Safety in the Library ~ Never Out of Date

WMRLS has long advocated that libraries should ALWAYS have at least 2 people on duty at any time. While this may be difficult for small or branch libraries, it is essential that we provide for the safety of our valuable library workers and library users.

A previous WRapper article on this topic was prompted because I had just returned from a Rural Libraries Conference in Arizona where shock and fear had spread throughout the library community there... a local librarian had just been brutally murdered in her remote library, while working alone, just before the conference began. Within a year, western Massachusetts experienced a similar troubling situation when a local librarian was beaten and assaulted while working alone in her library. Fortunately, in that case, she was able to escape without serious injury, but it was a very unsettling experience for everyone. In our first article we had cautioned that people shouldn't assume “That sort of thing couldn't happen here”. We learned firsthand that such things can happen anywhere. There have been other episodes in other parts of Massachusetts as well.

It is critical that sensible precautions be taken. The following tips should be considered by librarians, trustees, or other governing authorities:

1. Have a second person on hand at all times, especially at opening and closing times. The dynamics of a confrontation are dramatically altered by the presence of another person. In addition to warding off attacks, it is useful to have another person nearby in case someone was to fall down a flight of stairs or suffer a heart attack or other medical emergency.
2. If you cannot provide for a second person, especially at closing times, make sure there is someone waiting for the employee to arrive home and to check up if they don't show up.
3. Install an alarm that sounds directly at the police station or at the emergency dispatch center for the town.
4. Provide an on-person mobile phone or other communications device to use in an emergency, programmed to call the police.
5. Increase lighting inside and outside the library and in parking areas.
6. Cut back landscaping where people can hide.
7. Make sure there is clear visibility between the parking area and the library entrance.
8. Hold regular security awareness sessions for all staff and volunteers.
9. Establish a Crime Watch network with householders and businesses in the library's vicinity.
10. Develop a safety plan with the local police, covering how to deal with problem patrons, how to report an incident, and procedures for entering the library when there are signs of forced entry.

This article was originally printed in the April 2001 edition of WRapper: the newsletter of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System

~ John Ramsay, Regional Administrator, WMRLS