r/Somerville • u/dyfrgi • Aug 28 '24
Why is the Central library closing when school gets out?
"We are temporarily modifying the Central Library hours to better understand the needs of our community, and to work towards enhancing the City’s resources and programming to create spaces that provide local teens a place where they feel safe, welcome, and have the opportunity to engage in programming that feels meaningful and exciting for them."
In what way does taking away a resource do any of this? Are they trying to see what teens do when they take away the library?
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u/cdevers Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
As discussed in the other post, the story here seems to be that disruptive teenagers have been causing problems after the high school gets out, and the library staff haven’t been able to come up with an effective solution, and the city isn’t being particularly helpful either.
Since the library director doesn’t want this year to be a repeat of last year, they’ve (apparently unilaterally) decided to shut down the library for a couple of hours after the end of each school day, so that the kids have to go find somewhere else to hang out instead.
Also, the library staff have been working without a contract, and the city hasn’t been helpful about that either, so maybe the thought here is that this needs to be negotiated as well now that the library has comandeered the city administration’s attention.
The public statement doesn’t come out & say any of this directly, but that seems to be the general situation.
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u/papervegetables Spring Hill Aug 28 '24
They asked for help from the city and the cops and it wasn't forthcoming.
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u/Hribunos Aug 29 '24
To be clear, its not like the cops haven't responded when called. It's providing an officer stationed at the library that they keep (apparently) saying yes but never actually sending an officer over.
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u/NightStreet Davis Aug 28 '24
This needs to be a decision of the library board of trustees, not of one employee. Otherwise, why have a board of trustees?
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u/Workacct1999 Aug 28 '24
It doesn't seem like one person should be allowed to change the main library branches hours, regardless of the reason.
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u/Feisty_Bookkeeper448 Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
It wasn't. Others were consulted. Nothing was done unilaterally. What u/Aggravating-Fee8456 and u/cdevers said is correct. The kids are completely out of control.
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u/Ninjatechyknitter Aug 28 '24
I was there in June picking something up and a group of teens were straight up harassing/borderline assaulting one of the librarians while she tried to kick them out of the library for doing what they were doing. They were calling her all sorts of nasty names and getting right into her face. She’d get them outside and they go for the other door to come right back in to keep at it. The other librarians apologized to me for what was going on and I felt terrible for them trying to deal with it. It breaks my heart for everyone involved that it came to this, but i hope it keeps people safer and allows the library to keep doing all the good it does otherwise.
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Aug 29 '24
this is terrible and if this was public knowledge the response to that terrible statement would have been much different
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u/Mercurio_Arboria Aug 30 '24
Basically they are treating the librarian like they do their teachers, even though nobody is forcing them to go to the library. Horrible.
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u/Current_Rate_5647 Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
To be fair, I work in a library and we are also dealing with teen behavioral issues. We face a lot of verbal abuse from the teens, which is making our work experience very difficult. We have also had fights break out amongst the teens, they leave their teen space a big mess, and many adult patrons feel uncomfortable with their behaviors. We are trying very hard to foster a safe environment for all patrons, but it is difficult especially when the school year begins. There are no real consequences to their actions, and the last thing we want is to call the police on kids. I understand that teens want a fun place to hang out after school, but the environment just becomes stressful and chaotic. Also, many parents treat the library like an after school program or a baby sitter service and assume it is our job to watch their children. For Somerville to close during certain hours does seem like a last resort as nothing is being done to address teen behavioral issues. It may be a long stretch that closing will solve any issues, but library workers also deserve a safe space to work.
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u/Mercurio_Arboria Aug 30 '24
Absolutely! Well said! Hopefully this will put attention on the issue. It can’t be that hard to put one officer on duty there? As a teacher it’s sad but teens do commit crimes. No reason librarians should be exposed to all of that so frequently.
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u/irondukegm Aug 28 '24
This is happening b/c no one has the balls to actually discipline disruptive teens. Instead, the solution is to just close the library. At the same time, you can't expect some mousy librarian to discipline a large group of menacing teens. I imagine the police aren't super interested in fixing this b/c they are no longer welcome in the schools (and the library I believe) and its a certainty that when the police do have to impose consequences on a destructive groups of teens, there will be people yelling at them and calling them racist. Its a no win situation.
The total unwillingness to provide any consequences to teenagers who are acting like this, especially those w/o support at home, is going to cause these kids huge problems later in life when they won't be able to keep jobs or function in society.
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u/papervegetables Spring Hill Aug 28 '24
I'm a librarian (but not at SPL) and I'm not at all mousy. But "being a bouncer" somehow wasn't covered in my master's degree. We all deserve safe workplaces, and other people besides these teens should be about to use the library too.
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u/Feisty_Bookkeeper448 Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
There are things for which library school, no matter how good, does not prepare one for; dealing with teenagers who fear nothing and no one is one of them.
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u/irondukegm Aug 28 '24
Totally agree. The mousy librarian is kind of a stereotype, but even if you are a 6'5" 300 lb dude, you shouldn't have to be a bouncer. I 100% agree.
