Library Services for People Experiencing Homelessness

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/letter-from-public-library-directors-and-social-workers/ This letter was written and signed by 12 American library directors and social workers and identifies some highlights of how they are working with their communities. These highlights are: Trauma-informed care Homelessness A focus on behaviour Creating welcoming spaces Person-first language It provides a great list of like-minded people in American libraries.

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...