East Lansing Public Library Says Teen Behavior Issues Have Dropped Dramatically
After dealing with reoccurring behavior problems in recent years, the East Lansing Public Library has seen a significant decline in disruptive incidents involving teenagers this year, a change Library Director Chrissie Evaskis-Garrett credits to new staff strategies.
While the East Lansing Public Library, or ELPL, doesn’t use formal tracking systems, members of the leadership team, including Evaskis-Garrett, have seen positive changes.
“In previous years, we dealt with recurring incidents; this year, we’ve had zero ongoing issues, and I can count on one hand the number of teens we’ve had to ask to leave and still have fingers left,” Evaskis-Garrett said in an email. “For us, that’s a clear win.”
While the library is still handling what Evaskis-Garrett described as an “overflow of students,” the ELPL has not experienced any serious altercations like it did last year. About 50 teens visit the library after school each day, library staff have said previously.
The library’s behavior improvement plan introduced strategies like specialized training that had staff attend webinars, read articles and collaborate with other libraries to better understand the best ways to support teens. This training also stressed the importance of setting clear rules for library visitors.
“When we say everybody is welcome we have to mean it,” Evaskis-Garret said during a Library Board of Trustees meeting on June 17. “That comes down to the words we say, our body language each day and our actions. We emphasized that students are welcome – we want them to be a part of the process.”
The library staff was also trained on the strategies of a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports initiative. Through this program, workers positively reinforced good teen behavior to encourage a safe environment. To improve this initiative, ELPL has discussed the possibility of including adult patrons in the process.
“We can’t be everywhere, but we do have patrons that come up and go, ‘that was such a nice interaction [with a teen],’” Evaskis-Garrett said during the June 17 meeting. “We want to reward that. If [someone] sees something cool and positive, let us know, so we can reward it.”
The library also applied a new staff communication tool, CHAMP CHAT, to alert library staff of escalating situations. This tool has made it more efficient for staff members to effectively communicate emerging issues, so they can be addressed early on.
In October, the library will present its full strategic breakdown at the Michigan Library Association Annual Conference. This presentation, prepared by Experience Team Leader Elizabeth Kish, will delve into current practices and future plans for the library’s after-school mitigation program.
While the results of the behavior improvement plan have been positive, ELPL is still working on plans to better support students and staff during the school year.
While the library is seeing less bad behavior from young people this year, Evaskis-Garrett said it is still difficult to handle the amount of teenagers utilizing the library after school because of the library’s limited space. To address this, the library’s leadership team is working with the city and East Lansing Public Schools to find different spaces for teens to go after school hours.
“We’ve worked very hard this year to make sure that our staff feels supported and has the training they need to continue making the library the welcoming space that it should always be,” Evaskis-Garrett said.