The Blackbelt Librarian: Real World Safety & Security by Warren Graham

DiBello, Amy 

Graham, Warren. (2012). The Black Belt Librarian: Real-World Safety & Security. ALA Editions. Available from: American Library Association. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Tel: 866-746-7252; Fax: 770-280-4155; e-mail: editionsmarketing@ala.org; Web site: http://www.alaeditions.org.

I was recently transferred to a public library in the center of the city with one of the busiest bus lines. Although 99% of our patrons come here for all the right reasons, the 1% can shake up our day. However, there's book to help you with troublemakers: The Blackbelt Librarian: Real World Safety and Security by library security expert Warren Graham. Graham has traveled all over the United States, empowering the meekest librarians to take charge of their libraries and stop cowering behind the reference desk. 

Security is about more than banning problem patrons. It's about protecting your collection from theft, your peaceful patrons from harassment, and preventing your staff from becoming exhausted and embittered. This empowering book is also funny and realistic. Graham has been in the trenches with stressed out librarians and seen first hand what they're up against. He sums up his philosophy as "playing chess with the checker players" and treating everyone fairly. 

Here is how ALA sums up his book: 

Sharing expertise gleaned from more than two decades as a library security manager, Graham demonstrates that libraries can maintain their best traditions of openness and public access by creating an unobtrusive yet effective security plan. In straightforward language, the author

• Shows how to easily set clear expectations for visitors' behavior
• Presents guidelines for when and how to intervene when someone violates the code of conduct, including tips for approaching an unruly patron
• Offers instruction on keeping persistent troublemakers under control or permanently barred from the library
• Gives library staff tools for communicating effectively with its security professionals, including examples of basic documentation

The Black Belt Librarian arms librarians with the confidence and know-how they need to maintain a comfortable, productive, and safe environment for everyone in the library.

I had the pleasure of attending one of Warren Graham's workshops at the New Mexico Library Association in 2015. He had the room roaring with laughter in between role playing our most common security challenges. At one point, he even chased a librarian around the room to emphasize what he referred to as a "game over" scenario, when a librarian absolutely needs to stop negotiating and pick up the phone and call 911 instead.

A Librarian's Guide to Homelessness

Clifford, Simon
Info266, Fall 2016

Dowd, R. (2013, May 20). A librarian’s guide to homelessness [video file]. Retrieved from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYiEEhhrFh4&feature=youtu.be

Summary: 

In this video aimed at librarians, Ryan Dowd, the director of a homeless shelter discusses the characteristics and needs common to those homeless individuals who visit libraries, and explores some of the challenges to serving them. The first part of the video is focused on the lived experience of the homeless. The second part, starting about 23:00 minutes in, shifts to focus on effective ways for library staff to interact with homeless patrons. 

Evaluation:

"A librarian's guide to homelessness" is part training, part advocacy. Dowd devotes a lot of time to conveying what it is like to be homeless and why a homeless person might behave in certain ways. In the latter part of the video, he gives a few concrete tips for avoiding escalation or deescalating tense situations. This video does not really cover how to handle major conflicts or other critical situations. It's a bit lengthy at 38:00 minutes, but I personally found it to be very insightful. 

Posted by Jenny Cofell

'A Culture of Empathy'

Jensen, Karen.  (November 2015).  A culture of empathy:  We must help youth who are facing mental health challenges.  School Library Journal, 40 - 43.

Summary:  This article notes that teens suffering from mental illness often come to the library because of the calm environment and friendly staff.  On the one hand, this is a good thing, but on the other, it can leave library staff unprepared for the unpredictable and sometimes dangerous behaviours that can come along with mental illnesses. There are over 200 mental health disorders and, since mental illness often shows up in the teen years, it becomes important for those working with Teens to educate themselves on these issues so that they can advocate effectively for those teens who come into their building.

Evaluation:  This article point out the important role teen librarians have an important role in advocating for their patrons who might be struggling with a mental illness.  The library is where teens may come first to seek out information about what is happening to them. It is important to have current materials available on the topic in the collection for teens to consult. The article also lists titles of books that cover the different types of mental illnesses making it a great resource for collection development.

Bringing Mental Illness & YA Literature to the Forefront

Laudato, Maricar

Scrofano, D. (2015). Not as crazy as it seems: Discussing the new YA literature of mental illness in your classroom or library. Young Adult Library Services.

Summary

Diane Scrofano underlines the importance of including literature that focus on the topic of mental illness into your classroom or library’s collection if your patrons are young adults. The reason for this, she argues, is because the age of onset, for a majority of the lifetime cases of mental illness, are those from 14-24 years old. She writes how, unfortunately, having a mental illness continues to have a stigma attached to it. Because of this, many teens affected by mental illness have no source of literature that they can see themselves (or their family/friends) on the written page and have their experience be validated.

Evaluation

Diane Scrofano makes a compelling case for including literature on mental illness into our libraries’ collections. I recently attended the YALLWEST book festival in Santa Monica this past April and one of the author panels was “I’m a Basketcase.” It was an awesome panel in which these best-selling authors that you would think have their ducks all in order shared their fears and personal experiences with mental illness. I thought it was really brave of them to do that, especially with all of the stigma associated with being mentally ill. I feel that the more that mental illness becomes part of the dialogue in regards to human rights, in the same vein that cultural diversity is, it will only help us to serve the developmental needs of our teens better.

By Terry Funk

CA

Moulton, E. E. (2014). Bibliotherapy for teens: Helpful tips and recommended fiction. Retrieved from: http://www.slj.com/2014/11/teens-ya/bibliotherapy-for-teens-helpful-tips-and-recommended-fiction/#_

Summary: This is a recollection of real life encounters with a reference desk librarian helping teens navigate the shelves for books about topics related to Mental Health. More than informational texts, teens wanted fiction books that give understanding of various conditions, e.g. Anxiety, Asperger’s, etc. She created a display with several realistic teen fiction books, and the next day six of eight books in the display were checked out. The author gives some statistics about teens and Mental Illness and what bibliotherapy promises which is basically insight for a teen with the condition(s), family, peers and others.  

Evaluation: The list of books under 12 specific conditions is very helpful since the term Mental Illness is vast and encompasses many different conditions. Also, labels sometimes carry stigma and authors may avoid them. The librarian contacted authors to verify categories when MARC records were unclear. For more about individual titles, one might want to prepare an annotated bibliography from this list. There are still not enough books for teens about Mental Illness and situations that may affect emotional/mental well-being, such as substance abuse, rape, etc. and finding books on the shelves helps teens realize they are not alone, that others have had similar experiences. The author also points out that while not a substitute for therapy, readers gain insight on problem-solving and coping skills in the lives of characters, and that understanding and knowledge may be transferable to their own lives. There is also a place for comments and discussion.