By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Let’s start by defining the “professional library security incident report” as:

“a document created by an investigative process that captures the scene of a security incident at your library; that serves as a historical record; and that accurately describes the facts, identifies evidence, any victims, witnesses, and the actual or suspected participants. It should include their actions and statements, which might initiate a human resources response, or demonstrate the need for security improvements, process improvements, or policy changes at the library. These reports can help limit our liability and demonstrate security professionalism. Professional security reports demonstrate our knowledge of the law, the library Code of Conduct, security policies, and patron behavioral issues. It can help us see how crimes, medical incidents, accidents, and patron behavioral problems should be investigated, documented, and managed.”

That’s a long way of saying they have value and should be valued by the library organization.

Security Incident Reports (SIRs) have legal, historical, evidential, and statistical importance. They help Library Directors and/or library security managers or the site supervisors for contract security officers to prove or disprove what happened at a specific time and place. They make it easier for library leaders to make policy decisions, operational changes, and enhance staffing, hiring, protection, and service to the organization, staff, patrons, and the community.

Report writing is a learned skill. Security employees or staff who complete SIRs will need guidance, templates, ongoing training, and help to create the best representation of what may have happened, on the actual page.

Many eyes will read what gets written on a library SIR. Inside the organization, this could include the Library Director, security directors, guard force supervisors, HR representatives, library board attorneys, risk managers, county safety officers, and city/county media relations. Outside the organization, this list gets even longer and could include insurance adjusters, police, prosecutors, judges and juries, expert witnesses, plaintiffs’ attorneys, or civil or criminal defense attorneys.

Consider the following writing tips for all employees who have to write a Security Incident Report, starting with the most helpful, important rule:

Use the Triple-A Rule to improve your reports:

Keep your Average Sentence Length to about 15 to 20 words. Longer or shorter is okay but this word number guideline always leads to the highest comprehension by the reader. It’s easy to stay at this 15-to-20 words per sentence mark if you stick to one idea or activity per sentence.

Avoid Jargon. Write like you talk and don’t talk like a cop or a bureaucrat on paper. It’s not a vehicle; it’s a car. Stop writing “approximately” and just say “about.” Don’t say “I utilized” when “I used” is better.

Write in the active voice. Don’t write, “The paramedics were called and treatment was provided to the injured patron, who was then taken to the hospital.” Write it with the subject and the action right up front: “We called paramedics for the injured patron. They treated her at the scene, before taking her to the hospital.” Active voice sentences have more power and tend to be shorter.

• Memorize the correct version of these common grammar usage errors and keep them out of your reports: their, they’re, or there; you’re or your; then or than; it’s or its; to or too; further or farther.
• If your incident notes are an inaccurate mess, fix that immediately. See how other employees create well-organized notes and copy their approach.
• Develop shortcuts for notetaking. If applicable, note the times of arrival for everyone after the incident/accident took place. Circle these letters so you know later who did what, when: V for victim, W for witness, S for Suspect/Subject, M for me (you said it, asked it, or did it), L for Library, P for Patron, LE for Police/Sheriff, F for Firefighter, EMT for Paramedics, SG for Security Guard, E for Employee.
• Little details can have a lot of importance. People involved in Security Incident Reports may try to claim things later that didn’t happen, get payment for damage that wasn’t there, or file questionable or even false court or insurance claims. Get the names and IDs of all on-scene first responders, the lighting conditions at an accident scene, and the names and contact information for all witnesses. Quote exactly if someone refused medical treatment at the scene.
• Know when to ask more open-ended questions (used to get the person to tell his or her story) and fewer closed-ended questions (used to get yes/no answers). “And then what happened?” is an open-ended question. “Is that all you can remember about the event?” is a closed-ended question. Both are necessary, but you’ll get more information using open-ended questions.
• Know the elements of a crime and make certain those are described as being met in your report. Crimes require intent on the part of the doer. Some events are not crimes: an expensive watch that gets left in the library public restroom and is not there when the owner returns is not a theft case, it’s a lost item.
• Know the important difference between an eyewitness and an “ear witness.” Some people saw things; other people heard about things from others. It’s a critical distinction in security incidents and subsequent reports.
• Understand who is the audience reading your report; one of your objectives is to pass along key messages in a manner the reader will easily understand.
• Readers of your report may include law enforcement, legal counsel, internal auditors, insurance representatives, HR, directors, managers, and supervisors.
• Ensure we have sufficient detail in the report, consider using models like the four C’s and the five W’s plus H: Complete, Clear, Concise, and Correct along with the What, When, Where, Who, Why, and How.
• Your report is a reflection of your professionalism, so turn on spell and grammar checks if using a computerized application to write your report. Read and re-read your report before submitting it, and consider both the structure of your report as well as its content. If a layperson cannot understand your report, then adjust as necessary to make the report more easily understood.

The stakes are high for poorly written Security Incident Reports. As any attorney will tell us, “You can’t go back in time and `add it in after it happened.’” Choose your words well.

My thanks for the help with this piece goes to Dubai-based security practitioner John Cowling, a fine Aussie gent. He specializes in corporate security, transportation protection, and crisis management.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Consider the scope of your library career, however short or long. There have been huge changes in the profession just from 2020 to today. There are lots of examples in your working life with the public that have probably included good and bad situations, routine and highly-abnormal events, crime and emergencies, and highly maddening and truly touching moments.

There have been Memorable Patrons: Good and Memorable Patrons: (Kind of Horribly) Bad.

You have had awesome co-workers and supportive bosses. You have had lazy, eccentric, or passive-aggressive co-workers and micro-manager or missing-manager bosses.

What were your big wins and big accomplishments, around library content, programs, displays, or policy improvements?

What were your small but important victories, back when you started your library career? What are they today?

Where do they happen and how do you make them happen?

What fun, free stuff does your library provide to patrons, that came from your ideas?

Some probable happenstances in your library career:

• Helping a child get his or her first library card.
• Helping an adult learn to read through a literacy program.
• Helping pre-teens, tweenagers, and teenagers find the “cool things” to read, view, and see in the library.
• Helping an anxious or older adult master technology: the Internet, creating their own web sites, using laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Helping an unemployed patron apply for and get a job.
• Helping patrons get government services and benefits.
• Entertaining little kids and seniors, with captivating programs.
• Bringing in featured speakers and authors; dealing with the controversies this sometimes creates.
• Running the bookmobile, the annual book sale, and helping the Friends of the Library store.
• Building cool and interesting displays.
• Filling in for sick colleagues.
• Keeping the library open and running through the pandemic.
• Operating the library’s Warm Zones and Cool Zones for seniors and the homeless during winter and summer weather.
• Working with challenging, rude, entitled patrons.
• Dealing with patrons who are experiencing homelessness, mental health crises, a trauma-filled background, or substance abuse issues.
• Dealing with repeated patron behavioral problems.
• Dealing with serious security issues and crimes, with courage.
• Doing additional tasks without complaint.
• Working at other branches or at community events, to support the overall library mission.
• Volunteering to represent the library at various community events.
• Repairing library equipment, furniture, and devices.
• Fixing all types of technical issues and problems.
• Keeping the library IT systems healthy and running.
• Coming to work, on time, in all kinds of weather.
• Coping with the whims and requests from politicians, electeds, city council members, county board of supervisors, library boards, attorneys, and appointed officials.
• Cleaning up after public events.
• Coping with the horrible things left in the book drop, on the shelves, in the elevators and on the stairwells, and on the floors and counters of the public restrooms.
• Doing your usual and unusual duties
• Celebrating important events in the lives of your colleagues.

Sometimes it can help your life mood and work morale by taking a moment to consider all of the fun and not-so-fun things that have happened in your library, with you as a paid witness. Okay. Enough considering. Now get back to work!

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Some people know right away they want to be in charge at their jobs, often as soon as they get them or soon after. They see their personal career path ahead of them and their current job may be right where they want to be - already in a director, manager, or supervisor position - or they know how they want to go about getting into one of those leadership roles. Other employees just like doing what they were hired to do and have no desire to ever become a supervisor or manager. This is no sin and certainly not a reflection on them. Successful organizations need that right mix of employees who want to take on leadership, “managership,” and frontline supervisory roles, along with employees who just want to do the work they were hired to do. 

