The Braddock Carnegie Library Association (BCLA) stewards and adapts Andrew Carnegie’s original vision of our library as a “Center of Light & Learning” for the diverse communities we serve. We welcome and serve everyone and are committed to transparency and accountability. We treat our patrons, staff, and the diverse communities we serve with respect and courtesy by:

• Welcoming and including all
• Fostering an atmosphere of dignity and respect
• Encouraging the exploration of new ideas and perspectives in a safe and positive environment
• Working with diverse communities to determine appropriate ways to design, deliver, and evaluate services.

The BCLA recognizes and actively affirms the dignity of those it serves, regardless of heritage, education, beliefs, race, income, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical or mental capabilities. We are committed to fostering an environment of understanding and respect. We  ensure that people can enjoy services free from any attempt to impose values, customs or beliefs that are in conflict with our commitment to diversity.

The BCLA makes diversity and inclusion a priority in planning and decision-making for staffing, collections, services, and organizational change.

We believe libraries can help achieve true and sustained equity through an intentional, systemic, and collaborative library-community partnership. Our library systems are working to achieve equity in the communities we serve by:

• Continuing to eliminate racial and social equity barriers in library programs, services, policies, and practices
• Creating and maintaining an environment of diversity, inclusion, and respect both in our library systems and in all aspects of our community role.
• Ensuring that we are reaching and engaging disenfranchised people in the community and helping them express their voice
• Serving as a convener and facilitator of conversations and partnerships to address community challenges
• Being forthright on tough issues that are important to our communities

Libraries are trusted, venerable, and enduring institutions, central to their communities and essential participants in the movement for racial, economic, environmental, and social equity.

Everyone in the library or attending a library program has the right to:

1. Use the library without discrimination
2. Receive friendly, respectful, and professional service
3. Have free and equal access to information
4. Have a clean, comfortable, and pleasant environment
5. Use the library undisturbed without threat of harm, invasion of privacy, interference, or intimidation

Everyone in the library or attending a library program has the responsibility to:

1. Use respectful language when addressing others
2. May not verbally and/or physically harass any staff member or patron. If anyone has a concern about another patron’s behavior, they should notify a staff person.
3. Ensure that library business and programs are not interrupted by disruptive behavior.
   1. Disruptive behavior includes but is not limited to:
   2. Throwing objects or furnishings
   3. Running
   4. Shouting, cursing, or aggressive posturing
   5. Entering staff areas without permission
   6. Refusing to comply with the reasonable request of staff members
   7. Verbal or physical harassment
4. Wear appropriate attire (shirts, shoes, etc.) when in the Library.
5. May not block entrances and hallways, interfere in any way with people entering the library, or bring bicycles and other objects which constitute a potential safety hazard into the library.
6. Maintain the general appearance and cleanliness of the library space, including their belongings and any trash they generate, and return the utilized space to its original appearance.
7. Listen to staff or supervisor directives, and follow any subsequent instructions or directions
8. The Library is not responsible for any lost or damaged items.

Consequences for Breach of Rights and Responsibilities

1. Any patron or staff member who is unable to meet these responsibilities may be asked to do the following
   1. Leave the library until they have met the criteria (ie, put on a shirt or shoes)
   2. Leave the library for the day (ie. shouted at staff and will be asked to leave and return another day)
   3. Not be allowed to return until the situation has been reviewed by the Library Director or Executive Director (ie. bringing a weapon into the library, destruction of library or other patron property)
      1. Crimes: theft, threat, vandalism, assault
2. Staff will ensure that all instances are documented in writing and provided to their supervisor after any immediate situation has been cleared, but within 72 hours. (Using incident report form)

Computer Use at 526 Braddock Ave.

1. (policy specific to a time period when the BCLA is operating outside of our regular building)
   1. Computers are on a first come, first served basis
   2. Due to the limited number of computers and the limits on the space available, staff will make all reasonable efforts to keep computers available as needed
   3. Priority is given to patrons who are doing workforce development and youth who are pursuing school work
   4. Staff is given discretion to ensure equitable computer access

Children in the Library

1. All children and their guardians are subject to the same Rights and Responsibilities as adults. Children:
   1. Are allowed in all public spaces of the library unless other stated
   2. Must be able to use the restroom independently, and return home independently in order to use the library unsupervised by an adult
   3. Staff are not responsible for (acting in loco parentis) to any minor patron.
   4. Minor patrons attending with older siblings are the sole responsibility of the older siblings.

Braddock Carnegie Library Association acknowledges that our building sits on the historical land and we carry out our activities on the unceded ancestral land of many Indigenous peoples. Of these, the principal historic caretakers of this region have always been the Onondagawa, known popularly as the Seneca Nation, who were members of the six-nation Haudenosaunee (hoe-dee-no-SHOW-nee) Confederacy (The Iroquois). The Seneca here in the western Pennsylvania region also shared this territory with the Shawnee and the Lenape (also known as Delaware). As recently as the 1960s, the last remaining Seneca reservation in Pennsylvania, The Cornplanter Grant on the Allegheny River in Warren County, and nearly one-third of the Seneca’s tribal lands across our northern border in western New York State were taken by the U.S. government to build the Kinzua Dam northeast of Pittsburgh.

We acknowledge that through colonialism and the systemic use of violence that these tribes were forced from their ancestral land, and that these forces continue to disenfranchise many Tribes.  We recognize that our town of Braddock was specifically named for General Edward Braddock, who in the Battle of the Monongahela, specifically fought against many French-allied regional Tribes. We are dedicated to acknowledging their stewardship of this land, air and water, and strive to treat these places and the people who now call it home with dignity and respect. We acknowledge that the indigenous people of this land, past, present and future are an integral part of our story. We ground our present and our future by not ignoring our past, and seeking to extend welcome and respect to all.

We believe it’s important to acknowledge the ways that colonialism and white supremacy have shaped land use, access to resources, and labor and to actively work towards a just, equitable, and inclusive future.

We thank the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center for guiding us in creating this acknowledgement.

As a limited public access space and in accordance with our BCLA Rights and Responsibilities Policy that patrons and staff may use the Library “undisturbed without threat of harm, invasion of privacy, interference or intimidation”: filming or photographing in the library, including library patrons and/or staff, is prohibited without prior written permission by library staff.

The Library will obtain written permission for any recording of photographs of patrons prior to sharing or posting to social media platforms, in printed or electronic publications or shared in a public forum. (See Photo Release Form)

Any commercial recordings or filmings must obtain permission from the Executive Director prior to the start of recording and comply with all building use and patron policies, as applicable.