YELLOWKNIFE - Of all the issues that came up at Monday's city council committee meeting, one in particular seemed to light a fire in councillor Kevin Kennedy: library security.

Early on in the meeting, Kennedy noted the high turnover of the library's public services librarian - the facility's front line.

Yellowknife public library manager Deborah Bruser checks out a book in library's new teen section. Bruser says the library is already "well-serviced" for security. - NNSL file photo

He said the role had been turned into a "security guard," dealing with regular disturbances in the library. He suggested a dedicated security guard might be the answer, to "take the burden off the librarians."

"It's horrifying we have to do this," he said, dealing with a situation where "librarians are rousting drunks out of the carrels."

Problems at the library are nothing new, said former public services librarian Shad Turner, though he added he did not know if this influenced the turnover in the position.

"Security issues in that mall in general have been have sometimes been fairly intense," he said, and incidents have a way of "working their way up into the library."

When contacted by Yellowknifer, library manager Deborah Bruser had an answer, and a wrench to throw into the works on the security guard issue.

"(We) don't agree, basically," she said. "We are already very well-served in the security area."

Since February of this year, she said the library has developed a "two-tiered" service with Twilite Security, the company that patrols Centre Square Mall - the library's home. On top of patrolling the mall, the group now regularly patrols the library, as well as offering on-call service during problems with patrons.

"If we have an incident, we are dealt with very quickly," she said, adding that both the RCMP and Municipal Enforcement made regular rounds as well.

"I wonder if councillor Kennedy knows this," she said.

"I hope that works for them," Turner said when informed of this change by Yellowknifer. "I hope they get a good return on their investment."

Kennedy was informed of the change as well, and said that while he supported an increase of security, he was responding to the public's perception of the library - taken from discussions with citizens and from a recent survey of city services.

"One of the biggest problems people had was security," he said of the survey.

Many problems, he said, stem from the library's location in Centre Square Mall.

"Until we build a new library, we are always going to be struggling with this problem."

Previous predictions from city hall have set the date for building a new library around 2017.