Someone stopped me in the middle of the library to complain about the presence of unhoused people. He started by saying how much he supports the library, always has. To be clear, he wasn’t complaining that anything bad had happened, no one had done anything, he hadn’t been threatened or harmed. - ThreadSky

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social • 80 days ago

Someone stopped me in the middle of the library to complain about the presence of unhoused people.
He started by saying how much he supports the library, always has.
To be clear, he wasn’t complaining that anything bad had happened, no one had done anything, he hadn’t been threatened or harmed.

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tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

I clarified; they hadn’t done anything against our code of conduct. Just a few men sitting quietly in the reading area, enjoying newspapers & magazines.
He agreed they hadn’t done anything wrong, but why were they here and why were they here all day? He said it was a problem at every library.

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

Then came the kicker; he told me the libraries should do something about this. That he would hate to have to “withdraw” his support for the library, or vote against us in future funding initiatives.
This is a tactic that has been used time and again against marginalized groups.

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

Now, there are nuanced conversations that can be had about some of the behaviors displayed by the least fortunate and the most vulnerable in the library. Libraries see the effects everyday of the housing crisis and addiction epidemic.
But this wasn’t that.

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

This was a guy who just felt that he shouldn’t have to share space with the unhoused, at all. He didn’t want to have to see them in public. He felt they should be denied a civil right (because courts have ruled that’s what access to the library is: a civil right) because he was uncomfortable.

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

Let me be clear: if merely seeing unhoused folks minding their own business is enough to make you threaten to ‘withdraw’ your support of the library, then you didn’t really support the library to begin with.

tiredlibrarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

And that, I guess, is the banality of evil. That on a bright, quiet afternoon, a well-dressed, well-fed, well-sheltered person felt entitled to casually ask that other people be denied a resource that is meant to be for everyone.

paperandink.bsky.social•80 days ago

At our library we have a few regulars and we know their names and casually mention local services as needed in our conversations. It is a safe, warm place and they read, write, draw as they pass the time. They are part of our lives, just like the disgruntled complainers.

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