50p; Purchase of CD-R: 50p.
Sale of media by the library service - such as a floppy disks - in no way guarantees the data will be free from defect or saved.
Use of portable media is entirely at the user’s own risk.
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