policy vs people

Libraries are full of guidelines, policy and procedures. A customer would be forgiven for not realizing how structured a library is-- from where a book goes, how we handle a damaged book, to how customers are suspended from library services. 

Suspended you say? Why would a customer be suspended? One customer saw our Security guard and half jokingly asked if he was there to track people down if they walked out with a book that wasn't checked out. 

No. we are not doing that. People do walk out without checking out books but we aren't chasing them down the street or banning them for said discretion. 

The library is a public place. A very public place. More public than most because you don't have to buy anything to be there and it offers services that you need for job searching- public computers and printing (which is free at my library). It's also a place where you can just go if it's cold or hot outside. So people do... they go to the library for more than checking out books- they hang out. They use computers, get on Facebook, sometimes print stuff that is questionable. 

And that means people of all ages and backgrounds are bumping up against each other which can mean there are encounters between customers- which is one of the things a Security Guard has to address. 

One of the most common customer complaints and negative interactions are with the kids. Adults, particularly the older adults don't like the kids on the public computer. They see their gaming as frivolous and feel they are taking up space. They also get mad at the noise they make even when they are talking in a reasonable tone of voice. If staff ask the kids to talk more quietly and the kids respond, that's often not enough for the adults who are unhappy with the kids presence in the first place. They just want the kids OUT of the library or at least off of the computers and our of their sight and it's not unusual for the adult customers to argue with staff about how they handle the situation. The kids are also annoying to some staff and they aren't very well equipped to handle the kids. They also just want them to talk in quiet voices and behave in less childlike behavior- I would say more adult-like behavior but adults often behave quite poorly and we put up with it.  As you can imagine this is all heightened in summer when the kids are out of school and it's hot outside.

 

Like now.

Last summer, we had a group of 10-12 kids come into the library who were pretty audacious. The first time I interacted with them, they were loud, some were using inappropriate language and when we told them they were too loud, they ignored us. It was quite frustrating - no doubt about it. It quickly set a tone of being somewhat adversarial with the kids which meant everyone was on edge as soon as the kids came in the building and they were coming in almost every day -to game and have snacks. 

Four or five of the teen/pre-teen boys along with one 8 year old were particularly challenging. They could be get quite loud while gaming and they often swore and use the "n" word. The librarians would tell them from the desk to keep it down which resulted in resentment from the teens for being shamed in public. To say the least, things weren't going well. 

One afternoon, our manager was visiting when the boys came in and he was talking to the boys. One of the older ones said he wanted to work at the library so the manager gave him his card and said "call me when you're ready to get a job." The boys hung around for a bit talking to both of us and I thought, "this is the way. I've made a connection. I've got to keep it going." 

So, that's what I did. I started hanging out by the computer area and chatting with the kids. I found out that one of the boys had just moved to our area but he was obviously missing his home in California because he showed me the house his mother lived in and then his grandmother's house. He told me about his school... The other kids told me about their interests. Sometime I had desk work to do so I would take a Chromebook and just sit by the kids , tell the adults to leave the kids alone if/when they started harassing them (which gave me the most credibility) and offered rewards if they had a good day. I also reminded them to watch the volume or the language but did so directly to the person so I wasn't shaming them or calling them out- just like I would any adult. This did not mean the kids were perfect but my coworkers did ask me to intervene with the kids when I was available and the kids asked for me just to say "hi" if they hadn't seen me. 

Things weren't perfect but they were better. At least when I was there. 

Unfortunately I wasn't always there and the staff didn't always ask me to intervene. Some staff preferred being more authoritarian in their interactions with the kids. They may have even resented my relationship with the kids. 

Our newly hired Security Guard and I got into an argument one day when she said she was going to suspend the kids and I told her we were not going to suspend any kids when I was the PIC. She said was too and walked off. Unfortunately, had she suspended the kids, I would not have had any choice but to support it because the policy in the library is that any staff can suspend a customer at any time. 

But kids are difficult- and that, is what this post is really about. Suspending kids. Because a kid did get suspended. 

Last fall (October I believe) the 8 year old, Armand, was in the library on a Sunday or Monday. I was off and he apparently asked one of the other young kids to use his bike. The kid (Alex) said okay and Armand headed out. At some point- it's not clear if it was before Armand actually left or if Armand knew he'd changed his mind, Armand headed off with the bike (he was getting another one of the boys) and Alex started yelling that Armand had stolen his bike. Stolen was a pretty strong accusation to make in this context. Alex knew Armand was bringing the bike back but Alex is a kid. Kids know adults are going to pay attention if words like "stolen" are used. And they did. 

When Armand came back an hour later with the bike (as he said he would), our Security Guard was on the lookout. She accused Armand of stealing the bike and would not listen when he told her otherwise (I learned later). She then talked with the building supervisor and the manager was contacted and they suspended Armand because stealing on library property is strictly against policy. I came in the next day and read an email saying he had been suspended but had not been told. It was left to me, essentially, to tell him and handle the suspension but I had no idea what had happened so when he came in later, I did not uphold the suspension. I felt like the building supervisor should have at least given me some information if I was supposed to carry out the heavy work of the suspension and when the Manager called me later to ask WHY I had not held up the suspension, that's what I told him. It was poorly handled but the kid was eventually suspended and was told he could not come back until it was resolved.  

A suspension for an adult is serious but doable. They meet with the Head of Security-  he (HoS) explains the policy and why their behavior was unacceptable and what they need to do differently moving forward. If they agree, he lifts the suspension. I THINK there is a year behavioral agreement that they have to agree not to do anything like that again (that of course depends on staff reporting the behavior- which may not happen since we have no way of knowing that a customer is under an agreement like that). When a child is suspended a parent has to meet with the Head of Security and in essence agree their child will be held to account for their behavior. Assuming the child has a parent who is willing to do that. Assuming the parent is not abusive.

