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Questions from Ryan Dowd Training

   October 23, 2018

I took a stab at responding to some of the questions submitted in ahead of our meeting on the Ryan Dowd training. I didn’t address every question. If there’s one you’re dying to see addressed, let me know.

 

Is our policy of requiring a picture ID with a current address discriminatory against homeless people or other people without easy access to such IDs?

  • Almost 90% of our funding comes from Johnston property taxes. We also get funding from the state based on our circulation to non-Johnston residents–reporting this requires knowing where patrons live. In addition, part of our responsibility is to keep track of library materials which includes knowing how to contact borrowers if needed. For these reasons, the Library Board has decided that knowing where someone lives should be a prerequisite to them having borrowing privileges.

I wondered about our sleeping patron policy, if we have one, and if we are needing to enforce it.  

  • The Conduct Policy does not include a prohibition on sleeping. A sleeping patron, however, should not be allowed to disrupt other with their snoring or whatever. Please check out Ryan Dowd’s tips at http://www.homelesslibrary.com/sleeping.html

I was also thinking about his ideas on calling vs. not calling the police.  I am thinking that our ways lean toward calling the non-emergency when we feel uncomfortable. Is that still okay?

Does the city of Johnston offer any resources for homeless people in Johnston?

How involved should circ staff be in a situation? In past meetings, we were told to let Reference & Youth handle issues & disturbances. Maybe this is this different from what we’ve discussed in the past? Just trying to understand the boundaries.

  • While all staff should be prepared to respond to difficult situations, our general guidelines on who should respond to behavior and other issues are still as follows:

  • Because Public Services and Youth Services staff are:

    • generally more available to leave their desks to respond to behavior-related incidents

    • trained to submit conduct reports and escalate consequences in accordance with the Conduct In the Library Policy

    • more familiar with many frequent-offenders

please report behavior issues you observe to either Public Services or Youth Services staff who will respond.

“Poverty is inevitably loud”. However, a library may or may not be loud. He did not give any real ideas on how to share a space. He had lots of good comments on understanding the “whys” behind volume differences, but not on space-sharing with different volume expectations.

A 2013 article from Pew on libraries and noise says,

One of the interesting findings that surfaced throughout our research, whether in our nationally representative phone survey, in-person focus groups, and our online panel of librarians, was that Americans want many things from their libraries. About three-quarters said that they want quiet study spaces available, but a similar number said they want programs and classes for children and teens, for instance — a decidedly un-quiet service!

If there’s one thing our research shows, it’s that there’s no one thing people want their libraries to be.

When it comes to noise in the library and how we should respond to it, I think we need to consider:

  • Where is the noise happening?

    • Is it happening at the train table, where most would agree that some noise is ok, or is it happening in Study Room 4, where a degree of quiet is expected by staff and other patrons?

  • What’s the context?

    • Has a program just ended? Will the crowd disperse soon? Are we having a rock concert?

  • Is the noise disrupting others’ use of the library?

    • The first, and most important, line in the Library’s Conduct Policy reads, “The Johnston Public Library is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment for the use of materials and facilities.” Later, in the list of examples of violations of the policy, the Conduct Policy reads, “Creating unreasonable noise or engaging in boisterous activity (unless caused by a disability), using personal electronic equipment at a volume that disturbs others, or otherwise engaging in behavior that interferes with the rights of individuals to use Library materials and services.”

    • We’re more fortunate than some libraries in that our building is structured so that sound in one area doesn’t always impact another area. Play in the Youth Services area will probably not bother someone studying in the southeast corner, for example. In other words, in many cases we can accommodate a variety of uses and preferences because of the building’s layout. Other times, like when the “Adult PCs” are full of gamers excited about their game while other patrons are studying quietly at the tables along the north wall, patrons are trying to use the same or adjacent spaces in conflicting ways.

One other note about noise. At the Library Foundation’s November meeting, I’ll propose a project that would create a glass-walled room in the old copier area. When not used for programs, this room would be an adult quiet lounge (not that kind of adult lounge)–with comfortable furniture and probably computers. Stay tuned.