Newspapers or Magazines in Library Staff Lounges

The following are answers to the question: do you have newspapers or magazines in the staff lounge? Reference librarians at North American public and academic libraries were asked to answer this question in a study of librarian reading habits.


We have some papers and magazines in the staff lounge. Staff members may use these to keep up with current events.

We don't have print materials in the lounge, since our lounge is very small. However, the staff does take reading materials off the magazine shelves to read during their breaks.

No, we do not. Mail order catalogs and gossip periodicals are what I see in there. I used to leave my own copy of the NY Times in there. I think only a couple of staff members looked at it. Some of my colleagues are reasonably well informed but I don't think they get that way in the staff lounge.

We have copies of the two local papers in the lounge. Staff often bring current magazines or daily newspapers from the magazine room to read on their lunch hour.

Just the local town paper.

No. There are some magazines in the lounge - duplicates sent by EBSCO by mistake. They are left in the lounge for anyone to read but they are not a current events resource.

Yes, the local newspaper.

Local newspapers.

Trade journals, such as Booklist and Library Journal.

Professional library journals and newspaper are there, and staff are encouraged to take other titles from the display racks for their leisure reading on breaks and lunch.

We are so tiny we have no staff lounge. But I read the newspapers and current magazines before they go on the patron shelves.

Yes, but only a copy of the local newspaper, which is published once a week. Also, occasionally library publications are placed there. I always try to read at least the headlines in the town's weekly paper so that I am familiar with local events.

Material is available but not necessarily to "keep up."

No, at least not directly. They are free to take current newspapers and magazines to the staff lounge. They usually have their names on the reserve lists for the new magazines as well.

No. What we have in the lounge are old copies of People. Not many professional librarians dare venture into that room. Most have coffee and/or lunch offsite.

No papers in the lounge for us to read. We have to use the patrons' copies, but that is now forbidden. We can read the library papers only in the public reading areas. There are no specific papers for the staff.

All of our newspapers and magazines are out in the public area. Staff is encouraged, during breaks, to look at the current issues for any newsworthy items of interest to our patrons. Staff also take home the current issues of newspapers or magazines after closing hours to read up on issues.

We circulate forty magazines and offer four newspapers. I have the opportunity to review all of them.

Yes, print magazines of general interest.

NY Times Also back copies of Time Magazine.

We have professional journals and newsletters, but not standard papers or magazines.

Yes, we do have a variety of print materials.

No, but the staff can bring them to the lounge during their breaks if they want to.

Funding does not allow this luxury.

Yes, we have newspapers, magazines, and newsletters in the staff lounge. In addition, we are able to take them from the reading area to use during break. Also, we keep a box that is updated weekly of incoming professional journals, newsletters, etc.

You are joking, right? You're not used to rural situations, are you? First of all, unless you can get the government to come up with some more construction grants, you have a lot of older libraries that don't have enough space for the public, let alone a staff lounge. As for newspapers and magazines, we are able to place money in that area and we check those out just like anyone else, break time or not.

We have the NY Times and the local daily newspaper but the expense is paid for by staff, not the library, though the library service benefits from this reading by staff.

Yes, both local and national papers.

We have the NY Times and our city newspaper. Occasionally, we will get copies of the papers from the surrounding towns.

We can bring them down with us on our lunch break, if we choose.

Yes, we subscribe to four newspapers, including two local area ones and five investment periodicals and newspapers.

Yes, we have subscriptions to several magazines and some local newspapers.

We have a print a subscription to the local newspaper, compliments of the Friends of the Library. We do not have any magazine subscriptions for the staff other than professional journals.

Current local newspapers and a few magazines.

Local newspaper, area newspapers, and newsmagazines.

We have two newspapers and twenty magazines.

No, but we are a small library and almost all staff can select material for their breaks.

The local newspaper.

Yes, we have magazines such as Time, Consumer Reports, US News & World Reports that they can read in the staff lounge or checkout. We also have the local paper for them to read weekly.

I bring in my personal newspaper and leave it in the staff room. Any other serious reading in there is strictly accidental.

Local papers and a couple of magazines.

We subscribe to the local newspaper and one from a larger city. We don't have a staff lounge but we can read the newspapers we get. We do not subscribe to magazines.

We have a local newspaper available in the staff lounge and plenty of comfortable reading places to bring in magazines from the collection to read.

This library does not have the money for newspapers and some magazines.

Yes, there are magazines and newspapers in the staff lounge. Most are donated by staff for other staff. The library provides copies of the local newspapers, the NY Times Book Review, and several professional journals.

There are print copies of newsletters and women's magazines in the staff lounge. No papers. There is also a bulletin board where newspaper articles are posted.

No, it was the general feeling of staff that the staff room should be a refuge from work. Library journals and other professional materials, which at the moment are temporarily stored in the staff room, are always available if anyone is interested.

