Dealing with an adult who has urinated on seats or another who is intoxicated and belligerent is not typically a librarian’s job, but that is exactly what staff at Squamish’s Public Library say they have had to manage.
A security guard was hired last month to help deal with problem behaviour. On Dec. 9, the library’s leaders appeared before council’s budget workshop to request $78,000 for seven-day-a-week security service in 2016.
“Community members and visitors are coming in record numbers, borrowing a record number of materials and attending morning programs and evening lectures in record numbers,” library board chair Estelle Taylor told The Squamish Chief. “The district’s 2016 library budget, including providing a security guard, will help the district leverage past investment to create an even better library.”
Prior to the guard, staff reported not feeling completely safe in doing their jobs, Taylor said.
“The staff were feeling really on tenterhooks, and it wasn’t a good working environment for them,” she told council. The library has a code of conduct but it is difficult for library staff to enforce while also doing their jobs of helping patrons find resources, Taylor said.
“This is sort of the problem, we have had this code of conduct, you need to be sober, you need to be awake, not disturbing other patrons, et cetera, but there has been no enforcing of that,” she said.
Taylor and director of library services Hilary Bloom both said it is more efficient and cost-effective to have a security guard to aid staff rather than routinely calling the police.
Even when the police are needed, the guard can assist while waiting for the RCMP officers to arrive, Bloom said.
“When somebody is under the influence and mentally ill and you are trying to get them to move on, the volatility is sky high. The RCMP take our calls – they take 20 minutes to get there. I am in charge of an operation and I need it to be safe, and I need somebody there to support that in that moment,” said Bloom.
Since the guard started, staff has felt much safer, according to Taylor.
For example, on patrols outside the library, the guard has taken away alcohol and drugs from the bushes so patrons aren’t coming in and out of the library getting intoxicated, she said.
The guard also asked someone to wake up and go for a little walk and then come back to the library when they are more awake and supported staff in a difficult conversation with a patron.
The guard is being funded from library reserves for the remainder of 2015.
Taylor said the library is more inclusive with the guard because the guard talks to patrons and can de-escalate situations so the person can stay.
“We want this to be a welcoming place for everyone because we understand you have nowhere to go, but you’ve got to play by the rules,” Taylor said.
