Has the Library ‘Changed a Lot?’

By Mischa Arnosky

Abington Library Executive Director Nancy Hammeke Marshall, speaking to the Abington Board of Commissioners Thursday night, said, “The days of the public library being a safe place to drop your kids off are over.” She went on to say that the busy library has changed a lot in the 18 years since she’s been there, and essentially asked for township money to install digital cameras at the library … and got it.

The Abington Board of Commissioners OK’d a motion allocating up to $10,000 from the contingency fund to purchase and install a video surveillance system at the Abington Library on Old York Road. The system will likely include four to five fixed, digital cameras placed in and around the library.

“Things are different and our interest is protecting staff, patrons and property,” Marshall said. “We have no interest in monitoring reading habits or monitoring what people are looking up on computers.”

The server for the cameras will likely be kept in a secure location at the library and the footage will be stored for 30 days, only to be reviewed by the library director. (If anyone else wants it, he or she is going to need a subpoena, Marshall said.) The library will probably install signage reminding people that there are cameras in the building, though township solicitor Rex Herder said the signage isn’t necessary. 

Marshall said that she and library staff used to call the police once or twice a year to report problems; now, she said she calls police once or twice a month, adding that she’s called out of her office daily to handle incidents with patrons.

There was also a “distressing event” that happened at the library about four months ago in which the Abington Police detectives division had to get involved, Marshall said. Marshall wouldn’t elaborate, but she said that she couldn’t identify the “bad guy” in the incident even through mug shots, alluding that a video surveillance system would have helped.

According to Marshall, several Montgomery County libraries have video cameras, including libraries in Lansdale, Upper Merion, Lower Merion, Hatboro and Jenkintown.

Commissioner John Spiegelman called the installation of video cameras a “reasonable measure.”

Resident Lora Lehman, who spoke out against the cameras at committee level, calling them “not necessary,” said the money for the cameras should come out of the library’s budget, not the township’s contingency fund.

While Marshall was speaking to the commissioners, she said, “A gentle reminder, the library has not asked for any contingency funding since 1999, so you can tell that this is important to us.”

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Do you find that the library has become increasingly unsafe?