The plain truth is that becoming a boss means that you actually move further away from the original work you were once hired to do and more into supervising other people doing their work. If you hired on as a Drill Press Operator 3 and worked your way up through the ranks to be the Drill Press Operator Supervisor, guess what you mostly stop doing? Drilling holes.

As you step away from your original role, your work becomes more about solving employee performance or behavior issues, addressing patron behavioral problems, or handling patron service and information concerns. Depending on the size of your library and its workforce (and how shorthanded you are), you may be asked to contribute to policy change discussions, budget details, or take on new projects that have a lot of moving parts and complexities. 

You may have to initiate discipline against your former co-workers or craft a performance evaluation for them. You may have to supervise colleagues who are also your good friends or tell the ones who are not fans of yours how, when, and where to do their jobs. Challenges abound.

Employees who choose to stay in their same job for many years often say some version of, “I don’t want all the hassles that come with being a supervisor. The extra pay is not worth the extra work. I don’t like telling people who are my friends what to do. I don’t want to have any `homework’ to do or think about after my shift is over.” And that approach is fine, as long as every employee who does want to promote is given the information, steps, and fair opportunity to do so if they want to.

So how should you go about preparing your successful move from a staff position to the PIC position?

Know the full job description and all of the job duties. Compare your current status - overall work experience (every job you’ve had and how might those have prepared you for this one), supervisory experience (if any), certifications, and work history in different libraries. 

Be honest and accurate in your assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as a potential supervisor. Are there some areas that you may feel might hold you back from taking the job and/or being successful at it? No one likes conflict with patrons or co-workers, but can you step forward and handle those scenarios with courage? Do you prefer to work off the library floor, away from the public? Will you feel comfortable handling potential medical or facility emergencies? Are you willing to be called after work hours if you are in charge of the facility over the weekend?

Do you enjoy the challenge of problem-solving on behalf of the patrons and your co-workers? Do you feel comfortable writing after-action reports, planning projects, delegating work to others, and supervising their success, quality, and deadlines? Can you write fair and honest performance evaluations? Is your personal life set up so you can come in on nights, weekends, or your days off to address certain situations? 

Ask to do that job for a day, a week, or a month. Meet with your supervisor and discuss your career plans. Ask him or her for help with two distinct points: Can you be given more responsibility and delegated tasks, especially in those areas where you need more exposure, knowledge (through both training and hands-on learning), or experience? Can you either shadow the current PICs, to see how they do the work, or can you be put into the PIC role for a test run - a day, a week, a month?

Giving a speech at a university in 1854, French microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” His contributions to the sciences of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization are unmatched. To move to the next level in your career, prepare by putting yourself in the right position. 

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

In most cities, firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs go on three types of calls most often: car accidents, which may involve the use of tourniquets; opiate or fentanyl drug overdoses (usually involving people under age 30); and cardiac arrests (usually involving people over 50). These last two events will almost always require them to perform CPR and hook the person up to a portable defibrillator, known as an AED machine.

If you learned how to do CPR many decades ago - like me - you’re probably doing it wrong if you had to do it today. Modern CPR is all about doing chest compressions, correctly, quickly, and at the right speed and depth. Rescue breathing is no longer part of the cardiac arrest response. (Back in the 80s when I first learned it, they taught us to to give the cardiac victim a solid whack on the chest if we witnessed them go down. Known as a ”precordial thump,” it was supposed to help restart a still heart. We DO NOT do those anymore, thank goodness. “Hey! Why did you just punch me in the ribs? I was taking a nap on the couch!”)

The move away from rescue breathing - putting your mouth over the patient’s mouth, pinching his or her nose shut, and expanding his or her lungs with a short one-second breath - which fell out of favor during the AIDS/HIV crisis and during the COVID pandemic, was also because research suggested it was not as effective as doing chest compressions. It’s still recommended for people who have had drug overdoses or for kids who have drowned or have choked on an object and who are not breathing once the object is dislodged. You’re not giving a full lung-exploding breath, just one second of air, done twice, then go immediately back to CPR compressions.

Modern CPR realizes that oxygen to the lungs is not as important as blood to the brain and other vital organs. Chest compressions, done at a brisk rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute (and allowing the heart to refill with blood by doing a complete up and down movement), can save the person’s life and brain function. There are CPR apps you can put on your smartphone, that will give you a tone to help match the compression rate. The usual model CPR people use is to do chest compressions at a rate matching the tempo of the Bee Gee’s 1977 hit song, “Stayin’ Alive.” (“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” also works.)

Automatic Electronic Defibrilators

These machines are found in many logical places: gyms, government buildings, malls, sports stadiums, and concert arenas, just to name a few. Besides the device itself, the boxes (or bags) that contain the kit include scissors - to cut the patient’s clothing away, no time for modesty here; it’s about trying to save a life. The kit may also include gauze, to wipe away the person’s sweat, to help the pads stick better, and a small razor, in case you’ll need to shave away a lot of body hair, again, to help the pads stick better.

The two AED peel and stick pads are clearly marked. For adults, one goes on the high right side of the person’s chest; the other goes across and around the person’s lower left chest area. For infants and small children, one pad goes on the child’s mid-back and one across the child’s chest.
Some AEDs are automatic, meaning the machine warns everyone to not touch the patient prior to delivering the shock itself. Others are semi-automatic, meaning you have to push the shock button yourself, on the machine’s command.

Once you turn on the machine, it will walk you through the necessary steps, including where to place the two sticky pads (after peeling off the plastic backing first), when to start CPR compressions, when to stop and let the machine take heart rate readings - to either prepare you to press the button to give another shock if the patient is in ventricular fibrilliation (a/k/a “vfib”) or continue CPR until fire, paramedics, or EMTs arrive.

Good Samaritan’s Laws are the same in all 50 states. As long as you are not intentionally doing harm, you cannot be held liable for any medical outcomes. As the EMT who taught my recertification class put it, “There are no 'CPR Police.' Do the best you can with the compressions, follow the instructions of the AED until help arrives and you will be fine. Something you do for the person is better than doing nothing for the person.”

Some questions for library leaders:

• Does your library have an AED machine?
• If you’re in a multi-story building, is there one on each floor?
• Has all staff been trained in CPR techniques for adults, children, and infants and AED machine use?

You can get free initial and refresher trainings for your staff by contacting your local fire agency, local hospital, local Red Cross office, or your nearest American Heart Association office.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Perhaps you‘ve seen the recent story where a library in Englewood, Colorado - a suburb near Denver - had to close for a serious cleaning because people who smoked meth in the building contaminated the restrooms. This follows a similar problem at a Boulder, CO library. According to an online news report in the Colorado Sun, from January 17, 2023 (https://bit.ly/3XEFBCg), both libraries have had to do a serious de-contamination of the walls, counters, fixtures, and exhaust fans.

The article says that this microscopic, unseen exposure is a real health risk: “Health officials say meth residue can be an irritant, causing symptoms like an itchy throat, a runny nose and bloodshot eyes.” The problem here is that like similar chemical reactions, you wouldn’t know you have been exposed until you feel the symptoms.

For help in this issue, I have turned to my Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) colleague, Keith Graves. Keith is a retired police sergeant from northern California, an internationally-known drug use and abuse trainer, and a longtime member of the California Narcotics Officers Association.

Keith says to be able to identify any substance on the interior walls of a facility, a trained technician “takes an alcohol-type swab and swabs the walls. The swab is then sent to a lab and it will quantify how much meth is present in that one section.” He says this process is actually more common than we might first think: “In some states, meth testing inside a home is mandatory before a sale of that home.”

For libraries and their employees, Keith says, “I think there is some validity to this. Everyone is going into the bathroom to smoke meth, but they aren't testing for fentanyl, which is just as bad. There are so many contaminants in meth that the smoke seeps into the walls and on to the bathroom fixtures. I do see a health concern.”

“A good example is the `Drug Endangered Children’ program. When we see a child in a meth user’s home, we swab the walls and show the courts and Child Protective Services that there was meth on the walls. We take those kids into protective custody because they were endangered by the meth in the atmosphere and on the walls and furniture. It’s the same exposure issue at the library.”

So what does meth smoke residue smell like? It’s hard to explain odors perfectly in words, but in general, burnt meth smells like ammonia, melted plastic, cat urine (Uh oh. Time to check my two cats for meth use), rotten eggs, metallic chemicals, solvents, or glass cleaner.

