NY Times- Confrontations with library patrons have grown frequent and severe enough to prompt those in the field to study their effects on workers. In 2022 a study of more than 400 staff members at urban libraries across the country, nearly 70 percent of respondents said that they had experienced violent or aggressive behavior from patrons.
That same year, Dr. Fisher and one of her colleagues surveyed 1,300 U.S. library workers, who reported that they had experienced more than 8,000 incidents that the researchers labeled traumatic, such as threats, assault or harassment. The library workers also cited other stressors that made their jobs more difficult, including conflicts with library administrators, aging buildings and the fallout over book bans.
Acknowledging these challenges, library systems in Los Angeles, Denver and New York City, among others, have begun using social workers to connect patrons with social services; offering naloxone, which reverses an opioid overdose; barring or suspending patrons who won’t follow the rules; and providing training on how to respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders.
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