Library officials are asking the City for help when it comes to smokers.

David Winninger, city councillor and former chair of the library board, is looking for a solution to the growing number of smokers outside the entrance of the Central Library on Dundas Street.

“The problem is two-fold,” explained Winninger. “First, is people having trouble getting by them, and second, [people] were forced to inhale second-hand smoke around the entrance.”

He wrote to both the City of London as well as the Middlesex-London Health Unit to request help.

The problem is not new — in an effort to dissuade people from smoking near the library, “No Smoking” signs have been put up and there has been increased security at the entrance.

Margaret Mitchell, director of quality improvement for the London Public Library, noted it’s something the library has dealt with for years.

“It has been an ongoing problem at the Central Library,” Mitchell said. “We’ve gotten maybe eight complaints a week to our security staff, plus others to our regular staff.”

However, the library is unable to deal with the complaints without the City’s help. Although the library owns its own building and land, the sidewalk entrance is public property and owned by the City.

“The library has a canopy that juts over Dundas Street and this is where many smokers congregate,” Winninger explained.

While the library continues to rectify the complaints of its patrons, it seems Western has no need to take any similar action.

“In my capacity as [University Students’ Council vice-president] campus issues, I haven’t heard anything this year,” Will Bortolin said. “In my experience as a student though, it’s something that would come up occasionally. People who don’t smoke sometimes complain [or] get annoyed that they’re cornered by people who do smoke.”

Bortolin cited no specific complaints or demands for change.

Currently, Western has a smoking policy that deals specifically with workplace smoking as well as a policy not permitting smoking within 10 metres of any building.

“While the indoor one has the teeth of the law and act behind it, the outdoor policy is just the University saying, ‘We don’t want you to do this,’” Bortolin said.

Were students to complain, Bortolin noted he would sit down with the University to explore different options, with the most practical being increased campus police enforcement. However, he added the University is presently doing what they can from a policy perspective.

“I don’t mind [the smoking], said Kathleen Mercier, third-year linguistics student.

“[I guess] you need to smoke somewhere,” confirmed Wilna Garon, first-year arts and humanities student.