Bangor public ilibrary free#

вЂњThatвЂ™s not something weвЂ™re going to do,вЂќ Treat said. The library closed some single-stall bathrooms to prevent people from overdosing alone and not being found, butВ has resisted calls to shut down the entire building to people without shelter. Treat and Young said thereвЂ™s a tension between wanting the library to remain a welcoming place in line with its mission and keeping its patrons safe. Right Since reopening with extended hours in August, the Bangor Public Library has seen an increase in the number of homeless people seeking shelter during daytime hours. Left A list of rules are displayed on the tables in the atrium of the Bangor Public Library. The problems at the library are among the spillover effects as Bangor struggles to address growing homelessness in the city.В Treat and Hannah Young, the libraryвЂ™s marketing and development director, blame it on a lack of housing, the end of federal aid for the Ramada Inn to house homeless residentsВ and too few warming centers for the increased volume of people seeking shelter. There were 11 service calls from the library during the same period last year. There were also four overdoses in the buildingВ between November and March.Д«angor police responded to 59 calls from the library between January and March this year, mostly for welfare checks, overdoses and disorderly conduct like fighting, said spokesperson Wade Betters. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDNД«efore the pandemic, the library asked police for five or six criminal trespass orders a year to keep disruptive people from re-entering their doors.В Library staff have asked for 43 in the last eight months, Treat said. ThereвЂ™s also been one suspected assault, requiring law enforcement and social workers to intervene, library director Ben Treat said.Д«en Treat, director of the Bangor Public Library, said the library has seen an increase in the number of homeless seeking shelter at the library since it reopened in August with expanded hours. It also has the only public bathroom in downtown Bangor.Д«ut as a growing number of patrons seek shelter there during the day, the library has also seen a spike in behavioral problems, such as people using drugs in bathrooms and screaming at and threatening staff.

Bangor public ilibrary free#

The library is one of the few places in Bangor where people like Cortright can seek shelter without having to buy anything, and can access free resources like wireless internet and a computer. He is one of dozens of homeless Bangor residents who have sought shelter during the daytime at the Bangor Public Library, especially when shelters and warming centers are at capacity or have closed. The Bangor Public Library is one of the few places in Bangor where unhoused residents can go to access free resources like wireless Internet and a computer, as well as a public bathroom.