Olivia Daby
The Colonie High School library staff is under a great amount of pressure. After the
devastating events that have occurred in recent years, the guidelines for library use have been
made more strict. The library staff is responsible for hundreds of different students each day,
causing pressure on the staff to meticulously keep track of attendance. Mrs. Brown, one of the
school librarians has some insight on the policy changes.
The current policy on entrance into the library is either the combination of a standard
school ID and a signed pass from a teacher or an honor’s ID. This differs from past years in
the fact that a student only would need a pass or honor’s ID . Mrs. Brown says that these
changes have come about because there has never been a truly successful safety drill, and
there needs to be more accountability.
As of December, the policies are still in a transition-like period, and the benefits of
the changes remain unclear. Mrs. Brown has also noticed a frustration in students, due to the
lack of understanding of the importance of these rules. It has been a difficult task to enforce
the regulations because budget cuts have led to less staff. Although there are interns that
run the library, there are still other problems, like some students not receiving their ID cards
and resistance from students. She hopes that this policy will make the school a safer place to
be, especially if there were to be an emergency. As for a somewhat popular topic around the
school, the security cameras, they have always been there. It seems as though no one has
noticed them before they recently were replaced. When they did get replaced, however there
were a lot of questions asked.
The librarians have support from the administration, but they still feel that there is an
underuse of IDs. There was a loss to the convenience of printing IDs right in the library, and
according to Mrs. Brown, that has made it very difficult to help students replace their cards.
Speaking on behalf of the entire library staff, Mrs. Brown says that they have the best of
intentions. They want to prepare and educate for the real world. “Students want to be treated
like adults, but cannot be responsible for simple things. College students know that their ID
cards are their life and they cannot go anywhere without it, and we should be practicing that
here in high school.” Instead of what the ideal scenario to her would be, students think that the
rule does not apply to them, and they disobey.
Mrs. Brown hopes to find a creative solution to the problems that have arised. The
matter of library policy is weighing heavily on her at this point in time. There is a great deal of
pressure on all staff to keep students safe, but even more emphasis is being placed on library
staff due to the large amount of student visitation every day. ###
