Falls Church library officials are seeking to increase awareness of the rights and responsibilities of youth using their facilities.
An updated portion of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library website focused on young people “will be a really great resource for people who want to know more,” city library director Megan Dotzler said at the Sept. 16 meeting of the library’s board of trustees.
“Part of it is so there are not surprises … and [to] kind of set expectations,” Dotzler said. “We’ve shared it with schools so they can share it with parents and families.”
Existing library policy, which remains unchanged, requires children ages 8 and under to be accompanied during library visits by either an adult or youth over age 13.
After age 8, the final say rests with parents or guardians, according to library policy:
“The decision for a child 9 or older to visit the library by themselves is one a family makes together. We encourage parents to set family expectations for library use.”
Once in the library, “kids and teens have access to all the same services and collections that adult visitors do, including public PCs,” Dotzler said.
Access to computers is what triggered the discussion about how the library addresses youth. A parent petitioned library officials in July to offer an opt-out provision for parents who don’t want their children to have access to the library’s public computers.
Library officials responded that while feasible from a technology standpoint, creating an opt-out or opt-in system would probably be ineffective. Youth whose library cards are prohibited from accessing computers could simply ask for a guest pass to gain access, Dotzler said in July.
Under library policies, users of all ages are expected to adhere to behavior guidelines. The consequences of a failure to adhere to the guidelines range from verbal warnings to bans from the facility.
More people visiting library website: Views of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library website spiked more than 100% year-over-year in August, with a large part of the increase due to searches for upcoming events.
Library leaders attributed the increase, in part, to more news related to city events making its way to the public.
“There’s been a lot of coverage of Falls Church in ARLnow,” Library Board of Trustees member Robert Leopold noted at the Sept. 16 trustees’ meeting.
City Council member Laura Downs said increased city coverage from ARLnow and other outlets, such as The Falls Church Independent, coincided with the Falls Church News-Press shifting from weekly home deliveries to bulk drops at locations in Falls Church and the surrounding area.
Not only was website traffic up, but nearly 20,700 individuals visiting Mary Riley Styles Public Library in August marked an increase of nearly 30% from a year before.
“I keep seeing a lot of people walking around, more than before, and I’ve been here 16 years,” said Claudia Gutierrez, a senior administrative assistant at the library.
