🗓️Save the Date | October 12, Opening Day Reservations ✨Public Library Meeting Rooms✨

Published: August 31, 2026

Opening Day Reservations | Public Library Meeting Rooms

Monday, October 12, 2026, is opening day to request Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) Meeting Rooms for dates of use: January 1 through June 30. It all begins online at 6:30 a.m.

Reservation Information

Visit www.ActiveMONTGOMERY.org to reserve space for your activities!
Groups are restricted to only two uses per month at the same facility.
All meetings must be free and open to the public. Private events such as birthday parties, weddings, receptions, etc. are not permitted in libraries.
Light snacks and beverages are permitted in the meeting room only; meals and heated foods are not allowed.
No videotaping, photography, filming, or recording is permitted within the library.
Room use fees are waived.
Hourly staff costs, such as building services and security, may apply.

For additional information, go to Community Use of Public Facilities | Public Library Reservations.

Reservation Process Using ActiveMONTGOMERY:

Here's how to request a public library meeting room for an activity.

Step 1: After signing into ActiveMONTGOMERY.org, select the "Reserve a Facility or Space" thumbnail.

Step 2: On the next page, select the "Meeting Rooms" thumbnail.

Step 3: The final step on the next page will include, selecting the "Library Meeting Rooms" thumbnail.

Helpful Hints to Prepare

Ensure that your account for the NEW ActiveMONTGOMERY.org software is active with a current login and password. Read more...
Organizations should ensure that the account login and password is available to whomever in the organization has been given the authority to reserve public facilities on their behalf.
Only a single member of each organization can be logged into the organizational account at one time in order to reserve facilities.
Individual / personal accounts may not make facility reservations on behalf of an organization.

Have Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns, please call CUPF Customer Care at 240-777-2725, or send an email to CUPF at: cupf@montgomerycountymd.gov

Thank You

Thank you for using public facilities for community events and activities!

CUPF User Guidebook: Building Services Reminder

Building Services

Building services staff are required to be onsite at all times when community use is occurring in any indoor facility or a locked/secured outdoor facility such as a stadium, fenced artificial turf athletic field, or other:

The following is a general overview of what a group may expect of building services staff when working for community use events and activities:

• Introduce themselves to community user group leaders

• Check rooms before and after the group activity

• Unlock rooms and other areas prior to use, securing them when use has concluded

• Check in with the group routinely during hours of use and let the group know where they may be working in other areas of the building should the group need assistance

• Leave a dry mop available in Gymnasiums for use by community groups since reservations are often back-to-back to ensure facilities are available for use as many hours as possible

• Ensure that terms and conditions of the Facility Use License Agreement (FULA), Conditions of Use and other guidance or instructions provided to community groups are followed, calling MCPS Security or CUPF Evening and Weekend Supervisors for assistance

• Clean restrooms and hallways as needed during and after reservations

• Provide general assistance to groups as may be necessary

For general use without food or drink and only one room is reserved and used, additional building services fees are typically not necessary; however, there are exceptions:

• Groups who want chairs, tables, equipment, etc. to be set up before their arrival time, must notify CUPF when the reservation is made

• Large events always require additional staff costs

• Activities with food, drink, and equipment breakdown by school staff will incur additional staff costs

• CUPF will assess cleanup based on the hours of use, number and scope of rooms used, number of participants, whether food and or drink is served, etc.

After-Hours Help Line:

If you experience a lockout, HVAC issue, security concern, equipment failure, rooms permitted not available for use upon arrival, or other comparable situation, you must call or send a text message to 240-490-CUPF (2873) so that our office may assist in remedying the problem.

General Inquiries:

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.: 240-777-2725

Email: cupf@montgomerycountymd.gov

Thank you for using public facilities for your community events and activities!

_________

Office of Community Use of Public Facilities

Montgomery County Government, Maryland

Online: www.MontgomeryCountyMD.gov/CUPF

Email: CUPF@MontgomeryCountyMD.gov

Phone: 240-777-2725

After Hours Help Line, 240-490-CUPF (2873)

Call or Text: 240-490-CUPF (2873)

Call or Text the After Hours Help Line when your community use group is on-site at a school or County government facility and experiences the following:

lockout at a facility reserved
unable to locate staff assistance on-site during scheduled use
lack of air conditioning or heat
any issues or concerns encountered during scheduled use of a facility

Provide your name, the reason for your call, and the phone number where you can be reached.

Pattern Bookings (Same day weekly, same time, several weeks, etc.)

