Libraries & People in Need

Responsive Service to Homeless in Your Rural Community

Sonja Plummer-Morgan, MLIS and Steve Eyler, Second Life Homeless Resource February 10, 2010

What we hope to accomplish

Explore perceptions and attitudes about people who are homeless in our libraries.

Discuss some experience-based solutions to social problem of homelessness.

Offer question & answer time for best practices and effectiveness

Keep Your Humanity in one hand and your Library Mission in the other.

“A dirty little secret about America is that public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the

homeless and mentally disturbed.”

America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Sheltershttp://www.alternet.org/story/50023/

Which One is Homeless? Challenge your perceptions and your assumptions.

“Our public library should not be a refuge for some homeless people who will use its bathrooms to bathe and de-louse, who will slumber away for hours, who will play boisterous games of

chess and stagger drunk around the stacks, leaving behind boozy vapors.”

http://www.seattlepi.com/jamieson/174413_robert21.html

OR

Any person or family that, without any direct fault on his or her part, does not have suitable housing is the victim of an

injustice.“~Pontifical Commission Justice and Peace

Both streams of thought are in your community. Librarians need to be proactive and prepared to address public opinion

before they disrupt library advocacy.

Libraries as Day Shelters

How many have people who are homeless in their library everyday? What are they doing?

Sleeping?Computing?Job seeking?

Home hunting?Reading?

Socializing?

Do you know?

Observing what your patrons do while at your library is a good starting point. What services can you provide?

Are policies the Answer?

No sleeping in the library! No leering! No checking out books if you do not have a permanent address! No

loitering! No panhandling!

•

Serving suggestion…policies are more effective if they address

behavior and not human circumstances and are applied

evenly.

What if you are homeless and age 8 and you fall asleep on a shoulder? Would that be against your no sleeping

policy?

What if the local professor falls asleep at your library, is that against your policy?

Ask “what if” often and with a mind to fairness.

Second Life Homeless Shelter Library for Evidence and Anecdotal Based Information for Staff and

Patrons—Education is key.

Reach out & Collaborate

Know your community – what rich human resources are nearby that you can tap into and have some help problem solving? Social services, police departments, volunteers, faith-based initiatives, school districts, and other non-profits.

Is anyone in your list better at handling crisis, social service issues, answer discrimination or legal questions?

Our Response

Installed a public phoneJoint training with shelter staff and keep

close contact with directorKeep directories to various churches and

social services in ready referenceCollaborated with employment centerCreated virtual resources in Second LifeLaunched extensive customer service

campaign/training

Librarians as Leaders

The social problem of homelessness is estimated to be rising in severity.

Librarians and partners have an opportunity to be part of the sollutions.

Aisha A. Harvey. Homeless perspectives of the public library. http://www.moyak.com/papers/homeless-libraries.pdf

National Alliance to End Homelessnesshttp://endhomelessness.org/

Chip Ward on Homeless People and Librarieshttp://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=234

Rural Homelessnesshttp://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/symposium07/robertson/index.htm

For Further Reading