There was a time when Katie McLain, reference assistant at the Waukegan (Ill.) Public Library, had no idea what to say to patrons who acted inappropriately toward her. That time is over.
“I’ve been in the middle of a normal library transaction and had the person say something about asking me out,” McLain says. “I look that person in the eye and say, ‘That’s inappropriate,’ and go back to what I was doing. If they do it again, I say, ‘That’s inappropriate, and I need you to stop.’ I like to make eye contact and use a slightly lower, quieter voice with a firm tone so they know I’m serious. And if they argue with me, I say, ‘I’m happy to find a manager or a member of our safety team to discuss this with you.’”
How has McLain become so comfortable speaking up against sexual harassment? By working with her colleague Amanda Civitello, marketing and communications manager, and their administration to make their library a place where such harassment isn’t tolerated, and where those who experience it are supported rather than ignored or recriminated against.
“Our administration takes this stuff really seriously,” Civitello says. “But that’s not the case everywhere.” That’s why she and McLain surveyed 173 librarians this year about their experiences with on-the-job sexual harassment and reported the results during a presentation, “It’s Not Just Part of the Job: Breaking the Silence on Sexual Harassment in the Library,” at the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago in June. “We hope that by bringing the conversation to a bigger forum, we can help people spark that discussion with their directors: ‘Look, there are other people experiencing this,’” she says.
As Civitello and McLain recounted in their standing-room-only presentation, most survey respondents were women working in public-facing roles in public libraries, and nearly two-thirds of respondents reported having been the target of sexual harassment from members of the public while on the job. Respondents were also given the chance to anonymously share stories of harassment, which included tales of being asked on dates, called “sweetie,” cornered alone in the stacks, told sexually charged jokes, or patted on the derrière, among other examples.
One reason sexual harassment from patrons is often overlooked or minimized in the library setting, McLain and Civitello say, is that many people mistakenly believe that unwelcome behavior that is not extreme or not physical does not count as harassment.
“In actuality, there are a lot of different behaviors that may make us uncomfortable,” McLain says. “They may not be serious enough to warrant contacting a security member or the police, but it can be something as minor as a male patron walking up to a female librarian and telling her to smile, or someone repeatedly making comments about what a particular staff member is wearing that day. We wanted to emphasize: You can stand up and say something. It’s okay.” McLain and Civitello emphasize, too, that sexual harassment is not limited to women and that people of color and LGBTQ people experience higher rates of harassment.
Ingrid Abrams, an elementary school librarian in New York City, can attest to how stressful and unpleasant sexual harassment can make a workplace, especially when administration is not supportive. In a previous position in a public library, a patron repeatedly approached her when she was alone at the desk and attempted to run his fingers through her hair. When Abrams informed her boss, she was told that the next time it happened, she should yell for security—a suggestion Abrams found unhelpful.
“I worked in the children’s section. I wasn’t going to start screaming at the top of my lungs,” she says. “I said that I wanted a security guard closer to me and that I wanted security to know what this person looked like because maybe he was doing it to someone else, too. Nope. I was just told, ‘Scream for security.’ It was not going to happen.”
In contrast, a supportive administration can help determine the best course of action. When a librarian in Vancouver, British Columbia (who prefers to remain anonymous) began receiving unwelcome and inappropriate notes from a patron, she told her supervisor, who helped her decide that the patron needed to be told directly to stop his behavior. The supervisor even offered to tell the patron on the librarian’s behalf.
“I decided to do it myself,” the librarian recalls, “and I still remember how I was shaking as I told the patron not to leave me any more letters, that I wasn’t interested, and it wasn’t appropriate. I’ll never forget the way his face went cold and hard; he said, ‘Okay,’ and fled the department. Later he saw me through the front window. He slapped his hand against the glass and made a face at me before walking off. It was very frightening. But I don’t think I ever saw him again.”
As her experience attests, confronting a harasser can be difficult and nerve-racking, even with support. That’s why McLain suggests coming up with scripts ahead of time (see sidebar) and practicing them. For example, simply putting a hand up and saying, “Please stop. You’re being inappropriate” can be highly effective.
As for administrators, Civitello encourages them to research and understand their libraries’ board-approved policies regarding sexual harassment. “Understanding that these policies are in place and that they can be enforced is really important,” she says. “And if there isn’t a method for enforcing them, put one in place so that these policies are doing what they’re supposed to do: Create a safe space.”
