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This article was downloaded by: [University of Chicago Library]On: 19 November 2014, At: 12:08Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of Library AdministrationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjla20
Who Uses the Public Library, and WhoCares?Josie Barnes Parkera Column Editora Director, Ann Arbor District Library, Ann Arbor, MI, USAPublished online: 19 Jun 2014.
To cite this article: Josie Barnes Parker Column Editor (2014) Who Uses the Public Library, and WhoCares?, Journal of Library Administration, 54:4, 318-326, DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2014.924325
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Journal of Library Administration, 54:318–326, 2014Published with license by Taylor & FrancisISSN: 0193-0826 print / 1540-3564 onlineDOI: 10.1080/01930826.2014.924325
In the Public Interest
JOSIE BARNES PARKER, Column EditorDirector, Ann Arbor District Library, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Column Editor’s Note. It is a privilege to be asked to edit andwrite a column addressing issues of concern to the general publicand the public library community. I will attempt to bring issuesforward from the point of view of public libraries, large and small,wealthy and struggling, used and neglected, and those facing thefuture, as well as those struggling to preserve practices that deserverespect, if not preservation. Although the Journal of Library Ad-ministration has peer-reviewed articles, this “In the Public Interest”column is intended to represent all of the perspectives of the publicconcerning public libraries, and those of persons who are deliver-ing service to the public through public libraries. This column willappear on a rotation, in several issues each year. Submissions arenot peer-reviewed, but are reviewed and selected by the column ed-itor. Public library administrators, managers, anyone on the staffof a public library, and those serving in elected and appointedpositions in local governments are invited to contribute to the col-umn by contacting Josie Parker at [email protected] email address.Manuscript guidelines and submission timelines will be sent withfurther instruction for authors.
WHO USES THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND WHO CARES?
This question became a very important one in my community in Marchwhen the public library Board voted 6–1 to pass a resolution asking the CityCouncil of Ann Arbor to defeat a resolution on its agenda to designate landfor a public park on property immediately adjacent to the Downtown Library.This decision by the Library board was singular in its importance. The publiclibrary in our community is a separate entity representing a geographic areamuch larger than the City of Ann Arbor, and the Library Board has never
© Josie Barnes ParkerAddress correspondence to Josie Barnes Parker, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104,
USA. E-mail: [email protected]
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in documented history taken an unsolicited position on the business of anyother governmental unit in its taxing jurisdiction.
The stakes are high, and the situation is clearly very political. As Directorof the AADL, I was sent to speak to the City Council and read the AADLBoard’s resolution into the record. What happened, consequently, sent ourcommunity reeling. Many of the same issues playing out in editorials andopinion pieces around the nation and in library professional journals, blogs,and on social media about who uses the public library, who cares, and why,became a conversation (Stanton, 2014a) that ripped the top right off of allpretext in our community about our values and motivations regarding thepublic library.
I am suddenly aware of the same types of issues in other communitieslikely the way I suddenly saw pregnant women everywhere the day I foundout I was pregnant. There have always been issues around who uses theLibrary, and what the responsibility is of library administrations and theirgoverning Boards to provide safe, clean and secure facilities for everyonecoming through the doors. We just don’t talk about it. We should, becauseon the whole, public libraries do this very, very well.
At the City Council meeting in Ann Arbor, I was asked to speak publiclyabout concerns the Library Board has about behavior in and around thelibrary that if not taken into consideration with the possible developmentof a public park next to the library, would likely result in an escalation ofthose behaviors. The Library Board was asking City Council simply to slowdown and plan for the realities of a public space in a growing city thatincludes a major university. The Library Board was asking Council to planto manage a public park at least as well as the public library manages a verywell used public space. Earlier in the meeting, several council members hadscoffed at the fact that unpleasant, much less criminal, behaviors occur atthe Library. The Library Board’s concerns were publicly described as “silly”and “a fiction.” These council members had met recently with Library Boardmembers and had heard directly how those concerns are manifested andwhat, in the Library Board’s view, would be seen as support of the Libraryand its very positive contribution to Ann Arbor’s downtown vitality andeconomic development.
