Chicago Public Library workers sound the alarm about unsafe working conditions

Libraries should be safe spaces for all. But members of AFSCME Local 1215 who work for the Chicago Public Library say frightening and unsafe conditions have been on the rise in recent years—and management isn’t doing enough to keep workers and patrons safe. 

Violent assaults, sexual assaults and harassment, drug use and mental health incidents are all on the rise at Chicago Public Library branches. Meanwhile, staffing is down. Across the entire system, there are 100 fewer library staff than there were in 2020, meaning the remaining employees have fewer people to rely on when dangerous situations arise.

Concerns are widespread throughout the library’s 81 branches but are most pronounced at the flagship Harold Washington Library located in the Loop. Since 2021, the number of police reports linked to Chicago’s libraries has nearly tripled, WGN News found. 

Local 1215 member Christopher Crotwell told WGN News he regularly feels unsafe and is routinely threatened by patrons exhibiting violent behavior at the library.

“I’ve seen a man repeatedly struck with a wooden chair. I have seen patrons fighting in larger groups—groups of five, six, seven patrons—inside the library. Fights happen on a regular basis,” Crotwell said.

Local 1215 Vice President Adrienne Seely said that these dangerous incidents have forced her to be cautious about how she moves around in the library where she works.

“I no longer really use the elevators, and I try not to be in spaces where I can’t escape readily in the building, or that don’t have a lot of visibility,” Seely told the Chicago Tribune. 

Local 1215 has convened a Worker Safety Group and is calling on management to quickly implement stronger safety measures, such as making sure every branch has a panic button and security cameras, hiring security staff for each floor at each branch, and offering enhanced de-escalation training to library staff and security employees.

Violent incidents and unsafe conditions are on the rise in libraries across Illinois and the nation. AFSCME members who work in libraries know the best way to create better working conditions: by joining together in a strong union and demanding the resources and protections they deserve.

Read the Chicago Tribune’s report on safety in Chicago Public Libraries here.