[Libs-Or] Problems for Corvallis-Benton County Library With youth at entrance--coming soon to a library near you?

[Hope Leman]

What an incredible gracious note Diedre Conkling has written below.


And I think the info from Rebecca Cohen of the Newport Public Library about how smoking policies helped address entrance problems were exactly the kind of thing Diedre means about useful discussion.



And given Diedre's graciousness and Su Liudahl's of the Creswell Library gentle admonitions to be civil I promise to try to be more tactful and less barbed. You are all great etiquette coaches.



Hope Leman



From: Diedre Conkling [mailto:diedre08 at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 6:40 PM
To: Hope Leman
Cc: libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
Subject: Re: [Libs-Or] Problems for Corvallis-Benton County Library With youth at entrance--coming soon to a library near you?


Sorry,  I guess I should have thought more before posting and then my message might have been clear.

I think discussing the subject is great as a general topic of discussion.  We might all get good ideas for our libraries.   Even the smallest town can have problems with skateboards blocking access to libraries and people hanging directly outside the doors smoking. And any number of other problems.

Maybe I was misreading but it seemed that one library was really getting attacked instead of keeping the conversation general and that just seemed unfair.

I do hope the conversation about how to deal with these general problems that we all experience.   I really did not mean to stop that productive part of the conversation.

Hey, you know me. I like talking about any subject even remotely related to libraries.  ;-)

I look forward to reading more.
On Jun 8, 2011 12:07 PM, "Hope Leman" <hleman at samhealth.org<mailto:hleman at samhealth.org>> wrote:

Hi, all. I would like to thank those who have commented on the matter of the entrance to the Corvallis-Benton county and do want to say I am quite dismayed by Diedre Conkling's comments here:


Seriously people, don't we all have enough problems at our own libraries
that we don't have to tear down another library.   There is always more to
an issue than we will ever see reported in the press so how can we make
these kinds of comments without REAL information.  And do you really want us
making these comments about your library in this forum even if we have tons
of real information.



It isn't tearing down a library to express concern at negative publicity about it that one sees in the local newspaper and that is already on the Web. It seems to me to be a legitimate issue and that the matter has generated some worthwhile discussion, from among others Carolyn Rawles-Heiser
Library Director Corvallis--Benton County Public Library, who gave her view of things and who elucidated the matter for the rest of us. Isn't one of the purposes of this forum to serve as a venue for the discussion of such issues and for people like Ms. Rawles-Heiser to hear from people such as Cheryl Hill and her account of the young girl who did indeed feel intimidated at the entrance? It does not behoove us as information professionals to attempt to throttle discussion of interest and concern. Of course, there is more to an issue than is reported in the press. That is the very reason that I brought the matter up--so that librarians could discuss the matter in a calm, informed/edifying fashion and mention facts that were not in the news story I linked to.  Or are we supposed to only read bulletins about legislative matters in the US Congress?

Useful points have been made about what library staff can actually do when it comes to buildings open to the public. That is the value of open discussion on this list.

Hope Leman

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