Multnomah County Library Workers Are Scared and Frustrated After Encounters With People in Crisis, Audit Says

Like many workers who didn’t sign up to be on the front lines of Portland’s mental health crisis, librarians in Multnomah County are scared after years of dangerous behavior by patrons and frustrated by “gaps” in the county’s response to violence, sexual harassment and drug overdoses.

Those are among the conclusions in an audit of the Multnomah County Auditor’s Office in a report released last week.

Oregon ranked worst in the nation for “prevalence of mental illness,” according to a 2022 report from Mental Health America, an organization that tracks the issue. It ranked 49th, just above Kansas, in terms of access to care for those who are suffering. With services lacking, librarians, bus drivers, pharmacists and grocery clerks are often thrust into challenging, dangerous interactions with people in crisis.

The county’s audit detailed the incidents that have befallen librarians. One patron threatened staff and claimed he had a knife when asked to put on a mask. Another made hateful comments about transgender people, again while carrying a knife. Yet another evaded security and hid in the library over night while carrying more than one large knife. Many employees have been faced with drug use and overdoses in libraries, the audit said.

WW detailed the crisis in libraries in a story in April 2022. More than a year later, the county’s official audit corroborates what that story revealed.

“We found that the library has struggled to respond to the changing safety and security landscape,” county auditors wrote. “Employees are frustrated about the gaps in the response to serious incidents, particularly for employees who frequently interact with the public. Improved coordination is needed between departments and county-wide services to develop a proactive response to serious security incidents.”

The seeds of the crisis were sown during the COVID-19 pandemic, when library leaders announced plans to lay off employees, county auditors said.

“They said that it was financially responsible since neighborhood libraries were operating under significantly reduced services,” auditors wrote. “Employees and the union pushed back and plans were scaled back. Library leaders have said that no one was laid off involuntarily. However, some employees took early retirement or voluntary layoff, changed positions, or had their hours reduced. Some employees moved to temporary positions or to other county departments.”

The result? “Employee trust in library leadership was broken,” auditors said. “Some employees felt that it was cruel to announce layoffs during a global health crisis, especially since the Library had sufficient resources to continue to pay employees.”

Libraries came under increasing pressure after the pandemic. They began to reopen in June 2021, and met a surge in patrons experiencing behavioral health crises. Things got worse when the passage of a capital bond measure led to construction-related closures, starting in December 2022.

County auditors made 10 recommendations to improve safety for library personnel. Among them: Make sure library safety committees are meeting OSHA standards; come up with a workplace violence prevention plan; ensure that public-facing staff get security training; and provide more detail to staff on serious incidents.