Sleeping No Longer Considered "Inappropriate Behavior" at Lombard's Helen Plum Memorial Library

Library no longer throws book at snoozers. (Chicago Tribune, 12/2/2011)

Excerpt: Fall asleep in the Chicago Public Library, someone will nudge you awake. Do it again, they'll show you the door. But drift off in Lombard's cozy library and you can slumber in peace.

"The library is a good place to at least catch up on the sleep you missed out on the night before," said Tammy Selio as she sat in the west suburban library on a recent Tuesday, a black suitcase filled with her belongings at her side.

Selio, 40, and other homeless patrons often gather there in the hours before a nearby shelter opens at 7 p.m. Sometimes their eyes grow heavy — especially as the days turn gloomy and colder and a comfortable library chair beckons.

Libraries tend to frown on behavior that disrupts other patrons, and that can include sleeping. But Lombard's Helen Plum Memorial Library is considering changing its rules to allow sleeping as long as it doesn't disturb others. Unofficially, it has already done so.