Here’s a sobering article on an aspect of homelessness that I hadn’t considered: public librarians are finding themselves increasingly involved in dealing with, and trying to care for, the chronically homeless. In many libraries, this is apparently a serious issue, as librarians with no particular experience in social work or counseling are called on to deal with situations well outside the boundaries of their training.
There are numerous political ideas and asides in the article that one might nitpick, but politics aside, I’m intrigued (and more than a bit horrified) by the larger picture painted here. Is this a situation you’ve noticed at your local library (or at other public buildings in your city)? If you work in a library and deal with this on a regular basis, I’d love to hear your comments.
The article makes little mention of local churches and ministries being involved—for most librarians, their only real option when faced with difficult situations involving the homeless is to call the police. If your church or ministry is actively involved with the homeless, have you considered offering to help out your local library with these situations? Can they call your church before they ring the police? If so, do they know that?
(Via Metafilter.)
Loading ...
April 3, 2007 at 17:08
Excellent post! This topic has been on my heart for a while. Since I often frequent libraries and bookstores I’ve noticed this trend of homeless people hanging out there. I’ve lived in big cities like Boston, Los Angeles and Phoenix and it is quite evident that this is a real issue and it is one that the church should be active in in. I’d like to salute you all at Think Christian for pointing this out.
April 4, 2007 at 08:31
Yes, this is a huge issue. Interestingly, it is not all dark; libraries present a real place for community (at least larger downtown ones do) for a large part of this population, and it is a de facto computer training ground for a significant number of homeless who have no street address, but a very real and useful web address. And I’ve rarely seen a homeless patron act up (as opposed to bored local kids who also have no place else to go). However, obviously this speaks to a larger societal need if this is the best option, as opposed to a job or training center, and it doesn’t seem reasonable to ask librarians to have social work degrees as well.
April 4, 2007 at 11:08
I want to thank you for posting this and thank KDC for posting his comment. It brought a different light to the issue then what I normally would have thought.
I live in a large town (city?) of about 150,000. It’s a military town and we have one relatively nice library downtown. I use to go to it frequently and would it would surprise me to see the homeless in there (even in such a small community (city?).
However, they did not, as I recall, ever raise any kind of ruckus and the staff would let them hang out.
We have at least two shelters that I am aware of that are opening soon and hopefully will alleviate some of the situation.
April 4, 2007 at 11:52
I would encourage homeless to come to libraries as they are a vast source of information. If the homeless are there looking for ways to expand their knowledge in an attempt to find work then more power to them! Obviously, if things become unlawful the police should be involved but if they are peaceful there should be no reason to kick them out or treat them differently.
The homeless do have to realize, however, that a library is not a place of residence or a place where they can find handouts. The library workers should not have to be social workers while shelving books.
Perhaps a solution to this would be to have a social worker that can be contacted on a case by case basis to come down and attempt to alleviate the situation. I think it might be worth the cost to help someone who is homeless. Or, even better yet, have the library contact a local church!
April 4, 2007 at 12:07
I live in Santa Cruz and I used to work for the public library. My mother is currently a senior reference librarian but spends most of her time in an office and not in the library.
The homeless problem in Santa Cruz is so intense, they are a part of the local scenery and downtown culture.
We had many homeless people act out of line in the library, and we often called the police to report theft, vandalism, lewd behavior, sex offenses, and one guy defecated in the back by the oversize collection.
The homeless spend most of their days in the library where they can use a restroom, sleep, or keep dry when it rains. Many have serious drug addictions or mental illnesses. Library staff are hardly trained to handle them, but neither are most churches. Most churches don’t have a homeless ministry big enough to handle the homeless population in our area. Efforts usually consist of feeding them soup and sandwiches or donating clothing. The shelters are maxed out and there are many people who prefer homelessness.
I think, in our area, churches give hand outs and even try to minister to the homeless, but there is so much discouragement because a lot people suffer from issues we can’t help. Youth groups and street ministry teams are not equiped to handle mental illness most of the time, and there is always a strong threat of violence. People come to Santa Cruz to hide in the mountains or panhandle on the streets. Most are arrested at some point because of disobeying city ordinances designed to put them in jail (panhandling, loitering, etc).
When I was in high school I spent a day as a homeless person, to see what it was like. I sat on the curb and panhandled, I loitered in shop entrances wearing tattered clothes, and I met a lot of homeless people. I was shocked by how much money one person could make by just sitting there. My new friends turned around and bought mushrooms to get high that night or bought beer. One girl got a motel room to spend the night in. I was torn because I felt was it was like to be sneered at and ignored, but I also saw the decisions they were making when given resources.
In Santa Cruz, people who work with the homeless face a lot of defeat.
April 5, 2007 at 10:38
Jody,
your thoughtful comments made this worth reading.