COLUMN: Viewpoint – Library safety

I was visiting my children in Saskatoon and needed a quiet place to work on a manuscript for a few hours. “Why not go to the library,” my son suggested. When I arrived at the downtown branch there was a sign on the door. It was temporarily closed. I discovered it had been shuttered due to safety concerns and a rise in violent incidents stemming primarily from drug overuse. The library would reopen once more security enhancements were in place.

The library nearest my home in Winnipeg, is the Millennium. It was shut down for over a month, in December of 2022, after a man was stabbed to death there. It closed again last August when a patron committed suicide by plunging over a second-floor railing. After staff at the branch voiced their safety concerns about working in an environment where patrons were bringing dangerous weapons and needles for drug use into the library, security screening was put in place. When I visit the library now I go through a scanner and my bags are opened and checked.

The Winnipeg Public Library has hired two full-time social workers. I’ve witnessed some of their 42 trained community safety hosts in action aiding troubled patrons. The Millennium Library once had a social services hub in its lobby. Staff assisted vulnerable visitors with finding food, shelter and medical attention. The city has stopped funding it.

Having had these experiences in Winnipeg and Saskatoon, I wasn’t necessarily surprised to read in a recent Carillon article, that Steinbach, which is one of Manitoba’s fastest growing cities, was dealing with similar issues. Staff at the Jake Epp Library are responding to an increase in violence and drug use and are trained to use Naloxone should patrons overdose on the premises. The library has recorded multiple incidents of violence, weapons’ possession, harassment, vandalism and alcohol abuse. The bathrooms have been locked after drug paraphernalia was discovered there. They are considering hiring security guards, installing cameras, adding extra outdoor lighting and having a front desk safety button.

I read recently that the library in Hamilton, Ontario, after recording almost daily drug sales or overdosing on their premises, is trying a pilot program requiring patrons to show a valid library card in order to enter the city’s main branch. The library is also moving their children’s section to the second floor where families will feel safer from the many disruptive adults who enter on the main floor.

Go online and you’ll find reports of libraries from Victoria, British Columbia to Saint John, New Brunswick, all struggling to deal with an increase in violent incidents on their premises.

It appears that right across Canada, libraries are being impacted by the burgeoning populations of homeless people and drug addicts in our cities. Cities are spending money on all kinds of security upgrades but is that the best use of finances? None of these measures address the core problem.

Libraries are one of the few places in most cities that are temperature controlled, free, have ample seating, computer access, and are technically available to all. It is only natural that vulnerable people would gravitate to libraries.

Unless we open hundreds of additional drug treatment centres to meet the growing need, establish warming shelters in every metro area, fund the construction of sufficient transitional housing and insure all of Canada’s citizens have a guaranteed living income, the problems in our libraries will not go away. Band-Aid solutions won’t do. Will governments have the wisdom and courage to take the steps necessary to address the current social problems that are responsible for making libraries increasingly unsafe?