The Informed Library: Fireside Chat--Safety & Security in Libraries

Don’t Just Shake it Off: Debriefing tools to support frontline library staff (Calgary Public Library)

TL;DR: Online Sessions

Geography: Calgary/Alberta/Canada
Partners: The Alberta Library, Library Association of Alberta 
Speakers: Mary Graham and Becky Potter, Calgary Public Library
Availablity: Unlisted. May be able to reach out to LAA for the link.  
Use: Anyone wanting to hear the experience of developing and integrating a debrief procedure into public library work. This is also a great argument for having debriefing procedures in all libraries. 
Length: 120 minutes

This was a session hosted by the Library Association of Alberta and presented by Mary Graham and Becky Potter on the debriefing process developed at Calgary Public Library since a critical incident that resulted in a death at the library. The debriefing procedure took several months to develop and has been in place for three years (as of February 2026) . This presentation was intended not to provide a protocol for other libraries to use, but an opportunity to share the experience of developing a debriefing session for a public library and an example of why appropriate and well developed debriefing procedures are incredibly important in public libraries. 

There were several sections to the presentation; the main take-aways are listed below. 

1. Background

The two presenters provided some background to CPL, and discussed some of the approaches taken by CPL towards customer service provision. In the presentation, they acknowledged that: 

1. customer service is hard work and that it has become more difficult since the beginning of the Covid pandemic;
2. managing behaviours is part of customer service, and that behaviours have become more complex and severe since the pandemic;
3. these complex behaviours as well as repeated incidents have a negative impact on library workers; 
4. library workers respond to incidents differently, and can respond differently from day to day, depending on where they are at psychologically or emotionally. 

They have a Customer Code of Conduct which I confirmed is posted in public space at the branches and is also printed at the front desk to be handed out.  Having a Customer Code of Conduct that is visible in the public space is an important part of establishing acceptable behaviour in a space, and having the printout available is one way to remind both staff and patrons that there are expectations that need to be met. 

In the aftermath of the critical incident at their downtown branch, they realized that staff were already at a breaking point, and the critical incident pushed them over the edge. Some of the things they identified were:

1. Debriefing was happening, but informally and haphazardly 
2. Debriefing was an important tool in the context of public library work
3. Developing a debriefing procedure was a tangible thing that they could accomplish 
4. A debriefing procedure would help staff establish a healthier work/life balance by providing them a way to shed stress at work instead of taking it home 
5. Staff need to be able to return to an internal baseline level in order to maintain their own wellbeing. 
6. Debriefing also provides an opportunity to identify further supports if staff needed it, from employer-provided mental health tools to WCB. 

2. Debrief Document

The debrief procedure at CPL is a physical document that everyone had printed at their desks so that it was available when it was needed. It frames the conversation by providing a clear purpose and guiding questions for the person leading the debrief. Some of the main points were:

1. A debrief is 5-15 minutes. 
2. A debrief is a check in to provide the staff member the opportunity to decompress after an interaction. 
3. The guiding questions include what happened, how are you feeling. 
4. The role of the debriefer is to listen to the staff member and validate what they are feeling. 
5. Anyone can provide a debrief. 
6. The person receiving the debrief should be given control of when and where the debrief happens (ie. in five minutes, tomorrow; in the staff room, in a closed office). 
7. In the case of multiple staff being involved, give each one the option to debrief as a group or one-on-one. 
8. A debrief is not therapy. 
9. A debrief is not a training session. It is not a time to problem solve or identify what when wrong in an interaction. 
10. Debrief as soon as possible after the incident. 

3. Supporting successful debriefing 

Permission to step away

It is important to establish permission for workers to step away from the public floor when they were negatively impacted by an interaction. This includes changing expectations about customer service; CPL worked to establish that it was acceptable for lines to be longer and for patrons to wait longer to be served if a worker needed to step away and/or debrief with someone after an incident. At CPL, management increased staffing levels in order to make it possible for staff to take the time they needed when they needed. 

Building trust in the process

Staff, including leadership and management, have to understand and believe in the importance of debriefing. Staff need to understand that their colleagues may have different tolerance levels or other factors influencing how an incident impacts them. As the debrief procedure was actively being used, staff understanding of and trust in the procedure increased and encouraged others to take advantage of it after difficult incidents. This also lead to 

Practical tips

Some of the things they observed as they began using the debriefing procedure were: 

• If you are leading a debrief, take the time to be in the right headspace and be fully present. 
• Bring water and tissues! Water can help with emotional regulation. 
• Be prepared for awkwardness, silence, emotions. Let the silence sit—it gives the person being debriefed the space to process. 
• Do not give in to the temptation to provide feedback or problem solve. This is not the time for that. 
• Have an exit strategy and don’t let the conversation go beyond 15 minutes. This is not therapy and if the conversation begins to cycle through the same things, suggest other resources they can access for mental health support.
• Build awareness of the procedure into other trainings—safety and security modules, onboarding, psychological safety training, working with vulnerable populations training. Staff need to be aware of the procedure so that when they need it, they can find it. 

4. Challenges

• Branches with fewer incidents may not see the value of the procedure for their branch, however they are often more strongly impacted when they do experience an incident. 
• Some staff questioned whether they were qualified to lead a debrief. Anyone who is comfortable can lead a debrief. It is not therapy—it is a check in, a conversation, a way to help your colleague shed some stress and reestablish their internal baseline. 
• Some staff were concerned that they wouldn’t know how to lead a debrief, but the formalized process provides a framework and guiding questions so that anyone can do it. 
• The person leading the debrief may also need a debrief. 

It is important that debriefing be available for anyone to lead because sometimes peer-to-peer debriefing is more impactful than a debriefing with a supervisor or manager. Debriefing can end up being a very small conversation, but even for people who don’t think they need it, the process can make them feel lighter. This means they are more able to go home or back to the public service desk without the stress of the incident. 

5. Thoughts

I am always cautious about responding to anything with too much enthusiasm. I have certainly experienced a disconnect with what can be presented at conferences and what happens on the public floor. I do not work at Calgary Public Library and I do not live in Calgary, so I can only work off of the presentation, but one of the things that stuck out to me in this presentation was that nothing was done until there was a death in the library, and that it was only when the worst possible outcome happened that the degree of burnout in frontline staff was acknowledged. I also noted that staffing was an issue, to the extent that staffing had to be increased in order for some branches to be able to actively offer debriefing. As someone who has served on the frontlines, understaffing is one of the most pernicious and destructive elements impacting frontline staff and library service. 

That said, I was really impressed with the approach they took to developing a debrief procedure, and I think the way that it is presented is really useful to other libraries who do not have a debrief process in place yet. The fact that the debrief documents were developed with agencies focussed on mental health and that they continue to be iterated on to is a really good sign to me. It would be nice to hear from frontline workers at CPL how they have experienced the debriefing development and process. 

This presentation has been presented at several conferences and I recommend attending one of their sessions if you have the chance. It would be great to have something like this publicly available—with so many systems struggling with elevated incidents, work like this is important if only to provide an example of what can be done for workplace safety in the field of public library work. 

In solidarity, 

alissa