A rise in troubling, and sometimes aggressive, incidents at public libraries continues to shed light on the struggles facing librarians and staff who find themselves in the middle of alarming situations involving patrons. A recent study found nearly 70% of library staff in urban areas reported experiencing violent or aggressive behavior from patrons.
“The public library is an open place for all,” said Rachel Williams, an assistant professor with the USC School of Information Science. “That sometimes means the patrons who walk through those open doors are dealing with any number of difficult situations, which could include a mental health crisis or other trauma, are unhoused, disoriented, agitated, intoxicated or angry, and understandably so.”
Troubled patrons are often met by library staff with inadequate crisis training and limited resources to provide support.
“Librarians are not social workers, doctors, therapists or lawyers. They can’t always provide the support that patrons in crisis need,” said Williams. “But most librarians do enter the profession with a desire to serve the community and help people. So how do librarians best serve all patrons in a professional way during a crisis, while staying safe and setting healthy boundaries for themselves?”
That’s the question Williams set out to answer through her research, so she could offer improved crisis training for current librarians and thoroughly prepare future librarians for the real-life situations they face after graduation. She collaborated with clinical social work faculty, skilled in trauma-informed practices, to develop workshops for library staff.
“At first, the workshops included first aid training, de-escalation strategies to use during tense incidents, trauma-informed practices for dealing with patrons with mental illness, substance abuse and more, and self-care techniques for staff who we often found to be overwhelmed and anxious at the thought of dealing with some patrons,” said Williams. “The workshops also taught participants how to set boundaries for themselves in the workplace.”
Hundreds of librarians from across the country have completed the workshop, with most participants sharing they felt more confident and comfortable dealing with patrons in crisis afterwards. To create more realistic and hands-on training, Williams and her colleagues recently adapted the workshops into virtual reality experiences.
“This technology allows us to roleplay lifelike crisis situations that librarians may experience so they can learn how to best and safely navigate in a way that is professional and still honors their personal boundaries,” said Williams. “Scenarios such as a patron suffering an opioid overdose or a confused patron looking for housing or food — these are situations many librarians face alone on the job.”
Currently, Williams is pilot testing the virtual reality simulations with library staff, library safety officers and students. She also plans to demonstrate the technology at the Public Library Association conference in April to collect more feedback before officially launching the free VR experience in app stores. She hopes her research and workshop help library staff feel more empowered to serve patrons in crisis without compromising their own health and well-being.
“I believe as researchers, we should conduct research that pragmatically impacts the community and supports the people who live there. There are hundreds of libraries across South Carolina — rural, urban and in between — who could benefit from having staff who feel confident and better trained to serve people in crisis.”