OTHER Problems at Libraries

[apl68]

We've had a certain amount of discussion of the surge in materials challenges at libraries around parts of the country in recent months.  But libraries have a lot of other things to worry about, and in many places these other concerns are a good deal more pressing.  Concerns such as libraries being turned into de facto homeless, mental health, and drug services; violence and other disruptive behavior, stemming from the above; budget problems; etc.

A recent article deals with some of these issues:

From late 2020 to early 2021, University of Toronto information science professor Siobhan Stevenson conducted a survey of front-line library workers in four public systems in Canada, asking them about their experiences of violence and incivility.

The results painted a picture of a predominantly female profession that could be difficult, traumatic, and sometimes dangerous. About two-thirds of respondents reported feeling unsafe, from a few times a month to a few times a week. As many as 84 percent had been victims of verbal intimidation, while 75 percent had experienced an unwelcome invasion of personal space or physical intimidation. Four percent said they had been the subject of an attempted rape.

"I have been threatened with violence on a number of occasions, knifed and punched in the face," one respondent reported. "Verbal threats of rape, at least once a month," said another. "As time passes, I have felt more unsafe in my workplace—which surprises me," said a third. "I love my job but it has changed dramatically over the last few years for the worse."

https://thewalrus.ca/future-of-libraries/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[apl68]

It's worth noting that the article deals with the situation with libraries in Canada.  For all that many Americans seem to see Canada as an outpost of enlightened Scandinavia, our neighbors to the north seem to be dealing with problems that seem all too familiar to people in the U.S. 

Which is not to say that in parts of the U.S. these problems aren't often still more extreme.  Recent news stories have noted that the San Diego Public Library's main downtown facility, for example, has in the past five years had to call the police for:

253 incidents of disturbing the peace
87 mental health emergencies
68 violent disturbances
63 drug overdoses
52 concealed weapons
51 cases of battery
27 cases of theft
25 assaults with a deadly weapon
21 cases of armed threatening
18 reported deaths, including a recent murder and two known suicides; the rest are presumably fatal overdoses

It's not a great time to be a librarian in North America.

[lightning]

Our university library has slowly evolved into an 18-hours-a-day shelter for homeless, those with mental problems, and others who need a safe place to hang out. At first it wasn't a big deal, but there has been a big increase in the homeless population that hangs out in our library. It has gotten to the point where we no longer allow anyone to take a nap in the library.

I'm thinking to myself that our community's social safety net (both public and private) are no longer enough.

[paultuttle]

Our university library has slowly evolved into an 18-hours-a-day shelter for homeless, those with mental problems, and others who need a safe place to hang out. At first it wasn't a big deal, but there has been a big increase in the homeless population that hangs out in our library. It has gotten to the point where we no longer allow anyone to take a nap in the library.

I'm thinking to myself that our community's social safety net (both public and private) are no longer enough.

[plural added]

They were not enough in the 1970s before the Reagan administration defunded mental hospitals. They were not enough when the Iraq war veterans came home with PTSD. They were not enough when homelessness became a chronic problem throughout our country. They were not enough when both mass and social media began blurring the distinctions still further between reality/facts/what actually happens/ed and fiction/conspiracy theories/wishful thinking.

SMDH

[hmaria1609]

This article from "The Walrus" is making the rounds online this week! I saw it as a getpocket.com recommendation.

I like the name of the magazine! :D

[lightning]

Our university library has slowly evolved into an 18-hours-a-day shelter for homeless, those with mental problems, and others who need a safe place to hang out. At first it wasn't a big deal, but there has been a big increase in the homeless population that hangs out in our library. It has gotten to the point where we no longer allow anyone to take a nap in the library.

I'm thinking to myself that our community's social safety net (both public and private) are no longer enough.

[plural added]

They were not enough in the 1970s before the Reagan administration defunded mental hospitals. They were not enough when the Iraq war veterans came home with PTSD. They were not enough when homelessness became a chronic problem throughout our country. They were not enough when both mass and social media began blurring the distinctions still further between reality/facts/what actually happens/ed and fiction/conspiracy theories/wishful thinking.

SMDH

All true, but librarians back then were not librarians-trying-to-be-social-workers. They were librarians being librarians.

[kaysixteen]

Obviously we need to get back into the mental hospital biz, but that said, a uni lib is not the proper place for mentally ill people, druggies, etc., to hang out.   They are not tuition payers, and were I the father of a student, with me paying big bucks to send him there, I would not want him to not be able to safely and comfortably access said libes, without having to deal with said mental patients, junkies, etc.   Private schools have absolutely no obligation to allow such people in their libraries, and even though state unis may have some such obligations, no properly understood obligation requires the library to tolerate the continued presence of scumbags who, well, act like scumbags.   Out the door, one strike you are out, and if you return, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to jail you go.

