In this webinar presenters will clarify the concept of trauma-informed approaches; detail what this looks like in a public library environment; and preview how understanding and beginning to implement this approach can aid your community and your library. Get more information and register here.

The post Understanding Trauma-Informed Approaches in Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Libraries are different now than they were then. More than just books and a reference section filled with microfiche, magazines, and newspapers for research, they are community centers. Most offer Internet access and computers. Many offer makerspaces and other educational programs. Ideally, everyone would have access to a library close to home.

It’s happening in Chicago. Thanks to a partnership between the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), mixed income housing developments will house small libraries. “This is leadership and creativity at its best,” said Molly Sullivan, senior director of communications and media relations for the CHA. “We follow the lead of Mayor Emanuel on this. We will join a few other cities like Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Brooklyn [and] New York in [building] actual libraries that are co-located in publicly supported housing.”[1]

It’s a good financial decision, as building the libraries will be more affordable and they will be more accessible to patrons. The libraries will not just be mini-libraries filled with books either. They will all sponsor programs in their respective neighborhoods.

Social Workers

As part of the community outreach, social workers who specialize in providing social services for parents and children will conduct parental training and other workshops at the libraries. These workshops are designed to help patrons deal with everyday stresses associated with balancing work, children, and other family obligations. At the same time, libraries face other challenges. The same things that make them great leave them vulnerable, and keeping them safe and drug free can be a challenge. In this effort, social workers are often like first responders, helping detect issues and direct patrons to where they can get help.

Early Childhood Active Learning Spaces

Children will have access to great resources like makerspaces, technology, and the Teacher in the Library program. Undergraduate education students will assist children with their homework during after school hours. This not only provides children with more resources, but also develops a pipeline for “teachers in training” to gain hands-on teaching experiences. Libraries will work with local university teacher certification programs, as well as other programs which require students to acquire a certain number of  service learning hours. University of Illinois at Chicago was the first institution to participate in the program.

Teen and Adult Technology Support

The library will of course offer technology and teacher support to teens as well. Adult programs will also be offered including everything from financial counseling and job search support to writing resources, guides, and classes. Neighborhood artists and authors will be encouraged to showcase their work through events and workshops. Programs will on environmental responsibility also are planned.

Not only are these kinds of libraries good for the neighborhoods where they are located, but they are serving as a model for other library districts all over the country. The days of large central libraries may never be gone entirely, but small satellite branches in the neighborhoods where patrons live certainly seems like an affordable solution to making libraries readily accessible.

References

1. The Columbia Chronicle, “Mixed Income Housing To Be Co-located With Libraries.”

The post Bringing the Library Home: Mixed Income Housing and Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Enter Leah Esguerra, the nation’s first full-time library Psychiatric Social Worker. Esguerra was hired in 2009 to do outreach to patrons in need of social services. Esquerra thinks that one of the recompenses of her time at the library is that she has become a recognizable face to the patrons and is therefore more approachable. She has noticed that she is even recognized on the streets as “that library lady.” Her job often is comprised of providing information to people about where they can access services like free meals, temporary shelters, and legal aid.  She does however sometimes encounter an individual who meets identifiable criteria, including being recurrently homeless, with a physical or medical condition, at which point her roles and services change. “I do the full clinical assessment. And then I make a presentation to my colleagues at the San Francisco homeless outreach team. They provide case management and also housing. In fact, since the program began, about 150 formerly homeless library patrons have received permanent housing and another 800 have benefited from other social services.”[1]

The Naysayers
Some are not happy with this service though. Often the San Francisco Public Library will get patrons who complain about these homeless patrons. One patron recently wrote a review on the main library’s Yelp page:”Can you please, please, please kick the homeless people out? They are disruptive in the stacks, leave their garbage, stink, body fluids at the desks. They use their bathrooms as their shower facilities.”[2]. Luis Herrera, San Francisco Public Library’s City Librarian, said that “urban libraries are one of the most democratic intuitions that we can have, and we welcome everybody; 99 percent of the individuals come in here, use the library respectfully, for its intended purpose, but we’re always going to have that small percentage that has some problems or some issues.”[3]  It would therefore be safe to say that the San Francisco Public Library is committed to this local revolution of how a library can inspire and help all of its community.

References
1. Library social worker helps homeless seeking quiet refuge. News Hour, San Francisco: PBS, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/library-social-worker-helps-homeless-seeking-quiet-refuge/

2. Ibid.

3 Ibid.

The post Social Workers and Librarians Working Together first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Because of course a library would hire a social worker. It’s kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it?

As public library professionals, we do our best to serve whomever walks through our doors as ably and as knowledgeably as we can. If we don’t have the answers, we’re committed to finding them so our patrons leave happy, satisfied, and better for having interacted with us. That’s how we roll.

But despite our very best intentions, we can’t always work our magic. Homeless patrons sometimes need more immediate, skilled, or complex assistance than what we can provide during a single library visit. So kudos to DCPL for realizing it just makes sense to have a staff member on board who knows her stuff and wants to share it with colleagues.

Rather than working directly with homeless patrons like her counterpart in San Francisco, DCPL’s newly appointed Health and Human Services Coordinator (i.e. social worker) operates on a system-wide level to develop programs and partnerships that build awareness and sensitivity within the library. Better still, this smart cookie is involving staff in the process. What better way to develop workshops and trainings that adequately address real-life scenarios and questions about serving homeless patrons?

Insights and guidance from a trained human services professional could have made a critical difference in a recent interaction I had with a patron I’ll call Jeffrey. He visited the library on a sweltering evening this summer and asked to speak privately with me, the person in charge that day. After explaining he was homeless and in need of a meal and toiletries, Jeffery handed me what he considered his most valuable possession—his photo ID—and asked me to hold it as collateral in exchange for a loan.

I was stunned. What in the world was I supposed to do? Our library policies strictly prohibit patrons from asking for money and staff from giving it them. But enforcing library policies is one thing, and treating human beings with dignity is sometimes another. After all, I’m a librarian. I help.

What I ended up doing left Jeffrey hostile and me frustrated. I gently explained I’d be happy to help him, but I couldn’t grant his request for money. Instead, I could call a few of our local shelters and arrange for a free city shuttle to give him a ride. I thought I was doing the right thing by helping him find the meal and shower he said he wanted. I wasn’t.

Jeffrey replied angrily that he wasn’t interested in shelters because he’d already gone that route—what he really wanted was cash. You can probably guess things didn’t end well. Man, it all went wrong so fast, and even now I feel like just another person who let Jeffrey down.

Ever since that night, I’ve been thinking about some sage advice I once received: “Don’t try harder. Try different.” I tried my hardest with Jeffrey from within my comfort zone. What I really needed to do was step outside of it and try a different approach. Someone like DCPL’s social worker could have helped me explore more informed strategies that might have made me a better, stronger resource for Jeffrey before he even visited my library.

Now I’m wondering why more public libraries aren’t following the lead of San Francisco and D.C. I don’t know about you, but I could use a little help. I want to try different for Jeffrey, for my other homeless patrons, and for everyone who walks through my doors.

I still think having social workers in the library is a no-brainer. How about you?

Cover Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Danielteolijr

The post A Little Extra Help – Why Public Libraries Need Social Workers first appeared on Public Libraries Online.