Public libraries have long ago moved beyond being just a place to grab a book, but one particular use has created some tension at a local library.
Private tutors over the past several years have increasingly relied on public libraries as a space to meet up with students, according to some local library directors. How that use has affected libraries appears to vary depending on the amount of space available and the demand for it.
Guilderland Board of Education members, along with Superintendent Marie Wiles, held their annual meeting on Wednesday, March 26, with representatives from the Guilderland Public Library to discuss how the two entities collaborate with each other. A primary topic discussed was how private tutors using space at the library has led to some issues.
Wiles’ husband, Tim Wiles, is also the director of the Guilderland library.
Marie Wiles said that during the last school year, the district started its “PM school,” because the library was “truly inundated” with tutors working with students who were suspended from school. All of those students needing one-on-one tutoring would come to the library.
“I know it created an issue for (the library), and it was not particularly effective for us, and that had nothing to do with the library,” Wiles said. “It was very hard to get the appropriate work to the kid in time so that he or she could do it. We’d find days and days going by when it just didn’t happen.”
The PM school, which is being held this year at Pine Bush Elementary School, was created to correct the problem, and has proven effective, according to Wiles. She said it is also a cost-effective solution with high school teachers signing up to work with kids at the PM school.
Wiles did acknowledge that it didn’t solve all of the problems.
“I know that there are still tutoring issues at the library,” Wiles said.
Guilderland Library Board of Trustees member Judith Kahn said the library changed its tutoring policy last spring. Previously, private tutors were allowed to sit anywhere in the library, but some patrons complained the tutor and student talking were disturbing.
At first, tutors were designated to one of the libraries larger rooms, but the procedure eventually changed to allow for more leeway.
Tim Wiles said the preferred location for tutoring is in the Guilderland Room, which is a larger room accommodating three to four tutors at a time. When that room is filled, a tutor can reserve one of three individual study rooms. If all those rooms are filled, tutors are allowed in the general area but are asked to try to be quiet to not disturb other patrons.
“The people who are affected by our tutoring policy … we have gotten a lot of flak from people who are not happy,” Kahn said. “The public had this sense of entitlement.”
Tim Wiles said he had just talked to a parent earlier that day about the library’s tutoring procedures. He acknowledged tutoring still happens all over the library, even though rooms are designated for the activity.
“Tutors are usually paid, so it raises the issue for us if you can run your tutoring business here, why can’t you run your financial planning business here, or your insurance sales business here … or whatever it is that you would want to do,” Tim Wiles said. “People would be logically perfectly within their rights.”
He said the library’s policy is if there are people who appear to be in a tutoring relationship, they are made aware study rooms could be reserved.
“We try to get them into a quieter spot if they are bothering their neighbors in the library, but it is often just practically too busy,” he said.
Wiles said one library staffer described the situation as evolving essentially into a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“There is a policy on paper, but you can’t, and shouldn’t perhaps, stop every instance of tutoring that takes place in the library,” he said. “If people are able to use their library voice and tutor somebody, there certainly is no harm done. Libraries are a place for learning to occur, but it remains kind of an unsolved problem.”
The planned library expansion, which was voted down, would have added more space to mitigate the problem.
Bethlehem Public Library Director Geoffrey Kirkpatrick, who was not at the meeting, said he also sees tutors using the space at his library. Kirkpatrick said there is enough space in the library to allow for tutoring and there has not really been any complaints over the activity.
“Tutors used to be more comfortable sending tutors to people’s homes,” Kirkpatrick said, “but people are more aware there are risks to both parties. Doing the tutoring at a public space is a smart choice.”
Richard J. Naylor, director of the William K. Sanford Town Library in Colonie, said tutoring activity has seasonal spikes at the library. Guilderland and Bethlehem also saw similar trends.
“It seems to wax and wane because of the school year,” Naylor said.
Naylor admitted the library does not have “a great way to deal with it.”
“It is not really up to us to decide whether somebody gets paid for something or not, but the concern for us is if they are bothering somebody,” he said. “We can’t really put up a sign and say no business.”
Naylor believed tutoring happening at the library was ultimately a good thing, because it falls within the library’s mission to educate the public. He said tutoring has only “occasionally” been a problem.
He said the library has been successful placing tutors in certain areas, so patrons are not disturbed.
“We don’t try to distinguish between two people taking about a book they just read … or two people who are learning something,” he said.
Guilderland Board of Education member Colleen O’Connell said she did not believe it was a library’s responsibility to provide space for tutoring.
O’Connell said all three of her children have had private tutoring at some point, and the minimum for a tutor is around $50 an hour.
“This is a not-for-profit taxing institution … but that doesn’t mean that people have a right to have commercial activity here,” she said. “
Tim Wiles on Monday, April 7, said he would not be surprised if the library board decides to take another look at its policy toward tutors, but there are no plans at the moment.
“It seems to be working out OK right now,” he said.