I’m finding the Maplewood “Lock the Library” situation to be very distressing (see library’s announcement here). I know teen behavior has often been a topic for discussion on this blog, but I would be interested in hearing some thoughts on this specific situation. The behavior problems exhibited by the teens in the Maplewood community are extreme and would certainly necessitate an extreme response. I feel for the librarians who have to endure this and realize that this action was pretty much a “last straw” response, but locking the library during the prime hours of the day defies reason and could only end badly for the Maplewood library. I personally feel it shows the community/library board’s inability, perhaps even incompetency, to deal with a major problem. If the library itself is unable to handle the over abundance of teenagers with disciplinary problems then shouldn’t the community (including the library) pull together and find an alternative that doesn’t include such a drastic and unfair step as closing the library entirely? This is one of those situations where having a teen librarian would be very advantageous to a public library. We should be here to advocate for these teenagers and promote more constructive solutions for situations like this.

Linda Braun also blogged about this situation on the YALSA blog last week.