Staff at London's Central Library have been instructed to wake up sleeping patrons, following a new policy.

"We are waking patrons up to ensure that they are in a healthy state, and not suffering from a drug overdose or intoxication," said Nancy Collister, director of customer services and branch operations at London Public Library.

The policy was implemented last September after staff noticed "an increase in people who were having [drug] episodes" at the Central Library location.

Anyone caught snoozing, including students, are first verbally asked to wake up. If they don't respond, library or security staff will make sounds such as clapping their hands.

However, patrons who are woken up are usually not asked to leave the library. Staff will call 911 if they encounter someone who is overdosing, and will suggest shelter spaces for anyone who wants a place to sleep.

The policy on waking up snoozing patrons is not a permanent one and can be changed if necessary, according to Nancy Collister, a director at London Public Library. (Alvin Yu/CBC News)

Since the policy took effect last fall, Collister said the feedback has been mostly positive from staff and patrons.

"The last thing we want is to have someone pass away in our spaces because no one wanted to engage with them," she said. "This way, we know that we're being active and we're being part of a person's life plan."

Collister added the policy applies to all of its library branches, but "it's mostly at Central that we're experiencing an increase in issues that have caused us concerns about people's health." She noted the policy is not permanent, and staff will make changes if needed.

All benches outside the Central Library in downtown London were removed in early February. (Alvin Yu/CBC News)

In February, staff also removed all of the benches located outside the Central Library's entrance.

"We had sleeping going on," she said. "They also weren't very clean and just a lot of behaviours that were going around that we thought we would eliminate with the benches being removed."

Library officials have not received any complaints about the removal of the benches, according to Collister.