I was invited that evening to be specific about those concerns in aboutas public a manner as is possible. That moment for me is one I think everylibrary Director in the nation dreads (Stanton, 2014b). I am about to say outloud that very bad things happen within the walls of the public library. Imust say it so that it is not blown out of proportion or used wrongly tofurther agendas that are not in the best interests of the public library andits visitors. I believed that because I was standing in front of a City Councilwith four of its members running for mayor, and because it is a Council thatalready knows what I am about to say, that this is likely not going to go
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well for me or for the Library. It is just too good an opportunity for politicaltheatre, and I am not at all positive that I can control the narrative.
Yes, bad things happen in public libraries. Bad things happen in allpublic places. However, mostly very good things happen in public librariesbecause we come from a good place to begin with—all are welcome inthis space—and we manage those places to assure that all are welcome,comfortable and as safe as we can possibly make them.
It turns out I was wrong about controlling the narrative. I did not haveenough faith in the thousands of people who use the public library everyday in my community. I told the truth about the heroin overdoses (Gardner,2014), the drunk and disorderly conduct, angry outbursts, and the increasingproblem with petty theft. I stood calmly before scoffing members of CityCouncil who immediately charged me with fear mongering. They startedin talking about the homeless and there was no lack of political rhetoric. Iresponded back that I had not used the word homeless, and would not. Istressed that some of the most obnoxious behavior exhibited in the publiclibrary comes from well housed, well fed, and well educated members of thecommunity. I will never forget the resulting two beats of shocked silence.I referred to the public library as a “park with walls” and that the 250 Kspent each year for internal security is well spent. I also stressed that be-cause these things occur but do not dominate the experience of most ofthe persons visiting, it should indicate how well managed the Library is,and why the Library Board is concerned about a park without a plan inthe Downtown. I then sat down and watched the resulting fireworks. TheCouncil resolution passed in spite of my comments and the library Board’srequest, and all hell broke out that night and in the following weeks in thelocal media and in social media. I know now what it means when a per-son’s Twitter account “lights up.” Library users and supporters respondedon blogs, Twitter, Facebook, email, in notes and letters, and even deliveredcookies to the Security staff expressing support and gratitude to everyoneworking at the public library. It was an amazing show of support.
I found myself over the next weeks speaking to reporters about thesituation. While most of the focus was on the heroin overdose cases, therewas some effort to speak to my adamant refusal to allow an overbroad gen-eralization about homelessness and the use of the public library by homelesspersons to dominate the discussion. I insisted then, and maintain, that weare talking about behavior and that public libraries manage huge numbersof people from many socio-economic conditions every day and that we doit very well. We know that anyone can misbehave in a public library andthat expecting more misbehavior or less based on appearances is not onlyunjust and without integrity, it is also short-sighted and unpardonable if youare the one responsible for the safety and well being of people in a publicbuilding.
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A recent National Public Radio story (Shafer, 2014) for Morning Editionfeatured the San Francisco Public Library’s decision to hire a social workerfor its Downtown location, and according to the story other public libraries inmajor cities including Sacramento, Salt Lake and Philadelphia have followedsuit. While I don’t question the value of this decision to those using the SanFrancisco Public Library and to the staff who serve them, I was as dismayedby NPR’s approach to the story as I was by that of local officials in AnnArbor trying to use homelessness as a distraction to avoid discussing what isbecoming a major issue in our parks, libraries, and other public spaces. Thelittle over 3 minute piece on a national radio program could have done somuch good to show how much good public libraries do, and for so many,had it focused on the fact that the hiring of a social worker is one piece of thecomplex and expensive job that running a library system in San Francisco ison a day to day basis.
I was not completely unprepared for the pushback by some membersof our city council, but nothing could have prepared me for some of whatwas said to me that evening. Fortunately, I had been challenged to thinkmore and differently about public spaces and how they are managed bya professor in the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the University ofMichigan when speaking as a guest lecturer there in the fall of 2013. DavidThacher researches and writes on the history of policing, lectures at the FordSchool and teaches a class titled “The Social Life of Public Spaces” at theSchool of Architecture at UM. He pointed out that much of my philosophyregarding managing public library space so that all are welcome, safe andcomfortable has parallels in the management of outdoor public spaces. Ifound strong parallels in his work between the history of policing with thatof the developments, past and present, occurring in public libraries.
