Many libraries in our province can no longer do without security guards. They are needed to show antisocial young people the door, but also for problems with the homeless and people who are confused. Some libraries are seeing the nuisance and aggression getting worse, according to a tour. “The security company has to intervene two to three times a week.”
Everyone is welcome in the library and the organizations behind it would like to keep it that way. But employees and management increasingly see another, disadvantageous side of this open character. Conversations that Omroep Brabant had with managers and employees of nine library organizations show that nuisance caused by visitors is becoming more severe and occurring more often than before.
This is a reason for six of the nine library organizations to use private security guards. Most do this on demand or at certain times, for example around closing time. Two libraries have security guards on duty at all times and one has had them for a while.
For example, employees of Huis73 in Den Bosch had to deal with groups of ‘antisocial’ young people in the winter of 2022/2023. “They set off the smoke alarm by smoking weed in the toilet and drove through the library with electric scooters,” says manager Silke Dragtstra. “They were also antisocial towards the staff. We banned these young people from building. The security guards were then permanently present in the library with us for a period.”
At the Helmond Peel library they notice that ‘adolescents are increasingly pushing the boundaries’. Employees who appeal to young people get a big mouth. The security guards are then called to send them away. And if it is serious enough, a report will be sent to the police. This happened seventeen times in Helmond last year.
A trial with permanent security is now underway in Breda at the Nieuwe Veste. This will last until June 1 and the library wants to continue with it after that date. More visitors have been coming since corona and this causes more nuisance and aggression, especially at the location in the city center. Security guards have to intervene two to three times a week.
“We see a change from verbal violence to more physical violence,” a spokesperson for De Nieuwe Veste said. She lists the problems: “Groups of young people intimidating and provoking other young people, theft, eating junk food, people under the influence of alcohol and drugs and more homeless people in the library.”
The latter group appears to cause nuisance in many places. Director Albert Kievits of the Eindhoven Library is very concerned about this. “Many Eastern European people are thrown out on the street by their employers and then start wandering through the city. I’ve been seeing a lot more of them lately.”
To prevent problems in the library, troublemakers are banned from visiting many places. This, together with the deployment of guards, is seen as a solution. In Huis73, the nuisance decreased after a while and security could be scaled down. This was welcome for the library’s bank account: Huis73 had to pay costs of 53,000 euros for six months of security.
In Breda they also have the bill in their stomachs, but they don’t want to lose the security guards on the library floor. “After a trial with permanent surveillance for four months, we now experience that our visitors feel safer. Our colleagues on the floor also feel a lot more comfortable as a result.”
Libraries and security guards
Omroep Brabant spoke to nine Brabant libraries or the organizations behind them. This concerns the Eindhoven Library, Nieuwe Veste Breda, Huis73 in Den Bosch, the Central Brabant Library, the West Brabant Library, the Midden-Peel Library, North East Brabant Libraries, the Helmond Library and Theek 5 in Oosterhout.
At Theek 5 in Oosterhout and Nieuwe Veste in Breda, security guards are always present in the library. Huis73 also had them on the floor permanently, but stopped and switched to a flexible deployment. The libraries in Eindhoven, West Brabant and Helmond also do this. They have no security guards in Central Brabant and North-East Brabant.
