Jodi’s Journal: It’s time to talk about the Downtown Library

Nov. 2, 2025

I was driving down Dakota Avenue at 8:56 a.m. a few weeks ago, and the scene out my passenger window at first made me think something was wrong at the Downtown Library.

As in “had to be evacuated” wrong.

Because people — mostly men — were lined up shoulder to shoulder outside the building as I drove by.

Then, I realized they were waiting for it to open at 9 a.m.

I slowed down and started to count, reaching more than 20 people.

In subsequent conversations, multiple city leaders told me that what I witnessed was a bit of an outlier. It is common for people to line up outside the Siouxland Libraries sites before they open — just not always that many people, they said. At some branches, that’s because a story time starts shortly after opening.

At the Downtown Library, well, it’s a little harder to say why they were there, but right or wrong, I would not have felt comfortable walking in with a child at 9 a.m. given what I saw outside.

We went in one Monday recently about 11 a.m. and found multiple people sleeping, which is a violation of the library’s code of conduct, as well as others essentially sitting around, some using cellphones but not seemingly using the library’s services.

While it’s not the easiest conversation to broach, it made me feel like something needed to be said — and done. As the weather worsens, I would anticipate that more people with seemingly few places to go during the day might gravitate toward the Downtown Library.

This is common across the country and has been in Sioux Falls for years too. The difference this year also is a bit hard to accurately frame up, but I think it’s important to note nonetheless: From Jan. 1 through Oct 2, there were 629 calls for service to the Downtown Library. That’s an average of two to three every day. One year prior, there were 323 calls during the same time.

The city believes the primary reason for the increase in calls is a new security company that took over this year. The approach has been “more proactive,” I was told, “engaging police early and often to ensure a ‘no tolerance’ stance is taken.”

That seems like a good idea. So does the approach that new library director Alysia Boysen is taking, which starts with consistently enforcing the existing code of conduct.

In other words, sleeping isn’t allowed, among many other activities. Those who do are asked if they need help and then asked to leave.

“We start with empathy and making sure the person is OK,” Boysen said.

There’s a security guard on duty during all open hours, and staff members are assigned to circulate through the building to help guests find materials and otherwise connect with them.

“They’re very proactive. They’re out on our floor making sure they’re seeing people as they come in who maybe wouldn’t be a good fit because of some choices they’ve made that day, to catch them before they come in and break the policy,” Boysen said.

“We have lots of kids who come after school, so we’re a safe place to hang out after school, and everyone is welcome to come and hang out and have it be a safe place as long as they’re behaving … the moment they’re not, that’s when they’re a problem.”

People are asked to leave for days, weeks or a month, though they sometimes don’t remember it because of being under the influence, she added.

Alcohol “is the most common driver” of issues at the library, Police Chief Jon Thum told me.

A ban on alcohol on library property was passed last year.

“I think what we’re trying to do is change some of the expectations of behavior there,” Thum said. “The nature of what we see as people come to town and are new to town, it may be the first place they gravitate toward as something that’s available during the day.”

My point is not to lack compassion for those who probably could benefit from a quiet, safe place to spend their day. Ideally, we’d find something more productive for people to do in such a place — maybe we offer classes or even the chance to create art — but if safe shelter with a way to charge a phone is really all people are looking for, maybe we need to create that somewhere other than the library.

We need the library to function as it was intended to promote literacy and access to information and related resources, not as a social services agency. Downtown is the closest neighborhood library that kids in many of our lower-income neighborhoods have. If we want to improve their literacy — and we certainly could benefit from that along with them — we need the library to be a place that’s safer both in perception and reality than most in town, not the other way around.

“I don’t believe warming house was the objective,” in creating libraries, Thum said. “It still is this institution of knowledge and learning and access for betterment, and those have to be protected. Those have to be things we define that we expect from our libraries. We have to be supportive when the staff said, ‘Here’s what we need to accomplish our objectives.’”

The coming years also will present an opportunity to further define what the Downtown Library should be. It has been more than a decade since its last renovation, and the uses for libraries have changed and continue to evolve.

“Libraries across the country have added social workers and services into their library. Is that what we want in our Downtown Library?” Boysen asked.

“Omaha is in the process of building a library in their downtown where there’s a lot of community center park and rec features in library and building spaces together. Is that what Sioux Falls wants to do? So we’re starting to have those conversations and looking at 2026 as having some conversations with the community, so the public can watch for surveys from us later on next year on what it is they want from their Downtown Library. We don’t want to live in a bubble. We want to know what our community wants.”

The area immediately around the Downtown Library will be changing in the years ahead too, including the project we just announced to convert most of the U.S. Bank building across the street into an AC Hotels by Marriott, which will bring a whole new population to the area and reinforce the need for safety.

Asking for input is one positive step. So is being more proactive in setting expectations and enforcing them every day. But in my opinion, Boysen’s team shouldn’t have to expend that level of energy on it. We need them to focus on what their core mission should be, and we need to ensure that our libraries are the kind of place where everyone feels comfortable walking in the front door.

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