TRAVERSE CITY -- Karl DeFoe doesn't want to sniff cigarette smoke as he enters the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere Avenue.
He doesn't want to be bothered by it in the parking lot either. In fact, DeFoe would love to see the entire campus go smoke free as soon as possible.
"(Secondhand smoke) is obviously not as much of a problem outside as it is inside, but it's still very prevalent," said DeFoe, 75, a city resident and frequent library user.
DeFoe will present his case to the library board tonight. Aside from generating secondhand smoke, DeFoe believes smoking leads to bothersome cigarette butt litter and sets an unhealthy example for children who use the library.
The library building itself is already smoke free, and smokers are supposed to engage in their habit only in designated areas situated away from the main entrance.
But plenty of them smoke near the main entrance anyway, and staffers have a hard enough time policing just that area, library Director Metta Lansdale said. Trying to monitor the entire property could be problematic, she said.
"Enforcement is a huge issue for us," she said. "We have a long list of things you can't do at the library ... it's hard, and nobody enjoys enforcing behavior. It's just one other thing we'd have to enforce."
Library Board Secretary Tom Kachadurian said he sympathizes with DeFoe, but agreed with Lansdale that a smoke-free campus policy would lead to enforcement problems.
"We don't have a security force to go run out there, and I don't think we want one," he said. "That wouldn't be a wise use of library money."
DeFoe said his research indicates enforcement isn't as big of a problem as it might seem, especially if visitors are aware that smoking is banned on an entire property.
"If the total campus is smoke free, the problem goes away," he said.
Kachadurian also said library officials haven't noticed enough litter to merit a ban.
"We're pretty in tune to things that would deface the property, and we've never really had a significant cigarette problem," he said.
Lansdale said she wouldn't be surprised if the library campus eventually went smoke-free, because that's the "direction the community is going."
The board could ask her to examine the issue tonight, though Kachadurian said the issue also could "die a quick death."
Lansdale will check with other libraries that have smoke-free policies before any local decisions are made.
"What I need to know from other libraries that have this policy is: How is this going there?" she said.
Traverse Area District Library board meeting
5:30 p.m. at library
610 Woodmere Avenue
