Library spaces blocked

With parking on campus at a premium, city, school and library officials are finding the honor system isn’t enough.On Oct. 20, a test program was begun to ensure that parking spaces designated for library patrons are not occupied by students going to class. Police will block off or closely monitor all 65 spaces located on the north side of the library, three times a week.

The closures occur on Monday afternoons and Tuesday and Thursday mornings, according to Janis Browning, director of marketing and public information. Those times correspond to regularly scheduled children’s programs aimed at community members. “As our library is the product of a partnership with the City of Irving, we feel that we need to ensure that Irving citizens can attend these special programs,” said Browning.

The year-old North Lake Community Library is a $9.5 million dollar project that is jointly run and financed by North Lake College, the City of Irving and the Irving Public Library system. It is the only such partnership in the district.
Campus Police Chief Danny Morris said he is aware there is no obvious way to differentiate between students and library patrons.“We’ll continue to give people the benefit of the doubt, as we always do,” said Morris, but he suspects the increased scrutiny will discourage most parking violators.

In addition, 22 spaces immediately in front of the library will soon be designated 2-hour parking. Campus police will begin monitoring the spaces when new signage is posted, said Morris. Warnings will be handed out, followed by standard citations.

Though the weekday library events don’t start until 6:30 p.m. on Monday evenings and 10:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, entrances are blocked at approximately 3 p.m. on Mondays and 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays to clear the area of vehicles ahead of the event start times, said Morris.

The Citation Appeals Committee will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program, said Christa Slejko, vice president of business affairs. She cited police staffing demand and library parking volume as key points of evaluation.
Though the length of the test program is not set, Citation Appeals Committee chairperson Brent Dudenhoeffer said he expects it to run at least to the end of the year.