Back in Circulation Again 2024

Our community, like so many others, is grappling with the drug epidemic, with our library having a front row seat to the grip it has on the people in our community. This included continual drug use in our building, causing us to close our bathrooms multiple times a day, finding drug paraphernalia in and around our building and an overall disruption to our loyal patrons. In addition, our staff had to emotionally watch the swift decline of patrons they cared so much about. To combat this, we took a multi-pronged approach when it came to trying to keep our bathrooms safe, and our patrons alive. This involved hiring contract security in addition to our library security staff, getting approved to have Narcan in our buildings, and ultimately installing sensors in all our public bathrooms to decrease drug use and allow the public and staff to use the library as intended. This long journey came with a lot of steps, problem solving and some hard-won victories that we are proud of. We believe that sharing our experience can help not only other libraries start the process of installing sensors, but hopefully in the end, possibly save a life.