Dowdell, L. & Liew C. L. (2019) More than a shelter: Public libraries and the information needs of people experiencing homelessness. Library and Information Science Research v.41

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 to access library services due to having no permanent address and therefore no ability to be granted a library card.

Other literature mentioned challenged the stereotype that homeless people just visit libraries as a place to sleep. This lines up well with Daconto and Manella's work regarding the Sala Borsa library in Italy when they describe the words of a homeless community member who said he likes to visit the library to improve his culture through reading good books.

The authors also mention the problem with asking people they identify as homeless may actually not be homeless, or if they are, the fact that they are in the library and willing to work as research partners may make them exceptional among their own community. To understand this community well, we need to look beyond the few who are in our libraries and are willing to take part in research. 

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