Libraries’ Young Patrons Are Often Latchkey Children : Trends: Working parents view facilities as a safe after-school refuge. Librarians don’t want to discourage users, but caution that they are not baby-sitters.

Every day after school, a 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old brother walk from their private elementary school in Orange to one of that city’s libraries.

If the two boys are feeling particularly restless, they might play on the low brick wall that circles the library, or run around the building a few times. Usually, though, they head inside where the older boy sits down to do his homework, while his little brother looks at books.

This is how the two brothers and an unknown number of other children--perhaps hundreds, based on comments of librarians throughout the county--spend several hours most days after school.

These children are part of a group known as latchkey kids, children who are unsupervised for several hours after school before their parents return from work. No one knows just how many latchkey kids there are in Orange County, but a recent U.S. Census Bureau report said 5% of children ages 5 to 14 are unsupervised after school.

For working parents who can’t find or can’t afford organized after-school programs, libraries are seen as a tempting alternative. The image of libraries as wholesome, productive places where people are engaged in academic pursuits may lead parents to view libraries as the perfect spot for their unsupervised children.

“Parents feel good about sending their children to the library,” said Joan Blumenstein, director of children’s services for the Orange Public Library.

Librarians report, however, that children often get restless and bored, and need to be frequently reminded about proper library behavior. Few librarians share the view that libraries are a good alternative to after-school care.

“We don’t provide day care. We don’t baby-sit,” said Elaine Kelby, children’s librarian at the Orange County Public Library system’s West Garden Grove branch. “I don’t think it’s our role.”

Defining that role requires library administrators to walk a fine line. Reluctant to appear as if they are discouraging children from using the library, librarians nonetheless are concerned about the safety and liability issues raised by unsupervised children in the library.

Margaret Gene Owens, assistant library director for Santa Ana Public Library’s Main Branch, said the library does not want to discourage children from using it. But there are signs posted in all of its branches recommending that parents not leave their children unattended.

“We are very concerned about the safety and well-being of all our patrons,” Owens said.

Although Owens said the city’s libraries have experienced few problems with unattended children, Newhope Branch librarian Alice Rios described an incident that left her horrified.

“Last December there were several children, not one of them older than 5, who walked alone several blocks from their home to the library,” Rios said.

The youngest in the group, whom Rios said was about 1 year old, was nearly struck in the parking lot by a car driven by a departing library patron. The driver brought the children into the library, where librarians called police, who took the children home.

“We have children that come in the afternoon and bring their baby siblings with them,” Rios said. “They just wander around.”

Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper said the city assumes no responsibility for children left unattended at the library.

“The library staff owes only the same duty (to latchkey children) as they do other library patrons,” Cooper said. “The library does not undertake responsibility to provide supervision.”

The Orange County Public Library system, which has 27 branches, has guidelines for dealing with unsupervised children which include what to do with children still there at closing time. County librarians also have a form letter to give to parents informing them that the library is not responsible for unsupervised children.

Such warnings have done little to stop parents from sending their children unsupervised to the library. Rios said parents seldom come into the library “because they know we’ll talk to them about leaving their kids here.”

Several parents picking up their children at Orange Public Library one recent afternoon were reluctant to discuss why they sent their children there to wait after school. One parent, who would not give her name, said she had no alternative.

“There’s no other place for her to go,” she said.

Her excuse is supported by experts in the child-care field. After-school care, especially for older elementary school children, is hard to come by, they say.

“There are a minimal number of after-school programs,” said Linda Wilson, director of one such program in Seal Beach. “And they are always at capacity.”

When Wilson’s program, a privately operated one at McGaw Elementary School, was preparing to increase its capacity, they quickly developed a waiting list of 50 children.

But even when after-school programs are available, parents don’t always use them.

Sue Maleki leaves work every day about 3 p.m. to drive her two children from elementary school to a library in Placentia, and then returns to work. Although their school offers after-hours care, Maleki said her 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter prefer spending the 2 1/2 hours every day in the library.

“I gave them the choice and they wanted to come here,” she said.

Maleki believes the library is a safe place for her children, explaining that they’re old enough to understand they are not to leave.

But many librarians say that libraries are no safer than other public places.

Several libraries reportedly have had flashers, suspicious people loitering in the building and adults who seem overly interested in the children. Although librarians attempt to monitor both children and adults who use the children’s section, they say they are too busy to look for more than the most blatant problems.

“Our concern is we can’t keep an eye on the kids all the time,” said Alice Rios, children’s librarian at Santa Ana’s Newhope Branch Library. “We don’t know the parents, so anyone can come in and grab a child.”

Still, some librarians consider unsupervised children legitimate patrons who present no special problems.

“One of our missions is to help kids further their education,” said Ken Werne, acting branch manager of the county’s Euclid Branch Library in Huntington Beach. “We don’t try to exclude kids from the library as long as they aren’t disruptive.”

Like other public agencies, libraries are feeling the pinch of tight budgets. Hiring freezes and less money for materials make it difficult for librarians to offer the kinds of programs and staffing needed to serve latchkey children.

Librarians know, too, that their authority position is tenuous at best.

“We’re out on a limb as far as discipline is concerned,” said Beth Irish, a librarian at Orange Public Library’s Main Branch. “We don’t want to ask them to leave--where would they go?”

For the youngsters gathered in the children’s section at a branch library in Orange one afternoon in January, it offered a more attractive alternative to staying home alone or waiting for their parents at school.

Maria, a fifth-grade student at a private school in Orange, used to wait at school for her father to pick her up. Now the 10-year-old girl waits every day until about 6 p.m. at the library, alternating between doing homework and talking to her friends.

“I don’t get bored here because there’s lots to do,” Maria said. “I’d rather be here than waiting at school.”