Home Away From Home

As I look for a job, I have often used the downtown DC MLK public library as an office of sorts. They have wireless internet, and it gets me out of the apartment. As I've said before, the library leaves a lot to be desired, as do most non-federal public facilities in the District.

I was just informed by a hilariously stern-looking library cop on a Segway that I can't sit against the wall outside the library while using my computer because they don't allow loitering. I told him I was just there because I'd been inside for a couple of hours and that it was too nice a day not to spend some of it outside. He then told me to move back inside or to the sidewalk or I'd be arrested.

Thanks, DC public library main branch! You shouldn't have. I was already enthralled by your crumbling building, leaking ceilings, frightening labyrinth-like stairwells, sparse collection, expensive printing, and complete lack of services. But, now it turns out that you shoo away well behaved patrons that clearly aren't bothering anyone. The service never ends, does it? Clearly, the angular, solid black, aesthetically displeasing, uninviting structure should speak for itself. I wouldn't want the well crafted, 1984esque ambiance to be ruined by my old laptop, flip-flops, and cargo shorts lurking on the periphery. Order must be preserved.

Post Script: After speaking with another cop who was much nicer, I was told that the rule is to prevent the large percentage of the library's patrons that are homeless from setting up camp there during and after operating hours (which I had assumed). He gave me the standard lines of, "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them," and "How can I let you sit there and not everybody else?" Can't argue with him on either of those fronts I suppose. Still seems like the wrong solution to me though, as I don't know why you'd so broadly define loitering. How about no sleeping on library grounds (you already can't sleep in the building)? How about letting homeless people that aren't bothering other patrons or passers by actually hang out next to the library? How about having enough shelter options in the city that the homeless don't need to sleep outside the library on concrete? Complicated problem to be sure, and expensive to boot. And, nobody wants to expend scant resources on the homeless. They just don't want to have to see them.