Should the Public Library be able to ban the homeless man who smells just terrible from the building?

[cometclear]

Originally Posted by phonelady61

wow you have no idea why he is homeless , nor do you know the circumstances surrounding his homelessness, must be hard walking around with that silver spoon in your mouth .....anyone could become homeless at any time given our economy . Some people need a good dose of humility and humanity .

We live in a time where nastiness towards the poor is rampant, many times from others who are just a tad above them on the economic scale. Interestingly, most of these nasty people call themselves, "Christians."

[Timing2012]

Originally Posted by cometclear

We live in a time where nastiness towards the poor is rampant, many times from others who are just a tad above them on the economic scale. Interestingly, most of these nasty people call themselves, "Christians."

True that.

Poor people are okay as long as they are not criminals.

[Quick Enough]

Originally Posted by Socially Inept

At my local library a homeless man is always sitting in the area next to the magazines and newspapers. If he is not there this seating area is the most popular place in the library but once he sits down, nearly everyone leaves and are forced to sit far from the magazines and walk far to get their next magazine.

Why do they leave? HE SMELLS, just terrible. He does not take a bath and has incredible body odor. You can smell him from 20 feet away.

Other than his terrible smell he does not make any waves or say a thing, he just sits there.

Should the library be able to ban him from coming in until he takes a bath and stops smelling so bad?

Yes! If it has to be explained, there is use.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

While correct from a technical standpoint, there are many people performing most or all of the traditional roles of librarians without the benefit of having an MLS/MLIS. I'm thinking in particular of the countless small public libraries serving rural communities ... communities without the resources to hire a degreed librarian.

In an academic setting, working circulation, often even the head of circulation is a library assistant (or library technician) - someone without a library degree. And certainly a student, working part-time at the circulation desk, would not be considered a "librarian" in the traditional sense. But to a typical patron unconcerned about academic credentials, *anyone* working in the library (other than a uniformed guard, maintenance worker, etc.) is seen as being a librarian. And if it's a public library with limited funding for staff, not only those at the circulation desk but also those at the reference desk may well be support staff and not degreed librarians.

Oh, absolutely... I was only speaking in the "technical sense," and even mentioned he was being asked to do what's usually the librarian's job. The "librarian" who I replaced at my current job didn't have the MLIS (she was classified & paid as a library assistant), and was here for over a decade!

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by thriftylefty

IMO Libraries are for; patrons, tax payers and people who are using library "services"

To limit access to a public institution based on whether they pay taxes, or even what they intend to do inside the library (provided they're following our basic rules) would be unconstitutional - in fact, we would probably lose all of our public funding if we did such a thing.

Anyone who wishes to enter the library is allowed, and for the most part we don't even care what they do once inside... again, provided they follow all specific rules set by the staff. So if a homeless or non-taxpaying individual wishes to come in, and sit in a corner staring at the wall, they should be allowed. If they want to come in and harass other patrons or staff, abuse our materials/machines, sleep on a couch, bathe in the restroom, etc, THAT is when we can ask them to leave. Period.

Note: The only gray area here usually applies to the children's area, especially if it's in a completely separate room. At my old library we had a "no unattended adults" rule, with some exceptions, due to past issues with child predators seeking victims... this one man actually followed a teen girl from the library, and raped her in her home. So if we saw any unattended adults just wandering around, we'd politely ask "do you need assistance?" And if they didn't answer something like "I'm a teacher/parent looking for xxx" we'd ask them to return to the main library floor.

Most libraries are frquented by pretty much the same people on a regular basis. The people at the circ dest know people by name and they know who is ill and who is a homeless bum. Our library has a regulation that a person intends on using library services or you can be ask to leave. Sometimes they have a policeman do a walk through at certain parts of the day. This scares off internet pedophiles as well. I did my time in social sevice work and belive that homeless bums and neardowells should not be coddled and tolerated at every turn as if they are contributing members of society.

I agree they shouldn't be coddled, but at the same time they are still humans - and we should treat them as such, unless they give us a reason to do otherwise. And yes, we do tend to have our regulars and know them well! I even have nicknames for some of them, like "loud typing lady," "porn guy," "crying lady" (she's a real drama queen), "last-minute DVD checker-outer," and "big screen TV guy" (he always comes in pushing a TV on a cart; one of the great mysteries at our branch).