Ohio: Toledo Newspaper Reports on Crime Rate at Area Public Libraries

From the Toledo Blade:

A review of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library’s security reports from 2012 through the end of last year detailed nearly 1,000 incidents a year, including criminal activity, theft, vandalism, disturbances, and sexual misconduct inside the county’s public libraries.
[Clip]
One week after The Blade requested the last three years of library security reports, Library Director Clyde Scoles addressed the issue to the system’s board of trustees and released a public statement.
“We have a code of conduct and policies that we follow as best as we can,” Mr. Scoles told his board. “It’s certainly a bumpy road sometimes, but with security issues, we address them in a good and forceful way.”
He said public libraries are generally considered safe places for residents to visit, gather, learn, and explore, but they are not immune to crime.
Some of the reports “are terrible,” Mr. Scoles acknowledged to The Blade.

Read the Complete Article, Review the Data
Note: On a separate note, the headline of this article once again points out something we continue to see on a nearly daily basis, the words hush, shhh, shush, etc. being used in stories about libraries. We have not done enough and/or clearly demonstrated that libraries and librarians are not about being quiet. What can we do to end this incorrect idea and incorrect stereotype?

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Reports