Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 22, 1993 TAG: 9311230402
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It's the public library, and on weekday afternoons, there is a good chance it will be filled with young people who want to study, read magazines or talk quietly with their friends.
All of that is fine, librarians say. Unfortunately, not all the young visitors are content to pass their time in those ways. Instead, a small percentage talks loud, fools around or engages in horseplay.
That can be annoying, to patrons and staff members alike.
The Raleigh Court Public Library is ideally situated at Grandin Road and Brandon Avenue in Southwest Roanoke. It sits beside the campus of Patrick Henry High School and is only a few blocks from Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Hundreds of kids pass it each day. Typically, 15 to 20 stop in and stay for a while. Most adhere to the prevailing atmosphere, which is quiet, even private. A few do not.
They talk loud, goof off, go in and out and generally create a commotion.
``That's just seven of the usual 20 we have in here,'' said Jay Stephens, the librarian. ``We don't jump on them when they come in, but we do when they get rowdy or noisy or somebody complains. We usually warn them once or twice, and then we just ask them to leave.''
When the miscreants head for the bench outside, their behavior becomes less restrained.
``We have some friends who go to PH, and they come here and we meet them here and talk,'' said Amanda Johnson, 12, a student at Woodrow Wilson. She was seated on the bench by the library door. Randy Collett, also 12, was with her. Soon his brother, Lee, 11, showed up.
They and other young people, like Charles Julg, Chris Tyler and Keith Foster from the high school, gleefully related tales of legendary misdeeds inside the building, while admitting nothing. It was all kid stuff, but it was all irritating to those who use the library for its intended purposes.
Similar situations occur at other branches. At the Williamson Road library, branch manager Sarah Rubush greets youngsters from Breckinridge Middle School, which stands behind it. She and an assistant work daily to maintain order. Usually they succeed. Sometimes they don't. Rubush realizes that kids need to unwind after a day of school. There is a fine line between an acceptable noise level and an unacceptable one.
Other offenses are easier to call. Kids who go in and out, gather outside by the door or horse around usually face a reprimand. Rubush gives two warnings and then banishes them for the day.
``They didn't teach me this in graduate school,'' she said.
At the Melrose Library on Salem Turnpike, a handful of students from Forest Park Elementary School and Addison Middle School visit regularly. Many wait for their parents to pick them up.
``It's a convenient place to go,'' said Becky Cooper, the librarian. ``The parents know the staff and know we're going to watch out for their kids.''
She, too, has to play disciplinarian at times, telling the youngsters, ``You're here to study. Let's calm down.''
Libraries were never designed, of course, to house children after school or entertain them while they waited for rides. But they've filled those roles for years, said Emily Keyser, Roanoke's acting librarian.
``Sometimes you get to think they're part of the family,'' she said, ``and sometimes they are really great and volunteer to do things for us. Sometimes they need to be shushed a bit.
``That's the old image. But sometimes they get right boisterous and we need to say, `People are studying.'''
The library's intimidating image of the '50s has largely disappeared in this service-oriented age. Instead of searching for ways to eliminate disorderly kids, librarians nationwide are thinking about programs to educate and entertain them. The Public Library Association published a book this year called ``Let's Keep Children in the Public Library.'' It presents ideas for policies and programs that will enable libraries and their younger patrons to benefit from each other, said George Needham, the association's executive director. The PLA is a division of the American Library Association in Chicago.
Coping with kids is not an easy issue, Needham said. Tight budgets can hamper program development, and designing programs that kids will use is difficult, too. Librarians also have liability concerns.
``Libraries shouldn't be seen as convenient, free day care,'' he said. ``Public libraries have always taken the position that we do not act in the place of parents. ... We don't try to act as parental authorities the way schools do. If a kid comes in and is ill or has some other problem, we can't be responsible. We're not there to give medication, bandage cuts or give counseling.''
If adolescent day-care programs are needed, he said, governments should set them up in the schools. But libraries do welcome the young, for reasons both idealistic and practical.
``We realize that 10 years from now, they're going to be taxpayers and called upon to support the library,'' Needham said.
And librarians do reserve one right that might be termed parental - the right to kick out the kids who don't behave. It has even been upheld in court.
``If libraries don't maintain that option,'' Needham said, ``then we're surrendering our authority to the kids themselves ... We can't violate their civil rights, but we can set up rules so we can function as a library.''
Like his counterparts across the valley, Jay Stephens praised the majority of the youngsters who use his facility, saying they were a joy to work with.
``I do like to have everybody in here, from preschoolers up,'' he said. ``But some of these young people need to realize they have responsibilities, too.''
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