And this is where things become complicated and in my view somewhat ugly.

 

Some years ago, the library changed the policy to allow more access to kids. We used to require kids to have a parent before a kid could get a library card. Now they do NOT need a parent- we just make the card and get as much information as possible. If they know their birthday and their full name, they get a provisional card which allows them to check out 3 items, full computer access, free printing, and full ebook access. Cool! That's great! I love that kids have that access. But the parent may not even know they have a card when they get suspended. 

Kids also have the right to privacy at the library. When they get a full library card, they do need to have a parent with them and I always tell the parents, "your kid has the right to privacy. If you need to see what is on their account, you'll have to log in at home to check it or if you are here, they'll need to be with you" The right to privacy and how that all plays out is tricky but essentially- we don't help parents monitor kids cards. We also don't stop them from checking out anything they want so if they come in and check out adult manga or a rated R or non-rated adult movie, we can't and don't stop them.  The right to privacy also means that if a parent calls looking for a child who may have walked to the library to use the computers, we won't tell the parent. The only thing we can do is take a description and tell anyone who fits the description to phone home. 

I believe in kids right to privacy. I worked in a public school and I knew kids who were scared to check out books on menstruation- kids should have access to material/information! But this sets up a certain dynamic between the library and the parent and I have had MANY conversations with parents who get angry as soon as I say "your child has the right to privacy" but in reference to a suspension, if we are telling parents "no, I can't tell you..." "no, I can't tell you if they're here" but then suddenly "you have to come in now, you're responsible for this behavior..." If I were a young parent and were told that, I would not be that agreeable with the library's policy.   

My branch has many kids who walk to the library because we have several large apartment complexes very close. The kids may be out just playing and say, "hey let's go play on the computers" and never even tell their parents because they are just 50 feet from where they were playing in the first place. They come in and make a library card based on the access we allow them and then we, because we are not really interested in working with the kids, struggle with the kid's behaviors. Some staff are happy just to kick them out and even happier when they are suspended- seeing the library as a privilege the kids are afforded not as a refuge and place of safety. I do. Or did until Armand got suspended. 

Armand came back in to the library this spring and wanted to be able to come back to the library. He was in the computer area with some of the older kids and his sister. Armand told me then that he didn't steal the bike and explained what happened. I told my supervisor and he said "don't you think he's lying?" No I don't think he was lying. He DID bring the bike back. If you're stealing something you don't bring it back. Kids do exaggerate. My boss admitted the other kid might not be the most reliable narrator either and it's possible he may have exaggerated the theft. He suggested I call the Head of Security and see what they advise but we had to follow the procedure. 

I called and no one was there unfortunately so I emailed with the hope that he would get back to me the next day. Unfortunately that meant I had to kick Armand out that day- along with his sister because she was watching him- because he's just 9. He's not 13 or 14.  I told him to check with me the next day and hopefully we could get things worked out. 

And he did. I hadn't received a response to my email but I was able to call and talk to the 2nd in command of Security. He talked to Armand but unfortunately that did not go well. He would not listen when Armand tried to explain he did not steal the bike. He asked Armand about having his mother come in and Armand told him his mother would not come in. Then he said "how about your dad?" "What Dad?" This was clearly upsetting to Armand and SHOULD have been a warning to the man that he'd frustrated the kid, but no, he just interpreted the conversation as "not sorry" and "antagonistic." I got back on the phone and the 2nd in Command said they were not going to let the child come back without following the suspension procedure. 

Gah. There's no way the mom is going to come in. I have spoken to Armand and the older boys several times. 

I contacted the Head of our Youth Services and it seemed like there might be a way to open a door for Armand to come back to the library. We were set to meet but then I got COVID so the meeting was cancelled. In the meantime, Armand kept coming back into the library and tried to tell staff I was working on something so he COULD come back in. I had told him he needed to listen to staff if we were going to work on this but he's 9 for fuck's sake- so no surprise that he didn't listen and he kept trying to push the boundaries. He also came in WITH the older boys and they weren't interested in his suspension, they just wanted to be on the computers. Eventually they left with him when he couldn't argue his way out of it anymore but Armand obviously knew the older boys wanted to be in the library... so, pushing was the way.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Security Guard was trying to make sure he didn't come back without following procedure and was writing up reports to document each and every time he stepped into the branch. She was also one of the people who had the most authoritarian attitude with the kids so it wasn't surprising to me that Armand wasn't listening to her (he's definitely not an easy kid).  Tensions again escalated - resulting in Armand pointing a toy gun at the Security Guard and shouting a threat at her. She, of course, reported it and now any chance of having the suspension lifted without a parent is nonexistent. And that means... he's not allowed on library property until he's an adult and can speak on his own behalf. 

We have set ourselves up for this! We have invited the kids to come in unsupervised. We don't even have the parents in ONE time to set up the library card. We do not preemptively train ALL staff on how to work with kids and even when we do, it just takes one staff member who refuses to build relationships with the kids and chooses to have a more adversarial relationship with them to undo the work of the others and lead to a suspension- which can then mean they will never come back. The irony of all this that our Mission and Values are "Equity, Diversity, Welcoming, Curiosity and Stewardship"- 4 out of 5 of which should mean we are centered around children and their development no matter how difficult they are. It's maddening.  

Let me be clear: I am not against kids having some sort of consequence when they are out of bounds at the library. My issue is that it should NOT be the same as adults. You don't put a toddler in timeout the same amount of time as a 6 year old and you don't put a 16 year old in time out. You don't put a 16 year old in an adult prison (thank god!) - even our terrible judicial system realizes a 16 year old shouldn't be treated the same as a 20 year old.