[Caracal]

Obviously we need to get back into the mental hospital biz, but that said, a uni lib is not the proper place for mentally ill people, druggies, etc., to hang out.  They are not tuition payers, and were I the father of a student, with me paying big bucks to send him there, I would not want him to not be able to safely and comfortably access said libes, without having to deal with said mental patients, junkies, etc.  Private schools have absolutely no obligation to allow such people in their libraries, and even though state unis may have some such obligations, no properly understood obligation requires the library to tolerate the continued presence of scumbags who, well, act like scumbags.  Out the door, one strike you are out, and if you return, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to jail you go.

Being mentally ill shouldn't mean you can't use the library, nor should being a drug user. I think there's a moral obligation to not shut people out because of beliefs about them based on their appearance or affect. Obviously, there are behaviors that can't be allowed in a library, but it's important to not confuse behaviors and people.

[lightning]

Obviously we need to get back into the mental hospital biz, but that said, a uni lib is not the proper place for mentally ill people, druggies, etc., to hang out.  They are not tuition payers, and were I the father of a student, with me paying big bucks to send him there, I would not want him to not be able to safely and comfortably access said libes, without having to deal with said mental patients, junkies, etc.  Private schools have absolutely no obligation to allow such people in their libraries, and even though state unis may have some such obligations, no properly understood obligation requires the library to tolerate the continued presence of scumbags who, well, act like scumbags.  Out the door, one strike you are out, and if you return, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to jail you go.

Being mentally ill shouldn't mean you can't use the library, nor should being a drug user. I think there's a moral obligation to not shut people out because of beliefs about them based on their appearance or affect. Obviously, there are behaviors that can't be allowed in a library, but it's important to not confuse behaviors and people.

Our librarians (OK, the library's un-armed security staff under direction of the librarians) will not kick anyone out due to mental illness. But, anyone who is disruptive or poses a safety risk will be escorted out. That applies to students, faculty, and staff, also.

[kaysixteen]

No one is arguing that a person who is mentally ill should be defenestrated from the library merely for being ill-- in any case, how would the librarian know this?   But *acting like scumbags* as I said, out the door you go.   It really shouldn't have been very hard to read my piece and glean my meaning.

And I did also mention something else that may be difficult for some people to accept, however true it actually is.   Namely that private universities are, ahem, private places, and junkies off the street are not members of the campus community and have no actual rights to be in those libraries, and their presence is, ahem, detrimental to the well-being and academic uses of those who do.   Walmart may have to acccept scumbag junkies walking in off the street, but libraries at private universities, heck even local pub libraries, really, do not.

[nebo113]

Scumbag junkies....Spoken like the true Christian you profess to be.

[Langue_doc]

Problems at some of the branches of our city libraries include unsupervised children using the library as a playground, loud music, sleeping individuals sprawled out on seats meant for readers/users of the library, individuals watching porn on the library computers, and most recently an individual with a dog getting onto a very small elevator. When I told the attendant I would wait for the next elevator, he responded, "I don't blame you." I once encountered a female librarian, being rudely dismissed by a disruptive individual. 

[kaysixteen]

Being an actual Christian, I favor *not leaving* said scumbag junkies to remain as, well, scumbag junkies, but rather forcing them to stop being such, and providing the resources, rehab, etc., to help that process along.  Meanwhile, they do not get to ruin everyone else's experience of the library, etc. 

It is much easier to critique attitudes I have expressed when/if one does not actually live somewhere where one gets to encounter people like this on a regular basis.  Where I live, and having to park on the street, I regularly encounter these sorts just between my house and my car, esp at night.  Just going into the local pub library often requires one to run a gauntlet away from such folks.   Most people from Leafy Suburb can look the other way, but we cannot.  Leafy Suburbanites get to rest easy knowing that people like this in their own communities more or less get forced, or at least incentivized, to come to places like Rusty City-- their own libraries more or less get to be Junkie-free.  Drugs Suck.

[AmLitHist]

Wow.

[jimbogumbo]

Being an actual Christian, I favor *not leaving* said scumbag junkies to remain as, well, scumbag junkies, but rather forcing them to stop being such, and providing the resources, rehab, etc., to help that process along.  Meanwhile, they do not get to ruin everyone else's experience of the library, etc. 

It is much easier to critique attitudes I have expressed when/if one does not actually live somewhere where one gets to encounter people like this on a regular basis.  Where I live, and having to park on the street, I regularly encounter these sorts just between my house and my car, esp at night.  Just going into the local pub library often requires one to run a gauntlet away from such folks.   Most people from Leafy Suburb can look the other way, but we cannot.  Leafy Suburbanites get to rest easy knowing that people like this in their own communities more or less get forced, or at least incentivized, to come to places like Rusty City-- their own libraries more or less get to be Junkie-free.  Drugs Suck.

You really are bring foolish. Most of us interact with "such folks" daily. There is no library in a city of any size that does not have "such folks". In my town in Colorado "such folks" are on every street corner, and the local library as well as the one in Boulder and another CO town nearby have had to close due to meth contamination in the restroom. I interact and talk to them every morning at my rec center where they come to shower, and at McDonald's at breakfast after.

And you are nowhere near what you claim you are.