What troubles librarians most

I'm on this committee who's purpose is to draft policy to deal with extreme library behavior. We're going to individual libraries to talk to them about how to use library policy to handle patrons and circumstances that are "out of the ordinary."

What it seems that most of the libraries want to talk about, what is troubling them most, is unattended children. This is a problem that is striking every library, from the ones who serve the upper middle class to the branch in the poorer areas. At a staff meeting last week we did not get to finish everything we wanted to say because the library staff wanted to focus on the issue of unattended children.

How do you deal with an unattended child who's causing a ruckus? What happens when a parent does not handle their own children? What happens when a parent simply isn't there? Library policy DOES address these issues but a librarian has to ACT on the policy and that is never simple. Some librarians are simply content to sit behind the desk and have the problem sort itself out or ignore it entirely. You cannot ignore an unattended five year old roaming around the library, asking questions every five minutes and pulling books off the shelves. Yet it seems like some librarians are trying very hard to do so.

Library Daycare

Our library is many of our patron's own personal, free, daycare center. Why pay childcare when your child can go to the library for free and stay until you feel like picking them up?

For the past two weeks on Friday night there have been packs of children left stranded when we close at six pm. Last week there were two ten year olds who were at the library for 4-5 hours and told me that their parents worked and could not pick them up. When I inquired how they would get home they said they would walk but that it was far.

This week there was a larger group of a 7, 8, 5 and I believe a four year old who were left at the library for 3-4 hours with no adult supervision. As kids are wont to do, they were destructive and left the toddler books in complete disarray. When the library closed at six pm there was no adult coming to pick up this group of children. I asked when their parents would pick them up and they said it would be any minute. Six o'clock came and went, the staff was getting ready to go. I told the staff I would give it one more minute and then I was calling the sheriff. Just then the pack of kids darted out the door and ran off. I called after them and they yelled at me that they would walk home. Then they continued to run down the street, four year old in tow.

What do you do in a situation like that?

Free Puppies to Every Child!

Our library is part library, part day care center. People come at ten when we open, leave their kids in the corner and do whatever they want for five or six hours letting their kids roam about freely. Some even drop their kids off and leave the premises. We are not the only library suffering from this problem; it happens everywhere. While the library is a welcoming place for the community, destructive toddlers and children screaming and tearing up the place does not make it a haven for the rest of the community.

One time a father left his 18 month year old alone in the children's section while he sat on the opposite end of the library at the computers. The toddler did what toddlers do, cause havoc. She promptly pulled as many books off the shelves as she could get her chubby fingers on. Today there was a pair of seven or eight year old boys ignored for SEVEN hours by their caregivers and left to make as much noise as they could.

I have come up with a solution. I made a sign today. It read: "Parents please watch your children. Unattended children will be given free puppies and coffee." Of course I'm flexible. I'd be happy to give them Mountain Dew instead. Perhaps I'll throw in a few Super Soakers they can take home. Maybe some of them would like kittens instead. I think it's only fair that the home of these children should be as quiet and peaceful a place as our library is.