Kenton County Public Library - Covington Branch — Attraction in Covington

Attempted to work with librarian Erin DeSantis to have surveys displayed during the March meeting of the “AniManga Club” on 3/30, a library event at the Covington branch which she was listed as being the contact person for on their website.

Over the course of a month, beginning on 3/14, I have emailed Erin DeSantis on numerous separate occasions, going so far as to contact the branch directly as well as to cc Paul Duryea, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as the Covington Branch Manager, and I have only ever received one response from DeSantis. It was agreed that the surveys would be distributed at the club meeting, and that they would contact me the following day to retrieve them. That would have been March 31st, and still I have heard nothing despite following up yet again via email.

Erin DeSantis is either technologically illiterate, willfully incompetent, lazy, rude, unaware of the general concept of customer service, bad at her job- or worst of all, a combination of all of the above. In either case it makes for a terrible librarian and group leader. DeSantis is obviously someone who does not value helping patrons or local business owners to gather information. This is NOT a person who should be put in charge of activities or given responsibilities.

This experience reflects poorly on the entire Covington branch of the Kenton County Public Library, who they choose to continue to employ, who they put in charge of library-sponsored programs and events, and who they allow to interact with the public and how.

I will drive out of my way to the Erlanger branch, where the staff are friendlier and where the facilities are cleaner, before I ever set foot back in the Covington branch of the...

I used to love coming to this library because I have since i was a small child but it seems like the people get less and less friendly every time I come. My recent visit, I asked if it would be ok to leave my laptop feet away from the desk while i went to the restroom. I was told by Melanie and Erin, "I wouldn't." OMG so now the library is a place where you must pack all your belongings to use the restroom. SAD. I don't get this at other libraries and now I'm always hesitant to do anything at that library. Yet, i see they will break their necks to assist others and will go above and beyond for those who do not "look like me." I feel like they are slow to offer assistance, they have very limited places to plug in a device to do work, there are no places to get comfortable and enjoy the library and the police patrol the library like it's a jail. I live in Covington, I should not have to drive to Erlanger or Newport to enjoy the services of the public library, yet this is what they offer in my neighborhood. Shame on Covington library, shame on Melanie and...

There are lots of homeless people there, some of them don't even have shoes on, and they just hang around like it's the street. The staff don’t stop them, but they told me to leave the young adults' room. The kids in that room were just watching movies and talking — I was only there to study for an exam, completely quiet. But one of the staff still told me to leave. The only reason I go there is because there’s really no quieter place available. The top floor is quiet, but it closes at 5 PM. Honestly, I don’t even see the point of this place existing — it feels more like a homeless shelter than anything else. That said, I have to admit, some of the staff are friendly.

My suggestion is to create a quiet room where people can study—just like in a proper library. If you can’t stop the homeless from gathering, then at least separate the spaces. Kenton County’s income tax isn’t low, so I think you should focus more on investing in people’s futures, rather than creating a space where young adults just...