A Northern Virginia library is offering new training to staff and doubling down on safety plans in response to some community complaints.

The Reston Regional Library, which sits directly next to the Embry Rucker Shelter, which helps those experiencing homelessness, closed for more than two weeks last summer because it had an air conditioning failure. Over that span, the only people present were the ones working on the air, Eric Carzon, director of Fairfax County Public Library, said.

Sometimes during the closure, Carzon said, people slept in front of the book drop, and then “sometimes maybe saying hostile things to other people who were trying to go to the book drop to use it.”

“You had a lot of people who finished in the shelter in the nighttime, came over in the day,” Carzon said.

There have been separate incidents involving disruptive behavior too.

Local news site Fairfax County Times was first to report steps the branch is taking to address lingering concerns.

Within the next month, Carzon said workers at the branch will have access to a new training resource that will help them navigate various scenarios they may find themselves in.

“Some folks had some bad experiences, and that happens,” Carzon said. “It’s unfortunate, but public librarianship, it’s a balance. We are trying to be welcoming to all people, serve everybody. One of the lowest barrier services you can have.”

The Reston branch is the only county library to have a full-time security guard, Carzon said.

Between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2026, Reston’s library had 394 incidents. The Fairfax branch had 233, the second-most over that period, Carzon said. Incidents ranged from erratic or disruptive behavior to trespassing or substance or verbal abuse, and about half the incidents at the Reston Regional Library required police to be called, Carzon said.

In most cases, Carzon said library staff will issue a verbal warning. If someone doesn’t comply, they’re asked to leave for a day, or in some cases, a week. In extreme cases, a ban can be issued.

Since July 1, 2025, Reston’s branch has only issued five bans, Carzon said. The ban lasts a year before someone can be asked to be reinstated.

Separately, the library system in Montgomery County, Maryland, is considering a plan to have a ban from county facilities such as libraries for disruptive behavior last for more than 90 days.

In Fairfax County, there’s a Code of Behavior posted on doors around the libraries, Carzon said, describing rules such as treating people with respect and not yelling.

“Don’t cuss at people, don’t be drunk, don’t consume alcohol, don’t eat food, have clothing,” he said.

Now, with the temporary closure of the Reston branch in the past, Carzon said it’s “taken quite a few weeks to get back to normal. If you were to walk around the branch today, very quiet, neat, orderly, clean.”

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