Homeless and the Library

Diaz, Cristina

Ruhlmann, E. (2014). A home to the homeless. American Libraries, 45(11/12), 40–44. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=99206614&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The Article: “A Home to the Homeless,” by Ellyn Ruhlmann

This article is about how libraries are a home to the homeless, and how libraries can be more welcoming to the homeless population that visit the library.

This article starts off by discussing different types of homelessness. The article writes, “According to Partners Ending Homelessness, there are three patterns of homelessness. Situational homelessness can occur when someone loses a job, gets evicted, or suffers a particular financial or health crisis. Episodic homelessness differs in that it stems from patterns of behavior and can have multiple causes, including depression and domestic violence and is more common among women and families. A third group—chronically homeless people—comprises less than 18% of the total homeless population.” Chronic homelessness is described as an individual with a disability who has been homeless for more than a year or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years. It also discusses how the library has become their lifeline in keeping them caught up with the world outside and helps them get access to information on jobs and housing through use of computers.

The main library discussed in this article was Madison, Wisconsin’s Madison Public Library. They interviewed a chronically homeless woman who says she never visited the library before she became homeless. Now, she comes because it’s one of the few places that she can go in where it does not matter if she has money, or the way she’s dressed. She has the same access to services and treatment as any other person who visits the library.

The article also discusses how some of the library policies can make it hard on the homeless population, like prohibiting sleeping bags and large/multiple bags, loitering, offensive hygiene, etc. It goes on to describe ways we can be flexible in this, such as asking them to put their bags somewhere where it won’t get in the way. Some libraries prohibit sleeping in the library. This policy is harder to be flexible, because Librarians need to be sure there isn’t a health concern. So, the article goes on to say that if everything seems fine, allowing patrons to sleep should be fine, as long as they are not snoring, and disturbing other patrons.

The last bit that the article discusses is ways that the library can help the homeless population. Talking to community and churches who deal with the homeless, and finding out what they’d need, all the while looking for potential partnerships. How it used to be that librarians would have to send patrons seeking help to other places, but now, by bringing resources to the library, we can ensure that the “homeless patrons have access to services critical to their welfare.” The article discusses ways that other libraries have done this, like hiring a psychiatric social worker, or health and safety advocates (HASAs) that “help promote services to the poor, including a resource fair that the library hosts in partnership with Project Homeless Connect.”

All in all, I feel that this article does a great job in describing ways that the library has become a lifeline for the homeless patrons that visit the library, and what the library can do to become more welcoming to them. We are now more than just a source of information to those walking through our doors, but we are also, in many ways, their home.