Here’s why Bellingham library adds staff to information and security desk
Bellingham Public Library will be adding a staff member to its information and security desk, in an effort to provide service on both floors of its downtown location.
At its meeting Monday, March 27, the City Council unanimously approved an extra $147,000 annually to hire one employee at 35 hours a week and add hours for the three other part-time security and information attendants.
“A two-person security team is a much better fit for our two-story building,” said Rebecca Judd, library director, in an interview with The Bellingham Herald.
A decision to expand the service desk was made before the incident Sunday, March 26, when a man swinging a hatchet was escorted out of the building and received a one-year trespassing notice.
“Unfortunately, incidents like the one on Sunday happen in our public place,” Judd said.
“(But) it’s a free and open space. That’s the beauty and complexity of our space,” she said.
The library’s downtown location, at 210 Central Ave., holds its main collection of books, video and audio recordings on the main floor, along with meeting rooms, public computers, a newspaper and magazine section, and an area to sit and read.
Downstairs features an activity and lecture room, the children’s collection and a children’s activity space.
Security and information attendants are not armed and are trained in basic first aid, Judd said,
They greet library patrons and are trained to provide information and directions, connect people in need with local resources and can contact local crisis response teams, firefighters or police when necessary, she said.
“During the pandemic lockdown, they handed out thousands of curbside bags,” Judd said.
Bellingham Public Library consistently ranks among the highest circulation per capita and is among the most-visited libraries in Washington state and the nation, she said.
It has almost 60,000 active cardholders and circulates more than 1.6 million items annually,
