Ohio Kids Kept Out of Library
RSSStudents under 14 must be accompanied by adult during after-school hours
By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 02/01/2006
Some students in Ohio may now find a simple trip to the library after school impossible.
After a series of incidents in the last year that left plants trampled, lights broken, and graffiti sprayed across the library walls, the Wickliffe Public Library in suburban Cleveland implemented a new rule on January 1 that forbids students under the age of 14 in that library branch from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., unless they’re accompanied by an adult or enrolled in one of the library’s after-school programs.
“Parents were using us as a day care,” says Nancy Fisher, director of the library for the past 15 years. “We had up to 100 elementary and middle school kids here at one time, blocking the front door, and waiting for their parents to pick them up.” The library staff was also concerned about a few adults who would stand around and leer at kids.
Pam Spencer Holley, president of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), says the library may have an even bigger problem. “It’s a battle now,” she says. “I think right now the image of the library among these students is not going to be positive.”
Libraries around the country have been struggling to attract young adults—not keep them out. Most experts agree that middle school kids, those ready to graduate from chapter books but maybe not quite ready for Pride and Prejudice, often get overlooked by libraries. To draw kids in, libraries have started teen programs, hired teen mentors, and even built separate entrances and exits for young adults to give them the feeling that there is a special place in the library for them, says Holley.
One suggestion YALSA’s president believes could still work for Fisher is to implement a father-son, mother-daughter book group. “That way parents are involved, and teens come back to the library,” she says. Lynda Murray, a lobbyist for the Ohio Library Council agrees. “Typically, if there’s a problem, you revoke their privileges for a set period of time, contact the parents, or there have been cases where the police have been involved. But I have not heard of any library using this approach in dealing with this problem.”
Fisher, however, says patrons have come up to thank her since the rule went into effect. “It’s not that we don’t want the kids here,” she says. “But we just can’t watch the kids, make sure they’re safe, and help our patrons all at the same time.”
