By: Srianthi Perera
June 3, 2011
The Arizona Republic
Librarians are supposed to nurture tranquility for their patrons, but the staff at Gilbert’s two public libraries apparently needs protection from some of them.
Since the town eliminated funding for security guards in July because of budget woes, the Southeast Regional and Perry branch libraries in Gilbert have had a spate of disturbing occurrences, records show.
Among them: threats and physical harm to library staff, mentally unstable individuals distracting patrons by screaming, theft, property damage and viewing pornography on the public computers.
The problems arose at a time that Gilbert’s two libraries, which comprise 40 percent of the Maricopa County library system, is recording increasing usage. Southeast Regional recorded a 2 percent increase in 2010 over 2009 and Perry recorded a 4 percent increase in the same time period.
Southeast Regional Branch manager Andrew Chanse presented his library’s woes at the May meeting of Parks, Recreation and Library Services Advisory Board. Maricopa County Library District manager Harry Courtright proposed reinstating security guards and suggested the town pay for them by closing the Southeast Regional library on Sundays and eliminating a full-time staff position at Perry, according to e-mails obtained by The Republic through the state open records law.
“We recognize that the town does not have additional funds to cover costs,” Courtright wrote on May 12 in an e-mail to Community Services Department Director Jim Norman and Assistant Town Manager Marc Skocypec.
According to his proposal, the Sunday closure would save $66,290 at Southeast Regional, which would pay for the cost of a private security guard at $65,624 annually.
At Perry, eliminating a now-vacant staff position and reducing the cost of materials would save $55,459 to cover a private security guard at $54,844.
An agreement between the library district and Gilbert called for the town to gradually assume all library funding starting in fiscal year 2006-07.In the current fiscal year, Gilbert became fully responsible for funding the libraries’ budgets, and is expected to spend up to $2,317,200 on Southeast Regional and $957,600 on Perry.
The proposed 2011-12 town budget calls for spending up to $2,277,820 on Greenfield and no increase in what it spends at Perry.
Library district spokesman Nelson Mitchell says security is the town’s responsibility. “The district has nothing to do with it, per se,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure everybody is happy from the perspective of what can we do to assist.”
“MCLS has always believed it is in our customers’ best interest to have security personnel at its larger libraries,” he said.
Various reports suggest the librarians’ safety and well-being, as well as that of patrons, are threatened.
In a Facebook posting dated April 27, Chanse stated: “Assaulted by one customer today and threatened with bodily harm by another. Who says librarians have it easy?”
He also wrote:
“We had a mentally ill customer assault one of my staff while I was out of the building. He got in her face and roughly grabbed her arm. I got a positive ID of him today and approached him. He immediately got in my face and started shouting profanities. I tried to give him the option to calm down or leave, but he wouldn’t listen. So I demanded he leave . . . he did try and get on a computer. I took his library card, at which point he rushed me and grabbed my arm. I broke free and called the police . . . ”
Chanse’s reference to the other incident involved a patron with large fines who had received several courtesy waivers. When the patron and her husband were asked to leave because they were refusing to pay the fine, both threatened Chanse. The husband said he would be seeing him after the library was closed. Chanse called the police and an officer stayed outside in his car until the library closed.
“This stuff never happened when we had security guards,” Chanse wrote. “We have too many people (kids) in that place to mess around with this stuff.”
In a report to the town detailing customer incidents, Chanse states: “I think we are more of a destination for the have-nots than ever before. People are losing their medical care, houses, and many social services due to budget cuts. We’ve seen a huge increase in adult special-needs customers and group-home adults . . . this tends to upset other customers because they tend to be louder than others.
“So they come to us, frustrated, unmedicated and with nowhere else to go. When something doesn’t go their way, they tend to take it out on us.”
Mark Sequeira, a father of four children aged 4-11, and his wife Jennifer, are frequent patrons of the library. Sequeira, who owns MJA Studios, a graphic design and marketing shop, sometimes works on his projects in the library in the evenings. One evening he watched police arrive and escort a patron outside.
While he is not worried about the security for his children at the library, Sequeira expressed concern for the library staff, most of whom he knows on a personal basis. He and a few others have volunteered to help if there are any concerns. Most of the librarians are female.
“They (librarians) never asked (for help), but it’s really putting everybody at risk,” Sequeira said. “I just wanted to help them feel more safe.”
He has also written to Town Council, expressing his concern about the budget cuts, which also stripped the libraries of much of its youth programming.
He wrote to the council May 2:
“The library and Maricopa have been shortchanged in the amount of money given by the town the last few years even as our commitment has grown. . . . we have made an agreement and we should do our part funding it as promised.
“I know the ladies at the library often have to close and also have to confront men on the computers or being obnoxious,” he wrote. “It should not be this way. We are needlessly putting at risk a rare treasure in our community.”
Following Chanse’s presentation, the parks board voted to recommend that Town Council “re-evaluate and consider reinstalling security” and “review the budget and the cuts made to programming” at the Southeast Regional Library. The voice vote carried 6-0 and the board requested Councilmember Linda Abbott to bring the motion to council.
The matter is to be debated further at a council meeting next week.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/06/03/20110603gilbert-library-threats-theft-porn.html#ixzz1PoWTiQMz
