Chelsea State Bank ad

Chelsea District Library board discusses increased safety policies

Photo by Burrill Strong.

By Lisa Carolin

Chelsea District Library administrators are taking action to help make the library a safer place. Library Director Lori Coryell and Assistant Director Linda Ballard have spent time meeting with people in the community on the subject of safety following an incident in the library last October when a man is accused of exposing himself.

Several items were discussed at the Feb. 20 library board meeting with the plan to take action on them at the board’s March meeting. They are: adding facility safety as a core value, and making changes to the Library Violations Enforcement Policy, which includes: In the event of a suspected violation, notifying a minor’s parent once police have been called, and placing conditions on the violator’s use of the library, the specific nature of which will be at the director’s discretion.

The library is also taking additional steps to increase safety such as “Pursuing additional security cameras for placement throughout the building; Reconfiguring second floor furniture and computer placement to more effectively separate teens from adults; Filtering all computers in the Learning Lab; Investigating public notification of library incidents that impact safety and security.”

In other news, for a second year, the library will offer its version of March Madness narrowing down the library’s 16 most requested titles of 2017 to compete to win the 2017 CDL Most Popular Book award.

Voting begins March 5 with the choice of voting online (chelseadistrictlibrary.org/march-madness) or in person at the March Madness display on the library’s second floor.

On Tuesday, March 13, the Washington Street Education Center Board Room will be the venue for “An Evening with the Authors”. The authors – Michael Buckley, Nora Raleigh Baskin, and Helen Frost along with photographer Rick Lieder, will begin their presentations at 6:30 p.m. and will conclude with a book-signing session.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email