Yes, It Requires More Steps

When attempting a pattern booking to reserve multiple dates at one time, such as every Tuesday in the same gym, 7:00-8:00 p.m. October through March, groups reserving space online have found it to be more challenging in the new software than before. The software requires that you load one date at a time into the cart and then checkout and pay for all dates. Yes, it does take additional steps than in the past and more time to load each date into the cart.

Community user groups have been using the new software for Park fields since February 2022, school facilities, libraries, and other facilities since May 2022. It does work. So, rest assured that while it requires additional steps and added time, the system does work for pattern reservations as we have outlined below.

The Good Part

Let's first consider the beneficial side of this process.

It is apparent that this slower process will be an immense help to our community as it will curb over-reserving by groups that have been known to go online and reserve excessive space anywhere that they can get it, just in case they need it or don't get other space that they desire. Often, we have seen groups do that and then later go back and cancel a substantial percentage of the space based upon what they actually received elsewhere. In fact, at times, groups have canceled so late that it prevents other groups from being able to stand up a program and use the space. Many community groups have long shared that such has often been destructive to their ability to successfully operate programs in schools for our community.

So, while this does involve more steps, this more time-consuming process will prevent user groups from doing bulk, full-blast, snatch-and-grab type reservations for space that they end up never using. Thus, this will serve to preserve the community’s ability to reserve space in a manner that is more equitable to all.

We have asked the vendor for a way to make it somewhat less cumbersome; however, right now, they have not been able to implement changes.

We Totally Get It

It can be frustrating. We get it. In fact, staff have the same process on their end as the online users do. We book all school and PTA events ourselves, along with other priority high-volume use. Trust me, we do get it. It is not quick and easy. We totally understand.

As with each software change, there are things that are not always the same. Some better, some worse. This was not our intended design. It is how the software works as of right now.

This specific change impacts all 6,000 groups that CUPF works alongside to ensure access to public facilities. The overwhelming majority of community user groups are non-profit, and are fully volunteer led without any paid staff to assist. These changes impact volunteers and paid staff at all organizations.

We empathize with each of our customers. Truly, we do.

Working To Make It Better

As groups become more familiar with the software, it is anticipated that those reserving space will find it less cumbersome. Nonetheless, we fully understand the impact. We will continue to collaborate with the vendor for a middle-ground approach as we move forward.

Let's Walk Through It

STEP ONE:

Select “Facilities” from the main screen

STEP TWO:

Select Facility Type. For this demonstration, we will be using the Montgomery County Public School Gymnasiums

STEP THREE:

Enter the most important search criteria on the left hand side:
DATE: Beginning Date
TIME: Beginning Time of rental
LOCATION: Select 1-4 locations to load results easily and quickly.
Once this is completed, click on the dark blue “SEARCH” button on the left hand side of your screen.
The system will narrow down the results to the ones that fit your search criteria, making the website easier to read and move through.

STEP FOUR:

Click on each consecutive time block until you have the time range that you would like fully selected. In this example, we will be booking from 6-8pm. So you will need to select 4 time blocks.
The system will add this date to your “pre-cart” which can be found at the bottom of your screen.
Once you have selected the first date and time, do NOT click add to cart.
Now that your first date is in the “Pre-Cart” area, change the “date” on the left hand side (in the search criteria area) to your next date and click “search”.

STEP FIVE:

Reselect the times you are booking for (on the new date).
They will be added into the “Pre-Cart” area.
After clicking “add to cart” the system will ask you to assign the booking to a family member, as seen below. If you are booking on behalf of an organization, check the organization name. If you are booking on behalf of a person, check the person’s name.
Complete steps four and five for each date you are booking for. The “Pre-Cart” will keep track of them all.
Once you have selected all of your dates, click the “Add to Cart” button to complete the check out process.

Pro Tip

When answering the questions that are produced to make the booking, please be sure the “Copy Answers” box is toggled with a check mark- this will pre-enter your answers for each like facility. (IE: If a classroom and a gym are booked- the classroom answers will be applied to the classroom bookings, and the gym answers will be applied to the gym bookings.) If this is not toggled on, you will need to answer the questions for each individual date that you are booking for. Soooo, please make sure the “Copy Answers” is toggled on!

It Sounds Way Worse

We think that these steps outlined above in detail make it sound worse than it really is, overall. Once you have done it once, you'll be good at it. Once you've done it twice, you'll be a pro at it, we hope. We're actually quite confident about that. And, if we're wrong, we are here to help you. Just reach out.