While I don’t have nearly as much drug knowledge as Keith Graves, I see and hear things and stay up to date on drug abuse issues because I still teach programs for public-sector employees known as “safety sensitive.” This designation means they hold a Commercial Motor Vehicle license (usually to drive semi-trucks or specialized construction vehicles), or they carry passengers, placarded HazMat materials, or are members of certain transportation or first-responder professions, like airline pilots, air traffic controllers, bus drivers, trolley or subway drivers, ship operators, police officers, and firefighters.

The Colorado meth exposures is the first I have ever heard of this problem in a library. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened or isn’t happening, just that it’s thankfully rare, both in the health effects for employees and patrons and in the media coverage. We don’t want your local media to start writing articles demanding testing at all libraries without proof that it’s needed.

This type of field-to-lab testing process can be expensive. And it’s not that we trade the health and safety of our employees and patrons just because of the cost, but we need to be realistic about whether there has been meth contamination or we’re only guessing there has. So, pay attention but don’t lose focus on the fact that this is still an extremely rare event.

What should library leaders and staffers do about this new problem? And we hope that it’s new because it’s not a widespread issue, where lots of libraries or public-use facilities are suddenly coming forward to talk about the problem.

Of course, our best proof of meth contamination is our employees or other patrons have seen and reported meth users smoking in our restrooms (or worse, the hidden spots in our library); the police have made arrests for meth use in our restrooms; paramedics have responded to our facility to medically evaluate a meth user having a psychotic incident (chronic use of the drug causes brain injuries that mirror schizophrenic symptoms); or - here’s a not-so-fun one - a meth user has filmed himself or herself smoking meth in our library and posted it online. (Starbucks has seen too many videos of people shooting drugs in their restrooms.)

These incidents would tell the library leaders to initiate a call to a bonafide testing/clean-up vendor to mitigate the problem.

Until any of these happens at your library, my best advice would be to do what we always do: observe and monitor any non-normal activities in our public restrooms (using regular staff checks, preferably with two staffers doing them together); pay attention to any kind of smoking behavior inside the library (regular cigarettes, marijuana joints, vaping); and continue to have the public-contact areas of your facility professionally and regularly cleaned.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Most personal and professional stressors involve either a person or a situation.

We’re either upset, anxious, or disappointed in someone or an event - past, present, or future - that seems overwhelming. It’s the impact the person makes on our work or home or the intensity or irritation of the event that affects us. It can be hard, in those moments, to see that we can go in many different directions, other than the one that seems like it’s the only viable one at that time. In other words, we have several choices in life and work. They may not always be perfect, but they are there for our use, often sitting just below the surface of what seems like the only and obvious path.

Consider this collection of options, known as the List of Eight Choices. They can give us hope, a renewed feeling of optimism that we don’t have to accept someone or something as it is, because “that’s just the way things are.” At first glance, some of these choices may not be our best alternative, but they are an alternative, perhaps better than our current approach. What we may not like as a possibility at the beginning may turn out, after some careful reflection or after putting the choice into play, to be a pretty good solution after all.

Consider this List of Eight Choices and we will apply them to a work stressor:

1. Leave the person or the situation.
2. Live with the person or the situation.
3. Change the person or the situation.
4. Change our perception of the person or the situation.
5. Change our behavior around the person or the situation.
6. Change both our perceptions and our behavior around the person or the situation.
7. Ignore the person or the situation.
8. Fake it (until we can make it) around the person or the situation.

Before we reject some of these choices as not reasonable for the stressors in our work or personal life, let’s apply them. Let’s say our work stressor is an older patron who is regularly rude to us. This person is sarcastic, dismissive of our efforts, and just has a toxic personality. We cringe when this person enters our library and yet, because of the nature of our job, we have to serve him or her. Let’s apply our List of Eight Choices:

1. (Leave the person or the situation.) Have another colleague work with the patron. Trade off our rotten experience with this person and take one of theirs.
2. (Live with the person or the situation.) “I don’t choose who walks in here. I can only do my best to provide good service and not take it personally if the patron is perpetually unhappy.”
3. (Change the person or the situation.) Hard to do, admittedly.
4. (Change our perception of the person or the situation.) Maybe the patron is dealing with a serious life issue, which has made this person angry, sad, defensive, and anxious? Look upon the patron with what the mindfulness meditation teachers call “loving kindness.”
5. (Change our behavior around the person or the situation.) Kill them with extra kindness. Give them an extra helping of politeness. Be a better listener. Try to see if they have a sense of humor.
6. (Change both our perceptions and our behavior around the person or the situation.) This is the hardest challenge and probably the most useful one. “I will see this person in a new way and I will act differently around this person. The first approach will help me see this patron in a better light; the second will give me a wide variety of approaches, to find the one that works best.”
7. (Ignore the person or the situation.) “Here he or she comes! Here I go! Off on my break, to help another patron, or go do a project for my boss.”
8. (Fake it [until we can make it] around the person or the situation.) “I’m going to use my acting skills and act friendly, approachable, sincere, motivated, and enthusiastic about helping this patron, despite how he or she treats me. At the end of my interaction with him or her, my boss and colleagues will want to nominate me for an Academy Award!”

The point of the List of Eight Choices is enhanced control. We can do more (or less) and give ourselves many more opportunities to be different, think differently, or act differently. It can be freeing to consider we have more than one choice.

Give these eight a try for your next challenging work situation. And guess what? These eight work well for your personal stressors too.

Here is the question:

I am a security officer for a library. We are beside a large park with many homeless people that come into the Library. We do have security video cameras but they do not have audio. There are many blindspots inside and outside the building, the side of the building does not have cameras at all. We are required to patrol inside and outside the building and to patrol the park. 95% of the time I and the other security officer work alone. We overlap for a few hours one day a week. We currently do not have body cameras.

The previous two security companies I worked for each used body cameras so I am familiar with how they are used. I have requested a body camera several times. The Library Director has OK'ed the body camera but their boss has not. He says that "the cameras would hurt more than help." We have asked to sit down to discuss this with him but that has not happened yet.

As I am sure you are aware we get a lot of intoxicated, under the influence, or homeless people with mental problems. We are unarmed only carrying a radio. The police are called at least twice a week some weeks--every day if the person causing a disruption will not leave. When the police come it is sometimes a "he said she said" thing, my word against the person I called the police on (this is not always the case, it depends on the police officer that responds). The police have been called on us by patrons (homeless or not) multiple times for enforcing the rules in asking them to leave.

My questions to you, if you would be so kind as to answer. What is your opinion on body cameras? Would you please give pros and cons I can use when I speak to my supervisors?

Dr. Steve's Answer:

I have a trained at some libraries in your state. My best approach to getting body cameras would be to tell your Director that their primary use is to be able to document your interactions with patrons, to be able to defend any false accusations of harassment, discrimination, or bias.

Their secondary use is to fine-tune and improve all service interactions, because the Director can review specific encounters or do an occasional quality audit.

The third reason to use them is for security officer safety, to capture threats or actual violence, and assist in decisions to ban or prosecute patrons. Body cameras are not perfect deterrents (banks have cameras and still get robbed) but they can deter some problem people from acting out.

The two biggest downsides are the cost of the cameras and the cost of the storage software (the archived footage takes up a lot of space).

Hope that helps.

One of the features of Dr. Albrecht's "Service, Safety, and Security" section of Library 2.0 is "ASK DR. STEVE," where readers submit questions and he answers them. To submit a question for Dr. Steve, please email askdrsteve@library20.com.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

I've taught hundreds of Zoom sessions and thousands of live training programs and although I can come to many conclusions about success in life and business, three themes stand out.

I would argue the people who have the LEAST success in life demonstrate three issues when it comes to attending a training program, either live or online: 1) They show up late. 2) They look at their phones instead of the presenter, the slides, the handouts, or their colleagues. 3) They don't have a pen and a piece of paper to take notes. 

