It Comes with the Territory

The mission of libraries is to meet the information needs of the people they serve--but daily, sticky situations arise that make this tough to do. Reports of peepers, use of the library by the homeless for sleeping, inappropriate Internet use by patrons; encounters with offensive personal hygiene, skateboarding in the stacks, the threat of violence, one's role as a babysitter for latchkey children, censorious complaints: Is there an upswing or are librarians just more sensitized? How do librarie