Tamquita Johnson

LIS707

10/18/23

Unhoused population & social services in public libraries

What does it mean to be an unhoused individual? To be unhoused means to be without a

permanent place to stay or a place to get essentials. People all over the USA, in particular, are

experiencing high volumes of unhoused individuals using the library facilities as a resource.

We’ve seen the population of the unhoused increase over the last few years since the cost of

living has increased, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, housing options, and

overall government assistance. Homelessness has been on the rise since 2017, experiencing an

overall increase of 6 percent (State of Homelessness: 2023 Edition - Endhomelessness.org,

2023). In 2022, counts of individuals 421,392 people and chronically homeless individuals

127,768 reached record highs for data collection (State of Homelessness: 2023 Edition -

Endhomelessness.org, 2023).

What role does the library honestly play, and what social services are there? Public libraries can

provide people experiencing homelessness or unhoused a place of refuge. This place is free and

open to the public, where they typically can feel some sense of privacy. Many people in the

library are experiencing homelessness, a significant portion of its constituents. Poverty and

homelessness result in a lack of goods, services, family, mental stability, or money to survive.

Having access to the library, information and resources, services, and technologies is essential

for many people who are experiencing homelessness. It gives them access to resources they

usually would pay for if they weren’t at the library. All of the resources provided are made

possible by the library staff, from custodians to librarians to the outreach director. The library is
a safe place for the unhoused to stay warm and avoid harassment and other things that make life

on the streets or in shelters very hard.

Many libraries across the world have figured out ways to support people experiencing

homelessness while still maintaining a place of business, as well as a place where all people are

welcome and can be comfortable—providing social service resources to community members no

matter the current life circumstances. Professional staff struggle to balance social service,

community engagement, outreach, and getting proper training. One example is that library staff

must be committed to “serving patrons regardless of socioeconomic status. Most of them don’t

have training on how to deal with an unsheltered person suffering from untreated mental illness,

drug addiction, or other issues.” The last few years that public libraries have been assisting the

unhoused with essential information has been successful in most cases. Being able to provide

resources that hopefully will help to improve their lives, if applicable.

Libraries have worked with other entities to help with training or outsourcing services to the

library through collaboration and some staff volunteering. In 2009, the City and County of San

Francisco created the nation’s first Public Library social work position and hired Leah Esguerra,

Licensed Marriage, and Family Therapist, to assist patrons experiencing homelessness at the San

Francisco Public Library (Provence, 2019). Some of the qualities identified in this role are

competence in providing training in group settings or individuals—the ability to create

community relationships with community resources and be a confidant to patrons. Operating in a

non-judgmental manner to assess client needs. Pivoting their strategies to provide resources to

encompass all groups, including patrons experiencing homelessness or other issues. Madison
Country Library Director Greg Mickells wanted to help create a design space for all patrons at

his facility. During the planning phases, Mickells met with several social service agencies to

discuss making the library a more inviting and functional space for all patrons, particularly

Madison’s homeless community (Magazine, 2020a). The new facility features workspace

designs from ten different social agencies like the Shine Initiative participated in the redesigned

of work areas for patrons (Magazine, 2020a). Mickells researched to understand how library

design can help patrons and provide a safe and comfortable place to be. This arrangement

provides more privacy—a valued commodity among homeless patrons (Magazine, 2020a). The

goal was to meet the demands of being a public library or a resource for their community, not

just focusing on one particular group.

There are many examples of libraries rising to the task of providing helpful services through

community donation, gift giving, or city collaboration. Las Vegas, Clark County Library District

provides hygiene kits to patrons and distributes them to areas near the public library that are

designated safe place sites for people without housing. Downtown Chicago Public Library hosts

meetings to connect case managers and help patrons with public benefits like housing. The

Indianapolis Public Central library is another example of the library doing its best to provide

services to the community; they have a room in the library where people can go to get access to

tools as well as clothing, items, hygiene, snacks, or get some assistance with online resources to

help them find housing or jobs. Social programs support the community’s needs through

outreach programming collaboration with the library senior leadership, librarians, and

volunteers. It’s important to mention that it not only takes training to understand the unhoused
situation. But also, empathy, patience, and a clear understanding of community impact through

services offered no matter the socioeconomics of your community members.

The American Library Association promotes equal access to information for all people (Hcho,

2023). Recognizing the increase in the number of poor children, adults, and families in America

makes it even more critical for libraries to provide various available resources, strategies, and

even training and development needed to sensitize and prepare libraries. Creating committees or

implementation groups recruited through library staff leadership and various community

members with one team one goal in mind. Forward-thinking is happening with our Canadian

neighbors. Libraries have developed partnerships with police and other agencies to provide

services to the population of people experiencing homelessness, and they found that the needs of

the affected aren’t being consulted. Approaches to meeting the needs of library users

experiencing homelessness tend to be primarily organic in nature and not formalized in policy or

procedure (Forrest, 2022). The data of actual input from people experiencing homelessness

collected little to none. This is a common thread that is mostly left out of conversations about the

homeless population what thoughts they have a about appropriate support in the library.

Factors affecting the unhoused and how the library assists their community can negatively

impact the library environment, physical harm, and public safety: the San Diego public library,

Director, Misty Jones. Emphasizes with the community and wants to be of service to patrons.

Understandably, she has witnessed issues arising with social services in the library space.

