32 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 289 2016 During the time we waited for information, student reactions ranged from relative calm to agitation and anxiety. Quite a few were worried about missing classes and/or exams, and they wondered where their friends were and whether they were safe. They also wanted their families to know they were okay. One of the roles we library staff members played, in addition to offering places to shelter, was to keep calm and be as reassuring as possible. We were the parental presence, so we talked with them, sometimes in a light-hearted way and other times trying to be as comforting as possible. Since it was the week before finals, we were lucky to have snacks and water on hand, and we gave those out to students in an attempt to help them relax. What about Those Purported “Shots Fired at Young Research Library”? In situations of this nature, the police have to check every rumor, and they have to be prepared for the worst. We realized this after the fact. But while the event was going on, to be sure nothing terrible had happened in YRL, the police sent a SWAT team that swarmed into the lobby, ordering the few library staff and students who were there to lie spread-eagled on the floor. It made no difference to them that some of the staff were from library administration, and they did not accept the assurances of the library’s community service officer (employed by the UCLA police) that nothing had happened on the fifth floor or anywhere else in the building. The police were in charge and had their assault weapons at the ready. For members of the campus community who are accustomed to thinking of the police as community members who share the same values, it was extremely jarring to be subjected to this kind of treatment and suspicion. Once the police determined that nothing bad had happened in YRL and there was no threat, they began to make plans to march the YRL occupants (staff, students, and anyone else in the building) off campus. This, too, was a disturbing development: many people had driven to campus and had their cars in one of the parking garages, yet they were told that they’d have to leave the cars and find alternative ways to get
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