Why was a Kansas City public library branch closed for days? Here’s the reason
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The Kansas City Public Library Westport branch temporarily closed last week after an altercation between two library patrons that resulted in a police response, library officials said.
One person was injured when another library patron cut them, according to police. The altercation, which police responded to early Thursday afternoon, forced staff to shut down the library early on Feb. 1. It stayed closed through Monday.
Joel Jones, deputy director of branch and library services, said the library is back open this week as usual following the incident, and hours have returned to normal.
“There was a pretty dramatic incident in the library on Thursday, in the… afternoon,” Jones said. “There was an altercation between two patrons in the library and police responded immediately and removed those people.”
Security officers in the library were first to interact with the patrons involved, Jones said, and police were involved later. Police said officers made a report for an aggravated assault, but the victim decided not to prosecute.
The suspect was issued a municipal summons for disorderly conduct.
“It was a lot of disruption and loudness and a little bit of physical violence, but probably the loudness disruption was more impactful than anything,” Jones said.
The library announced on social media that afternoon it would stay closed until Monday, citing “staffing issues.” The library is normally closed on Sundays.
Jones said the extended closure was intended to help staff work through the incident. Additional staff were not available to keep the library open.
“It was our decision for staff that doesn’t see this kind of activity, that we give them a couple days to… talk about the situation,” Jones said. “It’s not something they’re used to dealing with on a day-to-day basis.”
“We decided to give that staff an opportunity to process what they experienced and to deal with the trauma of such an incident,” Jones said.
Jones said the library takes security seriously and even before the Feb. 1 incident, they had brought on a new position, a public safety manager, who helps train contracted security and analyze their procedures to make the library safer.
“Knowing that the library is an open space to all… we’re constantly, consistently thinking about security of our patrons and our staff at our facilities,” Jones said.
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 4:25 PM.