No, the newspapers and magazines are in the Serials section or the general reference area. Also, we may have any publication we want routed to us when it is received, so many of these publications come to us.

Yes, we have four regional newspapers that we keep in the staff lounge for a week plus the current week.

Just the local paper.

We have the local newspaper, USA Today, current events, and newsmagazines.

The magazines in the lounge are basically our three review journals. With regard to newspapers, the second copy is often checked out to staff on breaks. The newspaper and magazine area is immediately adjacent to the staff area entrance so people will pick up issues of interest on their way to break.

Copies of all three local newspapers are available in the lounge and staff can bring any of our magazines and national newspapers to the lounge if they wish.

Yes, mostly a haphazard collection of materials brought in by staffers. This is not meant to be a current awareness collection as such.

The local daily and weekly newspapers are kept in the staff lounge. People read them during breaks and lunch. These papers are very helpful in keeping up with local issues. Since we are a city library, it is important to know the local issues.

We receive a stack of the local daily newspaper, and one is always placed in the staff breakroom. Other newspapers or magazines only arrive there if people bring them in and leave them.

Not unless we have received a duplicate.

We keep the local daily paper and the main weekly paper in the break room.

No, however staff may pull from the current periodicals or newspapers to read during break.

Yes, the local paper.

Yes, but they are provided by staff members who bring in their copies. First come, first served.

We have the local paper in the staff lounge.

Only duplicate copies stay in the lounge but our library is so small I can easily take the public subscription copy into the lounge. I often do this for fun articles.

Only thing we offer is a free publication called The Book Page, which is a good book review source. Interviews with authors, etc. Comes out monthly.

We did have some magazines that would make it into our breakroom, but I think we lost our budget for these materials. Also, the breakroom got too messy, so magazines and newspapers have been banned from that area.

No, staff is encouraged to look at these items during their breaks in the public area.

Yes, usually older copies of magazines are kept in the staff lounge. Occasionally, someone will leave the current paper in the lounge as well. There are more subscriptions to materials that are slated to always be in the lounge.

Yes, four titles.

No. Some staff pull current reading up on a personal basis, but it's mainly fashion! We really are asked to keep current on our own time.

There are no print papers or magazines there but sometimes staff will bring them in from the library. It is not any self-conscious library policy.

We have someone who gives us old copies of Newsweek, People, etc. We can check out the current copies of the print magazines if we want to.

We do not keep newspapers in the lounge but have magazines there for staff use. These are usually extra copies of things that we receive. We also have extras of the New York Times and less frequently the Wall Street Journal as giveaways from the distributor. Staff is more than welcome to take what they wish to read.

Yes, but they are not from the library directly. Staff members and friends donate them. One staff member in particular was very good about this; she brought in all her old magazines. Occasionally, we have political magazines also.

No, we have a collection of consumer catalogs that some staff might be interested in and on occasion an extra copy of a periodical which the library received in our subscription.

We do not get extra subscriptions for the staff lounge, but staff frequently take magazines and occasionally newspapers into the lounge for breaks and meals.

The staff lounge does not include newspapers. It is up to the staff member to take the initiative to keep up with current events.

Not in the lounge. We read the papers and magazines provided for the public.

No, but my department subscribes to them, so they are available in our department for us to read as we find time.

No, but we can take papers into the lounge on occasion to read.

Yes, daily regional paper and bi-weekly local papers. Also Time and Newsweek.

Yes, they are donations.

No. We do have a monthly in-house newsletter that is available in the staff lounge but it deals with library related topics only.

Yes, some magazines are provided by our staff association. The periodical librarian also forwards duplicate magazines to our staff room.

No. However staff will bring periodicals and newspapers into the lounge at break time (15 minutes).

No. Newspapers and magazines are located close to the staff room, so we can take them off the public shelves if we want them on break time - and many of us do.

No, staff usually brings a magazine or book to the lunchroom if they want to read.

Yes. The local paper only, plus any free copies of magazines the library is sent.

Actually, we are a very small library, and don't even have a staff lounge! The "office" where we all work does have the daily local newspaper, the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.

Yes, staff read newspapers and magazines on breaks and keep up with current affairs in that way.

None placed in lounge, but staff can borrow them from the public area to read during breaks. I keep up with magazines on current affairs, science, social issues, etc. in this way.

The Library subscribes to the Globe & Mail, as well as the local tri-weekly. Staff will borrow magazines from the current shelves.

Yes, we usually have extra copies of our local paper, i.e. Abbey Oaks, in our staff room. We do not have national papers such as the Globe & Mail, or The Post in our staff room, keeping additional copies would be too expensive.

We don't have a staff lounge, however, staff have access to the newspapers.

No, we take papers or magazines into the staff room with us during breaks.

Yes, we have magazines and newspapers for patrons and staff to view and check out.

