SALISBURY, Md.- The Wicomico Public Library has hired a community support specialist to help those in need. Library Executive Director Seth Hershberger says the library had a security guard before the pandemic.
"There had been a long tradition of security guards in the building pre-COVID-19," Hershberger said. "And then during COVID-19, because the library wasn't busy, that position was eliminated. But now that we're busy again, we've started to see an increase of security incidents."
Hershberger says having a support specialist will point those in need in the right direction.
"We're really excited to have someone who's job it is to support these individuals and connecting them with resources in the community that are available," said Hershberger. "There was money in the budget for a new security guard but we wanted to take a different approach and try to be more proactive rather than reactive, and just be part of the solution rather than just dealing with a problem."
Christi Richardson has filled this position for three months now.
"It is kind of alarming the amount of youth right now that experience food insecurity and homelessness. We have a lot of really great community programs to combat those things... but we wouldn't have those programs if there wasn't a problem," said Richardson.
Hershberger says the people who need help the most largely fall into two categories.
"We had noticed that they started falling into main categories: teenagers who were just sort of acting up and causing problems in the library, and people who were homeless and experiencing mental health crises in the building. Those two situations were putting a lot of stress on our staff and a lot of difficulty just keeping up with their regular work in trying to deal with those incidents."
Hershberger says since Richardson started her position, the library has experienced a decline in security-related issues. He added that the Salisbury Police Department has been instrumental in helping the library when incidents have occurred.