- 220
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- Nov 5, 2006
So I recently moved and I didn't have my internet set up at my new place yet so I brought my laptop to the library down the street to use their wifi.
As soon as I walked in I could smell b.o. This wasn't a large library but of the 25 people there I would guess that 10-15 were homeless. I could also see that there was nowhere to sit. There were several circular desks that could have each been used by four people, but in their place they were filled with old plastic shopping bags filled with clothes and sleeping bags. One asian girl, looking like she was in about 6th grade, had managed to find desk space was by herself trying to do math homework, but was clearly uncomfortable with one lady who would walk in a continuously circle around the whole library mumbling to herself. Of course the people who work at the library aren't the kind of people who would be able to ask someone to leave.
Now, I am and if they were at least hygenic and reading, using the computer, or anything resembling using a library the way it was meant to be used, I wouldn't have any problem with it. But they didn't seem to be waiting for the computer or anything. I know that public libraries are a public institution that are open to anyone but come on, there at least has to be some standard of hygine/public safety that could get these people out of our libraries. Though these people might have nowhere else to go, their use of a valuable part of the community as their shelter has to be addressed. I don't have any solutions myself but I was hoping to start a dialogue about this. When I was little I used to chill at the library after school reading choose your own adventures until my mom would pick me up but knowing the kind of environment libraries are now, theres no way my kid will do the same. Makes me sad. Yes I'm mad. Anyone else with similar stories? No I'm not Republican
As soon as I walked in I could smell b.o. This wasn't a large library but of the 25 people there I would guess that 10-15 were homeless. I could also see that there was nowhere to sit. There were several circular desks that could have each been used by four people, but in their place they were filled with old plastic shopping bags filled with clothes and sleeping bags. One asian girl, looking like she was in about 6th grade, had managed to find desk space was by herself trying to do math homework, but was clearly uncomfortable with one lady who would walk in a continuously circle around the whole library mumbling to herself. Of course the people who work at the library aren't the kind of people who would be able to ask someone to leave.
Now, I am and if they were at least hygenic and reading, using the computer, or anything resembling using a library the way it was meant to be used, I wouldn't have any problem with it. But they didn't seem to be waiting for the computer or anything. I know that public libraries are a public institution that are open to anyone but come on, there at least has to be some standard of hygine/public safety that could get these people out of our libraries. Though these people might have nowhere else to go, their use of a valuable part of the community as their shelter has to be addressed. I don't have any solutions myself but I was hoping to start a dialogue about this. When I was little I used to chill at the library after school reading choose your own adventures until my mom would pick me up but knowing the kind of environment libraries are now, theres no way my kid will do the same. Makes me sad. Yes I'm mad. Anyone else with similar stories? No I'm not Republican
