Committee Recommends Security Upgrades for Connecticut Library

The Capital Improvements Project Committee recommends $52,500 in security upgrades for Somers Public Library

• By Jessica Davis
• Mar 21, 2019

The Somers, Connecticut, Capital Improvements Project Committee voted at a recent meeting to recommend to the Board of Finance that the Somers Public Library undergo security upgrades.

The recommended upgrades would cost $52,500. Of that, the library’s Board of Trustees will cover just over $37,000 and the town will be responsible for the remainder, just over $15,000.

The security upgrade project includes the addition of door alarms, cameras, panic buttons and a ballistic film on windows. The library would also receive audio detectors that can detect the sound of breaking glass and turn on a live video stream for a designated official.

Board of Trustees Chairwoman Shirley Warner said that the library’s proximity to the town’s three public schools requires it to uphold the same standards of protection as a school building. Children are at the library often, she said, especially after school hours.

According to Warner, security is important for the library because there are doors that aren’t always visible by staff, and sometimes people prop the doors open to let others into the building.

“Why couldn’t that happen for someone that was no good?” Warner said. “We would have no way to know that that door is being opened.”

The project must now pass a vote from the Finance Board, which will discuss it at its meeting March 25.