That's a laugh. We have no staff lounge. Our library is a total of 2,000 square feet. We are located in our municipal building. We are so crowded and so busy that I usually don't eat lunch.

We do not have newspapers/magazines in our staff lounge. But staff members take these items from our collection to read at lunchtime in the lounge. We do post minutes of our administrative meetings in the lounge for the rest of the staff to read. We have a bulletin board for articles, cartoons, etc.

No, they read the library copies before we open and they are put out for the public. Funds do not allow duplicate subscriptions.

NO, but we are welcome to take items into the break room, provided that we put them back on the shelf when we are done.

Yes, local and state newspapers as well as extra copies of a variety of magazines are available to staff in our staff lounge. I believe that providing access to local newspapers from our Township in this informal way is especially useful for employees who do not reside in our community.

Print materials may be taken to staff area for reading but they are not kept there.

No, it does not. Our staff "lounge" space is very small and there are mostly non-library catalogs in this area. I will, from time to time, carry those items I want to read that are of current interest back with me if I feel that I really need to study an issue. For example, the presidential election impasse is a really hot topic and I have been reading our local newspaper a great deal more recently.

No, but we frequently take these materials into the staff lounge to read while on break.

No, but staff may have material routed to them and/or checked out to them.

There is no staff lounge in such a small library, but two local weekly newspapers as well as a number of current popular magazines are readily available (U.S. News, Time, Newsweek, Smithsonian, American Heritage, Reader's Digest, etc.)

Our newspapers are available for the general public in our reading room. They are in print format, but we do have access to Internet and online newspapers, however, rarely if ever do I get patron requests to use these format types.

No we do not routinely have access to those materials. We only have 1/2 hr for lunch and 2 short breaks so not much time available.

No, we borrow from the periodical room or read online.

I personally have a habit of taking the local newspaper with me at lunchtime, but no newspapers or magazines are kept in the lounge. We are a small rural library and would not have the budget to get an extra subscription for the staff lounge. A person can carry a copy of a newspaper or magazine from our main area to the lounge if they wish.

No newspapers or magazines available in the staff lounge although staff often brings them to the lounge to read during meal breaks.

No, print materials are not located in the staff lounge. However, we can take them from the shelves in the library and read them during our breaks.

Yes, we have the Cleveland newspaper as well as the local community ones.

No, but we may use the public copies if they are not in use.

The local papers are in the staff lounge.

Magazines but no newspapers unless we bring one to the room.

Independent, Burlingame and San Mateo Daily.

No. But we can borrow them from the public collection. And we do.

The library provides a copy of the local paper in print form in the staff lounge. It is well used there.

Yes, the library subscribes to a local newspaper.

Yes, we have The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, Time, Maclean's, The New Republic, Business Week, Commentary, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, etc.

We keep current USA Today and Daily Local News (a daily newspaper published in Chester County, PA) in the staff room. Our library copies of magazines and newspapers do not circulate, so they are available in the public area for any staff member to use during breaks.

The Oregon City News is available, which is weekly and free. The daily, the Portland Oregonian, is not. Sometimes I bring my personal Oregonian newspaper and leave it in the staff lounge.

The newspapers are not in the staff room but are readily available to take into the staff room at lunch. Several of us keep up with the local press in this manner. We do have all pertinent network newsletters and staff announcement in the Staff room at all times.

Only local weekly town newspaper.

We don't have a staff lounge (we are very small). We do eat lunch together and usually read during that time. We all read a variety of the periodicals that the library receives. But since it is our lunch and relaxation time People magazine is fought over.

We have our local paper in the staff lounge. All other newspapers are kept in main library but very accessible to the circulation desk.

No staff lounge, but we do receive about a dozen newspapers, which staff reads fairly regularly.

Staff are free to take any periodical to the staff room during breaks and dinner hours. None are purchased for the staff room.

Local paper is available.

Yes and as of last year the cable service was run into a TV there/though I've yet to see any "current" things save for the weather reports when I've been in there. Most staff prefer help shows or sitcoms as a break to public interface.

Our library is too small to have a "staff lounge" but the magazines and newspapers are right outside the door to the cozy kitchen nook, many of which find their way into the area during breaks. Nearly everyone on staff is a reader.

Libraries don't have significant "staff lounges", but staff is in the midst of the newspapers and magazines available in these small locations.

We do not subscribe to anything specifically for the staff lounge but usually a staff member will bring in his/her copy of the local newspaper and/or news magazines such as Time or Newsweek.

Yes. Time, Newsweek, People, Smithsonian and other similar popular magazines. Local newspapers are available as well. Reading these during our breaks is optional of course. Most of us read on our breaks.

Sometimes, we keep a copy of the small, weekly community newspaper in the staff lounge. We do not normally have magazines in the lounge. Mostly, our librarians and staff will read these during their lunch hour.

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