Let's start with being on time. With a few exceptions (they closed the freeway or your car has a dead battery) there is no excuse for being late. Logging on late could be a Zoom, GotoWebinar, or MS Teams issue, but usually it's laziness. Logging on at the exact moment the webinar starts and discovering you don't have the updated version of the platform or don't have the password or meeting number is on you, not your boss or certainly not me. People interrupt me online to say they cannot download a copy of my slides, which were attached to the original invite two weeks ago. Or they tell me they can't hear me - only to realize they don't have speakers attached to their PC or they have muted their sound (my first clue that they checked out of the last training class they went to).

When I taught public, week-long seminars for the American Management Association, I would be about 20 minutes into my program (which started at the reasonable hour of 0900) when the door would burst open and someone would come in, in a rush, and try to find a seat and a copy of the materials. As soon as this person got settled in (minus any apology for being late), he or she would dive into some deep cellphone use. There is a time and place to check your phone and the training environment - live or online - is not it.

Lastly, I've lost count of the number of times people have stopped me during a live program to ask for some paper and a pen. Are you telling me you're supposed to be a paid professional person and you did not bring at least two pens and a pad to a professional development program? (As the Navy SEALS say when it comes to having the necessary equipment to succeed, "Two is one and one is one.")

What does it say to me, as a presenter, or to your classmates, or to your boss, who may be in the group as well, when you don't bother to bring something to write with or write on?

I say all this, not to be the Village Crank, but to point out that the line between success and failure is as thin as a piece of paper and as thick as a ballpoint pen. Want to be seen as a true professional and not just an employee who shows up and expects to get paid? Want to move ahead in your job, which doesn't always mean getting promoted, but may mean you get exposed to new projects, different tasks, and additional responsibilities? Want your boss and colleagues to think you care about more than just yourself, but also about them and the success of your collected efforts?

Show up on time. Have a pen and paper (and download and print the training slides). Look at your phone on the breaks or lunch. That's it.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Do your staff meetings turn into idea-killing sessions? Or are they doing what they are supposed to do - create value in a group discussion, initiate plans, develop solutions, and hold people accountable for their tasks and responsibilities? What do you tend to say of a typical library staff meeting: “That was a good use of my time, that was a waste of my time, or we could have got the same results using email exchanges?"

One reason many staff meetings de-evolve into conflicts, strong differences of opinion, or worse--the silent treatment among employees--is that they turn negative early. Allowing staff meeting members to value-judge, criticize, and make sweeping generalizations about what they don’t like about a new idea, policy, plan, or proposal defeats the purpose of a collaborative, brainstorming staff meeting. It discourages other more-quiet employees from speaking at all, so they leave the meeting literally feeling not heard. It can create bad feelings between colleagues, especially if their fledgling idea was the one that got hammered in the meeting.

Here’s a tool for running meetings that keep people motivated to problem-solve, not idea-kill. It’s called the P.I.N. Tool and it stands for Positive-Interesting-Negative. It provides a simple framework to evaluate new ideas and it can help to keep the group’s notorious idea killers at bay, at least until the end of the discussion, which is where their negativity belongs.

The P.I.N. Tool can be used by anyone who is running the meeting, a library leader, a manager, a supervisor, or even an employee who asked for the meeting or is tasked with moving through the agenda. Here’s how it works and what the meeting-runner should say, at least for the first few meetings where the P.I.N. Tool is introduced:

“We’re going to talk about some new ideas in this meeting. We can use the P.I.N. Tool to make the best use of our collective time if we focus first on what’s Positive about the issue at hand, what we like about it, and what’s good about it. We’ll capture those Positive attributes first.

"Then we can look at what’s Interesting about the new idea, plan, or proposal. That could be the facts and figures, the deadlines or due dates for it, the obvious or hidden costs, or some legal or procedural questions we’ll need to answer at some point. Interesting means what we still need to discover.

"Then we can move to the third step - looking at the Negatives, or what we don’t like about the idea, plan, policy, or proposal. It might be too expensive, hard to implement, or just not a good fit for our work culture here.

"The steps to the P.I.N. Tool are there for a reason. We start with the Positive, move through Interesting, and End with the Negative, to make sure every point of view is heard. The order is important because it protects new ideas and our bosses who are implementing them or your colleagues who have suggested them. We can use it as a reaction gauge.”

One of the examples I often use in training classes where we discuss the value of The P.I.N. Tool is an exercise where I ask the group to consider putting a casino on an airplane. Without the P.I.N. Tool in place, the first, immediate, and most vocal reactions come from the Idea Killers in the room who say some person of “What? That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard! It would make the plane too heavy. What about turbulence and the roulette wheel? Who is going to fix the machines if they break?”

This no way, not gonna happen approach can sink the idea before it even gets a full hearing. Using the P.I.N. Tool we can make a useful list and then evaluate the idea in total at the end:

Positive - More revenue for the airline; fun for those passengers who like to gamble; a way to learn how to play new games en route to Las Vegas or Atlantic City; and it supports the gaming industry and its manufacturers and its employees.

Interesting - How much does it cost to retrofit the back of the plane? What are the associated legal issues, flying over all 50 states? Who will collect the money? Would we need a casino employee on each flight? What about technical or electronic repairs? Can they be hacked? Does it make the plane harder to fly?

Negative - Too much noise; the possibility of angry drunks or furious losers. Would it cut the airlines’ revenue because of the missing seats, so tickets would be more expensive? Security issues for the money? Does it set a bad moral example for kids to watch their parents gamble?

By deferring the Negative comments unit the end of the discussion, we give the idea a chance to grow, percolate, expand, and make more sense. Doing the tool backward, as we usually like to do in staff meetings - Negative-Interesting-Positive - means that we lose conversational momentum. With some human beings being as they are (chronic complainers), it’s easy to come up with a long list of don’t-likes early, which can make the list of likes much smaller.

Using the P.I.N. Tool, our list of Positives tends to be longer because it happens first. Holding the Negatives until the end gives those naysayers - who may make several valid points as to what’s wrong with the idea or why the new approach won’t work - their say, just at the point where it’s time for their input.

Try the P.I.N. Tool at your next staff meeting. Once you describe the ground rules, it should be easy for your colleagues to follow them.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Here’s a tweet I sent out on September 28, 2022, about several libraries in the US closing because of “unspecified threats.”

I work in threat assessment and workplace violence prevention. I’ve trained thousands of library employees for over 22 years. I always recommend not closing based on these types of threats, because it just encourages more. The threat makers need to learn they can’t control libraries.

That tweet led to my meeting library journalist Claire Woodcock. She wrote a piece for Motherboard Tech by VICE, which ran online on October 18, 2022: “Libraries Are Beefing Up Security After a Series of Violent Threats: Some librarians are trying to protect patrons without increasing the presence of police and security guards.” (https://bit.ly/3Bk9yym) 

Here’s my contribution to her story:

Although the ALA does not have a set of policies and procedures for library safety and security, the organization does work with a handful of consultants who specialize in library security. Steve Albrecht, according to many, is one of the only games in town. He says that the more detailed a threat, the more likely it is to be credible, but does not advocate for closing a facility if a threat is received. 

"We find out about bombs in this country after they go off and lots of people make bomb threats, where there are no bombs, and I think we overreact to bomb threats because we are conditioned to shut everything down," Albrecht, a former police officer, told Motherboard. "I don't mean we don't look for a real device or don't pay attention or don't call the police. But I'm saying it's not always our first option."

Albrecht advocates for librarians to undergo training that teaches them how to work with law enforcement. He says he advises the library director, security manager, facilities director, and a department head who needs to make decisions on behalf of the staff to know about and respond to an incident. "I'm trying to make it so that people want to feel safe and enjoy their jobs and feel like they have some tools," he added. "That their management has the facts and understands what they're trying to do."

In a recent Library 2.0 webinar, where I was speaking about so-called First Amendment “Auditors” (their own-self created title, don’t forget), I advised libraries to respond to these highly-disruptive people in their facilities or board meetings as follows.

Assess all threats, protests, angry confrontations, or other negative encounters with these individuals or groups, using a team-based approach. You should already have a team in place. Whether you call it a Threat Assessment Team, a Critical Incident Team, or a Safety and Security Team, the name doesn’t matter as much as the members.

You need to be able to gather together your safety and security stakeholders: the Library Director; his and her staff of other leaders; the HR Director/Manager; the Security Director/Manager (if that role exists in your library, system, or district); the Facilities and/or Maintenance Director/Manager; the IT Director/Manager; the library’s legal counsel; the person who provides public outreach or crisis communication; and any other department head, manager, or supervisor who can provide useful insight, experience, or information as to the threat being posed. The knowledge and skills of this group can create a more calming influence on the issue and make safer, legal, and more effective decisions and plans.

