Library Services for People Experiencing Homelessness

Dowdell and Liew make the point that previous existing research regarding libraries and people experiencing homelessness does not cover the New Zealand context well, particularly in relation to their unique cultural context that includes the Maori and Pacific Island communities. Their goal for the paper is to examine the information seeking behaviours of people experiencing homelessness in a NZ library context to fill that gap. They set out to look at how this community are using public libraries to meet their information needs and how well the libraries are supporting their information needs. They hoped to understand how public library policies and practices could enable a more equitable and effective use of public libraries to meet their information needs. A barrier to this community in using public libraries described by the authors (identified in other research mentioned in their literature review) was that of a distrust of institutions, and the perceived inability of the community

This video explains some of the actions taken by the Seattle Public Library to meet the needs of communites without homes, including those living in 'encampments'. There are some parallels with the work being done by Yarra in the programs that take mobile internet hubs out to communities so they can use the internet for free.  My favourite line in this video is toward to start where the presenter says: "The libraray is an engine room for equality". I like this as as it recognises libraries ashaving a capacity to not only be places for everyone, but also as a place that can generate ideas, actions and processes that can support equality. I like the ideas of building, generating, creating and activating change that focus on equality. 

Barone, Mariekie, et al. "Developing a Model Policy for Public Libraries to Address Homelessness & Mental Illness."  Delaware Journal of Public Health  6.4 (2020): 46. Although this article has a very American context, it is a useful publication in that in contains suggested content to include in a library policy regarding library users experiencing homelessness and mental illness - this will of course be sometimes the same people and sometimes not. The article gives some background into the needs of these communities and provides some brief case study notes of existing examples of collaborations between publuc libraries and homelessness and mental health service providers. This is followed by a section that lists and explains briefly what a policy should include: Purpose of Policy  A statement focused on how the specific policy will address the interface of libraries, homelessness and mental health. Specifically identifying areas of service needs, existing programming, c