Installation of CCTV cameras riles library staff

The cameras are scheduled to be installed on the outside of the library on Tuesday

Local librarians are concerned by the impending installation of CCTV cameras on the outside of the Sebastopol Public Library. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)

NOTE: Paragraph three of this text has been corrected, and paragraph four, a quote by Larry McLaughlin, has been added.

Two weeks ago Sonoma County Library Director Erika Thibault called a special meeting of the staff at the Sebastopol Library to announce that CCTV cameras would soon be installed on the outside of the building.

Thibault explained that the library had been given the go-ahead by Sebastopol City Manager Larry McLaughlin. The agreement of the city is required because the city owns the library building.

McLaughlin said he had looked at the city’s Surveillance Technology Ordinance and determined that it didn’t apply, since the language in the ordinance only referred to actions by city departments.  

“The surveillance ordinance only applies to acquisitions, installations, etc by ‘city departments’,” he said, “so a number of weeks ago the Public Works Superintendent and I concluded it did not apply to this installation (being done by the Library). In view of the controversy which has developed I believe we will take another look at this next week, and/or the City Council might want to weigh in. We’ve received a lot of emails.”

Sebastopol librarians were alerted on Friday, Nov. 17, that installation would start on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Interestingly, this is the same day that the Sebastopol City Council will be reviewing the city’s Surveillance Technology Ordinance.

The question of whether to install CCTV cameras at the Sebastopol Library has been a hot topic among the library staff for months now, ever since word first reached the staff back in February that the Sonoma County Library system was planning to install them.

Sebastopol is the last library in the system to get CCTV. The cameras have already been installed at every other library in the system.  

Mathew Rose—the longtime (and now long-suffering) branch manager of the Sebastopol Library—has been adamantly opposed to cameras at the library from the beginning. Rose was put on administrative leave earlier this year for asking the Sebastopol City Council to write a letter in support of his request for more staff. He returned briefly, but is now on medical leave.

“People have the freedom to read without surveillance or interference…That sense of confidentiality is something that's core to the library’s mission,” Rose said, regarding his opposition to the installation of cameras.

The concern, he said, is that “anyone can access the video through a Public Records Act Request to see you walking out with the books that you checked out and see when and where you were and track your involvement as a library patron.”

A source within the library, who asked to remain anonymous, said many of the librarians at the Sebastopol Library are opposed to the installation of the cameras, but that they are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of losing their jobs or facing the kind of institutional punishment that Rose has endured.

Library Director Erika Thibault said the installation of the cameras (and the installation of badge-activated security doors for staff areas inside the library) are part of the Sonoma County Library’s “Safe Libraries” program.

“We have had incidents, you know, at all of our branches including Sebastopol, which prompted the need for this,” she said, mentioning the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner that was destroyed last year outside the library.

“We do have patrons who behave in threatening ways and we have suspended them for a variety of different things. And they sometimes will go to other locations where they think that they are not identifiable,” she said.

She said the library has policies in place to mitigate the threat to privacy. Although video will be recorded 24/7, she said it won’t be monitored unless there is an incident that prompts the need to review the footage. Unmonitored video will be erased after 14 days.

According to a report delivered to the Sebastopol Library Advisory Board, “footage will only be disclosed if required by law, like pursuant to the California Public Records Act or a lawfully executed subpoena or warrant.”

The report continues, “The Library’s Photographing and Filming policy, updated November 1, 2023, provides disclosure shall only be following written request to the Library Director and pursuant to applicable law or court order.”

The camera and security door installations for the Sebastopol Library are expected to cost the Sonoma County Library about $25,000 to $35,000.

Walt Frazer, a member of the Sebastopol Library Advisory Board (LAB), said his opposition to the cameras is based mostly on a feeling that decision-makers in the larger library system weren’t listening to the desires of the people on the ground in Sebastopol.

“People in Sebastopol, especially the staff and patrons of the library, should have some say over what's put on the library or in the library,” he said. “And I think it's pretty plain that the staff really doesn't want them. Mathew really didn't want them, and most of the LAB really didn't want them.”

Thibault, on the contrary, sees this as a governmental decision.

“It's a system-wide decision,” she said, “but I have said all along that this is the city of Sebastopol’s building. It's their process, and we are more than happy to abide by any decision that they come to whether that is keeping the cameras or installing them or deciding not to move forward with that process.”

Councilmember Stephen Zollman, the Sebastopol City Council liaison to the library, said he’s aware of the controversy.

“I appreciate the concerns of all of our hard-working, dedicated librarians,” he said. “It is my hope that continued discussions will be had between our city attorney and library administration.”

Mathew Rose meanwhile is hoping that someone will intervene at the last minute to stop the installation.  He believes there are deep principles at stake here.

“Can I stress again the importance of not being surveilled while accessing information?” Rose said.  “We all have private lives. If I knew someone was watching over what I was reading, that would be a source of censorship.”

Pink dots represent the location of the cameras to be installed on the outside of the library builing. (From a Sonoma County Library report to the Sebastopol Library Advisory Board).