You should request a law enforcement response to all incidents from a ranking member of your local agency, preferably a lieutenant or above. The first one or two patrol officers or patrol deputies who respond initially may not know a lot about the tactics of these First Amendment “Auditors,” and may escalate the situation by arguing with them or trying to make an arrest that is not actually legal.

All staff needs awareness-building training and to be reminded to have “polite patience” and the confidence to say and do the right things when confronted by individuals or groups of protesters. These First Amendment “Auditors” (FAAs) will want to argue with them; question their motives and abilities; or debate the law, Code of Conduct, or library use or materials policies. (This is never a good idea, since there is no winning this debate.) All staff need to remember to be neutral while these FAAs are making a video record of their encounters for later posting on social media sites.

Lastly, “Stay Your Course.” Keep on doing the right thing, for your library, your staff, your patrons, and the various diverse communities you serve. One angry person with a sign or a cell phone or a group with a video camera and loud tones shouldn’t be able to speak as though they represent the views of every citizen. Many of your supporters don’t agree with the intimidating and rude tactics of these First Amendment “Auditors.” Continue to be the shepherds for your facilities, your collections, your employees, and your patrons.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

The number of fatal overdoses due to opiate use (heroin, fentanyl, pain pills) continues to surge in the US, as does the record amounts of fentanyl powder and pills seized at the southern border. A recent arrest in Arizona revealed the driver was transporting 340 packages of fentanyl pills, weighing 187 pounds, and worth an estimated $4.3 million. (A fatal dose - injected, swallowed, or inhaled - can be as small as a dozen grains of sand.)

A news release from the Biden White House on August 26, 2022 echoes this grim tale: 

“As the overdose epidemic has evolved, synthetic opioids – particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl — now drive the majority of overdose deaths. In 2021, more than 100,000 people died from an overdose, an approximate 15 percent increase from the previous year. Every loss is a painful reminder that, now more than ever, we must address our Nation’s overdose epidemic.”

The number of overdoses leading to death averages about 275 people per day. The majority of these people are young and many are POC. According to a CDC report: 

“Drug overdose data show troubling trends and widening disparities between different population groups. In just one year, overdose death rates (number of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people) increased 44% for Black people and 39% for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. Most people who died by overdose had no evidence of substance use treatment before their deaths. In fact, a lower proportion of people from racial and ethnic minority groups received treatment, compared with White people. Some conditions in the places where people live, work, and play can widen these disparities. For instance, areas with greater income inequality—a larger income gap between the rich and the poor—have higher rates of overdose deaths. Comprehensive, community-based prevention and response efforts should incorporate proven, culturally responsive actions that address disparities in drug overdose deaths and the inequities that contribute to them.” (https://bit.ly/3BmNvaG)

Since libraries are public places, the likelihood of opiate drug users coming to the facility to either use drugs, buy or sell drugs, or rest while under the influence, means that the possibility of a medical emergency due to their overdose is a reality.

A patron who appears to be “just sleeping” could really be in respiratory failure and on the way to passing out. It’s important for all library employees to recognizer the warning signs of a possible overdose. The person may:

• appear “asleep on his/her feet” (known as “opiate narcosis”);
• stand and sway, having trouble with balance and coordination;
• have problems breathing or stop breathing (and a low pulse);
• have slurred or low speech, with a raspy voice;
• have trouble swallowing;
• have cold, clammy skin;
• have blue lips or nails or hands/feet;
• have a noticeable nasal drip;
• show excessive scratching;
• have pin dot/very small pupils;
• actually pass out and fall forward in a chair (which constricts their breathing even more) or onto the ground.

Anytime a person starts to or actually loses consciousness, it’s a real medical emergency that requires you or other staffers to call 9-1-1 and get paramedics en route. If they suspect an opiate overdose, they will give the person a nasal spray injection (or less commonly, a thigh injection using a small needle) of Narcan (naloxone). They may also begin CPR or rescue breathing to help the person survive. Narcan works in one to two minutes and last for about 90 minutes, long enough to get the person to the hospital for further treatment. If the person is not under the influence of an opiate, the Narcan spray or shot will have no effect. It’s an opiate antagonist, meaning it seeks out opiate molecules to destroy them. No opiates on board; no harm to the person.

While no one needs an “official Narcan training program certification” to give Narcan, it can help to watch many of the training videos on YouTube that describe the process when someone is down on the ground and in what looks like an opiate overdose emergency. The official site for Narcan - www.narcan.com - is a good place to start for more information. (Their “Peel - Place - Press” instructions can walk you through the process of safe and effective Narcan nasal spray use.)

Many state health agencies and local county health departments offer online training and advice about opiate overdoses. All 50 states allow people to buy Narcan at their local pharmacy, without a prescription. Many people who have family members, loved ones, or partners who are opiate users, now buy and carry Narcan for that “just in case moment.”
While no library employee should be required to give first aid and/or administer Narcan to an overdosing patron, two facts make their move to voluntarily get involved more likely: 1) there are good faith/Good Samaritan laws in all 50 States, meaning you cannot be sued or faulted for trying to save a life, as long as you acted reasonably; and 2) no one wants to have a patron die in their library from drug use.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

The details are chilling. On Monday, August 28, 2017, at about 4:15 pm, 16-year-old high school student Nathaniel Jouett went into the Clovis-Carver, New Mexico library branch in downtown Clovis with a gun inside his backpack. He went into the library restroom and when he came out, he started shooting randomly. He shot and killed two female library employees and wounded another library employee and three patrons, one of whom was a 10-year-old-boy.

During the shootings, he was reported to have smiled, laughed, and said, "Run! Why aren't you running? I'm shooting at you! Run!" Clovis Police responded immediately and arrested Jouett without a struggle. Just after the shooting, his father called the police to tell them he believed his son had taken two handguns and ammunition from the father's safe at home (allegedly left unlocked). Jouett later told police he was planning to shoot up his high school and then kill himself.

Jouett's girlfriend told CNN that he was upset over a bullying incident that had happened at his high school the previous Friday. He has gotten into a fight and was given a two-day suspension. Jouett, a sophomore, told police investigators he didn't know anyone at the library and didn't know why he chose it. He said he was "kind of mad," mostly at his school. Police found suicide notes in his bedroom.

Jouett pled guilty to all 30 felony counts he was charged with (as an adult). He was sentenced to two life terms, with the possibility of parole, plus 40 years. The judge in Jouett's sentencing hearing referenced what the court-appointed psychologist said in his report to him:

"What Dr. Kavanaugh testified to, is that studies have shown even the presence of peers, such as through social media, can lead to more risk-taking behaviors. Nathanial posted the [Snapchat] photo of the backpack holding the weapons and ammunition on social media while he was in the library, with the caption, 'It begins,'" said Judge James Hudson.

In August 2019, a lawsuit was filed by two of the wounded patrons, which named Jouett's father, grandfather, and a therapist who was treating the young man before the incident. The suit alleges that his therapist allegedly knew Nathaniel Jouett was "suicidal, violent towards others, had access to weapons and drugs, and had reported hearing auditory hallucinations in the days and weeks before the shootings."

One of my claims to fame is that I have personally interviewed three workplace violence murderers in their California prisons. One man killed his boss and the HR manager that was handling his termination. One man killed two of the senior executives from the firm that had terminated him a few months prior. One man killed his ex-wife and seven other people inside the beauty salon where she worked. Their reasons for why these killers did what they did can be boiled down to a phrase: the desire for revenge. They wanted "payback" from the people they believed had wronged them.

I have written to Nathan Jouett twice now, where he is housed in the New Mexico State Prison system. I've asked him to let me interview him as to why he did what he did, as I have done with the other three shooters I met. I have prepared a detailed list of questions. Certain NM state prisoners, like him, have no phone or email privileges, so I'm assuming if he agrees, we will talk by letter. I'll let you know in this space if he answers and wants to cooperate. I want to learn what I can from him, and share with you, what we can all do to keep libraries safe from mass shooters.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Food for thought time: Have we recently considered the value of putting library employees into a work uniform? There are pros and cons for both sides of this issue, including costs, the need for a more specific dress code policy, and getting employee buy-in. But there are some service and security benefits that can help move the decision toward a more formal look.

