[Publib] adults in children's area

[subs itoors]

Hi:

As the mother of a 6 year old daughter who lives in Manhattan (NYC) we  
are CONSTANTLY  aware of single adults in children's only sections. We  
have several places in the city that have these kinds of rules--being  
that it is such a cramped place, people try to find public places to  
go and are often happy just to find somewhere they can sit for a few  
minutes.

This is probably an extremely un-politically correct thing to say, but  
I'll be honest here: We look at these people VERY suspiciously if they  
are single men. When there is a single woman, which almost NEVER  
happens, we will usually assume she is looking for kids or grandkids.

As for "normal" healthy adults, I think it is perfectly reasonable to  
not have them in the children's area. If they want to find a book,  
they can find it, and take it to another section. Or they could make  
it clear to the librarian what they are doing there, and then get a  
stack and go to another part of the library.

As for other types of adults who genuinely do need children's  
materials, it seems the library could work out an individual  
arrangement that would benefit both parties: perhaps they could have  
special open hours once a week or month for these groups. Or perhaps  
they could post a notice explaining that there are these groups who  
use the library so the families can actually get a chance to talk to  
their kids about it--and it becomes a developmental activity.

I think alerting the parents is really the best method, because then  
it benefits both groups. If I talk to my child about it in advance,  
she is less likely to say something very rude or hurtful to the  
person, and of course the adult is less likely to have his feelings  
hurt.