[richjdsmith]

My local small-town library has become a pseudo homeless shelter. It’s exactly as this article describes. Often I’ll go in and there will be a local homeless person muttering in the corner.

That has certainly dissuaded me from going regularly.

[oh_sigh]

Same here - well, small city library (Boulder, CO).

Late last year we even had to shut down our library for multiple weeks, because methamphetamine was detected during testing, because people were smoking it in the library.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/boulder-colorado-meth-...

[dhuk_2018]

Don't worry, we're opening another pseudo day shelter in NoBo!

[Mezzie]

It's also the main reason I have no interest in working in public libraries at the moment. I studied to help manage information, not babysit or be a social worker.