Many years ago, I had a polo shirt that was the exact color blue as the ones worn by the employees at Best Buy. I can recall three times I made the mistake of wearing that royal blue shirt into my local Best Buy store, only to be swamped with people, all with the same question, "Do you work here? I had a question about my computer…" Their irritation upon learning that I did not, in fact, work there was equally matched by my embarrassment from having to explain each time that I did not know where the computer cables or the new DVDs were. I learned my lesson and donated the shirt to a thrift store.

For the sake of this discussion, let's say your library employees wear whatever clothing they like - and except for their name tags - look like everyone else who comes into the building. Now let's imagine that we put our library employees - including the directors, managers, and supervisors - into polo shirts or long sleeve dress shirts (they could still wear whatever shoes and pants, shorts, skirts, capris, etc., they wanted). The shirts would have your library logo and/or the name of your city or county on them. Sending them out onto the library floor dressed like this, what might be the reaction from the patrons and the benefits to the employees?

Some patrons may not notice or care, others would certainly like the enhanced visibility, and a tiny few would complain that this is just another example of how they "miss the old days" at the library.

The advantages: it tells our patrons immediately who works there (and who does not, which could also be helpful to our police, fire, and medical first responders who enter the library); it tells our patrons and co-workers who is who in an emergency situation (where some people can get stress-created tunnel vision and not recognize an employee); and it suggests to our patrons a bit of professionalism that they are already used to seeing elsewhere. Most public contact jobs have a standard "uniform" for their employees: fast food and sit-down restaurants, bank tellers, hotel workers, repair people, airline crew members, car rental counters, and retail stores, to name a few.

The disadvantages: there will be an additional budget expense to buy and provide at least four to five shirts per employee; employees may feel like wearing a shirt that everyone else wears takes away from some of their personality and feels blah, bland, or controlling; and you may have to enforce some dress code policy rules if some employees routinely forget their shirts, or come to work in shirts that are not clean or pressed.

It's certainly easier to know who is an employee at a certain place if that person is always behind a desk or a counter. But library folks move around a lot and if they removed their name tags, most patrons wouldn't know they were an employee unless they had had plenty of previous encounters (and even then I'm not so sure they would notice, like seeing your kid's teacher at the supermarket and it doesn't sink in).

When rolled out positively, work uniforms can build camaraderie and make people feel more included as members of the library working team. Even library staffers who only work behind the scenes want to feel noticed and connected to their colleagues too.

Might it just be possible that a professional library shirt for all employees would not only cut down on the confusion about who works there, but would also increase the respect patrons have for library employees? Might they see them as more professional, help the employees feel more assertive, and make them instantly more recognizable and approachable? (Haven't we all had that experience where we think a person works at a big box retail store or a supermarket, ask him or her a question, only to find out he or she is a delivery vendor for a company that provides products to that store? It can be hard to tell the players without a scorecard.)

If the managers and supervisors want additional identification, what if we put them in a different colored shirt, that indicates they are the Person in Charge (PIC), the floor supervisor, or a shift manager? Example: all employees wear burgundy polos or dress shirts and the supervisors and managers wear light blue. Again, it's all about how these ideas are presented to the employees. It's not about creating unnecessary separation, but more about helping employees and patrons identify who is the go-to person in an emergency or an escalating confrontation with a patron.

We know most employees who don't have uniform shirts appreciate the freedom to dress as they please, but perhaps knowing you only have to decide what to wear on the lower half of your body for work is just one less thing to have to consider as you leave home for the day.

To me, the pros outweigh the cons, with the cost being the biggest hindrance. Perhaps a local clothing company in town would donate the work shirts, printed with your library logo, in exchange for attaching their tiny logo on a sleeve? Consider the Nike swoosh is on every major league uniform, and every golfer and NASCAR racer is a walking billboard. There might be some creative ways you could cover the costs and outfit your staff in cool clothes that improve service and security at your library.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

I posted this Library 2.0 blog below in October 2020. What a difference two years has made in the intensity and frequency of workplace violence and school violence incidents. New attacks at an elementary school in Texas, a grocery store, and just recently, a factory in Maryland, show us this disturbing trend of mass shootings is continuing in the wrong direction.  

After 30 years as a security consultant in these areas, I feel as you probably do: defeated, angry, pessimistic, sad for the families of the lost, furious at the perpetrators, angry at the lack of solutions, and anxious about the death toll and location of the next event.

A few ideas to consider as we view recent attacks with an eye toward better protecting our staff, patrons, and facilities. There are no guarantees of safety and nothing is shooter-proof, but these concepts might make a life or death difference if you can consider them and/or put them in place at your library:

Access control matters. A lot.

Keep staff-only entrance doors locked at all times. Yes, it’s a hassle to fish out a door key or (better yet) a key card, but we should never trade security for convenience. Keep all non-employees on the other side of our locked doors.

Tourniquets, AED machines, CPR training, and fully-stocked first aid kits matter. 

For maximum effectiveness, we should stock our library first aid kits with enough tourniquets and clotting bandages for several dozen people. Mass injury events will need more than the usual one or two of everything found in most first aid kits. Get trained in AED use, basic CPR, and “stop the bleed” tourniquet use (www.BleedingControl.org).

Listening for leakage helps in threat assessment and management.

Bad people getting ready to do bad things often warn others. But the key is that they don’t warn their targets; they often tell people around their targets. This is known as “third-party leakage,” where the potential attacker threatens to do harm via someone near the target, not their actual intended target. The reasons for this are many, but we need to tell our safety and security stakeholders when we hear leaked threats. 

Social media postings and messages about our libraries or our employees need to be analyzed.

Some school districts, private-sector businesses, and public-sector agencies subscribe to social media monitoring services, who can tell them immediately if their organization is named on the usual social media sites in connection to a threat. It’s not a bad idea for the library to pay for similar oversight. 

Rapport-building, kindness, empathy, patience, and enhanced listening skills make a difference.

How we treat patrons and employees, especially during their most stressful moments, goes a long way toward either enhancing or decreasing their desire to come back to do harm by using revenge as their motivation. Fair, empathic, and patient treatment of patrons, even when they are none of these things back to us, and legal, empathic, and humane HR policies and practices for employees facing discipline or termination, can and has been shown to prevent violence. 

It’s still the “Lone Wolf Males” who are doing these attacks. 

It’s possible more than one shooter is at one site, but not very likely. There have been less than seven multiple-attacker events in the US, in the last 30 years. Violence is usually committed by young, angry, depressed, despondent, desperate, vengeful males (of all ages and races). Women have committed acts of violence at their work facilities and on college campuses, but certainly not to the extent of men. Pay attention to those males who seem to display what we could call “entitled disgruntlement.” They are angry at everybody and everything, all the time, and their pre-attack behaviors often draw our attention.

Cover and concealment matter.

Cover is steel, stone, or heavy wood bullet-stoppers. Concealment is curtains, drapes, blinds, tinting glass, masonry walls, and wooden or aluminum doors. Get behind cover first; hide behind concealment if cover is not close or safely accessible.  

Don’t speak to the media unless you are trained and designated by the library to do so.

As we have seen in the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting, there is a lot of second-guessing going on in the media. Only give comments if you are the library’s media representative. Refer all requests for comments to that person or the Director. 

“Mass attacks of violence in libraries are quite rare. In the last few years, however, we have seen library directors, managers, staffers, and security guards injured or killed by armed perpetrators. As such, you need to have a plan for something that may never happen.

Active shooters and armed attackers coming into a workplace, K- 12 school, college or university, theater, or mall to kill people is devastating, horrific, chaotic, and fortunately, rarer than the media would like you to believe. There have certainly been more incidents in the last ten years, but the chances of you being injured or killed by a person with a gun are highly unlikely, especially if you don’t work in a retail environment, in a healthcare setting, or at night, all of which tend to have higher risks of violence. 

Besides following your library’s Workplace Violence Prevention Policy, the best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with the national protocol suggested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) known as Run-Hide-Fight. Every law enforcement agency in the US knows this approach and most of their members have been trained to use it as their response to an armed perpetrator.

