Calfornia: Santa Cruz Public Library Board Votes Down Sleeping Ban

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Trustees have narrowly defeated a measure that would have explicitly outlawed using the library as a place to sleep.
Monday’s 5-4 vote of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries Joint Powers Authority Board denied an attempt by staff to add sleeping to a list of banned behaviors.
Library Director Teresa Landers said staff had sought the specific right to remove people who are lying down in the stacks or placing their heads on tables and sleeping for hours at a time, not people who fall asleep briefly while reading. She said people are seen sleeping for extended periods a couple of times per day, mostly at the downtown branch.
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Landers said library workers still will be able to ask sleepers to leave if they are impeding the ability of others to use materials and equipment. The proposed sleeping ban was part of other changes in the library’s conduct policy that the board otherwise approved.

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