These words (Thacher, 2014) startled me into reading and exploringmore about the use of public spaces and what David Thacher defines asorder maintenance.
Public spaces are shared spaces, and the people who share them of-ten disagree about how they can legitimately be used. Their complaintsrange from the petty gripes of thin-skinned people unhappy with thehustle and bustle of urban life to the desperate pleas of the seriouslyaggrieved—complaints about raucous protestors in the city square tryingto affect political change, about hookers and drug pushers selling theirvices on the sidewalks, about teenagers trying to impress their friends inthe park, about street musicians collecting tips, about gang members try-ing to assert control over turf, about families drinking beer on the beach,about misogynists harassing women from their front steps, about immi-grants roasting cuy in city parks, about hawkers selling bootlegged videoson the sidewalk, about skateboarders practicing kickflips on the softballbleachers, about mentally ill people yelling at friends and strangers incity plazas, about business owners dumping trash in the gutter, about
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homeless men sleeping on bus stop benches, and about college studentsmilling around on sidewalks clutching plastic cups while Lady Gaga blastsfrom the fraternity speakers an hour before kickoff. Some of the targetsof these complaints are exercising socially-sanctioned rights that legallycannot be infringed, while others are exercising important personal free-doms worth protecting as far as possible. At the same time, all of themmake use of the public realm—the sidewalks, parks, airwaves, beaches,plazas, and bus stops that the members of our dense and interdependentsociety share—in ways that other people using those spaces considerexcessive and impolitic, crowding out (they say) their legitimate claimsto use those spaces themselves. Order maintenance involves attempts toresolve these conflicts over the use of that shared environment; it is thepolice role in defining and regulating the fair use of public spaces. Thatis a revisionary definition. It has to be, for our current understanding oforder maintenance is in shambles.
Thacher’s essay (Thacher, 2014) includes several conclusions that in-form how those of us responsible for public spaces should consider themanagement of these spaces.
• “The heart of the order maintenance function involves regulating the fairuse of public spaces by the members of a diverse public, who often haveconflicting standards about how those spaces should be used.
• Order maintenance has been part of the police mandate since the inceptionof modern police agencies. Because public order is a collective good, therise of full-time police was an essential step in providing it.
• The abuse of the order maintenance function to round up and harasssuspicious and unpopular people has also been present from the start, asthe ambiguity and flexibility of this role have repeatedly tempted police tohijack it for ulterior aims.
• Order maintenance is best understood as a branch of problem-orientedpolicing concerned with a particular type of community problem called“disorder”.
• A major frontier for order maintenance practice involves the developmentand wider use of more restrained forms of police authority short of arrest,including prevention tactics, persuasion, civil penalties, and temporarydetention.” (p. 123)
In Thacher’s conclusions we can see how the managing of outdoorpublic spaces is similar to managing public libraries. Who has not had tonegotiate the needs of the older newspaper reader with that of the youngfather juggling a wailing infant and a toddler in tow in a small branch libraryspace while at the exact same time in a large urban location in the samesystem first responders are converging to assist library staff in dealing witha medical emergency?
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If a library is used by many people from as many diverse groups aspossible for as many reasons as we can possibly conceive as reasonablefor most of the hours the building is open, then it is very unlikely that anyone group will dominate the space. If we can accomplish this first, thenmanaging behavior will be a secondary activity and not a primary one.
Many public library systems are part of city or county governmentswhere policing is provided, or even mandated, by code or ordinance.Whether a library is independent or not, the administration should be ona first name basis with their Chief of Police and Sheriff office staff. Thoseagencies want things to go well for everyone at the public library and willwork hard to help the administration at the library. A successful relationshipbetween a library director and a police chief requires mutual understandingof the missions of our agencies, and a very clear understanding of bound-aries. It is in Thacher’s last conclusion that we draw support for how libraryadministrators interact with police and other law enforcement agencies toprovide a safe and welcoming environment in public library spaces.