In order, the Run-Hide-Fight process means that if an armed attacker enters your library, your first best choice would be Run. Leave the building as safely and as quickly as possible, taking as many patrons and staff as you can, to avoid the shooter. This means leaving your work items and only taking what you can carry, quickly and safely, with you (purse, wallet, cell phone). If you’re on the ground floor and you’re trapped in your workspace, you may have to break a window and climb out. The key is to move out quickly and get away from the danger, taking as many co-workers or patrons with you. As you leave, if you encounter any first-responders (police, firefighters, paramedics), be sure to give them your hard keys or electronic access key cards so they can move about the building safely and not get trapped in a locked hallway.

If getting out is not possible or safe, for your second preferred choice, you’ll need to find a place to Hide out. This could be a break room, restroom, supervisor’s office, storage room, file room, or even a closet. The key is to stay away from the shooter, lock or barricade the door as best as you can, stay out of the doorway (otherwise known as the “fatal funnel”), and wait for the arrival of the police. If you can safely call the police, using your cell phone, or better yet, a landline in the room, do so. Otherwise, turn off the lights, put as many heavy items as you can in front of the door, and stay quiet and as calm as you can, behind the relative safety of a locked or barricaded windowless room. We know these shooters don’t shoot through a closed door to kill people or have ever impersonated the police from the other side of the door. The police response is forthcoming, with the national average within five to ten minutes.

Your third and final (and necessary choice) is to Fight back against the attacker, using whatever objects (a pot of hot coffee or heavy books thrown at the attacker’s face, chairs, desks, or tables carried by several people) or actual or improvised weapons (knives, OC pepper spray, a fire extinguisher) to stop the attacker if he makes entry into your safe room.

Some key points: if the room you are hiding in cannot be locked or it opens from the outside, try to use a belt or electrical cord to tie up the door closing mechanism at the top (or tie two double doors together). 

If you hear the fire alarm during a real active shooter situation, and you do not see flames or smell smoke, stay put. We have seen some attackers pull the fire alarm to get people into their kill zones. Scared employees or supervisors have pulled the fire alarm in their buildings in the mistaken belief that this will either expedite the police response or warn people to get out of the building. Pulling the fire alarm in a non-fire situation only creates more noise and adds to the chaos. Stay in your safe room until you’re notified by the police or other first-responders that it’s safe to evacuate.

If you choose to leave your building during a real active shooter event, you may be able to drive or run to alternative evacuation locations located near your library, like a church, store, mall, open government office, fire, police, or sheriff’s station. The key is to get away to wait in or near a safe location (you don’t necessarily have to go inside one of these buildings), so you can connect with co-workers and wait out the event in safety.

To help you reinforce the critical Run-Hide-Fight concepts, watch one or both of two useful videos connected to the subject. The first is the DHS-created “Run-Hide-Fight” video co-created with the City of Houston, Texas. 

It’s short and to the point. Here’s a link to the City of Houston YouTube version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcSwejU2D0

The second video option provides an even more effective message. It was created by the California State University system and it’s an animated version of the Run-Hide-Fight approach. It may appeal to younger library employees and is perhaps more empowering and less frightening than the DHS version. Both are useful and bear watching, at least once per year for yourself and then again as part of a staff meeting conversation about how to respond to an active shooter situation. Here’s a link to the California State YouTube version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUErkf3XEEs

Use recent or previous workplace, school-based, healthcare, or library-related violence incidents as a teaching tool for your employees. You don’t have to obsess over these events; use what happened as a way to stop the same thing from happening where you work.

Here is the question:

Greetings,

In the case of an active shooter shelter in place order from one's institution, is a given department/library serving the public obligated to prevent members of the public from exiting?

At any point is the department liable for the safety of a person who chooses not to shelter in place and instead exiting the department/library?

At any point if a person is prevented from leaving is the department illegally detaining a person?

Dr. Steve's Answer:

Good questions all. I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice, but I think the short answers are no, no, and probably not.

Here's a parallel to your scenarios: Most states, cities, and counties - that interact with local or national media people - allow them to get close to a crime scene or large-scale emergency (as long as they won't destroy evidence, reveal parts of the investigation, or interfere with the incident). Some cops call this the "media's right to die" rule, which means they can get close to a house with a SWAT incident, where the bad guy is shooting at everyone, or stand 20 feet from a burning house as the firefighters use their hoses, or film some other harrowing event close up.

This closeness comes with the implied warning that the cops/fire aren't there to specifically protect them as they respond. If they want to film, it's completely at their own risk.

In your library situations, our duty of care for adults leaves the building once they leave the safety of our shelter-in-place advice. If they want to put themselves in harm's way, that's on them. If they ignore or decide against our safe harbor, that's their right and we cannot/should not stop them. Let's say they decide to leave a safe room and by doing so, bring attention to the shooter of its location. We can't force them to stay or be quiet, even if it puts the rest of us in peril.

The only exception I would make is for juveniles. I think we have a higher duty of care for those under 18 and we would be within our right to keep them from leaving a safe room, for example: a 12-year-old gets scared and tries to bolt through a locked door, we prevent that for his own good and ours.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Dr. Steve

Follow-up from the Same Individual:

Thank you for taking time to answer. Unfortunately, it was a situation I was faced with several days ago when our institution had an active shooter shelter in place order. I was faced with either allowing persons to leave on their own volition or saying no they could not leave once inside the library. No one has complained at the decision--I suspect because they too don't know what the right answer was. However, we were sheltering in place for 3 hours before getting an all-clear from campus police. I've raised the questions with campus police and they too don't have an answer yet. So, I will continue to ponder what the best solution is.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. It's more than our campus police offered!

Dr. Steve Reply:

Ugh! Three hours! If it was a drill, it was done poorly. If it was not a drill, then there needed to be better communication with your facility. No drill should last three hours and no real event should go that long without an update as to what is happening, where, and why. Thanks for the conversation on it.

Three library scenarios, three different responses for you to consider:

Scene A). A six-year-old and his five-year-old brother begin to argue over a book each wants to read. They both are tugging on it and end up rolling on the ground. Their parents are not nearby. You walk over and _________.

Scene B). Two college students from different schools start arguing in the library. You’ve heard that they both play on their respective football teams. One is the size of a refrigerator with feet; the other is the size of the double doors at a convenience store. They begin to throw punches. Your library does not have a security officer, or if you do have one, he or she is not a Jiu-Jitsu expert. You walk over and ________.

Scene C). Two men who you know to be chronically homeless and longtime alcoholics start arguing in the library. Both men are sitting at different tables, about twenty feet apart. Their verbal disagreement has been going on for about 30 minutes. It started in low tones but by now they are screaming at each other. They each get up from their seats and begin to move closer to each other, slowly at first, but then picking up speed. You know them both by name. You walk over and ________.

As always, when discussing possible safe and secure solutions to Scenes A, B, and C, the acronym the kids like to use applies - YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary, meaning there is no perfect answer. (Wise consultants like me - and I have real scars on parts of my body to prove when I once wasn’t so wise - say things like, “Well, it depends…” when asked what they would do in library security situations with no easy answers.) But as in life, some answers are much better and more useful than others. Let’s take a quiz and then review:

Scene A: You walk over and . . .

1. tell the kids to stop fighting, stand up, apologize to each other, and agree to share the book.
2. grab each kid by the shoulders, pull them up on to their feet, and tell them they are in violation of library rules.
3. pull each kid apart, scold them about fighting in the library, and escort them to the library front door and tell them to leave.
4. watch for a bit and decide to ignore it. Boys will be boys. They will work it out. It’s not your job to break up fights.
5. make an announcement over the library PA, requesting the parents of these boys please come to the Reference Desk immediately.

Scene B: You walk over and . . .

1. watch the fight until one of them gets hurt. Then you go and call 9-1-1, requesting the police and ambulance.
2. from a safe distance, you start yelling, “Stop fighting in the library! Stop fighting in the library! Stop fighting! Stop!” When they do, tell them to leave, one at a time, and not continue the fight outside or you will call the police. Visually check both for serious injuries that may require paramedics.
3. get close enough to try and intervene by getting in the middle, between the two men. It’s your job to protect the library from damage and on your watch, this can’t continue.
4. assemble several of your co-workers into a group and tell them you are all going over to break up this fight. There is safety in numbers.
5. leave the area immediately, taking as many people as you can with you, moving to a safe place, to call the police, preferably behind a locked door.

