Brooklyn Public Library – Walt Whitman Library

As ghetto as it gets. Scary actually. I went there a few times, because it was down the road from me and the kiddos like books so we ventured down. They had a very nice craft day that was free for the kids so this was the nice point of my times here but then one day I watched a fight go down for around 20 mins that was not being broken up by their security guard who is afraid of things such as this. Listen, my kids are here and we’re not the violent type who take kids to violent libraries. There always seemed to be an issue with a shouting match or something going on… the kids there were insanely obnoxious and they had no respect for the security guy there because he had no real control and they knew it.
So I am sitting there, doing some work while the kids are doing their crafts and all of a sudden some ghetto behaved kid, looking about 18-​ish starts picking a fight with 2 younger kids looking about 14-​ish. He wants the kids to go outside with him to obviously hurt them and they don’t want to go so he proceeds to try dragging them out. Of course everyone could see this. The kids are being knocked around on the floor and dragged… what does the security guard do? Tells them all to go outside… now something is wrong here with this scenario. You’re asking two young kids to go outside, where you can see they’re clearly afraid to go, to get beat up by someone who questionably looks a lot older and bigger then them… they looked deathly afraid and refused to go outside. The older kid continues berating them and trying to physically drag them out the door. I finally stood up and yelled for security, who at this time was nowhere to be seen and told him,“Listen, these kids are being forced out the door and God only knows what will happen to them when they get outside… will you do your damn job?” He comes over and starts yelling at me that he is not going to get hurt so it’s not his problem, he called the police and they can deal with it whenever they show up… Are you kidding me right now? I don’t want the guy to get hurt either but he clearly could’ve told the kid causing the trouble to leave and the others to sit down and behave and they could leave in awhile when it was clear for them to go… how hard would that have been? Isn’t security like his job? He doesn’t want to get hurt? isn’t this part of what the hell he signed up for? The other employees there seemed to be rolling their eyes but they did nothing either. So I stood up, the little white gal I am and took care of the situation myself. Told the older kid to get the hell out or I was dialing 911 and that my kids should not have to be subjected to $#^@ like this at a public library. He left. Maybe said a few choice words but I wasn’t injured. I told the other kids to wait for awhile and then run home to wherever they lived. They seemed thankful. I then grabbed my kids and left.
The place has a nice selection but the place is next to the projects so the type of people who come there for the most part are kids who are very disrespectful and don’t want to go home after school so they sit there and make a mockery of the place and act like juvenile delinquents while the security and staff turn their heads and allow serious outbursts… not to mention their hours are super strange and their wi-​fi is not very goood and very slow. Not that I needed it but while I am there, might as well get some stuff done while the kids are chilling and looking for books. I won’t ever go back though… that last situation made me question it so much and my kids shouldn’t see stuff like that and if they can’t have control they should just shut down. We will make the trip to somewhere more peaceful.

Big
Windows,
Airy feel.
Quiet during
School hours. Small collection. Closed weekends.