SANTA ANA – Prompted by frequent complaints of misconduct in places in the periphery, Santa Ana Public Library’s main branch will be shut down on Friday for its first interior renovation in a quarter-century.

The months-long closure in 1991 involved a major floor plan reconfiguration with seating scattered and study carrels along the first floor edges and mezzanine, that has remained unchanged since.

This closure, announced Monday evening and scheduled through Aug. 28, entails relocating seats to the center of the first floor and removing carrels that make it hard for library staff to keep watch over patrons.

Some of the growing instances of misbehavior involve homeless individuals – numbering 35 to 50 in a day and half of all visitors at any given time – typically there to charge their phones and use the restrooms, Library Operations Manager Heather Folmar said.

“People get into discussions and arguments,” Folmar, 72, said. “We’ll end up with the same amount of seating but it will be more concentrated and easier for us to monitor. Problems can be nipped in the bud before developing into something less pleasant.”

Since the start of the year, library staff have logged incidents including harassment, sexual misconduct and indecent exposure, loud and disruptive behavior, vandalism, alcohol and drug use and bathroom misuse. Staff recorded 366 incidents from January to June, with a low of 21 in January and a high of 88 in June.

Concerns over such incidents prompted staff of the library – which in April won the nation’s highest award for libraries and museums – to form its first advisory committee in a decade. The group of staff and patrons advocated for centrally located seating, as other libraries across the country have implemented.

The library identified $25,000 within its budget to purchase five new tables and 25 chairs to offset the study carrels lost, install at least 10 more outlets for about 30 total, replace some carpet with hard flooring, and relocate bookshelves from the middle of the main floor to the mezzanine.

“The whole idea is to have a very pleasurable experience,” said Gerardo Mouet, executive director of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency. “I think once it opens, people will be very happy.”

But Larry “Smitty” Smith, 61, who is homeless and attended committee meetings, said the reconfiguration of the library at 26 Civic Center Plaza will only make it “worse for the public.”

“One of the reasons they want to change the configuration is the hope that the homeless might not like sitting in the middle and being watched,” Smith said. “But they’re forgetting something – we’re watched all day, every day, because we’re right in the Civic Center.”

For many homeless people at the Civic Center, the library is the only source of electricity, Smith said, and some wait outside for the doors to open at 10 a.m. and sit by a power outlet all day.

Folmar said the library is considering time limits on charging stations but has not yet determined if a policy will be enforced.

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