Library Services for People Experiencing Homelessness

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 programmin...

  Adams, C., & Krtalić, M. (2021). I feel at home: Perspectives of homeless library customers on public library services and social inclusion.  Journal of Librarianship and Information Science , 09610006211053045. This is an interesting article as it has a New Zealand perspective - so not US, and allows the experiences of the people experiencing homelessness to be heard. These are the stated goals of the study reported in the paper: "The goal of this study was, therefore, to examine homeless patrons’ perspectives on public libraries, including their use of general library services and those targeted specifically toward the homeless, and in what ways engagement with library services affects their feelings of social inclusion. In doing so, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by offering insights into what constitutes effective public library programming and targeted services for homeless people." Page 1 This study interests me because it engages with the idea th...

Barone, M., Fifelski, S., Stocker, A., Worm, T., Patterson, A., Braamse, J., & Lathers, R. S. (2020). Developing a Model Policy for Public Libraries to Address Homelessness & Mental Illness.  Delaware Journal of Public Health ,  6 (4), 46. This US article describes a student project that set out to develop policy for libraries to frame their support of people experiencing homelessness and mental illness (interesting to lump these together). As part of their project they ran a survey that had 60 responses. Each library was asked:  What specific policies were in place that pertain directly to individuals experiencing homelessness?  What was the general experience of front line staff with the homeless population?  What type of training did they receive in this area? Did their branch(es) had a social worker on site and what community collaborations were in place to better serve the homeless population? One part of the article mentions -'a trauma-informed app...

 Amanda Aykanian, Peggy Morton, Kathi Trawver, Lane Victorson, Sarah Preskitt & Kimberly Street (2020) Library-Based Field Placements: Meeting the Diverse Needs of Patrons, Including Those Experiencing Homelessness , Journal of Social Work Education, 56 :sup1, S72-S80, DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2020.1723757 The abstract of this article makes the point that libraries are places that vulnerable people visit, and that librarians, like social workers are frequently advocates and supporters of these visitors. They then go on to say that librarians may not have the skills and knowledge to deal witht he complex needs of such people and that is where social workers come in handy.  The authors identify libraries as "second responders, stepping in when needed services are unavailable or inaccessible". The authors describe how libraries emerge as a reflection of their users' needs - they design programs, spaces and resources in response to the needs of the community they serve. But ...

Interesting to see that in 2012 we were not using person-centred language - homeless patrons was the term used. People experiencing homelessness were described as having 'special needs', as having needs specifically relating to 'emotional and physical wellbeing'. They are described as presenting 'a range of needs and concerns', as having 'complex needs' and that they are a 'challenge' for librarians to work with. That these challenges are 'disruptive to library operations'. "Serving the needs of homeless people calls for library staff to be especially responsive, resourceful and creative."p.178. It will be interesting to see if this negative lens and discourse alters over time to recognise that maybe people experiencing homeless or insecure housing actually don't have needs specific to their accommodation status. Maybe they are not a 'challenge'. Maybe they just want what everyone else wants - somewhere quiet to sit ...

There is the idea of Social Workers in the library as working  mainly with a focus on Zetterval's 'mezzo/ approach - training staff & changing library culture - rather than 'micro' level of assisting individual patron needs. And perhaps a feeling from library staff of gratitude about the social worker's presence, but a desire to have them working at the 'micro' level rather than being trained to do it themselves? Maybe given protocols and procedures to deal with customers with high social needs is just another layer of work they do now? Author described some resistance among library staff of 'having to do social work now'. They have been trained, but this work is situated as a source of tension between their understanding of their role and their alignment with their belief that they are part of a democratic organisation and their desire to serve all people.  The lack of clear protocols regarding challenging patrons contributes to this uncertainty...