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Unattended Children Policy

The Topsfield Town Library welcomes children of all ages to fully benefit from and utilize all the library’s resources and services. The library attempts to provide a safe environment for all patrons, and particularly children. In doing so, the library staff requires parents and/or responsible adults to assume responsibility for the children in their care. The library staff is not responsible for the care and direct safety of unattended children.

To enable the library staff to promote library material and provide resources and services to all patrons, the following guidelines have been established regarding children and safety.

• All children 8 years old and younger must be accompanied and supervised by a parent or other responsible adult.


• At the discretion of a responsible adult, a child 9 years and older may be left unattended for the period of time needed to select materials, complete a homework assignment, or attend a program. The child must know how to reach the responsible adult in case the need should arise. Children should not be left for excessively long periods of time (suggested - no more than two hours).


• Children and their responsible adult should be aware of the closing times of the library. Children must be able to reach the responsible adult in cases where inclement weather or other unforeseen incidents require the library to deviate from regular closing hours.


• If a child from age 9 to 16 has not been picked up from the library by closing, two staff members will wait for a maximum of 15 minutes for the safe pick-up of a child. After that time the library staff will call the police to escort children who have been left at the library. Responsible adults will be called to pick up the child at the Police Department.

Contact the library at: Phone: 1-978-887-1528 Fax: 1-978-887-0185 email: mto@mvlc.org