Risky Business

A woman consults a book in the library of the university KU Leuven “Katholieke Universiteit Leuven” in Leuven. Credit: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

By Sunnie Alexander

Author’s Note: Some material may be sensitive. All stories should be considered alleged.  

No matter how she looked at it, the risk was great, and the choices even less comforting. The way she viewed it, she could either continue to be sexually harassed or speak up, she claimed. Coming forward was not an easy choice. 

“The consequences for me were steep”

“Sexual harassment is very invasive and very traumatic,” said Diana, whose story on her alleged experience was shared in the January 2020 issue. “Choosing whether or not to report sexual harassment is stressful, agonizing, and life-changing.  I remember asking myself all the questions. What if I don’t report the harassment and it happens to someone else? What if it already is happening to someone else? What if it the harassment becomes worse for me? What happens if I do report it? Will I lose my job? Will I be believed?”

“It is so devastating to not be believed. It is awful to be harassed, and it is even worse to be blamed for causing friction. By speaking out, the behavior stopped and the blame game began. The consequences for me were steep,” she said. 

“Libraries can be good places but I don’t like that sexual harassment seems to be an accepted form of behavior and a forbidden discussion of topic,” Diana said. “I don’t know what it will take for libraries to take a stand against this terrible behavior and really demand better and do better. Will it take a #MeToo movement kind of reaction for libraries to really take a stand against sexual harassment?” 

In 2018, Katie MacBride, librarian and writer, wrote the article “#TimesUp on Harassing Your Public Librarian” which references her own alleged sexual harassment. She said the outpouring that resulted from her article was rather unexpected. 

“I was shocked by how many people responded to the article I wrote for Shondaland about sexual harassment in public libraries,” said MacBride. “Within the first few days of the article being published, dozens of current and former librarians (or library workers), reached out to say they’d left the public library for precisely the reasons I outlined in the piece (patron harassment and library administrations not taking complaints seriously or outright dismissing them as ‘part of the job’). Some folks had left the profession altogether, and some had moved to other types of librarianship where they weren’t so exposed to the public.” 

“We find ourselves tolerating behavior from our patrons in order to avoid escalating a situation”

Sexual harassment has existed for centuries, yet protections against it did not start until approximately 50-plus years ago. Still, in the #MeToo era, there are some organizations – even in the library profession – that have no policies prohibiting sexual harassment, no reporting procedures, and no training. Sonnet Ireland, president of the Louisiana Library Association (LLA), hopes to change that. Being an alleged victim herself, Ireland said that while there is currently no sexual harassment policy in place, the goal is to have one sometime this year. 

“Luckily, we’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t experienced the kinds of issues that we’ve heard about at larger conferences. But I don’t want to press that luck, so we would like to have clear but concise policies in place before it becomes an issue,” she said. 

“We need to do a lot of internal work first. Too many in our field being mistreated is a cost of serving the public. We, as a profession, have gotten better about expecting more from our libraries and requiring minimal respect and civility from our patrons,” said Ireland. “However, so many of us laugh off instances of sexual harassment, primarily by the people we serve. I’ve experienced my share of this issue, and I’m guilty of shrugging it off as a patron being creepy or inappropriate. I even created a funny top 10 list of things to tell a patron when they want or try to touch you. It’s a matter of degrees, but we need to encourage our people to feel comfortable enforcing their boundaries. That being said, I think it’s up to MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) programs, libraries, and library associations to create learning opportunities that empower our people. While MLIS programs and library associations can help with teaching librarians how to react to those situations, the key will be the libraries themselves. Libraries that make it clear that they will not tolerate the abuse or harassment of the staff will have more success in turning the tide.”  

“I firmly believe that one reason so many of us don’t defend ourselves or choose to ignore when a patron acts inappropriately is that we have been ingrained with ‘the customer is always right,’ especially in a field like librarianship, where we constantly have to worry about the image of the library and how that impacts funding. We find ourselves tolerating behavior from our patrons in order to avoid escalating a situation. Sometimes, that is probably the right call, depending on the situation. Sometimes, we are probably only making the issue worse by teaching our patrons that it’s acceptable and teaching ourselves that our staff doesn’t come first,” she said.

Sara Bauer, library resource specialist, at Iowa Western Community College, said all professional staff have mandatory training on sexual harassment and even before the #MeToo movement, student workers were also receiving training. According to Bauer, there have been “multiple complaints, most involving our student workers as the victims of harassment.” 

“I ask for pertinent or clarifying details – who, what, when, where, and if anyone else was a witness I will speak to them as well. That information is documented and sent to our Title IX Coordinator. I thank them (victims) for reporting the incident and affirm that they (victims) are doing the right thing and that no one is expected to work in an environment where they are made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe” she said. 

People study at the British Library in London June 20, 2011. Credit: REUTERS/Paul Hackett

“It is in everybody’s best interest to care for their employees and ensure their safety”

While Diana’s story may not have ended as she had hoped, she said that by sharing her story she hopes “all libraries and associations will act responsibly in educating library employees and the public about sexual harassment and caring about doing all that it can to prevent this unacceptable behavior.” 

As long as sexual harassment is happening in libraries, said MacBride, the conversation must continue.

“First, we need to keep talking about it. If every library administration sat down with the people who work in their libraries and asked to hear about the kinds of harassment they’ve faced, that would be an excellent start,” said MacBride. “In my experience, library administration can be pretty disconnected from the daily, on the ground stuff happening in the library. A lot of folks at the administrative level simply don’t realize how pervasive this issue is. As an employee, it can be hard to bring this stuff up with your supervisors, especially the everyday stuff – the inappropriate comments that make an employee uncomfortable but aren’t an obvious threat to the employee’s safety. Library administrators need to be proactive and find out what their employees are facing and not fall into the ‘if I don’t see it, it isn’t happening,’ trap that I think is quite common.” 

Safety is the highest priority, for Denver Public Library (DPL), said Bria Ward, human resources director. She said that DPL “has had sexual harassment policies in place for a long time.” She also said the library has reporting procedures and that sexual harassment training also includes harassment by patrons.  

“We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment where employees feel safe sharing any type of harassment. We take this very seriously and in fact, have hired an employee relations manager who is available for employee-related issues. One of our core values is to create an environment that is welcoming. This applies internally and externally. We are continuing to work on this. An element of this work includes developing our supervisors to provide them with more tools to create a culture where people feel safe sharing. As in any organization, it is in everybody’s best interests to care for employees and ensure their safety. This happens via providing a safe culture and work environment as well as providing access to resources and trainings” said Ward. 

Regarding how the library field should address sexual harassment, Bauer said there is room for growth.  

“Honestly, I would like to see more training on this for the library profession. I’m fortunate in that I work in an academic library, and we have mandatory college-wide harassment and Title IX training. Our Title IX office staff is also very open to questions and they are a great resource if we’re not sure how to handle something,” Bauer said. 

“Something that every library and every manager should be educated on and concerned about”

Name-calling. Not being believed. Sense of security. Career destruction. Reputation trashed. This was the price Diana said she paid for reporting her alleged sexual harassment. 

“The professional and personal toll that sexual harassment can take on a victim in the moment and in the years after should be something that every library and every manager should be educated on and concerned about,” Diana said. 

Bottom line, said MacBride, more work is needed. 

“As long as librarians and library workers are changing professions because they are fed up/frustrated with/exhausted by the harassment, the library profession isn’t doing enough,” she said. ■

Part IV will be in the March issue.