It Comes with the Territory

The mission of libraries is to meet the information needs of the people they serve--but daily, sticky situations arise that make this tough to do. Reports of peepers, use of the library by the homeless for sleeping, encounters with offensive personal hygiene, skateboarding in the stacks, the threat of violence, one's role as a babysitter for latchkey children, censorious complaints: Is there an upswing or are we just more sensitized? How do libraries meet these demands?From the perspective of a working director, this is a commonsense guide to setting fair and appropriate behavior rules and training staff in how to implement them evenhandedly and with reasonably good humor. Policies for exhibit and meeting room use; issues surrounding street people, the mentally ill, and substance abusers, sexual deviancy and parental child abuse in the library; community censorship; general security; and unaccompanied children, including protecting them and seeing to their emergency medical needs, are among the topics. Emphasis is placed on staff training and writing effective manuals.