As Strong as Its Weakest Link: Developing Strategies for a Security Program
Creating a Culture of Security at the University of Maryland Libraries
Charles B. Lowry
Dean of Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park

Although significant safety and security problems are relatively infrequent in libraries, all library staff need to be sensitive to working in a busy environment that is open to the public many hours each week. Moreover, those of us in academic and public libraries are part of a larger community, where thousands of people live, work, and go to school every day. To be responsible members of this community and to protect our patrons, collections, and facilities, we must all share responsibility for safety and security. Libraries are "systems," and security is a vital part of maintaining balance in these systems.

Library safety and security cover a diverse range of concerns, from the seemingly mundane such as enforcing no food/no drink policies to more serious incidents that include theft and disruptive behavior. Therefore, it is important to provide staff with the information and tools to respond to a variety of needs, including guidelines that outline steps that all staff should know and the training to understand them and take action when called upon to do so--what might be called a shared culture of mutual responsibility for security and safety.

A critical part of building such a staff-wide culture is a thorough understanding of all the elements of a library's security environment. To address the need for a more coherent approach to library safety and security that reinforces a philosophy of shared responsibility among all staff, the University of Maryland Libraries embarked upon an assessment of policies, procedures, and facilities in partnership with the Association of Research Libraries. Begun in the fall of 1997, the security study and subsequent development of practice and policy were implemented over a two-year period and serve as a model comprehensive approach for a large academic library system.