Safety & Security - An officer from the Decatur Police Department, will offer tips and suggestions for keeping your staff and patrons safe at your library.

• You will learn how to recognize and deal with suspicious behavior.
• You will learn how to handle confrontation safely.
• You will learn when you should contact your local police,
• and how they can help you.

Bev Obert is the Executive Director for RPLS. She has worked at RPLS since 1994. Prior to that she has been the public director at both Atwood-Hammond and Mt Zion.

"Although the public generally considers public libraries as “safe” places in their community as with all public facilities, this is not necessarily the case. People of all ages, races, religions, and walks of life may enter the public library and this, its greatest strength, can also be its greatest challenge. “What has proved to exacerbate the growing aggression in the library workplaces of the 90s is the wide range of new learning tools available that attract a greater number and diversity of people.” Children, young mothers, and senior citizens use the public library often but so, sometimes, do the emotionally and mentally disturbed, the sexually deviant, and substance abusers. Good customer service and basic conflict resolution skills will help library staff to solve most of the problems they encounter during their work day but sometimes the issues are more complicated or more dangerous."

"Library security is everyone’s job. Everyone should be aware of what is happening around him or her and be prepared to step in when an issue needs addressing, especially if escalation can be avoided or prevented. Even if a library can afford to hire security staff, security officers cannot be everywhere and they should not be expected to handle every little conflict or problem behavior. This manual is designed to help library staffs address problem behavior in their libraries. Problem behavior is any behavior that violates or restricts the rights of others to use the library and/or is specified in the library’s code of conduct or posted rules."

Rose’s specialties include trustees, construction, system membership, problem patrons, intellectual freedom, long-range planning, and general consulting.