Unruly library crowd concerning

I am very concerned about what is happening at the downtown library.

There are people outside on the sidewalk asking for money, crowded around the doors, taking up every available bench, and making access difficult. There are seniors who will not go to the library anymore because of this.

Inside, these same people are eating and drinking at tables in the reading area and talking loudly. Drugs are being passed back and forth both inside and outside the library. There are often loud outbursts inside the library by intoxicated people, using the F word at the top of their lungs.

Mentally ill people who have always found a quiet refuge in the library are now being bullied and called names. They are frightened. The security men are often called racially unacceptable names.

The police have apparently been called to the library more in the past six months than in the past 15 years. I pity the staff.

As a former librarian, I know that having food and drink in the library breeds silver fish, and it costs a fortune to fumigate and get rid of them.

Traditionally, a library is a safe place where a person can slip in and read in their favourite corner. Librarians are not social workers.

Library patrons have a right to what our culture and tradition dictates.

Marikay Falby, Saskatoon