Scene C: You walk over and . . .

1. Observe and monitor the argument. Make sure they see you standing nearby. Your non-verbal presence can de-escalate things without you having to say a word.
2. Ask them both to sit with you at a nearby table and you can all try to talk things out to a safe conclusion.
3. Call them by their names and tell them to stop arguing and that you won’t allow them to get into a fight and scare everyone. Remind them that you have the power to ban them both from the library, but you won’t if one leaves quietly and the other leaves a few minutes after that.
4. decide to just go about your business. They do this all the time and they won’t really fight this time, either.
5. watch and wait until they actually start hitting each other. Then you’ll either go over and try to break it up or call the police from your cellphone as you stand there.

Best Answers: Scene A: 1, Scene B: 2, Scene C: 3. Bonus: I’ll take 5 as a reasonable answer for Scene B as well.

Let’s go over why certain other answers are just dead wrong, foolish, and even dangerous for you or other staffers or patrons.

In Scene A, (2) is wrong because we don’t ever correctively touch people of any age, unless it’s to defend ourselves from an attack. (3) is wrong because we don’t put young children out on the street in front of the library. (4) is wrong because we don’t stand around and wait for one or both kids to get injured or injure themselves. And (5) is wrong because it takes too long, it’s potentially publicly embarrassing to the parent, they may not hear the page, or even be in the library at all.

In Scene B, (1) is wrong because both fighters can get hurt or their brawl can even spill over and hurt someone standing too close. Neither scrapper may want the police involved (it’s called “mutual combat” in many Penal Codes) and an ambulance may not be necessary. (3 and 4) are wrong because you and/or your colleagues could get seriously hurt trying to break up a fight between adults, which you or they should never do. In this scenario, you and your co-workers need to be “professional witnesses,” ready to help create a Security Incident Report and/or call the police if the situation continues to escalate.

In Scene C, (1) is not enough or a response action by you. They may not see you and they will definitely need your help to tell them to stop, back away, and get told not to fight, so as to save face without having to look weak in front of the other person. Too early for (2) since they are both angry enough to be able to fight, even if they really don’t want to. (4 and 5) are just wrong because we can’t fully predict their future behavior based on their past behavior. They probably won’t continue to fight if you verbally stop them, but they probably will if you do nothing.

If you haven't been to Hawaii, it's worth going. Each island offers something different in terms of land and water activities, great food, unspoiled vistas, casual dress, and beaches (covered with white sand or covered in black sand, making small waves or generating huge waves). It's all about the tropical scenery, volcanoes, fun shops, roadside seafood restaurants, leisure tanning, fruit cocktails, and of course, the temperate weather. I have been to Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, Lanai, Molokai, and Kauai; all lovely and peaceful in their own ways.

The Hawaiian people are long known for their warm hearts, their focus on the values of family and children, and their respect for the ocean, animals, plants, and islands. They are a nurturing culture, knowing that where they live is beautiful and deserves protection, respect, and constant care. And their culture is service-oriented, since they know the tourism industry on the islands is one lifeblood (with the US military bases the other) and an economic bedrock on which their past, current, and future success are built. You can't even imagine how tough the two-year pandemic was on the travel and tourism industry in Hawaii. Things are only now starting to get back to normal.

The Queen's Medical Center, or the Queen's Hospital, as it's known, was founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, and is located in downtown Honolulu on Oahu. The mission of the hospital at its founding was to provide healthcare for all Hawaiians. Queen's former CEO Art Ushijima, who retired in 2018 after 30 years there, was the shepherd for many service quality introductions and improvements in this massive healthcare system. I know all this firsthand because my father, Dr. Karl Albrecht, and his training staff (including a young consultant named Steve Albrecht) worked at Queen's for several years, under Art's leadership, training to make service excellence a part of Queen's healthcare mission as well.

It was during this time, my dad coined the phrase at Queen's called "The Spirit of Service." This idea was created using a mix of the "Aloha Spirit" that is so much a part of Hawaiian culture and a service orientation that puts the patient (also called the "customer," internally at Queen's, and now at many other hospitals around the country) at the absolute center of the total hospital experience.

As I have mentioned in several Library 2.0 articles, podcasts, and paid webinars on customer service in the library environment, the Spirit of Service is defined by my father like this:

"An attitude, based on certain values and beliefs about people, life, and work, that leads a person to willingly serve others and take pride in his or her work."

This means you care about your job, your co-workers, your bosses, and our patrons, so you do work that you are proud of. The Hawaiians have taken ownership of this idea. Can you see how it would work in your library, with your colleagues? What steps will you need to take, at every level where you work, to make your library organization part of this spirit?

Did you know the concept of "Aloha Spirit" is actually statutorily mandated in Hawaii? Look at this government code for your proof of how Hawaiians are expected to function when engaging with taxpayers, tourists, other departments, their bosses, and each other:

From Chapter 5 of Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes:

5-7.5 "Aloha Spirit".

(a) "Aloha Spirit" is the coordination of mind and heart within each person. It brings each person to the self. Each person must think and emote good feelings to others. In the contemplation and presence of the life force, "Aloha", the following unuhi laulā loa may be used:

"Akahai", meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness; 

"Lōkahi", meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony; 

"ʻOluʻolu" meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;

"Haʻahaʻa", meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;

"Ahonui", meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.

These are traits of character that express the charm, warmth and sincerity of Hawaii's people. It was the working philosophy of native Hawaiians and was presented as a gift to the people of Hawaiʻi. ''Aloha'' is more than a word of greeting or farewell or a salutation. ''Aloha'' means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. "Aloha" is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. 

(b) In exercising their power on behalf of the people and in fulfillment of their responsibilities, obligations and service to the people, the legislature, governor, lieutenant governor, executive officers of each department, the chief justice, associate justices, and judges of the appellate, circuit, and district courts may contemplate and reside with the life force and give consideration to the "Aloha Spirit". [L 1986, c 202, § 1]

QUESTION:

The scenario that we get most often is a group of 4 to 10 youth tweens and/or teens taking over an area in the library, being loud and disruptive, play-fighting, yelling, and laughing loudly. What is the best way of dealing with this?

ANSWER:

Many thanks for your comments and for attending my Library 2.0 session yesterday. Here are my thoughts on your situation.

1). A lot of this seems like the usual attention-getting teen behavior, which is amplified when they are in their groups. I would guess one teenager sitting at a desk studying does none of those things. My suggestion would be to watch the group and try to determine who the pack leader is, that kid who the others seem to listen to. See if you can pull him or her aside one day and offer some choices, e.g., "When you all are in the library, we don't mind if you do A, B, or C, but you can't do X, Y, or Z here." (Pick the things you, the staff, and other patrons can most tolerate for A, B, C, and the things that hurt the library business the most as options X, Y, and Z.) This echoes a form of my usual phrase: "You can't do that if you want to stay here," which tries to guide patrons to make a behavioral choice that is of their own making.

2). A more ramped-up option is to kick out just one kid, who is the most troublesome, to "thin the herd," as it were. If you could kick him or her out for the day or week, especially without the others knowing you have done it, it can send a message to the group that they are individually vulnerable to being kicked out as well if they don't stay quieter. You can shortcut the usual group dynamics - with teenagers egging each other on to be more disrespectful to staff - by extracting one or two kids, so the rest of the group learns their usual loudness has consequences.

3). You could use guilt, saying to the group that the play fighting is "scaring the younger kids who see you and who don't realize you're just joking around and are frightened that you really are fighting."

Regards,

Dr. Steve

(ASK DR. STEVE is a new and regular feature of the Dr. Steve Albrecht blog on service, safety, and security at Library 2.0. To submit a question for Dr. Steve, please email askdrsteve@library20.com.)

A man has been arrested for the stabbing of two employees at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A security video shows a man jumping over a reception desk at the building and stabbing two workers last Saturday after he had been denied entry to the museum and had previously had his membership revoked.

In this short video, Dr. Albrecht breaks down what is known about the incident and gives thoughts on this parallels library safety and security concerns and lessons. If you are not a member of Library 2.0, please consider joining (free) for additional service, safety, and security content--as well as our mini-conferences and webinars, and the chance to network with over 47,000 community members.