I work in a community of 1200 people and run our public library. We have one staff member working at a time due to budget restraints, so our personal safety is always a concern, especially since we have no police force in our community anymore, so a 911 call would go to the county sheriff who may take 20 minutes or more to respond if he’s on the other side of the county; and that’s if he’s even available and isn’t tied up with an accident or other task. Every small town has a few of ‘those people’ that make others uncomfortable, so you just learn to deal with it. I keep my cell phone in my pocket and a can of pepper spray under the desk just in case. Will it work if I’m ever attacked? Who knows– plus the safety of other patrons and kids must also be considered. Working in a library with more than one staffer sounds like heaven!
The best way to minimize s3xual harassment of librarians in libraries is to stop serving Internet p0rnography. There’s no First Amendment right to p0rn in public libraries, per US v. ALA, 539 US 194 (2003). Intellectual Freedom is defined by ALA to include anything protected by the First Amendment, and Internet p0rn is not protected by the First Amendment in public libraries. Carla Hayden just said it’s illegal in public libraries, her words.
I’m trying to build a sustained effort to raise awareness of this issue and I encourage librarians to contact me should they wish to confidentially/anonymously make public something that would not be allowed in the librarian community otherwise. See http colon slash slash librarians dot cc.
Harassment was happening in libraries way before the advent of internet porn. Just stating the obvious here. Besides, there isn’t any internet porn happening in the library where I’m employed other than the occasional slip-through. We have filters in place as do many libraries due to e-rate funding and CIPA. We have a no tolerance policy for internet porn and yet sexual harassment still happens nearly every day.
I don’t advocate to stop porn in libraries. What I advocate is the communities should be informed about the law, not misinformed by ALA, then those people should make up their own minds for what’s best for them. For example, I want people to know that ALA claims to oppose child porn in libraries, while in reality it facilitates it by teaching librarians that only judges can determine what is child porn, not librarians, so they must ignore it and delete all evidence of it. And by other means. If communities knew the truth, they would do something ALA doesn’t want.
Also, many librarians are sexually harassed in libraries as a result of porn-viewing patrons. Then they fear saying anything about it because doing so can and has literally resulted in getting fired. It’s exactly why Harvey Weinstein got away with it for so long. I am very happy for you that you have escaped that fate. But if you are saying it doesn’t happen, then you are part of the problem.
I don’t know of ANY library that permits the viewing of pornography. Sure, men probably do, but if discovered they will be kicked out. And yeah, pigs will be pigs, with or without porn. I am perplexed by your post, I must admit.
Oh – Crystal – this person is a nut, so…other statements include:
“Let’s be clear we have Obama’s Net Neutrality in the first place precisely because the Soros astroturfers were successful, like the American Library Association: http://safelibraries.blogsp…
And the same astroturfers are doing it again.”
Ah, yes I see that. Thanks for the heads up.
But…
Is asking the person out *once* considered harassment and inappropriate, or is it *repeated* inquiries after the staff member has made it clear that they’re not interested? I know a number of people who’ve met their significant other either by the patron asking them out for a cup of coffee or by them asking the patron out. This was generally after the patron had become a “regular” and they’d had regular conversations and developed a rapport, but it seems that the “one size fits all” idea that a patron asking out a staff member (or vice versa) is inappropriate and harassment is a little draconian.
And to be clear, in my experience, it’s often the female patron or staff member asking out the guy…with the guy welcoming the attention.
Furthermore, in my past experience working as a clerk in a university library, this most often involved student patrons asking out student workers; and students asked out other students all the time…*wherever* they met them.
Once again, this “one size fits all” solution seems a little draconian.
There are exceptions to every rule. I`m sure this is not what the author was referring to when they described inappropriate advances. i personally was just harassed by a patron, oh, 18 hours ago? He simply said he “really liked my red hair” (I`m not even a redhead)… the fact of the matter is HOW he said was a bit creepy. Had an elderly gentleman said it with a kind voice, or a regular patron i`m familiar with commented on my hair, I simply would have taken it as a compliment and that would be that.
Again, it`s more about the vibe and the context in which certain things are said. And as for the inter-office dating– regardless of the initiating gender– it is always a terrible idea!
I guess that as a former teacher of 19 years, my opinions on inter-office dating are skewed by how often I’ve seen it work out between faculty members…with the ugly disasters being the exceptions.