The Austin Public Library’s policy on dealing with disruptive youths is being called into question by citizens following the arrest of a 13-year-old girl on Feb. 5 at the Carver Branch.

The Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call that there was going to be a fight among a group of girls at the library. When police arrived they discovered one of the girls had a prior, unrelated warrant, and they arrested her.

The library’s current policy is that any children under 10 years old must be accompanied by an adult and any children over 10 years old can visit the library on their own. The policy also says parents, and not the library and library staff, are responsible for any children at the library whether they are with an adult or alone, and all children must leave at closing time or if they are behaving in a way that the library deems as unacceptable. Critics of the policy say that it is too vague and leaves kids vulnerable in the libraries.

At its regular meeting on March 25, the Library Commission faced a room packed with citizens who came to share their thoughts. People stood in the doorway, on the sides of the room, and overflowed into the hall. They held handwritten signs that read messages like “Change Library Policy! Cops are not the answer to our problems,” and “I geek safe spaces for kids of color.”

Njera Keith, executive coordinator of Black Sovereign Nation, said she was leading a lecture in the library when the 13-year-old was arrested. At the meeting she presented new policies and procedures proposed by Black Sovereign Nation to to address what the group sees as holes in the library’s current policy.

Black Sovereign Nation was founded by Keith in Austin. The goal of the organization is to empower communities of color through direct action, cooperative economics and community outreach initiatives.

“We have a community school that met at the Carver,” Keith said. “Before the incident with (the 13-year-old girl) our kids felt hyperpoliced.”

On the same day of the arrest Keith said that while she and others were facilitating a lecture, they had an uncomfortable interaction with the library’s security guard.

“The security guard walks up and stares us down, for several seconds I guess, it felt like minutes, but for a long time,” Keith said.

The organization believes the library’s current policy falls short in several important areas. 

• The inability of children ages 10 to 17 to advocate for themselves in an emergency situation.
• A lack of protocol when it comes to contacting a parent or guardian in the case that a child violated the library’s policy or code of conduct.
• A lack of standards for determining when to contact police in response to a child’s behavior.
• A lack of training of library staff on racial and youth equality, as well as de-escalation.

“When we are talking about the training that staff needs and the way we just need a paradigm shift for library staff in general,” Keith said, “I feel like that is embodied in our personal experience as well.”

“I don’t want people to think, well of course (the 13-year-old girl) had this experience because she was a bad apple, she was gonna fight. Our kids were literally sitting there, participating in class that was facilitated by an adult and they were treated in a similar fashion,” Keith said.

In order to avoid instances like the one which took place on Feb. 5, Black Sovereign Nation has five major proposals.

• Creation of a “youth-appointed youth advocate” who would act as a voice on behalf of youth patrons if needed.
• A specific protocol for how to deal with a child’s bad behavior.
• A specific protocol for when the police should be called on a youth library patron.
• Implementation of trainings for library staff on racial and youth equality as well as de-escalation.
• Creation of a youth-aged seat on the library commission.

Austin Public Library Director Roosevelt Weeks said that he was offended by what Keith and others said at the meeting.

 “You said some very hurtful things about our staff, the training that they receive and that we don’t care about about our black and brown children,” Weeks said.

 “Libraries are for everyone,” he said.

Weeks said at the meeting that a 12-year-old girl told library security that there was a group of girls outside who wanted to beat her up. Weeks said the girl’s mother called the police and that the library staff was uninvolved.

When police officers arrived they discovered that a 13-year-old girl in the group outside had an outstanding warrant, and she was arrested. Library staff did not interfere with what they viewed to be police business, Weeks said.

Several activists interrupted Weeks and accused him of not telling the truth.

“That is not what happened that day,” Keith said. “It is not, and your own staff do not attest to the narrative of events that you just shared with us.”

Black Sovereign Nation’s deputy coordinator Kristina Brown said at the meeting that the organization had made several attempts to reach out to Weeks in order to have a conversation about the policy. Weeks never responded to the organization’s emails, she said.

Brown asked Weeks at the Library Commission meeting why he had not responded to them.

“No one wants to hear the truth,” Weeks said.

His response caused laughter in the room.

The commission ended the discussion without taking action.

“Director Weeks had the ability to change the policy outright,” Keith said. “We can disagree about what happened to (the 13-year-old girl), but the fact is the policy doesn’t protect kids.”