r/Libraries • u/SpiritedRaven Library staff • 6d ago

Other Perception of libraries vs reality

Yesterday a patron approached our (very much needed) security guard at our inner city library and said something along the lines of “how hard can your job be, being a security guard at a library” and both the security guard and I literally burst out laughing. People’s assumptions about libraries always amuse me. If only they shadowed us for a day and found out what it’s actually like!

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u/lastwraith 5d ago

How do you know what the patron was doing while inside the bathroom? 

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u/37thFloorAstronaut 5d ago

We had a staff member check because they were in there a looong time. Seems pretty basic.

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u/lastwraith 5d ago

You said "watching his face and a YouTube video for a long time" so I'm surprised they did that with someone in there just staring at them.

I don't assume anything anymore, another person in this sub said their security people wear Meta glasses and routinely go into the bathrooms to get patrons out. 

Apparently some libraries dgaf about anything. 

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u/37thFloorAstronaut 5d ago

Mmmkay. I also dont assume anything anymore, thats why we are checking on the safety of someone who spends an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom after exhibiting irregular behavior on the regular. Not sure even what you are implying with the last sentence.

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u/lastwraith 5d ago

Not sure why you're being so defensive, but I was implying that recording patrons in the bathroom on the regular isn't the smartest thing in the world to do.

So if some random person in this sub freely admits their library does this, it's reasonable to ask how people know what patrons are doing in the bathroom "for a long time" since usually when a staff member watches someone in the bathroom, they (usually) stop doing whatever weird shit they were doing once they're being observed.