Misconduct declines at new Central Library
Before the new Central Library even opened, the online taunts began.
“Everyone in Austin can now look forward to a new place for Austin’s homeless population to sleep during the day,” one commenter wrote to the American-Statesman in 2013 when the City Council approved buildinga new downtown library. Another made a crack about modeling the library after a correctional institute.
The former Faulk Central Library did have occasional issues with people sleeping, drinking alcohol, harassing staff or getting into fights inside the building, but since the new $125 million Central Library opened at 710 W. César Chavéz St., violation reports show dramatically fewer instances of misconduct in the new space.
January, February, March and April of 2017 had an average of 66 documented “policy violations” each month at the former Faulk library. Over the same time period this year, there was an average of 39 violations monthly at the new library.
That was despite, or perhaps
because of, a spike in visitors. The new library averaged just fewer than 100,000 visitors monthly in the five months after it opened in mid-October. In contrast, the Faulk library averaged just more than 30,000 visitors per month during the same span of 2016 and 2017.
Violations for people sleeping or bringing sleeping bags into the library dipped from 23 in January through April of 2017 to 21 in January through April of 2018. Instances of harassing, physically attacking or using profane language against staff or other customers dropped from 58 to 24, and the total number of people kicked out for being intoxicated fell from nine to three.
“I’ve only seen maybe two people escorted out of here with the cops called,” Austin resident Troy Soechting said. “At the Faulk Library, that was practically every day.”
Soechting said he’s homeless and comes to the library almost every day to charge his phone and get away from the chaotic atmosphere near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, where he sleeps. He’ll gush about how beautiful the new library is and how peaceful it is, attributing that mostly to its location.
The library hasn’t changed any of its policies, said spokeswoman Kanya Lyons, but she noted it’s a significantly bigger building with more staff. She attributed much of the decline in behavioral problems to a different and roomier atmosphere — with more space to spread out but fewer dark corners and near trails along Lady Bird Lake and Walnut Creek where library patrons can find outdoor space to relax.
“There’s not any one thing we can point to, but it’s a very different atmosphere,” Lyons said. “It’s a very open space with lots of windows, lots of lighting . ... We still have a lot of the same regulars, they’re just not all on top of each other.”
Others at the new library Thursday included college students studying, people checking out the new space for the first time and young professionals who are making use of its coworking areas. Scott Nguyen, who is part of a solar startup, said he’s started working frequently out of shared learning rooms, which he said are better than other meeting spaces. He’s never noticed any issues with people violating library policies.
“I come here often,” he said. “I didn’t go to any of the other libraries . ... We used to meet at coffee shops.”
Policy violations across all of Austin’s 20 library branches typically total 150 to 250 per month. While violations at the Central Library decreased, those at the Terrazas Branch, 1105 E. César Chavéz St., ticked up slightly from an average of 13 per month in the first half of 2017 to about 17 per month from this past November through March, according to directors’ reports.
Library violation reports don’t distinguish between who’s homeless and who’s not, or between an adult sleeping in a chair, a teenager scribbling on a desk, a parent failing to supervise a rowdy child or a political protester shouting.
Lyons noted that staff members have no way to tell what someone’s home life is like; they simply enforce the rules equally.
But it’s clear that Austin’s homeless population does use the libraries and that staffers there play a role in assisting them with social services. The city’s Library Commission created a working group to address that issue and, last month, the commission approved a recommendation asking the City Council to fund a position for a library-based social worker to do that work. The council might consider that request as part of its budgeting for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
“Folks are going to come in who are in distress,” said Chad Williams, the Library Commission chairman, “and we’ve trained staff to know what to do instead of just calling 911 . ... But at the end of the day, librarians are librarians. They’re not health workers.”
Alvin Johnson, who said he’s been homeless since he came to Austin from Seattle six months ago, has used the library daily to access job resources on the internet. He spoke to the Statesman right after finally getting an apartment Thursday.
“I read an article that this library was less likely to attract homeless, though it’s open to everyone,” he said. “Other libraries seem more run down . ... Even the homeless seem to respect this one more.”
Soechting said the improved atmosphere of the new library made the staff more relaxed and steered visitors toward better behavior. At the Faulk library, any closing of eyes would generate an immediate tap on the shoulder, he said, but the couple of times he’s dozed off in the new library, nobody has bothered him.
“But I don’t nod off much,” he added. “I don’t want to get kicked out.”