Kind of a strange one out of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Northern Kentucky libraries and police are tightening security after two reports of a man exposing himself to young girls in the children’s sections of libraries.
The first report was Jan. 19 in the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Public Library. The following Monday a man with a similar description exposed himself at the Florence branch of the Boone County Public Library, said Florence police Lt. Tim Chesser.
The two reports – combined with similar crimes last summer in Scott and Mercer counties – have prompted librarians to take extra precautions.
A Design Issue?
In such cases, I do not think one would want a library built in such a way that there are a lot of places in a children’s area where someone could be alone with children and have such bad things happen. I realize it is a hard goal to attain but it makes sense.
With a trend towards budget reductions for libraries across the country, it is too bad that the funds might not be there to do what was needed for such a fix.
Re:A Design Issue?
I live in the area where this happened and the first library this happened at does NOT have a lot of places where “bad things” could happen. The girl’s mother was about 15 ft away and the girl was only on the other side of the shelving unit. It happened between 2 shelving units. It was a day when the children were out of school and the library was packed. It is amazing that it did happen actually. Those of us who do work in libraries need to realize that anything like this could happen at any time in a public building and there isn’t all that much we can do to stop it other than encourage parents to watch closely over their children.