Keeping Predatory People Out of the Library:
Know the Signs of Harm
Part of the Library 2.0 Service, Safety, and Security Series with Dr. Steve Albrecht
OVERVIEW:
This webinar covers predatory individuals in your library who pose threats to patrons, staff, and others through dangerous behaviors and activities. This particularly includes those who groom minors or at-risk women for sexual exploitation, as well as a small subset of highly unstable people potentially among your library’s homeless patrons (where housing status is not the root cause of the danger but is identifiably correlated with underlying issues).
- An example of grooming behavior. A disturbing story from Portland, Oregon details the December 6, 2025 arrest of a 23-year-old man at the Central Library for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who had run away from home. The suspect had met the girl outside the library and had assaulted her over a span of three days in a motel. She was able to get help when she went into the library to use the restroom and notified the staff, who called Portland Police.
- Homeless patrons identified as predatory. We can define these individuals as having four distinct behaviors: untreated and out-of-control drug/alcohol use; untreated and out-of-control mental illness; frequent and hostile criminal justice system contact; and long-term, chronic homelessness. They often use violence to threaten, steal, or harm others. They are completely different than the majority of homeless patrons who use the library correctly.
These two types illustrate the concern all library leaders and staff should have when they see individuals inside the library who may be engaging in grooming behaviors, aimed at at-risk women or minor children, or the small number of homeless who seek to prey on other patrons or staff with aggressive, or even life-threatening behaviors.
Much of our response as library staff to these potentially harmful situations will involve careful observations, awareness of warning signs, confirmation conversations with co-workers and bosses, and the power of intuition–when things and people seem wrong.
All staff need to know what to do, who to call, when to do it, and how to intervene, safely and effectively. And we will need to create good relationships with the police to make sure they respond appropriately.
LEARNING AGENDA:
- Child exploitation cases connected to the library can range from in-person or online grooming behaviors from pedophiles targeting minor children, to prostitution recruitment efforts by pimps, to sexual assaults in the restrooms or hidden parts of the stacks.
- All library staff must be aware of grooming or contact-seeking behaviors and not rely only on “profiles” of loitering men who seek conversations with children not related to them or with at-risk women.
- How to intervene without making a public scene, but before it’s too late.
- Grooming prevention resources like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforces, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) websites.
- How to identify and prevent disruptive access by predatory homeless people.
DATE: Thursday, Jan 15, 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 pm US - Eastern Time
COST:
- $99/person - includes live attendance and any-time access to the recording and the presentation slides and receiving a participation certificate.
- To arrange group discounts (see below), to submit a purchase order, or for any registration difficulties or questions, email admin@library20.com.
TO REGISTER:
Click HERE to register and pay. You can pay by credit card. You will receive an email within a day with information on how to attend the webinar live and how you can access the permanent webinar recording. If you are paying for someone else to attend, you'll be prompted to send an email to admin@library20.com with the name and email address of the actual attendee.NOTE: Please check your spam folder if you don't receive your confirmation email within a day.
SPECIAL GROUP RATES (email admin@library20.com to arrange):
- Multiple individual log-ins and access from the same organization paid together: $75 each for 3+ registrations, $65 each for 5+ registrations. Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
- The ability to show the webinar (live or recorded) to a group located in the same physical location or in the same virtual meeting from one log-in: $299.
- Large-scale institutional access for viewing with individual login capability: $499 (hosted either at Library 2.0 or in Niche Academy). Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
Since 2000, Dr. Steve Albrecht has trained thousands of library employees in 28+ states, live and online, in service, safety, and security. His programs are fast, entertaining, and provide tools that can be put to use immediately in the library workspace with all types of patrons.
He has written 27 books, including: Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities (ALA, 2015); The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023); The Library Leader’s Guide to Human Resources: Keeping it Real, Legal, and Ethical (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2025); and The Library Leader's Guide to Employee Coaching: Building a Performance Culture One Meeting at a Time (Rowman & Littlefield, June 2026).
Steve holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.A. in Security Management, a B.A. in English, and a B.S. in Psychology. He is board-certified in HR, security management, employee coaching, and threat assessment.
He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with seven dogs and two cats.
More on The Safe Library at thesafelibrary.com. Follow on X (Twitter) at @thesafelibrary and on YouTube @thesafelibrary. Dr. Albrecht's professional website is drstevealbrecht.com.
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January 14, 2026
January 20, 2026
Starts January 21, 2026
