#12: Let people bring their belongings

From Emma:

I freely admit that this one is tough. Now that I’m a branch manager, I spend a lot of time deciding how to interpret library system policies in my branch and talking to patrons who are frustrated by those interpretations. Of all the rules I’ve tried to temper with leniency to keep the library usable, letting people have a lot of stuff with them is the one that seems to bother other library users the most. We have a fairly significant number of people who bring in quite a bit of stuff because they are either sleeping in shelters or outside at night so they don’t have anywhere to leave their things, and complaints about them ‘camping out’ in our library are pretty common.

The written policy in my library system is that patrons can bring in no more than 3 large bags and that everyone needs to stay with their belongings. In my library we encourage people to stay with their things and make it clear that we can’t take responsibility for watching them, but if someone steps away to use the bathroom or say hello to a friend on the other side of the library, we don’t make a fuss about it. It’s also common for people to unpack their 3 large bags into smaller containers once they come in, and people do sometimes fill up a table around them with possessions.

Fortunately, our library is not so crowded that this becomes a problem very often, and the way our code of conduct is written works in our favor to allow us to be flexible. If someone complains about someone else’s stuff being spread everywhere, I can usually find the complainer an empty table to sit elsewhere. Also, our code of conduct is a long, dense document composed of local, state, and federal ordinances and laws, so it’s basically unreadable to patrons. We don’t have it posted in the library, but we’ve extracted the line about 3 bags and put up an 8.5x11 sheet with that rule on it, along with a single sheet of guiding principles for using the library that is provided to all the branches. I believe it says something like:

Guidelines for using the library:

Use language that doesn’t offend
Respect the space and each other
Be kind

I don’t know who designed this sign, but I should find out and thank them. If a patron asks, “Is it really allowed for him to bring all this stuff in here!?” I usually start by seeing if there is a specific concern I can resolve for the patron another way, like finding them somewhere else to sit, or reminding the person with lots of belongings to keep them out of areas where people are walking. That solves the problem about half the time. The other half of the time, it seems like the root of the complaint is really “Is it really allowed for homeless people to sit in here all day?” In those cases, I refer back to the library use guidelines and the three bags rule, if needed. Basically, as long as that person’s presence in the library isn’t interfering with other people’s use of the library, then yes, they are allowed to sit in the library all day. Some patrons seem not to like that the person does not seem to be actively using the library—they’ll say things like “but he isn’t reading anything!” In those cases, I try to remind the person with the concern that there are a lot of different ways to use the library—maybe the person in question is charging his phone, or meeting a friend, both of which are things that people who aren’t homeless also use the library to do. Occasionally patrons aren’t satisfied by that, but usually they are—when you really point out to people what a homeless person’s alternatives are (even if you have to do it in a non-confrontational, admittedly maybe passive-aggressive way), they feel enough empathy to drop it. The few patrons who don’t just have to accept that the library won’t be exactly the way they want it to be.

One final note: Even though most of this post has been about dealing with complaints, in my experience this is an accessibility policy that really pays you back in patron goodwill. Patrons who are homeless have their problems, but overall I’ve found them to be a loyal, appreciative, and helpful patron base. The value of libraries is so obvious to them that they usually really respect the staff, and because they spend so much time in the library, they have a good understanding of its rules and routines. No patron in my library goes out of their way to help me more than the gentlemen who are homeless. If they see someone struggling on a computer, they’ll stop by the desk and let staff know that the person might need help. If they see a kid wandering around alone, they will come and tell us. When we have a shift where all the staff are women and we have to check the bathrooms, they’ll offer to go in and check for us, or make sure the room is empty before we go in.