The Somerville Central Library resumed its regular weekday schedule on Oct. 2, following over a month of reduced hours aimed at combating violent and disruptive behavior by some patrons. Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne announced the reopening, along with “updated safety measures” put in place to create “a safe and supportive library environment.”
The city has installed security cameras in the library and contracted a private security firm to place a guard at the library around dismissal times of nearby Somerville High School. The company, Internal Security Associates, was selected by the city because of its “experience in libraries, schools, and other community-serving locations” and “strong track record in de-escalation techniques and conflict resolution,” Ballantyne wrote in an email to the Daily.
From the beginning of the school year on Aug. 28 to the reopening on Oct. 2, the library was closed to all patrons from 2–4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. on Wednesdays, when the students are dismissed earlier.
The reopening has been largely successful, according to Ballantyne.
“We’re encouraged by the improvements we’ve seen,” she wrote. “We’re continuing to monitor things closely and will adjust as needed, but the early feedback from staff and visitors has been positive.”
Some Somerville High students noted that, since the closure, fewer students have spent time inside the library.
“A bunch of people don’t come here as much anymore,” Shine, a 10th grader at Somerville High, said. “Personally, I didn’t know that it reopened at 2 [p.m.] again. I thought it was still open at 4 [p.m.]. So, maybe some people don’t even know that it opens up at 2 [p.m.] again.”
“My friends aren’t going there, so I’m not going there because I have no other reason to be there,” another student said, speaking with the Daily outside of the library.
Students, librarians express mixed feelings in wake of closure
One Somerville High student thinks the library should not have been closed for everyone.
“I understand why they closed it, but they could have gone about it differently,” they said. “I’m not like other people my age. I don’t agree with what they do out here [and] in there. They fight in there, they smoke in there, … they get loud in there. People come here with their kids. People come here to read and do work. So I don’t think they should [have closed] it for everybody.”
During the closure, teenagers outside the library had to explain to other patrons who approached the library that it was closed in the afternoons.
As the student put it, by closing the library, “You’re not hurting us … you’re hurting everybody else who’s trying to come here.”
Another student agreed, noting that the closure impacted students who went to the library to study after school.
“I think them closing the library was kind of an overreaction,” the student said. “The people who would use it genuinely, who needed the space to study … couldn’t use it.”
Andrea, a 10th grader at Full Circle School — an alternative school that shares a campus with Somerville High — explained that she attempted to communicate her frustration with the closure to library leadership and propose solutions that would allow the library to remain open but was unsatisfied with the response she received.
One librarian, who spoke with the Daily anonymously due to fears of retaliation, was ambivalent about the closing.
“I came around to it,” the librarian said. “But one thing that really did suck [was that] I have a lot of teens that I have really good relationships with, and I like seeing them every day. Seeing them outside, locked out, not knowing why, not knowing what to do with themselves — that was when it really hit me. I was like, ‘this sucks.’ … It shouldn’t be like this.”
Closure highlights lack of Somerville teen space
Students anticipated that they and their peers would return to the library as winter weather sets in and it becomes unpleasant to sit outside.
“When it’s freezing out, we’ll sit in there,” Kira, an 11th grader at Full Circle, said. “I’ve been in there from after school till close dozens of times last year.”
But if the library were to close during the winter, some students would not have anywhere to go after school dismissal.
“I know people, kids used to chill here for hours,” a Somerville High student said. “Maybe it’s because they can’t go home, or they don’t want to. But [when] they closed it, they [had] nowhere to go except sit out here.”
In the librarian’s view, the closure was a symptom of Somerville’s lack of investment in teen spaces and programming.
“When you are no longer young and cute, the city doesn’t care about you,” the librarian said. “A lot of times when there’s an emergency and they need to cut something, or they need to move something, it is the teen programming that that happens to.”
The librarian pointed to the relocation of Winter Hill Community Innovation School students to the Edgerly Education Center, due to asbestos concerns at Winter Hill in fall 2023 after a piece of concrete fell from the ceiling. The Edgerly had housed a teen center in summer 2022 and from November 2022 until the Winter Hill students’ arrival.
The city is working toward opening a new teen space, according to Ballantyne.
“Opening a permanent Teen Center has been a priority for the City, and we’re continuing to explore options for a suitable location,” the mayor wrote. “Our Parks & Recreation department is actively expanding its teen programming, and we’re committed to finding a long-term solution for a permanent space where our youth can feel supported and engaged.”
The librarian emphasized the immediate need for an after-school space.
“We want to push the city to … make sure the kids know what’s available to them [and] give them what they’re asking for,” the librarian said. “They’re asking for a teen space that’s a 15 [minute] walk [from Somerville High] … we need stuff now.”
Julieta Grané contributed reporting.