We begin by having as many people in the building as we can, and wegreet them all at the door with smiles, verbal welcomes, or an acknowledge-ment as simple as a nod. Anonymity invites good people to behave badly.We see this all over in blogs and other social media commentary. We do notneed to see this in our public library buildings. Rules of behavior are neces-sary, and every community has its own standards and mores. The adoptedrules of behavior for public libraries are usually posted on Web sites and ifthis subject holds any interest, then they can be fascinating reading. The textand tone of adopted rule statements are often indicators of how well a li-brary is managing behavior and also what the predominant issues are withinthat particular community. These are documents that are edited to reflectchanges in local ordinances, as well as state legislation, and the fluidity ofcommunity standards. Reviewing and editing these policy statements shouldbe commonplace and expected.
I have a favorite (northvalleylibary.org) and it is the North Valley Libraryin Stevensville, MT. Its title, “Respect for Users, Staff and Library Property”says it all. It is one page and only one page, and at the bottom of the list ofconduct not allowed on library property, it ends with this paragraph, “Thislist is not all-inclusive. At the discretion of staff, in situations not explicitlycovered by these rules, the fundamental principles of fairness, consistencyand common sense will be employed. These rules will be enforced in a fairand reasonable manner.” When is the last time you heard someone speakingof using common sense, much less reading it as an expectation in a policy?
Library staff often commits some of the most flagrant abuses of libraryrules of behavior in that we are not fair, consistent, and don’t use com-mon sense when distressing and surprising things occur in our libraries. Asadministrators we should assure that the rules of behavior make sense forour community, and are enforceable by library staff, and then provide the
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training needed for those working on public service desks and in SecurityDepartments to cope with all that occurs in the public library.
The public focus is on “who is in the public library,” but the admin-istration must also consider who is working in the public library. The useof public libraries has evolved over the decades and the doors are wideopen to anyone and for most days of the week and often for 10 to 12 hoursa day. Changes in operations and use should necessarily be cause for re-consideration of the attributes needed to staff public service desks. It is notdisrespectful of the library profession to say so, and it is certainly not disre-spectful of the library profession to hire for skills that are necessary to servea library’s public.
Many years ago I had the opportunity to hear a thoughtful, dignifieddescription of how the public library profession was not addressing thisissue from a then active, well regarded library director from a very busyand large system in Colorado. I listened to him discuss how the current staffin his busiest branch—capable, dedicated professionals with long successfulcareers behind them—were being completely managed by a teen girl and herloyal following. She knew that her ability to speak a language not understoodby staff allowed her to jeer and jest about the staff. Her attitude, however,was clearly understood and staff became defensive and shrill in trying tocope. This simply empowered her and emboldened her group to behavebadly in what was clearly a turf struggle.
While it sounds like normal teen angst, in this case, the situation esca-lated over time and certain staff members became targeted by this youngwoman and her cohorts. Even if this type of situation does not escalate toviolence, harm is done to all involved including others who happen to be inthe library at the time. His point was that nothing in the library staff person’straining or experience prepared her for this type of aggressive behavior ather workplace, and while he was taking full responsibility for the situation,he was also stressing that we as library administrators should begin to se-lect for abilities in our public service staff that can better meet this evolvingchange in how our buildings are used and by whom.
The entire situation centered on the fact that the group of girls wantedto do something that was not allowed, and the rules seemed arbitrary andludicrous to them. There was no attempt to understand the situation fromthe girls’ point of view, and the staff member fell back on the rules anddid not choose to exercise her own judgment in mediating the situation.Consequently, this girl who I have in my imagination remembered as “thatyoung Boadicea,” controlled the staff, the space, and determined the li-brary experience for others unknown who happened to be there when sheexerted herself. Who we hire, how we train them, and most importantly,how we support them in their work, requires rethinking and serious con-sideration if we mean it when we say everyone is welcome at the publiclibrary.