Library staff and others experience daily disruptions, whether it is people using drugs in the

bathroom, not coming out of the bathroom, stealing, damaging property, or having behavior
issues that distract the other patrons as they try to use library services. In many scenarios, the

library staff or patrons do not know how to react to the disruption. Suppose they still need to get

programs in place. In that case, they end up calling the police or doing something to eradicate the

distraction that could cause harm to the people in the library, other patrons, or the person causing

that behavior. The director of this library also mentioned an incident, they had someone who

unalive themselves the individual was suffering from a mental break. Jones makes it a point to

mention that she has reached out to her counterparts in libraries across the nation, and many of

them experienced the same type of disruptions or behaviors that she sees every day in her library

in San Diego. The director’s approach shows that the library wants to help within parameters but

also ensure they know the issues that can happen when dealing with the homeless population.

Including to understand better how to react Monnee Tong, supervising librarian at the Central

Library, is among the library staff members who assisted Lianne Urada, an associate professor of

social work at SDSU, in her research into how libraries can address homelessness in their cities

(Warth, 2022b). Furthermore, it reiterates the importance of training needed to support social

services.

Strategic initiatives through senior leadership are adjusting to support social and economic issues

through creating facility-based job-specific roles and areas. Newark Public Library created

designated rooms that provide service-specific items to needy patrons. The library staff are all

trained on homeless-related issues and are part of onboarding new hires—other initiatives to

support people experiencing homelessness outside of the library—one example is the Chillicothe

Mayor Luke Finley, working with the Chillicothe Public Library director. Public libraries aim to

figure out a way for the city and the library to come together to create some resources to help get
people off the street into permanent housing and medical help. While trying to tackle this issue, it

influences other public libraries, city officials, and leaders to be held accountable for what’s

happening in the respective communities.

Libraries face everyday problems because of the unhoused situation. Some libraries have created

adaptive policies prohibiting many unhoused people from using the library. For example, the

Chicago Public Library prohibited sleeping and other behaviors. Usually associated with the

unhoused community, many other libraries have started having those same policies in place

Patrick Malloy, Director of Chicago’s government and public affairs (Magazine, 2020c). The

public library says that the library forces its policy against sleeping because of safety concerns

(Magazine, 2020c). Because many of the unhoused have particular behaviors associated with

them, it is a safety concern. One would be what if they think someone is sleeping and staff

realizes their deceased, and also having the library staff go and wake people up can become a

negative situation. In other establishments, the reverse of the concern is apparent Anne Haimes,

interim director of the Atlanta Fulton Public Library in Georgia. Promotes everyone entering the

library should feel safe and comfortable (Magazine, 2020c). She believes that the library’s goal

is to find balance by having policies that are inclusive and accepting of people but also having

policies that protect everyone (Magazine, 2020c).

Retired Director of Helen Plum Memorial Library in Illinois Bob Harris believes that policies or

rules need to be in place in libraries no matter what services and access are provided. Primary

Rule: Any person should not interfere with someone else’s use of the library, so in theory, there

are many ways where the library can find balance. It could be in how they addressed things and
how they want their community to respond to the rules and policies presented to them, no matter

the socioeconomic status of the individuals.

Researching the unhoused population and social services in public libraries has brought negative

and positive experiences to light. While also trying to understand the many leadership roles that

are a part of program outreach and implementation for social services. The articles I came across

referenced the position of director-level leadership influence on programs and their thoughts on

the homelessness situation. Social services programs are offered because of senior library

leadership and community collaboration. They provide access to information, hygiene, clothing,

hot showers, and food. State-specific housing programs, abuse, mental health, addiction, and

medical. Some institutions have been able to bridge many services to support the homeless crisis.

At the same time, others had to pivot and create new strategies to help their communities, which

required creating new positions, mindful design concepts, and partnerships with nonprofits and

government officials. Library staff is now equipped with training and other resources to help

have informative, positive, impactful interactions and reactions to and with people experiencing

homelessness. The research also shows that we still need to capture better the voice of the people

dealing with unfortunate life circumstances. Still, recognize public libraries have some plans to

support. Not all are perfect but work in progress.

References

State of Homelessness: 2023 Edition - Endhomelessness.org. (2023, May 23). National Alliance

to End Homelessness.

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-

homelessness/

Magazine, A. (2020, August 5). A Home to the Homeless | American Libraries magazine.

American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2014/11/24/a-

home-to-the-homeless/

Rantala, L. (2023, March 7). Chillicothe Library all booked up; warming station causing

concerns for parents. WSYX. https://abc6onyourside.com/on-your-side/problem-

solvers/chillicothe-library-all-booked-up-warming-station-causing-concerns-for-parents-

homeless-population-unhoused-library-chillicothe-community-concerns

Admin. (2017, July 18). Classism in the stacks: libraries and poverty. About ALA.

https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/olos/olosprograms/jeanecoleman/05berman

Warth, G. (2022, September 7). Should libraries be part of homeless solutions? San Diego thinks

so - The San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego Union-Tribune.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2022-09-04/should-

librarians-be-part-of-homeless-solutions-san-diego-is

From Nuisances to Neighbors: Inclusion of Patrons Experiencing Homelessness through Library

and Social Work Partnerships. (2018). ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK Fall 2018, 18(4).

https://doi.org/10.18060/22321

Forrest, M. (2022). Public Libraries and the Social Inclusion of Homeless People: A literature

review. Pathfinder, 3(1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.29173/pathfinder52

Reporter, G. S. (2023, January 24). Why US libraries are on the frontlines of the homelessness

crisis. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/24/us-libraries-

homeless-crisis-social-workers

Provence, M. A. (2019). From nuisances to neighbors. Advances in Social Work, 18(4), 1053–

1067. https://doi.org/10.18060/22321

Hcho. (2023, January 19). American Library Association Fact Sheet. News and Press Center.

https://www.ala.org/news/american-library-association-fact-sheet#:~:text=ALA

%20actively%20promotes%20equal%20access,known%20as%20the%20Spectrum

%20Initiative.