It Comes With the Territory: Handling Problem Situations in Libraries

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, inappropriate Internet use by patrons; 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 librarians just more sensitized? How do libraries meet these demands?

From the perspective of a working director, this thoroughly updated and revised edition 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. Issues surrounding street people, the mentally ill, and substance abusers, sexual deviancy and parental child abuse in the library; community censorship; confidentiality of library records; 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.