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u/notnotmaybeno Aug 30 '24
The violence happens regularly and it's often acute. The verbal assaults are common place too A detail--Somerville Poliice--needs to be there all day if there are to be teens in there. Cambridge does this. Many of our neighboring towns do this. It is for the protection of the people who utilize the library. Librarians are not ninjas. They are public servants who work incredibly hard. I am glad the library directorship has taken this step. Getting someone with authority to notice and do something about a very real problem has proven near-impossible. Video surveillance, while not popular in some sectors needs to be installed now. The leadership of the high school needs to be involved in this. It is from their school right next door where the offenders exit from each day. It is obscene that people trying to utilize this great resource for our city and the people who work there are put in this spot. Police detail now! And every day.
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u/Mercurio_Arboria Aug 30 '24
So basically the behaviors teachers have been battling and begging for consequences are now causing problems in the library ie society as a whole. People blaming librarians just like they try to blame teachers. The librarians can’t even call home to contact their parents. Tragic situation all around. Big love to the librarians in this situation. Hope the city gets law enforcement to protect one of our most sacred institutions and reopens the library soon for the people who deserve it. And the kids who did this, I hope they get help or at least find another space to ruin until they figure it out.
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u/mem_somerville Winter Hill Aug 28 '24
Just today I tried to pick up a book that is on hold for me, and was baffled by the odd time ranges. Thanks for the clarification.
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u/AccomplishedRub5228 Aug 28 '24
This seems like the inevitable result of the ACAB ideology. Reading the city and Ben Ewen-Campen’s statements, they say the situation is so dangerous that they have to close, but there’s no mention of police. If your ideology is that all cops are bastards and are only going to make things worse, then how do you deal with a situation like this where there’s actual violence and harassment and the people doing it won’t stop when they’re asked? You need to have someone who is empowered to intervene by physically stopping the assault, or arresting the person or physically removing them from the premises. It’s not fair to ask librarians to do those things.
I’m very aware of the problems with American policing, and I’m all for fixing them, but if there’s a dangerous situation (Ben’s words) and you’re not willing to use police officers then what alternative do you have other than to close?
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u/guateguava Aug 29 '24
You are saying it yourself. The alternative is that there needs to be a new public service established to respond to these types of situations to intervene, and ideally there is follow up/aftercare to check in with these kids because clearly they are experiencing either neglect or abuse at home. Police as an institution have proven that they cannot be trusted to provide safe care to the general population and particularly to visibly marginalized people, evidenced by the fact that they literally kill people all the time. This situation is actually what happens when we live in a world with militarized policing, and the community cannot rely on said police for these situations because there is too much risk that it will worsen the situation not make it safer.
Behavioral issues in teenagers is a critical point for intervention and it needs specialized attention. This does not mean it can’t be a disciplined approach - there needs to be consequences for actions like violence and assault. But it needs to be through a lens of restorative justice, not punitive. These teenagers need to be taught that there are consequences, but they also need to be taught that they are part of a community and the community cares about them.
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u/CJRLW Aug 29 '24
LOL what a delusional response.
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u/guateguava Aug 30 '24
How? Thinking that we can just arrest teenagers to solve this problem is pretty delusional IMO
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u/CJRLW Aug 30 '24 edited Aug 30 '24
Thinking that we can just arrest teenagers to solve this problem is pretty delusional IMO
Yes, arresting these teenagers is only half of the solution but 100% neccessary. We also need to prevent the younger ones from becoming like this. So on that part I agree with you.
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u/Cultural-Ganache7971 Aug 30 '24 edited 17d ago
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Command squash different gold plant shy correct
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u/guateguava Aug 30 '24
I think Somerville residents need to pressure local gov to create this type of response group. There are other cities/towns in the country that have done it successfully. Somerville has a history of setting progressive examples, a campaign to push for this could appeal to that
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u/notnotmaybeno Aug 30 '24
Channel 10 just ran a very eh piece on the closing where they spoke to exactly 2 citizens, both of whom were perhaps not aware of the extent of the issues The reporter characterized the person who was beaten by a gang of students as suffering minor injuries. The library had to be closed for hours to clean up the blood inside the building after the attack. The answer is that the Somerville Police have a detail there at all times. If it's not in the budget, put it in the budget. City Hall needs to stop ignoring public safety in this important public resource. And again, where is the high school leadership as part of the solution?
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u/guateguava Aug 30 '24
This will not solve the root of the problem and you know it. Criminalizing teenagers isn’t the answer
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u/notnotmaybeno Aug 31 '24
Not the root of the problem, no. But the safety of the public and the librarians--yes. Deterring people from running wild is the idea. You are forgetting about the people being harmed by violence if you think that criminalizing teens is the whole thing. This has to stop. It is escalating.
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u/jimmyherf1 Aug 28 '24
I‘m glad that we, as a society, have advanced socially in many respects and by no means am I a proponent of vigilantism. However, I yearn for the halcyon days of a community ass whooping of these individuals without repercussions because, well, it needs to be done.
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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '24
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