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Animals Policy
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Benson Memorial Library Animals Policy

Pets are not permitted in the library. Animals may not impede library entrances and exits. Additionally, all animals are prohibited from entering library facilities, with the following exceptions:

  1. Animals featured in programs sponsored by Benson Memorial Library,
  2. Animals being used for law enforcement purposes, and
  3. Service animals and service animals in training (hereafter referred to as “service animals”) that require accommodation under the ADA. More information regarding service animals in the Library can be found below.

Service Animals

Under 3 P.S. § 459-102, a service dog is “Any dog which has been or is in the process of being trained as a guide dog, signal dog or has been trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items.”

Emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

Rules for Service Animals

  1. Individuals with disabilities may bring their service animals into all areas of the library where members of the public are normally allowed to go.
  2. By ADA regulation, service animals must be under the immediate control of their handlers at all times. Therefore, service animals which are not leashed, housebroken, are uncontrolled, or whose behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others will be required to leave the building. We will accommodate the patron in another manner, such as from outside the building or without the animal present.
  3. If it is not obvious that an animal brought into the library is a service animal, a staff member may ask the following questions:
  1. Is the animal a service animal required because of a disability?
  2. What specific work or task has the animal been trained to perform?
  1. Staff members may not ask about the nature of a person's disability.
  2. Users of service animals are not required to show certification or licensing documentation, to prove a disability.
  3. Service animals are not required to wear a special harness, collar, or otherwise identifying uniforms.
  4. Misrepresenting an animal as a service animal may result in suspension of library privileges.

Approved by the Benson Memorial Library Board of Directors on June 15, 2021.