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The space itself is a major factor in how well we can manage behav-ior. While there is a great deal written about the design of public spaces,mostly outdoor spaces, from the standpoint of public safety, cleanliness, andmaintenance, we do not talk too much about that at conferences on libraryarchitecture and design. Those of us who have had the opportunity to beinvolved in library building projects know how interested our colleagues arein the “experience” of the space for the public, but what that really meansis glossed over in public discussions and in library journals. I find thesedetails in the professional journals of the trades involved in building publicbuildings, but not in our own.
Everything about a building’s design and decor affects how people willbehave in that building. Everything. If it is a dark, dreary, warrened, and dirtyspace then we cannot be surprised by what occurs in that space. If thoseresponsible for a building have no respect for those using it and demonstratethat disrespect by neglecting a public building then we will get that disrespectright back. If however, we provide an abundance of natural and artificiallight, clear lines of sight to everywhere, comfortable and beautiful seating,meeting rooms and study areas, warmth when it is cold, and cool when itis hot, clean, clean, clean restrooms, views out of the building, in additionto providing outstanding public library services, then we will more likelyspend most of our time doing what we are best at and most enjoy doing,and managing poor behavior can remain a secondary function for most ofthe staff.
It seems de rigueur these days to write a piece on the future of publiclibraries, and even to attend conferences and Web events that predict thedemise of public libraries. Michael Agresta (Agresta, 2014) writing for Slatetitles his piece “What Will Become of Public Libraries?” I smiled when I sawthe title. No matter how well researched and interesting this article was likelyto be, and was as it turns out, I knew from the tone of the title what the lastparagraph was going to say to me. I knew because I could hear that tonein every incident of bad behavior from my childhood when I was caughtred-handed and the adult involved exclaimed, “What is going to become ofyou, Josie?” The implication being that unless I worked very hard, or I wasjust plain lucky, not much.
Sure enough, Agresta’s last paragraph reads, “Libraries will only surviveif the communities they serve want and need them to. It would be a tragedyof historic proportions if, for instance, the public library system that Carnegieendowed and inspired is dismantled in the coming decades, but it’s a realpossibility. In the end, it is up to us—scholars, makers, and artists, seekers ofcommunity, access, and safe haven, and above all, readers in the old, humansense of the word—to rise to the level of these monuments we’ve built.” Hehad me until I read the last ten words.
Our communities do define the public library and it is within localcommunities that libraries will thrive or fail, and nothing is new about that.
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I have been in hundreds of public libraries over a lifetime and if a libraryis used, it is relevant and vital in its community. What is new now is what“used” means. A person can use their library daily, many times a day, andnever physically go through the door. Others can go through the door, andnever use a library card, and they are using the library.
Our collective understanding of what use means has to broaden to allowfor so much more than what the monuments Agresta writes of were everintended to provide. We in the library profession have taken great pride inredefining public libraries as community places. We now must state publiclyall that this requires in terms of operations and expenditures, and we shouldalso say how well we do the job. At the same time, we have to be the firstto admit that welcoming the world, literally and virtually, into our spacesnecessarily means that we must manage them differently, and if we wish tobe respected and understood for this work, then we have to speak up.
REFERENCES
Agresta, M. (2014, April 22). What will become of the library? Slate. Retrieved fromhttp://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2014/04/the_future_of_the_library_how_they_ll_evolve_for_the_digital_age.html
Gardner, P. (2014, March 23). Shocking reality check for Ann Arbor in talksabout a new downtown park. MLive. Retrieved from http://www.mlive.com/opinion/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/column_downtown_park.html
Shafer, S. (2014, April 23). Urban libraries become de facto homeless shel-ters. NPR. Retrieved from http://npr.org/2014/04/23/306102523/san-francisco-library-hires-social-worker-to-help-homeless-patrons
Stanton, R. (2014a, March 18). Library director sounds alarm on heroin use indowntown library. MLive. Retrieved from http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/library_director_sounds_alarm.html
Stanton, R. (2014b, March 19). Q&A: Josie Parker talks about heroin andother challenges. MLive. Retrieved from http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/qa_josie_parker_talks_about_he.html
Thacher, D. (2014). Order maintenance policing. In M. D. Reisig (Ed.), TheOxford handbook of police and policing (pp. 122–124). Oxford, England: OxfordUniversity Press.
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