[Publib] Security in local history room (responses)

[Linda Adams]

Thanks to all who responded to my request for suggestions on how to keep our
new history room secure.  For those interested, here are the responses so
far:

 

At our library we did have things stolen from our Local History Collection.
What we were forced to do was keep the room locked at all times and when
people came to use the collection they were not allowed to bring any bags
into the room.  That way they couldn't conceal food and drinks on the way
in, or materials on the way out.

 

Our local history and genealogy room is staffed and open the same hours as
the rest of the library.  There always has to be a staff member in the room.
If the assigned staff have to step out then the security guard remains in
the room until the staff person come back.  We also have a separate security
gate inside the door to the room.  We do not have a general sign in sheet
for the room although I have worked in places that do.  Since your room
opens out to a main hallway I would hesitate to leave anyone alone in the
room.  Small items can disappear and not be noticed as missing for quite
awhile.  You do run into the occassional person who believes that if a
member of their family is in the photo or book then it is theirs. If the
room cannot be staffed I would at least lock up the one of a kind items in
the collection. 

 

 

We require that or Special Collection room that houses our local history
collection be staffed at all times open to the public.  The door to the room
is locked when no staff is available.    If we are unable to have someone in
the room we may retrieve individual items then hold I.D. while they use them
in the library but that is not our preferred way.  We usually do that only
if it is on a weekend with minimal staffing and the patron is traveling and
can not come back at a later time.  As an alternative we offer the service
of making an appointment with the local history librarian (myself).  That
works well on occasion but often the patron does not take the appointment
seriously and shows up at the wrong time or not at all.  I have asked on
numerous occasions to be allowed to have some regular open hours for the
room but there is a strong hesitation to provide staffing.  It would mean
worrying about staffing one more service desk and further stretching of
human resources.

 

 

To justify funding, it is a good idea to have your patrons sign in.  You may
also want them to sign out to be able to illustrate the amount of time spent
in the room.  The time in and out sheet could help you trace problems that
might arise (including patron items left, items damaged, etc.).  I have been
to numberous local history and genealogy rooms/facilities.  Their security
processes differ.  Consider access for your patrons, (tangible and
intangible) value of your collection, your community's collective opinion of
accessibility and security, etc.

 

As per staffing, it is better to have your area staffed at all times to
assist your patrons and to act as a deterrent to problems.  Budget, the
community's understanding of the worth of the collection, and the
community's understanding for the need for staff overall could influence
your decisions.

 

It does no good to require sign ins, ID, whatever if the patron is left
alone with resources. If they are left with only one resource (taken from
locked storage) that works *if* each item is carefully inspected *before*
the patron leaves. That requires staff to inspect them while the person is
standing there ("Oh, just checking to see if you are a thief/vandal. Don't
take it personally.")

 

The only way to really cover security is to have staff present at all times.
We did that by hiring staff for light clerical and telephone switchboard
duty. There's always one person there, they answer the phone and route calls
and do some light clerical work (putting sealant on CD/DVD sets, entering
contents notes, whatever we can come up with).

 

It's not *really* cheap, but our phones used to be answered by the circ desk
staff and it was disruptive and irked patrons standing at the desk, and it's
a *lot* cheaper than discovering a year or two down the road that you have
hundreds of pages missing from irreplacable materials. Hope this helps. :-(

 

 

 

 

Linda Adams

Adult Services Librarian

Charlevoix Public Library

109 Clinton Street

Charlevoix, MI  49720

231-547-2651

linda at charlevoixlibrary.org

 

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