The Hayden Memorial Library is installing a new set of eyes.
32, to be exact.
A request for new surveillance camera systems was placed in the 2011 budget recommendations.
Installation of the new surveillance system began at the start of this fall semester.
“Its a hybrid [system],” Leigh Buchwald, network computer system supervisor said “[with] analog cameras and a digital recorder.”
The system will be overseen by Campus Safety.
Coincidentally the installation coincided with an assault on Aug. 30 involving a female foreign exchange student and a 26-year-old transient with a history of offenses.
The assailant grabbed the student in the library and put her into a headlock, but when a witness approached he released her and the transient then fled.
There were no charges filed. The victim left Citrus soon after the assault occurred.
Such incidents are rare on the Citrus College campus.
But the installation of surveillance cameras is meant to deter incidents like this from occurring.
Librarian Sarah Bosler stated the old system was not covering the proper areas.
The old cameras were angled towards the exits, causing the frame to only show the back of individuals’ heads.
The new cameras will be angled towards both the entrances and exits and more of the library will be covered.
“We want everyone to feel safe,” Bosler said. “We want [students] to have peace of mind.”
The installation of these cameras is not only to make the students feel safer but also to help librarians enforce library regulations.
“As a student worker I think its an excellent idea because I have to deal with people who don’t follow library regulations,” Thomas Henken, 21, said.
“The sad truth is . . . we have no accountability over some students who might damage materials.”
Henkin recalled students vandalizing books, ripping out pages and trying to steal the reserve textbooks.
The completion of installation is estimated to finish by the end of December.
