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Following the recent shooting at NIU (one of my old schools!), the shootings at the City Council meeting in Kirkwood, MO, and the suicide of a student at a nearby high school, the local police forces are a-quiver about security in schools and city buildings -- like the library.

We are going to have a security audit done by the PD and take their advice regarding things to do.

Has anyone had this done? What were the results? Any suggestions or advice?

I remember the feeling I got when I had to go through a security gate staffed by two security guards at a branch of a large urban library (to remain nameless), just to walk into the library. It was like going through security at the airport (before the liquid restrictions). I can imagine that the gate probably intimidated many people so much, they decided to just not enter the library at all. I won't go so far as to say that they were denying access to the library, but it was a pretty big hurdle to jump in order to get in.

I was only a summer resident in that city, so I don't know what the history of that branch was in order to prompt them to install the security gate, but it makes you ponder what are we securing if people are too intimidated to get into the library. Though of course, if there is no security, people may be afraid of coming in because they will feel unprotected from those who will bring in weapons, or harass other library users. It's definitely a sticky wicket.

I've been thinking of this even more as last week, at my local library branch where I am a patron, an elderly man was beat up in a path right behind the library. I wonder if parents are going to start restricting their kids from going to the library on their own (almost every time I go in, I see kids coming out of the library and hopping on their bikes to ride home - even after dark). That would be sad since this library is only a year old - and the neighborhood has been advocating for a library to be there for at least 50 years.

I wonder what the library's role is in providing a safe and secure place for community members of all ages, from children to seniors, to read, share, and explore.

Emily

One of the things that triggered the concern of the local PD is that they found some Bad Things in the City Council Chambers. For example, there is a double door from the Chamber to the Police Department, but there is no way that responding officers can see what's going on in the Chambers -- and in a violent situation that could be fatal (and it's being fixed!). Their test response also found that it took two (2) minutes to get officers into the Chambers, and that's a lifetime when things are going bad.

The cops will be doing the assessment.

We had an 18 year old threaten an 8 year old with a knife, trying to push the younger kid back into the Boy's Bathroom. The younger kid yelled and ran, the attacker ran and was captured a hour later, fortunately by the cops and not by my staff. The attacker was identified by the staff (he was a "regular") and will be spending the next five years or so as a guest of the State of Idaho.

But...over the past two years I have so far spent about US $14,000 on security cameras and DVRs. I could have used the money for things like books.... However, parents and patrons feel MUCH better just knowing that someone is keeping an eye out. There was some concern that we "would know what people are reading" but I pointed out that if we could find that out easily enough without cameras AND I have shown the camera displays to anyone who cared to see.

I think that if you tell the public what you're doing and why, pointing out that it is actually for the greater good and that we don't really care what they are doing or reading or browsing (within legal limits, of course!), they accept it. Being transparent is good for libraries as well as for politicians.

And although some of the staff WOULD like Tasers, I'm not going to do it! :-)