[Publib] Library Closing for "after school hours"

[myp_chan at yahoo.com]

--- James Casey <jcasey at oaklawnlibrary.org> wrote:
> Although Oak Lawn is a village of 55,000, I have
> also heard the refrain from staff and patrons
"parents don't care and the police put these
> problems low on their list of priorities."  Those of
> us who are Library administrators need to try to
convince the police to move the priority higher up. 

I work in a city of 76,000 and the library is next
door to the high school. We certainly get very busy
during after-school hours, and it can get very rowdy
and even disruptive. But we have a security guard who
arrives at around 2:30 every day and stays until we
close at 9pm. Did the library in Maplewood have a
security guard? From the article it doesn't sound like
it, but I would think that's an obvious way to handle
this type of problem. I know in my city the police
force is understaffed and probably couldn't be
pressured to make the library a priority if they
wanted to.

Closing the library so students won't come in sounds
like discrimination to me. Alienating an entire age
group doesn't bode well for the future when those kids
become taxpayers and voters. Will they be supportive
of the library then? I sure wouldn't. 

Linda

 

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