The Clovis, New Mexico Library Shooting: A Look Back
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtThe details are chilling. On Monday, August 28, 2017, at about 4:15 pm, 16-year-old high school student Nathaniel Jouett went into the Clovis-Carver, New Mexico library branch in...
View ArticleNarcan: What Every Librarian Needs to Know About Opiate Overdoses
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtThe number of fatal overdoses due to opiate use (heroin, fentanyl, pain pills) continues to surge in the US, as does the record amounts of fentanyl powder and pills seized at the...
View ArticleLibraries in the “First Amendment Threat Space”: Book Banners, Content...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtHere’s a tweet I sent out on September 28, 2022, about several libraries in the US closing because of “unspecified threats.”I work in threat assessment and workplace violence...
View ArticleUsing the P.I.N. (Positive-Interesting-Negative) Tool During Library Staff...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtDo your staff meetings turn into idea-killing sessions? Or are they doing what they are supposed to do - create value in a group discussion, initiate plans, develop solutions, and...
View ArticleThree Easy Rules for Success as an Employee
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtI've taught hundreds of Zoom sessions and thousands of live training programs and although I can come to many conclusions about success in life and business, three themes stand...
View ArticleAsk Dr. Steve: "Body Cameras for Security Officers at the Library?"
Here is the question:I am a security officer for a library. We are beside a large park with many homeless people that come into the Library. We do have security video cameras but they do not have...
View ArticleHaving a Tough Time with a Patron? Consider the List of Eight Choices.
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtMost personal and professional stressors involve either a person or a situation.We’re either upset, anxious, or disappointed in someone or an event - past, present, or future -...
View ArticleAudio Interview: "A library safety expert weighs in on the effectiveness of...
We're posting CBC interview with Dr. Albrecht in our "Library Service, Safety, & Security" section of Library 2.0: "A library safety expert weighs in on the effectiveness of police and metal...
View ArticleMeth on the Walls of Your Library? How to Know, What to Do
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtPerhaps you‘ve seen the recent story where a library in Englewood, Colorado - a suburb near Denver - had to close for a serious cleaning because people who smoked meth in the...
View ArticleIs Your Library Team CPR and AED Trained?
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtIn most cities, firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs go on three types of calls most often: car accidents, which may involve the use of tourniquets; opiate or fentanyl drug overdoses...
View ArticleSo You Want to Become a PIC? (Person in Charge)
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtSome people know right away they want to be in charge at their jobs, often as soon as they get them or soon after. They see their personal career path ahead of them and their...
View ArticleThe Joys and Pains of Being a Librarian: The Best and Worst Parts of Your Job
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtConsider the scope of your library career, however short or long. There have been huge changes in the profession just from 2020 to today. There are lots of examples in your working...
View ArticleWriting a Useful Security Incident Report: A Template for Library Security...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtLet’s start by defining the “professional library security incident report” as:“a document created by an investigative process that captures the scene of a security incident at...
View ArticleDealing with Patrons Under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs: Tools and Tips...
Some patrons come into the library drunk, some come in high on meth or opiates, like heroin or fentanyl. Maybe they don't cause any behavioral or security problems for you or other patrons. But what if...
View ArticleAre You Using a Closing Time Procedures Checklist?: “But I Thought You Locked...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtOne of the hardest jobs I ever held was working as a Ramp Agent for a major airline at a small airport. I loaded and unloaded passenger bags, which meant operating conveyor belts,...
View ArticleThe Police are Talking to a Problem Patron: Does That Mean They Get a...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtAt a recent library service, safety, and security training workshop I did, a library employee told me she would never call the police to her library because, "Once the police put...
View ArticleASK DR. STEVE: Evacuation Training and Patron Safety
Dear Dr. Steve,Please forgive me if this question has already been addressed in a previous article or blog post. I recently got hired as a library security manager for our library system's 18...
View Article“Stay Interview” Questions: Talking with Library Employees Who Are Thinking...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtThe Society For Human Resources (SHRM.org) is one of the largest professional organizations for HR professionals. As a member (and board certified by them since 1995), I come...
View ArticleKeeping Libraries Safe From Digital Attacks
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtOriginally published in Computers In Libraries Magazine, June 2023Over the last 6 years, libraries in St. Louis; Boston; Northampton, Pa.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Contra Costa, Calif.;...
View ArticleShould You Become Personal Friends With Certain Patrons? An Interesting...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtThere are patrons that you serve on a daily or near-daily basis, who see you almost as much as they see their local coffee shop barista. They just love or really like the library...
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"Circulating Ideas" Podcast Interview with Dr. Albrecht about "The Safe Library"
Dr. Albrecht was interviewed by Steve Thomas, the host and producer of "Circulating Ideas.""Steve chats with Steve Albrecht, author of The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure,...
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Pornography on Library Networks: What You Need to Learn About Porn and Patron...
[Patrons watching pornography in the library can range from an irritating behavioral problem to an actual federal crime. So what do we do to enforce our Internet and Wi-Fi policies? Dr. Albrecht has...
View ArticleWhy Your Library is (Kinda) Like a Starbucks
After doing a keynote speech for a state library association last week, one of the directors in attendance came up and asked me, “What is a similar type of business to a public library?”I didn’t need...
View ArticleAsk Dr. Steve: "Getting Staff Buy-in for Emergency Training"
An AskDrSteve@Library20.com submission about getting all-staff buy-in for emergency-related training:“We do bi-monthly trainings via PowerPoint for safety topics (Medical Emergencies, Tornado/Severe...
View ArticleMake Yourself Multi-Lingual: Better Patron Communications
Here’s a fun exercise, one that will help you connect to a wider variety of your patrons: Step 1 - Create a list of the Top Three most common languages spoken in and around your library, by the patrons...
View ArticleAsk Dr. Steve: “Praying, Meditating, or Sleeping?”
Dear Dr. Steve - Our Code of Conduct prohibits patrons from sleeping in the library. Our staff is quite lenient on this issue and they usually just “verbally nudge people awake” and remind them about...
View ArticleIt’s Time for a “Code Pink” Drill: Protecting Infants and Small Children in...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtThe trope we see most often in movies and TV crime shows is when a child is kidnapped, it’s done by the “creepy guy driving a van.” We tell our kids, as soon as they can know it,...
View ArticleCan Libraries Become the Driver for Safe Home Gun Storage? A Bold Idea, Whose...
[A shorter version of this essay ran as an op-ed in the February 2, 2024 online edition of The Seattle Times. Click here for the link to that version. https://shorturl.at/txFKW. See also "U.S....
View ArticleWhat are the Worst, Grossest, Scariest, or Oddest Things Ever Found in the...
By Dr. Steve AlbrechtAs one of my friends, who has the unenviable job of cleaning airplane bathrooms between flights, likes to say, “People are nasty.”The shelves in your library or your oh-so-inviting...
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Horror Stories From the Book Drop: A Recap of the Items Found by Librarians
By Dr. Steve Albrecht.Thank you, Bold and Brave Librarians! We asked and you shared! My hands trembled as I complied your List of Yuck.As you review what your colleagues have “curated” here, you can...
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