Refuge for readers can be risky - Some L.A. libraries face increasing disruptions from thugs, vandals and other troublemakers. Plans are underway to beef up security.

Sara Adler put a real estate book on hold and was about to retrieve some information on California law schools when the lobby of the Mark Twain Library in South Los Angeles erupted in chaos.

From her post behind the reference desk, she heard yelling and looked up to see six men punching and stomping a man on the floor. She picked up a phone and dialed 911.

With police and an ambulance on the way, the attackers fled. Adler comforted the injured young man, who was bloody, shirtless and barely conscious.

His blood was spattered on the wall and floor. A discarded razor blade was found nearby.

The attack at the library branch at 97th and Figueroa streets occurred shortly before noon Aug. 29, two days after the Mark Twain staff met with city officials to ask for increased security to stop groups of neighborhood toughs from disrupting -- and even taking over -- the branch.

"In our history, we have been the neutral place, the community place," said city Librarian Fontayne Holmes, who attended the community meeting along with representatives of the district attorney's office, the Los Angeles Police Department and the chief of library security. "We are part of the solution, not the problem."

But at Mark Twain, she said, "there have been groups of anywhere from half a dozen to 30 [young men] intimidating and harassing patrons and what it has done, until we brought in help, was prevent people in the community from using this important service."

Since the August attack, library officials have stationed two security guards at the branch, and the loud, combative youths have moved on.

But some of the city's libraries continue to struggle with crime. At the Jefferson branch, six windows were smashed this month by gang members seeking a man who hid inside until police gave him a ride home. At the Exposition branch, an August shooting outside the library's main door prevented patrons from leaving until security arrived. Last spring, a principal at a charter school sent a letter to parents, urging students not to go to the Hyde Park-Miriam Matthews Public Library because children were being "taunted, harassed and intimidated by the students [from nearby schools]."

Over the course of 18 months, city libraries have tallied nearly 1,500 reports of problems; most have been minor infractions such as disputes over computer time, but several staff reports detail more significant complaints of public nuisances, thefts, assaults and vandalism.