NJ PL, Under Pressure, Reverses After-School Closing

-- Library Journal, 1/17/2007

Reversing a decision made December 20 "with great reluctance," the Maplewood Memorial Library Board of Trustees, NJ agreed in a special meeting January 13 not to close the main and Hilton branch libraries on weekdays from 2:45 to 5:00 p.m. The temporary closure, which was to begin January 16, aimed to deter unruly middle-schoolers. City officials agreed to offer new resources to help the library cope with the longstanding after-school influx of as many as 50 young people hanging out at the library and interfering with patrons and staff. Despite the library's effort to develop a behavior policy, hire after-school monitors, contact parents, and reach out to students through a Teen Advisory Group, "the problem persists," the board had said.

However, that decision, amplified in a front-page New York Times article, generated a firestorm of criticism from locals—including threats of a library sit-in—and from librarians nationally. In a diplomatic letter to the Times, American Library Association President Leslie Burger observed that public libraries are working hard to balance the growing demand for preteen/teen space with the "continuing need for more traditional quiet space," cited several communities where that balance worked well, and suggested that the issue was sufficient funding.

Indeed, in Maplewood, the issue appears to be resources. Mayor Fred Profeta, who was dismayed at the board's decision, directed some $220,000 to expand a once-a-week church program to three days a week and to keep the middle school gym or cafeteria open after school. A consulting firm, Global Pact, will meet with students to help develop alternatives to hanging out at the library. The city offered to fund security guards, which the library has been reluctant to deploy. At the meeting, according to the Star-Ledger, the library board tabled for further discussion the idea of "non-threatening safety supervisors" who would wear blazers and dress shirts. "I have real issues against using security guards as our first line of defense against 11- and 12-year olds," said Karen Pettis, VP of the board.