Editorial: When libraries are homeless shelters

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 9:10 a.m.

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is considering changes to its decade-old policy that determines when libraries can evict people with offensive odors, a policy intended to protect the rights of the homeless. Under the policy, if a library employee believes someone's odor is offending others, she must call a social service agency. If that agency's representative does not agree that the smell is offensive, then the patron can stay. The library district wants to revisit the issue, as the Sun's Jace Radke reported last Friday, because that partnership has broken down: Some social service organizations no longer have the manpower to come to the library. Fine-tuning may be necessary, but the library district should refrain from wholesale changes to the policy, which is supposed to guarantee that no one is unfairly barred from using a library.

Still, while the homeless have just as much right as anyone else to use a library, the fact is they, too, must adhere to the same rules that others follow. After all, people can be removed if they shout and create a disturbance. Indeed, in an electronic age where we're bombarded by all sorts of noise and other disturbances, a library is an extraordinary refuge where someone can sit down and read in peace. The library district and its employees not only have to ensure that the homeless are able to use a public facility for a legitimate purpose, but they also must provide a reasonable atmosphere for other patrons who use the library. The bottom line is that libraries aren't supposed to serve double duty as homeless shelters; they've been placed in an unenviable situation not of their making.

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