Wahler EA, Provence MA, Helling J, Williams MA. The Changing Role of Libraries: How Social Workers Can Help. Families in Society. 2020;101(1):34-43. doi:10.1177/1044389419850707

   

Wahler EA, Provence MA, Helling J, Williams MA. The Changing Role of Libraries: How Social Workers Can Help. Families in Society. 2020;101(1):34-43. doi:10.1177/1044389419850707

This is an interesting study of social workers in libraries. It studies:

  • How library staff think about theor roles as supporters of the psychosocial eneds of patrons
  • What they believe are the library's responsibilities in this area 
  • What are some program and policy recommendations for other libraries. 
It provides a good lit review including some references to writers who state quite strongly that there is no place in libraries for supporting the psychosocial needs of users - that this is not the job of libraries at all. In particular a published 'commentary' by Ken Bikoff from Indiana University Bloomington who was of the strong belief that there was no role at all for libraries in moving beyond libraries as "a place in which literary, musical, artistics, or reference materials are kept for use but not for sale".

The Wahler article provides a good lit review and a good summary/list of the libraries in the USA that are providing social work or community work professional services in libraries.  

There is a useful table of the staff perceptions of the unmet psychosocial needs of their patrons - the top 3 being:
  1. Financial
  2. Mental health 
  3. Housing
There is another useful table that lists what library staff see as the responsibility of the library - the top 3 being:
  1. Providing information about poverty related agencies, substance abuse problems, mental health problems, medical problems
  2. Offering services: referrals to community resources, assistance applying for public benefits, Winter clothes, free food, hygiene items.
  3. Programming workshops on: community resources, accessing public benefits, budgeting/finances, common health (inc. mental) problems, substance abuse, support groups.
The article concludes with some ideas of what libraries can do regarding social work practice and education:
  1. Patron workshops and training
  2. Staff workshops and training
  3. Building community partnerships
  4. Practicum units for SW students
  5. Joint library science and social work course at uni
Also there are some ideas for future research that I may find helpful:
  1. Explore patron needs across multiple library systems - including urban, regional & remote
  2. Surveys of library users examining their perception of their own psychosocial needs
  3. Study of existing SW in libraries activities to determine which are best meeting the needs of public library patrons
Well worth reading through the reference list of this one. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1044389419850707


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