The New York Public Library apologized to a woman after a security guard at the main research library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street made her leave because she had been breast-feeding her daughter.
Susan Light said she went into the library September 24 to browse; when she began to nurse her daughter in an empty reading room, a female security guard screamed at her to “take that outside,” the New York Post reported October 2.
Library Senior Vice President Michael Zavelle expressed “deep regret” over the incident and immediately sent a memo to remind staff of the rights of women to breast-feed. “The guard made a mistake,” he said. “She had not confronted the situation before and was not properly educated about the rules.”
“So many women are forced to feel ashamed that they try to make a mad dash for home,” Light said. “If we can’t duck into a store, restaurant, or library, how can we feed our babies?”
Posted October 7, 2002.